Problems With Fish

[Pazzoman]

Hey everybody,

Well my cousin has a 65 gallon saltwater aquarium. He had it for the past three months. In his tank he has a few tangs, clowns and shrimp. He's notice that the tangs especially have been sick with ick. In his tank their is live rock and crushed coral as it's substrate. He has regular lighting and special lighting for the rocks. He has a wet dry filter, heater,pump but no protein skimmer. Is the problem caused because the absence of the skimmer? He is about to purchase a quarantine tank for the tangs, thanks in advance also any suggestions will help greatly...

 

[_Jessica_]

How many and what kind of tangs?

As we know, ich is usually induced by stress. Tangs don't tend to fair well in tanks smaller than 100g (yellow tang maybe the exception)...they need a lot of swimming space or they become stressed. Tangs are also very sensitive to nitrates (which will cause stress if they become elevated). The protein skimmer will definitely help in that aspect, but long term success with the tangs in smaller tanks isn't great. Sorry to hear he is going through this, I hope the tangs make it through.