Spots on Purple Tang

[mediabox]

I noticed my Purple Tang having some very subtle spots on him. Anyone know what this is or what it will develop into. I don't think he had them just the other day. He's behaviour hasn't changed, still eats and seems all normal.

I did a water change so far and even b4 that the water params were:

Amonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0.07
Ca: 400
alk: 3.75meq/l
Salinity: 1.024
Temp: 83.5

The temp was a bit higher than normal. It usually is 81-82. Would too high temp cause this? What is it?

Thanks,

Jay

[reefermike1]

looks like ich to me. how long have u had him? have u added new fish recently? its pretty common with tangs to get it, and if theyre healthy they can usually overcome it. feed him nori soaked in garlic for a week or until it clears up, and get a skunk cleaner shrimp if u dont have one aready. good luck

[mediabox]

I added a flame angel just last week, no QT. I know... I just don't have room for one... I guess I could if I really tried...

[Bono]

could just be sand on him...every night mine wakes up coved in white spots but loses them throughout the day. It freaked me out at first but after 2 months of this now I am not worried.

[Loverotties]

Your tank is to small anyway for him.Needs to be in 100 gal.+.Bono's had what people call morning ick.Garlic added to his food can sometimes help.Your temp is high and could have caused it or stress from the new fish.You really need to put him in a QT and a bigger tank.

[crvz]

The tank (assuming its the 46 that you've got linked in the signature) is a wee small for a tang like that, which could add to the stress of the fish. Most likely getting him comfortable would solve the problem, if it is ich, and feeding with garlic/selcon soaked food may help.

[mediabox]

Lesson learned. I should have done my reading on them before purchasing. I will try nursing back to health (nori + garlic, no QT) and if it doesn't look good I'll give him back to the LFS.

He is a smaller specimen, about 2.4" so he isn't quite as large. Question that remains, is that really ich. I did some googling and ich looked more like a light dusting of salt or something. In any case, I will begin ich treatment today as I don't think garlic will hurt anything.

Any good links with pics of fish diseases.

[Ricky@3rdshift]

Oh Red Sea Purple Tang. Looks like ich

Ricky

[reefermike1]

if it sticks on him its likely ich imo. the cleaner shrimp really will help though if u dont have one already!

[mediabox]

Got some Kyolic® Aged Garlic Extract from GNC liquid form and some seaweed from the refrigerated section at some asian store. I soaked their last meal (mysis) with the garlic and put the seaweed on a clip.

Have a skunk cleaner but haven't seen any cleaning going on. When I got the tang new the skunk literally jumped him but the tang didn't want anything to do with him. The cleaner is about the same size as the tang and not sure he can really clean him without dragging him down.

[Hop]

Really the garlic has been shown only to stimulate appetite, not repel nor kill ich. The reality is that if you get the tang through this bump in the road, he or other fish may become infected again in three to six weeks. The only true way to rid the ich is to get all the fish in quarantine and leave the tank fishless for six to eight weeks. This will allow the tank to free itself of ich by interrupting the ichs life cycle. It will not be able to reproduce if there is no fish host.

Many people are able to keep fighting off the ich by keeping their fish healthy, but allow the life cycle of the parasite to continue inside the tank. If at anytime one of the fish takes a decline in health it can easily become infected again.

As far as the fish goes, I prefer to treat with hyposalinity in a hospital tank for six to eight weeks. Here is a good link on hyposalinity.
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/tr...osalinity.html

[mediabox]

Hop, I like that idea. I have 2 small 1" clowns, 2" flame angel, and the 2.4" purple tang. I already have a 10G. Should I get something bigger?

So I can leave my feather duster, skunk shrimp, frogspawn, green star polyp, snails, hermits, bristle worm, and mushrooms in the display? They don't need to be in the QT tank right?

Regarding the QT tank. I've found http://www.marineaquariumadvice.com/...odology_2.html and will follow it. Question I have is the bio filtration. I have a canister for the display tank w/ some carbon and substrate like stuff, can I use that or should I get a bio wheel? As for water, is 100% water from the display tank okay, then start hypo soon after.

As a more long term concern is how would I prevent ich from coming into the tank in the future? QT and hypo/copper any new fish? My LFS already use copper and tell me do dump all the water b4 putting the fish in. Would inverts bring ich into a tank?

How about Kent Marine RX-P or Kick-ich so I don't have to do any of the above?

As a side note I think another stressor was some party i had last week. Had some kids smacking the glass all day and one of them even put coke ladened ice cubes and stuff in the refugium.

[Hop]

Hop, I like that idea. I have 2 small 1" clowns, 2" flame angel, and the 2.4" purple tang. I already have a 10G. Should I get something bigger?

Make sure everyone has a good hiding space. I use a lot of PVC pieces in mine to give everyone some space. A 20 or 30 gallon would be better, but stay up on your waterchanges, following the hypo instructions to the letter.

So I can leave my feather duster, skunk shrimp, frogspawn, green star polyp, snails, hermits, bristle worm, and mushrooms in the display? They don't need to be in the QT tank right?

Yup, they will be fine in the display as they are not hosts to the parasite.

Regarding the QT tank. I've found http://www.marineaquariumadvice.com/...odology_2.html and will follow it. Question I have is the bio filtration. I have a canister for the display tank w/ some carbon and substrate like stuff, can I use that or should I get a bio wheel? As for water, is 100% water from the display tank okay, then start hypo soon after.

That link seems good. The one I posted above has the same philosophy, but I think goes into greater detail of why The cannister should be fine. I use a HOT magnum on my quarantine tank, but without the carbon. In fact it's the perfect idea as it's colonized with bacteria from running on your other tank And yes, 100% water from the display is fine. I have not had to quarantine a fish from the display in almost four years, but all new arrivals hit the q-tank. I fill it with tank water and call it a water change for the display

As a more long term concern is how would I prevent ich from coming into the tank in the future? QT and hypo/copper any new fish? My LFS already use copper and tell me do dump all the water b4 putting the fish in. Would inverts bring ich into a tank?

I just quarantine everything that comes in. The quarantine period, for me, is just a observations period for 6 weeks. During that time I just observe them. If I notice anything then I treat accordingly and then start the six weeks over again. Be careful with the copper, you should not use it on scaleless fish such as tangs... Or so I read somewhere.

As a side note I think another stressor was some party i had last week. Had some kids smacking the glass all day and one of them even put coke ladened ice cubes and stuff in the refugium.

I usually stand in front of the tank with a couple cold ones and a big fly swatter



With this said, some people definitely believe the exact opposite as me in regards to q-ing new arrivals. Some people feel it's more stressful. But about 4 years ago I had a white cheek tang come in that looked healthy and when I woke the next morning he was dead, covered in marine velvet and all my other fish were infected. I could only catch one of about 25 fish and lost all of them by 5pm... Nearly 2K in fish. Since then I would rather keep a healthy display and take the risk in the q-tank So I guess I'm rather opinionated

[russbriscoe]

HOP i have got some ich in my newetup. I didnt qt, because it was new... well now i have 12 fish, two star fish, two corals, and snails... what should i do?

[mediabox]

russbriscoe, sounds like a big tank. Anyhow here is a good link that seems to sum up ich:

http://www.reefland.com/forum/marine...-breakout.html

Well I spent Labor day making a 20G acrylic tank since I figure the fish will be in there for a while. Hopefully it doesn't leak *anymore* and will put the fish in this evening. If so, they will go into a 10G and may transfer to 20G later. The tang spots now look like genuine ich (salt sprinkles) and he now has it on his fins. My flame angel also got it yesterday, just a few spots.