Ich AKA @^%$@#!!!!

[Teric]

I did mine pretty fast, went from 1.025 to 1.020 in less than half an hour but thats with a 55 gallon tank. You might want to do it slowly over a few hours or so. What sg level are you aiming at?

[michael]

In hyposalinity the normal salt content of the tank is reduced by over half, that is from normal 35 ppt to 16 ppt, which corresponds to a specific gravity of 1.009. The treatment is done in stages. On day one RO/DI is used to replace hospital tank water till specific gravity falls to 1.022, day two it is reduced to 1.018, day three 1.014, day four to 1.009. This last salinity is very important. If even .001 unit high the ich can survive and if too low the fish can be harmed. That is the reason a refractometer is used. Once the specific gravity is down it is wise to make a batch of saltwater up that has a salinity of 1.009. This is used for daily water changes to reduce the chance of ammonia or nitrate buildup during treatment. The low salinity is maintained for a month. The salinity is then increased, but even slower. Raise it 0.002 units each day until 1.026 is again reached. Once at normal salinity the fish may be returned to the display.

many thanks to waterkeeper for these comments.

[chris121277]

 Thanx for the instructions.  So far so good......I did the first stage a little fast, last night I dropped it to 1.020 but he seems to be doing fine (i threw a tiny pinch of food in there this morning and he devoured it).
    Fingers crossed

[michael]

no problem chris, your welcome, oh and by the way good luck, keep me informed

[Teric]

Did you take all your fish out of the tank?

[chris121277]

No I didn't take everyone out.......just the tang.....so far everyone else looks totally fine
 *knocks on wood*
  After coming home from camping this week end the tang is looking great, no more white spots and he is eating like a champ!!!   His salt level has been sitting at around 1.012 for 3 days now.....the only thing that I have noticed is that he appears to have a redish tinge on his cheek's .....is this a bad thing? (I hope not)

[Teric]

Thats great the tang is looking good. Lets hope this won't happen again.

[Bonneville08]

I'm glad the fish seems to be on the mend Chris. Out of curiosity, what do you feed this fish? In addition to their susceptibility to Marine Ich, Tang's are also fairly susceptible to HLLE (along with some Marine Angels). Keeping the fish in excellent condition is one of the best ways to avoid this. I recommend a steady diet of fresh or frozen foods in variety as well as regular feeding of Nori. If you're going to feed artemia, I would at least feed the enriched variety. I'm also a big fan of Mysis and Cyclops. I try to make flake and pellet food the exception to the rule.
JMO,
Russ

[chris121277]

  I alternate food, 1 day i'll give them pellets and flakes, the next I feed mysis, then brine , then a marine angel concoction (frozen) and so on and so on.....I also put a clip with some nori on it every second day or so. 
   What is artemia?

[Bonneville08]

Artemia is brine shrimp, sorry for the confusion.

[chris121277]

does that sound like an ok feeding schedule?  is there something else I should be throwing in the mix?

[Bonneville08]

My fish react very well to Cyclops commonly sold under the name Cylopeez in frozen and freeze dried forms. I prefer using the frozen myself. I also recommend a high quality in flake and pellet food, but you may already know more about that than I do. The mix seems OK to me, I just don't feed dry food more than a few times a month.
Russ

[chris121277]

    :(unfortunately my powder brown died over the week end.    He didn't seem to have any spots on him but maybe because the A/C was out and it was 95 deg f here?
 
He fought hard and will be missed
   

[Teric]

sorry to hear about your loss. Are you going to get anything else to replace the tang?

[Bonneville08]

Hi Chris,
You have my sympathy, its hard to keep tank temperature down when its that hot.Pretty much just bad luck to have AC up there and it goes on the fritz when it gets so hot.
Russ