Blue Tang Sick

[Eb0la11]

Hey guys,

so my blue tang seems to develop white spots every now and again but they always go away after a couple days. This has been going on periodically for the last 6 months or so. He's probably had it happen 4-5 times total, so once a month or so it seems like.

But right now it seems to be the worst I've seen it.

I was thinking of maybe just feeding the whole tank a portion of garlic soaked food as it will be almost impossible to feed only him garlic soaked food.

Is this ok for the other healthy fish? What do you guys think I should do? Quarantining him is out of the question right now as I will have no chance in catching him without tons of stress as there are way too many hiding spots.

[naesco]

Originally Posted by Eb0la11

Hey guys,

so my blue tang seems to develop white spots every now and again but they always go away after a couple days. This has been going on periodically for the last 6 months or so. He's probably had it happen 4-5 times total, so once a month or so it seems like.

But right now it seems to be the worst I've seen it.

I was thinking of maybe just feeding the whole tank a portion of garlic soaked food as it will be almost impossible to feed only him garlic soaked food.

Is this ok for the other healthy fish? What do you guys think I should do? Quarantining him is out of the question right now as I will have no chance in catching him without tons of stress as there are way too many hiding spots.

Are you talking about a powder blue tang?
If suspect the white spots are ich they will pass on to the other fish.
Feed only garlic extract/extreme soaked food to all the fish. You need to to overfeed.
The ich will fall off the fish but you cannot stop feeding as the ich is still in the tank and reattach if you stop. That is why you are getting a rebound.

[kien]

I have been feeding all of my healthy fish garlic soaked food for the past year now. Actually, I am now starting to mince in raw garlic or garlic extract with with the fish food blend that I make.

For what it is worth, my blue tang does the exact same thing. Gets ich flare ups every now and again. Although he hasn't in a longer period now.. usually happens when new fish are added. You can also buy nori that is fortified with garlic so if he really likes nori you could try that too but garlic extract is probably a better bet. My question would be, is there such a thing as too much garlic?

[Coleus]

I don't think there is any harm to feed other fish garlic extract/extreme soaked food.

I feed all my fish though none has ich

[Eb0la11]

Alright, where can I get garlic extreme or extract?

[naesco]

Originally Posted by Eb0la11

Alright, where can I get garlic extreme or extract?

You can get Garlic Extreme from a LFS. Choose that brand as I suspect some of the others are watered down.
You can get liquid garlic extract from a health food store. Read the label as some brands add other stuff to it.

[Wingin It]

I read on reefcentral that people have also been buying garlic extract from the grocery store. They said that it has minimal preservatives in it but that it was not much more than what's in fish food?
I have no idea if this is even a good idea, but maybe someone else can chime in here and set it straight. I wanted to try some, but i'm on the fence.

[naesco]

Originally Posted by Wingin It

I read on reefcentral that people have also been buying garlic extract from the grocery store. They said that it has minimal preservatives in it but that it was not much more than what's in fish food?
I have no idea if this is even a good idea, but maybe someone else can chime in here and set it straight. I wanted to try some, but i'm on the fence.

I would think that a preservative would preserve the anti-fungal and anti-ich properties of the garlic 'ingredient' that makes garlic extract work and would therefor be beneficial.

I would use garlic without hesitation in the case of ich infestation.
I would also use it without hesitation when I am adding new fish to the tank as a preventative.

I would not use it as a daily feeding protocol because the jury is out on whether their would be any long term risk in using preservatives. Just my opinion.

[Eb0la11]

Hmmm, well I'll probably feed it for a week or two until he can be nursed back to health - hopefully.

[Eb0la11]

Hes rubbing a lot on rocks and sand. They do this with Ich, right?