Couple questions of my achilles

[untamed]

You haven't mentioned doing anything drastic to stop the ich...so it will be back in cycles until eventually it is just always there. Achilles seem to have no defense to ich. Mine has been like that for over a year now.

As for the fins...sounds like he has had a run-in with some other fish. I assume that the pecking order has now been established and the damage should heal quickly as long as he is eating well.

[reefy]

Originally Posted by untamed

You haven't mentioned doing anything drastic to stop the ich...so it will be back in cycles until eventually it is just always there. Achilles seem to have no defense to ich. Mine has been like that for over a year now.

As for the fins...sounds like he has had a run-in with some other fish. I assume that the pecking order has now been established and the damage should heal quickly as long as he is eating well.

OMG it seems that you are a very experienced guy!!! everything you said, thats is exactly what is going on!!! yeah the ich is back hehe..

[Skimmerking]

hopfully Marie will chime in there she has had her Achillies for a longtime now 6-7 years and her's is a beast and healthy too. Mine a long time ago was always getting Ich i just fed Garlic and Nori and it stopped it for a bit.

[nanoreefer]

ick dos not go away with feeding garlic ect, its still in the tank and if the fish get stressed or week it comes back, only way to cure it is to QT the fish and treat with hypo or copper, and keep the main tank fish free for two+ months

[Skimmerking]

yes nano reefer i know that i was saying that it would take it away.

[marie]

Originally Posted by asmodeus

hopfully Marie will chime in there she has had her Achillies for a longtime now 6-7 years and her's is a beast and healthy too. ...

More like 2 or 3 years Mike
I don't have anything more to add then what untamed has said. My Achilles has never really had a problem with ich though. Seeing any ich on him is rare and when he does have spots at the most there are only 3 or 4

[wickedfrags]

Looks very healthy for that long in captivity. If ich came and went.......well it will be back, that's how ick works once active in a closed system. That being said, the fact that he is eating both frozen food and nori is excellent. Signs he should do quite well regardless of a little ick. Congrats on a great fish.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

When you see ich (white spots), its already ruptured or close to it and now in the tank by the thousands or about to be. The white spots are basically 'pregnant' or ruptured ich. You cannot see ich when it is burrowed in the fishes skin and feeding. Seeing no white spots means absolutely nothing.

So...quite often people see the white spots come and then go within a few days and think ich is gone or 'better'. By this time, your fish can be absolutely covered in ich but you won't see it.

What I am getting at is that you only know your 'ahead' of the ich once you don't see many white spots for a long time. I find that if you keep the fish stress free and don't add new fish to its tank for a few months, the number of white spots you see will lessen and lessen to a manageable number. Just watch for stress like rubbing or heavy breathing. That's when you need to start treating as they can go downhill very fast at this point. But as long as he is acting fine and eating, let him fight it off. If I were lucky enough to get an Achilles tang happy and even thriving in my tank, I would probably never add new tankmates. Even with my hippo, new fish to the tank mean a month or two of severe ich for him

Seems like he is doing ok though

[reefy]

I have 3 cleaner, 2 fire shrimps and 1 cleaner wrasse would that help?