uv light?

mariobrothersleeve

mariobrothersleeve

squirrel
Alright, i know all the debate on not running a uv light but this is my thoughts. Good vs bad, im not able to put another fish in because they will get ick. They are completely healthy fish and it is all my tank. I am not going to run my tank dry for months due to my mandarin and all the fish that have been in my tank have been there from the beginning. I figured if a demanding mandarin can survive great in my tank everything else will. I takes about 2 months till the fish breaks out, i tried garlic but im stuck in a rut. The fish (the last 2) have eaten until they are dead, so i am unsure if im even treating right. I tried a mt, but they typically ram their heads into the glass until i cant handle it anymore. Please feel free to suggest anything.
 
Do you have any fish other than the ones in your signature? When you've added another fish, is it all the fish that get sick or only certain ones?
 
Minus the pbt. Just the new ones coming in. I thought it was just the first fish...... But when you have a pattern of all new fish? Ive gone threw a sand sifter, hippo, damsel, and the pbt. They are intoduced via drip method of 2hrs. All the others seem to be happy when new comers are there. My cole tang looks upset that he lost his buddy.
 
The tangs at least (minus the Kole, obviously) are most likely getting ich because your tank isn't big enough for them.

I don't like UV lights. They don't discriminate between good and bad and just kill all the little things that end up passing through them.
 
I can agree with that, but why the others? I got the pbt out of a local reefers sump that had frags in it and about 6g of total water. He lived in there for a year, so i am un certain that my 4 ft tank killed him. Same as an 8g with clowns right? Dont they need at least 20g? Im not here to argue the point of gallons per fish or size of tank for fish, there is something im overlooking in my system.
 
I'd blame it on the stress of the move, then. Catching, transport and acclimating the fish are the most stressful thing they can go through, which can kick off an ich outbreak.

And personal attacks are completely unnecessary. My clowns are happy and healthy. If you're going to flaunt the rules of the hobby, do it in a smart way. Clowns in the wild stick to a very small home territory. Tangs swim miles and miles a day.
 
When I started, I really wanted a PBT. I read up a lot on them and discovered that of the acanthurus species, they tend to need a huge amount of swimming room because they have very large territory ranges in the wild. I also read that they were ich magnets and would get ich at the drop of a hat. I'm really surprised it lived in the other guy's sump for so long! Everything I've read said they need at least a 6ft tank long term. Anyhow, neither here nor there at the this point.

Have you gotten all of the new fish from the same store?
 
No, i have not. Ive gotten them from from 4 different stores and a couple of peoples basements! I cant rid the problem if i dont clear it out. I run a uv light on my pond year round, but i am aware they are 2 completely different animals. At what risks am i at when i run a uv light? Right now im at a complete loss when i cant even get a damsel alive for 2 months, but all the other fish are happy? No outbreaks with the clowns, cole, or mandarin. Would a 4in clown be a stress ingredent?
 
What kind of clowns? If its a maroon clown then yes I think it is possible, but its pretty hard for me to imagine something stressing out a damsel.... The tangs I understand, but not the damsel. Have you thought about putting new fish in a separate holding tank for a few weeks just to get them eating and happy before adding them to your system? Not exactly quarantining them but more conditioning them and making sure they are healthy... As for the UV light, its probably not going to harm anything, but will kill good stuff like swimming plankton and copepods which could deplete the food source for the mandarin over time. I think the bigger "if" is whether it will help anything. UV only kills stuff in the water that passes through it, and ich lives part of its life cycle in the substrate which won't pass through the UV, and its not a guarantee that all of the water will make it through the UV either. Its just really not a sure-fire way to get rid of ich. I totally appreciate that you don't want to take everything out of the tank because of the mandarin, and I'd probably make the same decision!
 
I think Erin pretty much has you covered on this one. PBT are freaking ich magnets as well, so it really doesn't take much to stir it up in them.

I don't think that a UV is a bad idea. I run one, but only off one of my returns, so I still have pods entering my system alive through the other one.

Oh, and Clowns needs are not nearly as great as those of the Tang.
 
I just ordered one from emperor equatics, a 25w and im going to give it a try and see where i get. Its rated for 788gph so i think my return will work well.
I went to the gbr last yr, i seen a pair of maroons in a nem. It was an amazing sight, but the nem was all of my size, im 6,3 215lbs. The tangs that are there are bigger than my body( but not pretty as the ones in our tanks) what im trying to say is we all have excuses why our fish can be in our tanks and honestly the shouldnt be there because of the amount of volumn of water they do live in.
A 6ft tank is unrealistic in my house and probably my next, i by far am understocked in my tank and all the fish ive been bringing in that die does no justice for the amount of husbandtry ive been doing.
 
I understand what you are saying. However, you asked a straight up question, and got straight forward answers. A 72 gallon tank really is not big enough for any Tang. Taking into consideration the live rock, that leaves maybe 50 gallons of water in the tank. Clowns by nature are not active, roaming swimmers thus they can be happy in smaller tanks.

Now, back to the ich. It is most likely a combo of stress, and the parasite already living in your tank. Introducing a stressed Tang, especially a PBT will cause you to see it. It will remain in the tank until it dies off. Most likely, the UV will not kill it off, it will only take care of whatever passes though the unit itself.
 
Your fish are hosting the parasite even the kole tang. You are just not seeing the results on the kole or the others because they are healthy enough to fight it like fasterd400 is saying. The uv light will only impact parasites, bacteria, algae spores that are free floating in the water and pass through the light. It will not cure ich. With that said, I have seen healthy systems with or without uv so I can't argue either side. Good luck and I hope it helps you!
http://www.chucksaddiction.com/ich.html
 
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And kole tangs are smaller tang species that will do okay in a 4ft tank long-term. Same as the mimic tangs and a few of the other ctenochaetus tangs. But the larger tangs and even some moderate sized tangs swim up to 20 miles a day in the wild and are just more at home in a larger tank. I'm sorry this has turned into a tang debate as I know that wasn't the intention of your thread, and I hope this doesn't come across as bashing. Tangs are just finicky fish. Some are easier to care for and more readily adapt to our tanks than others. Kole tangs are one of the easier species, while the PBT is notorious for being a difficult species to maintain long term in a tank. And then of course its always luck of the draw beyond that and individual fish temperments. Its a tough call. If you were to add another fish now, what are some of the ones you'd think of adding?
 
I dont even know.... I do like the yellow tang. If the fish was stressed, it had to come from the last year of its life. I cant believe i took it home, but i wanted to give it better conditions than what it was in. Im just looking for personal experiences out there on uv lights and weather or not they worked for them. Your right fishy, i guess we got a little side tracked on pbt life styles and not on my origional question on uv lighting. I just decided to google it and got more answers than a 4ft tank and pbt being the issue.
 
salt_for_brains said:
Your fish are hosting the parasite even the kole tang. You are just not seeing the results on the kole or the others because they are healthy enough to fight it like fasterd400 is saying. The uv light will only impact parasites, bacteria, algae spores that are free floating in the water and pass through the light. It will not cure ich. With that said, I have seen healthy systems with or without uv so I can't argue either side. Good luck and I hope it helps you!
Marine Ich
Click to expand...

Best article yet sfb! I believe everyone should read it because this whole conversation was pointly until this article. Thanks a bunch
 
This is what I have Experienced, I have Ich In my system that is for sure, Only real way to get rid of it is to treat the tank or remove all fish for about 2 to 3 months. I Have not done any. I just make sure all my water parameters are in check and everyone is well fed and happy.

This is what I would do and have done. Wait until the last signs of ich have gone from any and all your current fish, Even if one just died wait. So after all that goes away wait atleast a couple months with current fish in there still. as long as your current fish do not show signs of ich then the ich eggs should have all hatched and the free swimming ich should have all died out since it wont attach itself to your current healthy fish. You can then try adding another fish after that time has past. The reason I say wait is that a new fish will be stressed when introduced to a new tank, there for if there's free swimming ich it will attach it self to the new fish far faster.

Now figure this is not a sure fire way cause your current fish do have ich atm. But as long as they don't stress out over the new addition the ich should not breed and create the eggs we see as white spots and then fall and become free-swimming again.

I have seen this happen in my tank before and is why I say I know it to be true. And like I said ther eis ich in my system. One time all my fish where fine for about 3 weeks with no sign of ich and I added a new kole tang and he got sick with in 3 days and then died a couple days later. After that I waited 3 months before adding anything to the tank, then I added a sailfin tang and yellow tang at the same time and did not get an ich out break at all. A couple months later ( Not to long ago ) I added a Atlantic Blue tang who was fine for the first week, then he started attacking my other fish and they got ich over the stress. The ABT never did get it. I removed the Atlantic Blue and all my fish recovered but my sailfin died from the injuries and he just could not recover. Well After this all my fish where fine for about a month and I got I chance I could not pass up on a reef safe heniocus, I should have known better but I added him to the tank and he did get ich for a couple days and then was fine since the fish all got along. My other fish did not break out again. I know if I would have waited 3 months with this fish he provably would not have gotten ich since the introduction was really smooth and there would have not ben any free-swimming ich if I would have waited.

Sorry for the long explanation this is just what I have experienced and I believe it to be true.

On another note I do think the UV will help get rid of the freeswiming ich faster, but it all depends where you place the intake pump. In the display would be best as the ich will be more likely to get sucked in as if it where in the sump.
 
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