Marine Itch

KurtG wrote:

My tang has been itching itself for weeks/months, and often allows the
4-stripe damsels to "chew" on him. However, he's a nut case anyway, so
I didn't worry about it (maybe a newbie error). Now my Coral Beauty has
some bright white dots on it, and it's starting to itch as well.

Could this be marine itch?

Sounds like ich (oodinimum). Has the tang been going through a cycle of this?
That is, does the tang exhibit symptoms for about a week and then have no
symptoms for about a week? And when the tang has no symptoms, do there seem to
be a bunch of very tiny white dots doing loops in the water?

If so, that's what you have.

Take *all* the fish out and transfer them to a hospital tank. Treat them there
with copper (I prefer "CopperSafe") and keep them there for 4 weeks to allow the
parasites in the main tank to die.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

Before you transfer your fish to another tank, take everything out so you
can catch them......
Or you can just medicate the water with Kent Rx P Parasite Treatment or
Mardel Fresh & Salt Water Maracide or Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Erythromycin.

What fish do you have again ?


"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:bGnjh.460$Ej7.258@trnddc02...
KurtG wrote:

My tang has been itching itself for weeks/months, and often allows the
4-stripe damsels to "chew" on him. However, he's a nut case anyway, so I
didn't worry about it (maybe a newbie error). Now my Coral Beauty has
some bright white dots on it, and it's starting to itch as well.

Could this be marine itch?

Sounds like ich (oodinimum). Has the tang been going through a cycle of
this? That is, does the tang exhibit symptoms for about a week and then
have no symptoms for about a week? And when the tang has no symptoms, do
there seem to be a bunch of very tiny white dots doing loops in the water?

If so, that's what you have.

Take *all* the fish out and transfer them to a hospital tank. Treat them
there with copper (I prefer "CopperSafe") and keep them there for 4 weeks
to allow the parasites in the main tank to die.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

TheRock wrote:
What fish do you have again ?

1 maroon clownfish
1 picula clownfish
3 blue damsels
1 mandarin
2 4 stripe damsels
1 coral beauty
1 6" yellow tang.

KurtG wrote:
TheRock wrote:
What fish do you have again ?

1 maroon clownfish
1 picula clownfish
3 blue damsels
1 mandarin
2 4 stripe damsels
1 coral beauty
1 6" yellow tang.

Also, a blue fin damsel. He's in the quarantine tank, but I might as
well treat them all at once.

TheRock wrote:

Or you can just medicate the water with Kent Rx P Parasite Treatment or
Mardel Fresh & Salt Water Maracide or Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Erythromycin.

I'm not familiar with the Kent stuff, but the other two are antibiotics. They
will do absolutely nothing to kill oodinium, which is a parasite, but they
*will* knock out all your nitrifying bacteria.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

This may be true BUT they all "claim" to fight Ich.
The dream of the quarantine tank is NOT realistic.
How do you get the fish out of the tank with 200lbs of rock and corals in
your way.

You need to treat the entire tank. At least that has been my experience.

Antibiotics will kill all bacteria true, but not all.
He's got pretty hardy fish, I wouldn't worry too much about it.


"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:S5zjh.1207$4e.677@trnddc04...
TheRock wrote:

Or you can just medicate the water with Kent Rx P Parasite Treatment or
Mardel Fresh & Salt Water Maracide or Aquarium Pharmaceuticals
Erythromycin.

I'm not familiar with the Kent stuff, but the other two are antibiotics.
They will do absolutely nothing to kill oodinium, which is a parasite, but
they *will* knock out all your nitrifying bacteria.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

TheRock wrote:
Before you transfer your fish to another tank, take everything out so you
can catch them......
Or you can just medicate the water with Kent Rx P Parasite Treatment or
Mardel Fresh & Salt Water Maracide or Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Erythromycin.

What fish do you have again ?


emycin won't do squat for any type of ich, AND it will crash your
biological filtration to boot!

George Patterson wrote:
Take *all* the fish out and transfer them to a hospital tank. Treat them
there with copper (I prefer "CopperSafe") and keep them there for 4
weeks to allow the parasites in the main tank to die.

Ack! It's funny as I just read about the value of a quarantine tank
about a week ago, and now that's been hit home. But, I probably picked
it up on the tang the first week that I had my tank and still a very
green newbie.

--Kurt

George Patterson wrote:
Sounds like ich (oodinimum). Has the tang been going through a cycle of
this? That is, does the tang exhibit symptoms for about a week and then
have no symptoms for about a week? And when the tang has no symptoms, do
there seem to be a bunch of very tiny white dots doing loops in the water?

Maybe. Tang does seem to go through periods when he itches furiously,
but then he doesn't seem to for awhile. Just when I think I should do
something, he seems to get better.

I only see the tiny white dots on the coral beauty. I've looked at the
yellow tang, but maybe it's obscured by the bright color because I can't
seem them.

As for the water and tiny dots, it appears so. I don't have a good
mechanical filter yet, so it's hard to say.

--Kurt

George Patterson wrote:

Sounds like ich (oodinimum).

Or it could be crypto. I have seen the two misdiagonsed as eachother
many times.

OOdinium looks more like the fish has been dipped in powdered sugar, but
you still see some distinct spots. Crypto is more distinct white spots,
with amore raised appearance.