Does ick always come with a new Tang?

[Passport]

I would really like to add a Sailfin Tang to my 55g with 100# LR. I don't have a quarantine tank.

But the guy at the lfs says that this fish has been in his tank for a month and eats really well. The fish appears to be well filled out and is beautiful. Has anyone ever brought one home to his/her tank without disease breaking out?I've been thinking about this for a good while and don't want to make poor decision. Opinions, please.

 

[danmhippo]

Always.....Not that I buy lots of tangs, but so far, I have not had any ich outbreaks at all. I have 1 purple, 4 small hippo, and one kole. I used to have a yellow, but lost him a while ago when I was moving my tanks....Not LFS related.

As long as you are getting them from reputable LFS and they appears to be well fed (no sunken stomach), and you have witnessed the individual eating flakes at the shop, the tang should be fine. Of course, your tank condition must be superb as well (i.e., no tankmate aggression, good water quality, sufficient swimming room......etc)

 

[Anonymous]

Basically the potential for an Ich outbreak is always in our tanks, think of it as like the Common Cold in Humans. If our/the fishes immune system is stressed we/the fish become sick. The trick is to keep the stress to a minimum, feed a healthy diet, watch water params, aggression from other fish and the fish shouldn't have any problems.
BTW your tank is too small for a Sailfin Tang.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[Anonymous]

You can cure a fish of ich basically by sticking it into a nice healthy well-maintained reef tank. It is generally a safe bet that any fish you buy will have parasites. Quaranteen ONLY if you have a well-established biological filter in the QT and lots of greens for your tang. Otherwise you will do the tang more harm than good. Feed the fish garlic-soaked food for a month after getting the tang, and preferably about a week before you get the tang. Pick a healthy tang that eats in the store. You will probably be ok. Ich is not a disease to panic over. Amyloodinium, on the other hand, is worth avoiding at all costs. Yes, I have brought home tangs, including ones in pretty bad shape, and not gotten ick, even in the absence of the above precautions. Just make sure it has plenty of good food to eat. Get some IPSF tang heavan to give him a head start.

 

[Anonymous]

You can cure a fish of ich basically by sticking it into a nice healthy well-maintained reef tank. It is generally a safe bet that any fish you buy will have parasites. Quaranteen ONLY if you have a well-established biological filter in the QT and lots of greens for your tang. Otherwise you will do the tang more harm than good. Feed the fish garlic-soaked food for a month after getting the tang, and preferably about a week before you get the tang. Pick a healthy tang that eats in the store. You will probably be ok. Ich is not a disease to panic over. Amyloodinium, on the other hand, is worth avoiding at all costs. Yes, I have brought home tangs, including ones in pretty bad shape, and not gotten ick, even in the absence of the above precautions. Just make sure it has plenty of good food to eat. Get some IPSF tang heavan to give him a head start.

 

[Quillen]

I have purchased three kinds of tangs and kept them in my tank for a good, long time without any problems (flagtail/regal, kole, and brown). They have never had ick, but I am extremely anal and lucky. I agree that keeping the fish happy is a way to keep it from getting ick. I have smaller tank, so I pass on the fish if they become sizely for my tank.

 

[jdeets]

Passport--David is right. Sailfin tangs get BIG, and they get big FAST, much more so than even a yellow tang. I wouldn't recommend a sailfin for a 55g tank. JMO.

 

[Terry B]

The analogy that ich is like the common cold is greatly flawed. Cryptocaryon irritans is an obligate parasite. It is not always present and it doesn’t come in the air. It’s life cycle, mode of transmission and reproduction strategy are nothing like a virus or bacteria for that matter. Many bacteria (such as vibrio), are always present in a cycled aquarium, ich is not. Simply stated, no amount of stress will cause a breakout if the parasite is not in the system.
Terry B

 

[Anonymous]

Well Terry B. I think you should reread the subject header. While my analogy might be slightly flawed any time you add something new to your tank ( which in this case was a new Tang ) you risk adding the parasite Cryptocaryon irritus along with many other beasties.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[myreef]

Ich or no Ich, I agree that the 55 is too small for a sailfin tang. I have one in my 150 and sometimes think he will outgrow it sooner or later. If I am not mistaken they can/will grow to about 14"-16". As stated above, the best way to fight ich is to have a stable stress free environment. If tank mates feel threatened they will badger the new fish and he will get stressed and be prone to an outbreak. Caution is the key word, but I like optimistic caution when adding a fish....At least you asked before adding instead of adding then asking.

BTW, welcome to the board!

 

[toptank]

I have has several different tangs and they have all gotten Ich. I have watch them in the LFS and left them for a few days and watched them eat, put them in a Q tank and still when I introduce them to the main tang within a few days they get ich. Maybe I haven't been as lucky with them. This last time I got a purple tang from a good LFS and did everything a was suppose to as far as accimating but still got ich. It was in my 180 reef lots of LR and knew that I wasn't going to beable to get him out so I bought this stuff called," Kick Ich" which is suppose to be reef safe for corals and invertebrates and it worked well for me. Within a week and a half all was gone.

Barry

 

[Anonymous]

Terry B.
Nope not at all.
I've admitted the common cold analogy is not the best and is slightly flawed, but as we're trying to get a point across as simply as possible to people that may not be able to comprehend some of the intrinsics of parasites or reef tank diseases it's probably the easiest way to do it.( i.e. a school room full of children you introduce a new classmate with the common cold, if the established students immune system in low they will catch the cold. )
Simple to comprehend.
If you add a fish with Cryp or if you add rock or anything with the Cryp spore to a tank with fish in it, you run a great risk of infecting them with Cryp if their immune system is suppressed and adding new fish to an established tank is stressful to all inhabitants.
Remember too much info can be a detriment on many BBS, lists and newsgroups it's best to keep it as simple as possible, semantics can be taken to email.
I hope I made my point clearer to you.

Regards,
David Mohr

[ July 13, 2001: Message edited by: davidmohr ]

 

[Terry B]

David,
I agree with you to a point, but I also believe in telling the truth. Stress does play a part, but healthy fish can become infected. Greatly stressed fish cannot get ich if it is not in the system. BTW, thanks for clarifying your opinion.
Terry B

 

[Terry B]

David,
I am aware of the many means of transmission. However, the fact remains that it does not behave like a virus or bacteria for that matter. Are you saying that you believe this parasite is present in every system? The truth is, if fish are cleared before placing them in the display then you have just eliminated the most common means of transmission and greatly reduced the odds of an outbreak. It can come in with water from another tank, but the freeswimming stage looses the ability to attach to a host 18 hours after they hatch from the tomont. It is possible to spread ich by sharing a net or other equipment from an infected tank. Tomonts will attach to most any hard surface including glass, rock, hard coral shells, heaters, water pumps ect. These tomonts can take several days or even a few weeks to hatch. The longer tomonts take after two weeks to hatch the greater they are reduced in number and ablilty to find and attach to a host.
Terry B