Kole tang has ich --- Hypo or copper? Which one should I do?

asn-naso

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
So I picked up a kole tang 9 days ago. I put him in my frag tank, because I was too lazy to setup my QT tank. I was told he was in QT for 30 days before I purchased him.

He has been picking at the glass, and rock a ton, but wouldn't eat flake food, and looked good until this afternoon. I noticed he was covered in ich. I started making water for my QT tank, but it probably won't be ready till tomorrow AM, and now I am wondering how I should proceed.

The curent tank he is in, is a 12 gal nano-cube. It was designated to be my frag tank, but only has 1 frag of zoas in it, and some GSP. It also has a nice chunk of live rock from my DT. The tang is pretty small (2.5-3"), so I figured he'd be ok in such a small tank for a month to make sure he was healthy, but now I am wondering if the small tank stressed him out.

My QT tank holds about 25 gal of water, and is much larger. I have had copper in it before, and don't mind doing it again, if that is the correct treatment.

Do I leave the tang in the nano-cube, and go hypo? Or move him to the QT tank, and go Hypo, or move him and use copper?

When it is all said and done, do I toss the rock, and corals in the nano, and run bleach through the nano?
 

MuralReef

Administrator
Staff member
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M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
MASC Vice-President
#2
You can try Dr. G's antiparasitic food. They make a frozen and fish roe. It fights the parasites from the inside. I've heard the roe is really good because few fish can resist the food and it doesn't have the bitter flavor the frozen has. Worked well for me and I used it in tank.
 

MuralReef

Administrator
Staff member
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M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
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#4
I've gotten it from Aquatic Art and Aquamart. I treated in my display and it didn't damage my corals.
 

asn-naso

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#7
So, I wake up this morning, and check on the fish, and he is laying upside down in the corner, breathing very fast. I can not believe how fast he went from swimming, and pecking at the rock/glass to this. At this point, I think it is over. :-(

BTW the vendor did see my post and contacted me last night. I did tell them that I do not blame them, or the store, as there is no way to tell if he was sick, or what stress caused him to get sick.

Next question - Do I bleach the tank, and toss the rock and corals?
 

kio707

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#8
If you leave the tank running, but have no fish in it, the ich will naturally die in 6-8 weeks. No host to feed on.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#10
You don't have to even hypo all-the-way to give the fish a better chance. Salinity down to 1.018 will help a LOT and can allow the fish to fight. As you probably know, neither hypo or meds will work on all fish - they are near certain death for most wrasses and butterflies, among others.
 

asn-naso

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#11
I went to pull him out this morning, and he started swimming again. I then picked up some Dr G's from Aquatic Art, and by the time I got home, he was gone.

I am so terrified about adding fish to my DT. I have a huge blond naso, and a large purple tang in there, among some other cool fish, and I almost would rather with the few fish I have, then risk getting one of them sick.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#13
40B, 55 or 75G are better options to QT/Isolate a tang. 12G is always going to be hard. It might have done better going straight into the display... but your display might not have.
 
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