# Sick Tang, please take a look at pic and help if you can



## knix

Okay, after adding a blue hippo 2 weeks ago, I believe I encountered ich on him. I tried treating with water changes and garlic but it got worst and spread to my clown and yellow. 

I set up a 25g quarantine tank and after much research decided I would treat in there with a product I had called nox-ich. 

Within one hour the blue hippo that took me a half hour to catch was dead Within a few more hours I started to notice brown marks on my yellow tang (see first pic). 

I tested the water and ammonia was sky high 1.0. I did big water change, tested again, still high. left it for a bit, now my clown was showing signs of its stress. Yellow tang fins eating away. I had to make a choice, keep them in the death trap of ammonia or put them back in my cycled tank with ich. Two more water changes and the ammonia would not go down. I am figuring the scars are ammonia burn. 

After an emergency visit to my LFS, we decided that instead of using copper in the quarantine tank and risking ammonia poisoning further I would buy a product called kick-ich. It is apparently safe for reef, live rock. I mix of review about it on google search some say works other say not. What are my options at this point?? 

So I got home switched them back to the display tank and they live over night. Yellow tang looks like he's pealing skin like a sun burn and grey eyes. Clown swimming at the top of tank. 

I leave for work for the day and now come home to a dead clown and tangs eyes look a little better but his fins are worse and the pealing of his skin is worse (see pic 2 & 3). 

What is the cause of this?? Ammonia burn?? Flux?? I need help!! I don't know what to do and obviously don't want to loose anymore fish, this is a hard lesson as it is.


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## reefsahoy

how old is your tank? has it cycled properly? are you saying the tang looked normal up until 1 hour after you put the hippo in? there is no way ich can attack the yellow tang that quickly so something else is going on. the ammonia is going to kill all in the tank. looks to me the tank is cycling and unless you remove the fish all will die, and it's probably too late to do anything but you should at least try to emove them and get them to a tank that is safe.


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## aquakid

perform an emergency 50% water change


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## bettababy

I need to ask for info about the medication you put into the tank. Can you list the ingredients please? This appears to be medication toxicity, among other things... and there may be nothing you can do at this point, but I first need to know what they were exposed to (ingredients in the meds).

Can you also list your water parameters for the tank they are in (new set of tests, please) for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, calcium, and spg/salinity? What other fish are left in the tank? inverts? 

Tank stats (size, water temp, filtration, lighting, etc) and any other information you can provide will help speed things up. I will do what I can to help you, but I'm not sure at this point there is much anyone can do.


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## onefish2fish

betta, 
i agree that this looks like alot of issues going on but please note this thread is old and was revived by aquakid. having said that, im going to asume this fish did not make it given their condition. ofcourse that is an educated guess and only that. 

however, for the benefit of everyone that does read this thread this event can be 100% avoided. although it can be hard, being patient is key. stock your tank when it is ready, and QT each fish, unless it has a good exception. 
coming up with a stocking list PRIOR to adding or buying any fish is a wise idea. this list should include everything you plan on buying as far as fish go for the tank, before you even buy them and in what order they will be added. this needs to be determined early on, before purchases. a bunch of research regarding what you wish to keep is important as well. 
i believe tangs also do not have a slime coat, or much of one so they tend to be one of the first fish to break out in illness. they also will fight with other tangs and they do have a razor on the back of their tail fin.


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## bettababy

Thanks for pointing out the date of the thread, I completely missed it. Sorry.

As long as this is an old thread and we're contributing now to add to the info data base here on FF for the benefit of all, then I should point out that I see both bacterial and fungal problems with this fish... I just hesitated to pinpoint it until knowing water conditions to avoid the OP from adding meds without advice on what is safe and what would work best. Not all meds are safe for all fish, which is one huge mistake made by many, way too often. 

I totally agree that patience is vital to success in this hobby, especially when dealing with marine animals that are still primarily wild caught. When mixing wild fish who come from different habitats they often bring in parasites, illness, and disease that fish from another area/habitat have no immunity to. (A big reason why we don't release these animals back into the wild) This makes the spread and treatment of such problems more difficult and can make for a more drastic and expensive end result. (either lots of $ spent on meds or lots of $ invested in dead fish) 

Quarantine for new fish beyond the first one is a must with marine fishes... and QT should last for 2 - 3 wks, which is usually enough time to detect signs of illness before risking the main tank. Less than this time period and illness/disease/parasites can be masked and easily missed... resulting in situations such as this one. 

I hope this OP has sought help since this happens, to avoid the same issues in the future.


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