Help Please!

[Brandon5555]

I got a sweet blue tang on the weekend, and he has black ich, how do I cure it?

[Gripenfelter]

My neighbour cured his black ich with a freshwater dip followed by a formalin bath.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/ichparasiticdiseases/ht/treatbrooklynel.htm

[Brandon5555]

any idea where i can get formalin?

[naesco]

any idea where i can get formalin?
Formalin is a dangerous carcinogen and should only be used as a very last resort.

So, fresh water dip and observe the black ich falling off the fish, replace the fish in the tank and the next day observe whether there are any left. Dip the fish again until they are all gone.

[Brandon5555]

So do I just adjust the temp then toss him in? Or do I need to acclimate

[naesco]

So do I just adjust the temp then toss him in? Or do I need to acclimate

No equalize the temperature and carefully place the tang in the freshwater.
He will possibly act violently and attempt to jump so cover the glass bowl you put him in or he will turn on his side.
Continually carefully observe the fish for stress for several minutes and place him back in your unlit tank.

[Nano]

whats the longest he should dip it? I always wondered myself i have heard anywhere from 2 to 15 minute some people say, but that seems a little extreme

[naesco]

whats the longest he should dip it? I always wondered myself i have heard anywhere from 2 to 15 minute some people say, but that seems a little extreme

It depends on the species of fish and the condition it is in.
In this case it is a blue tang with black ich and not a tang that has suffered severe ich owing to the neglect of the reefer in helping his/her fish or a tender species.
This tang. once placed in the freshwater of the same temperature will likely swim around and after a minute or two will break the water like it is gasping for air. IME I would not treat longer than five minutes and remove the fish if there is early stress. You can always re treat the fish. Good Luck.

I also would not recommend that you search for the fish with a flashlight to see how he is doing as you will further stress the fish.

[daniella3d]

A one hour dip in Seachem Paraguard is much less stressfull on a fish than any freshwater dip.

I am treating a few clownfish right now with paraguard for the begining of scratching on things, maybe begining of brook or ick, not sure what, and they are doing great and stopped scratching. I even have a few coral and one snail in that tank and they are doing well. I am surprised the coral are still alive after 4 full days of paraguard treatment, but I would not try this on any coral that are of any value and definitly not in a display tank full of corals.

[Brandon5555]

I have a tank I just set up for killifish, ill toss him in there later today and let you know how it goes. Thanks for your help, it means a lot.

[daniella3d]

huh? you mean you will put him in a freshwater aquarium? or will you set up a quarantine tank for him with saltwater? if so, you must leave your main tank empty of any fish for a minimum of 6 week so that the ick die in there. If you just dip your fish and put it back in the infested tank it will just stress the fish and he will get recontaminated pretty fast.

I am treating my fish with paraguard right now for 2 weeks and there is no ammonia since I have put good cycled liverock in there. That's a good way to go.

I have a tank I just set up for killifish, ill toss him in there later today and let you know how it goes. Thanks for your help, it means a lot.

[Brandon5555]

Realistically my display tank isnt infected though, all tangs have ich present in their gills right? I was thinking of putting a UV sterilizer in my tank to kill any free floating ich, and keep the tang in my refugium which is currently empty. Makes sense to me but I could be wrong.

[TimT]

Don't put the tang into fw from a Killi tank. It's pH will be 6.7 to 7.0 while the pH of the marine tank is 8.2. You need to add some buffer to bring the pH of the FW up to that of the saltwater.

When doing a fw bath you need to ALWAYS MATCH the temperature and the pH. Otherwise the fish will go into shock and may die.

[Brandon5555]

Lol dont worry i havent buffered it yet, the eggs are on order from thailand

[naesco]

Unlike ich, Black ich is usually fish specific unless it is ignored for a long time.
By the freshwater dip the infected fish is cleaned and black dots do not appear on other fish.
At least that has been my experience.