# i just got an achilles tang for FREE



## manuelmedina (Oct 27, 2008)

yesterday i went to this fish store they are open only fridays and saturdays because they do more of maintence stuff with customers tanks and they set them up as well so selling fish is not their main business but they had this 6 in achilles tang that was ordered for a customer but was never picked up, the fish was there for 3 to 4 months and everytime i see it, it was full of ick really stressed out in that little tank so i asked the person in there, what is going to happen to this fish, he reply well i can't get rid of the ick but if you think you can, you can take it for free the fish is no good to me like this, so he put the fish in a bag and added 2 drops of cupramine and told me to add half of dose in my tank so the rest don't get ick as well so i did and right now they seem fine, no signs of scratching or ick at all, also the achilles seems more calm and eating lots of algea but what surprises me is that my powder blue is not aggressive at all with it, just doesn't like it when it goes into its home but no signs of aggression, so right now i am desperate to buy a bigger tank, 150 at least but can't find one just yet, right now they are in a 100 g but i think they'll be fine for a little while until i get a bigger tank will be posting pics soon


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## His Majesty (Apr 5, 2005)

that was risky puting a sick fish into your tank. would of never done it myself
its too early to tell if any of the others have got ick

sometimes you get lucky and the tangs don't fight. but i reckon it will eventually happen if you keep them in the 100g tank. definelty need to upgrade. tangs need room for lots of swimming and they do get territorial

keep us posted. hope everything goes well.


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## jman785 (May 8, 2005)

+1 , I agree with TriggerLover:

You need a small tank setup as a hospital tank for dosing...that way you don't waste meds on larger volumes of water, and fish that don't need the treatment...and you can keep corals safe as some medications aren't good for coral.


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## manuelmedina (Oct 27, 2008)

yea i know but everything happened so fast, it catched me off guard, i know 100 g is too small but i just can't find anything bigger then a 110 g but so far so good, no aggression at all, but i'll see what happens next, and i'll keep you guys posted


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

Im going to be as polite as possible, not use insults and avoid being banned...

I just punched myself in the crotch after reading this, why in the hell would you A) Put a sick fish in your display tank B) Put a 6" tang in a tank that size (you should live in your closet for a week and see how it feels!) C) Jeopardize everything (especially other tangs







) in your tank by adding said fish D)make all of your live rock and sand basically worthless by infesting them E) Medicate all your other fish and display (with copper







)tank wasting money, salt, time etc and stressing them out as well... Im getting bored of typing now so

You do know that ICH is prob now PERMANENTLY in your tank, living in the sand, rocks, and god knows what else... Not to mention will prob break out again, and most likely kill any slightly stressed or sick fish... And because you dosed your tank with copper, and its also in your rocks and sand you can no longer keep snails, hermits, shrimp, anemones, corals, etc in your tank... Are you even following the dosing on the bottle, and using a copper test kit like required or?

I can honestly say that the ignorance of some people astonishes me... Its really quite sad that your other fish have to suffer because of your impatience, and inability to properly handle the problem... this is like opening Pandora's box

If you would have taken 10 minutes to read and LEARN something (and not the hard way) you prob would have found (even using a simple google search for "Saltwater Ich, Cures" would work wonders!) that saltwater ich will almost COMPLETELY DROP OFF of your fish using a freshwater (hyposaline) dip, and wouldnt be in your sand and rock reproducing.... And you dont have to dose copper and kill all of your inverts (pods are inverts too!) severely crippling your tank filtration, and clean up crews...

Live and learn man, that was an expensive and amateur mistake.... Give us an update in a few weeks, maybe you will get lucky (like REALLLYYY lucky) and not have this bite you in the ass

Good luck


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## manuelmedina (Oct 27, 2008)

yea but the good thing is, i don't have any corals or live rock, i have artificial decorations, it's a fish only tank, yea like i said 100 g is too small for it but i think a 15 g was way smaller not to mention it lived there for 4 months, i felt bad for it cause it was always sick and not able to swim, and i know my other fishes will pay, but for only a couple of weeks, i have dealt with ich before and tried the freshwater dipping method but is not very effective and i didn't want to stress the fish more then it already was, but so far so good the ich is disappearing fast, almost gone, but i'll wait for the right time to remove the copper, and also its eating like a pig, well all of them are, i will not use any of the stuff in my old tank not even the water, i going to do everything all over again with my new tank, that was already planned before i even got this fish, so i am a bit ahead of everything, plus i never had a fish died of ich before


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

manuelmedina said:


> *yea but the good thing is*, i don't have any corals or live rock, i have artificial decorations, it's a fish only tank, yea like i said 100 g is too small for it but i think a 15 g was way smaller not to mention it lived there for 4 months, i felt bad for it cause it was always sick and not able to swim, and i know my other fishes will pay, but for only a couple of weeks, i have dealt with ich before and tried the freshwater dipping method but is not very effective and i didn't want to stress the fish more then it already was, but so far so good the ich is disappearing fast, almost gone, but i'll wait for the right time to remove the copper, and also its eating like a pig, well all of them are, i will not use any of the stuff in my old tank not even the water, i going to do everything all over again with my new tank, that was already planned before i even got this fish, so i am a bit ahead of everything, plus i never had a fish died of ich before


No, there is no "good" thing about it... You intentionally infected your display tank, and the Ich is "disappearing" fast because its life cycle on the host is coming to an end, now its in your tank reproducing and looking for other hosts. Copper treatment is only really effective in 1 of the 4 life stages of ich, and odds are yours are past that stage... The fresh water thing isnt effective? Uhhh... yeah...







You will wait for the right time to remove the copper? uh... sorry, odds are the decorations, sand, and silicone on your aquarium are perma saturated...

You need to do some reading... start here:

ICH lifecycle

The links under "Learn about:"
Treating ICH

Freshwater Bath 

You are a bit ahead of everything? I would get a proper sized tank for those tangs (Achilles can grow past 10", so a 10' long or huge footprint 300 gal), and think twice before you say you are "ahead" in this hobby... Thats when things sneak up and bite you


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## manuelmedina (Oct 27, 2008)

tangs do get large but 300 is good for them but not necessary facts are 150 g is a minimum and that's where i plan to keep them and like i said none of the stuff in my old tank will be going to the new tank, not even the water, sure i am not an expert but like i said none of my fish have died of ich, and i've kept them for 2 years plus the rest of my fish are still 3.5 in, i do appreciate your concern and i do appreciate also all your info but be sure they'll be fine as soon as their new home is ready


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## His Majesty (Apr 5, 2005)

these sorts of problems are all avoided buy not buying sick fish in the first place. unless you have an appropriate QT tank.
felling sorry for one fish does not mean you have to go and buy it and put the rest of your fish in danger of becoming infected.
as i said i would of never done it myself.
this situation is liking taking a small pocks patient and sticking him in a room full of healthy people.
you keep saying the rest of your fish are only 3 inches or so. but they will grow and get bigger then they all will be cramped in the tank and not be very happy.
i hope you reconsider your fish list or upgrade soon to a much bigger tank.

anyway good luck. hope everything works out for the best.


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

WoW...That wasn't a smart thing to do...it seems that what I would have said has been covered above.


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## manuelmedina (Oct 27, 2008)

yes i am in the process of upgrading and very soon it's just a matter of finding a new tank


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

Ok, so it has been about 12 days sense you added the fish... The tomont to tomite stage of ICH can take from 3 to 28 days depending on temperature...

Whats the update? Seeing another outbreak?


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## manuelmedina (Oct 27, 2008)

Skunkbudfour20 said:


> Ok, so it has been about 12 days sense you added the fish... The tomont to tomite stage of ICH can take from 3 to 28 days depending on temperature...
> 
> Whats the update? Seeing another outbreak?


no signs of it, no scratching seems like it was never introduce to the tank, wondering if it was ich after all, want to post pics from my cell but i can't they are too big


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## Raptor (Jan 3, 2003)

Get a photobuckett account to load them pics. 
I never reccomend to directly add any fish to the display. A good QT tank is a must when all the other factors come in to play. Not good to treat a tank with copper esp when theres liverock sand.
A achilles tang is a hard to keep fish and a fishkeeper that has a couple years exp with hard to keep marines is a good start. They are very poor at taking to aquarium life, and keeping them them long term.
I would not keep one under a 300 gallon.


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