Disease ID Help

[reslawski1]

Hi, I have an Atlantic blue tang that looks like he has velvet but eats phenomenally itches looks like he has dust on him and doesn’t align with velvet ich or brooklynella and has had it for about a week and as a first effort to try to help a little I got a cleaner shrimp and the shrimp doesn’t seem to be doing much. Could someone help please diagnose my fish he seems to be the only one who has it. I’ve also been trying to catch him to put him in the 40 gal quarantine tank to no avail.

 

[mcarroll]

That's hard to read, tell me if I have this right...

The fish has spots or dust on it, but is eating well.

What is it eating? Why kind of tank is it in? How is it acting in general?

Catching fish out of a reef tank is always not optimal – it can cause more stress to the fish, the owner and the other fish than it's worth in some cases. Keep that in mind and do everything you can to minimize disturbances and stress during your operations. Maybe that means deconstructing the rock so there's significantly less chasing and potential for injury. Maybe it means try lots of different traps and/or bait. Etc.

One tip: Nets are really not great for catching fish. They can be handy for steering them into something though.

 

[reslawski1]

That's hard to read, tell me if I have this right...

The fish has spots or dust on it, but is eating well.

What is it eating? Why kind of tank is it in? How is it acting in general?

Catching fish out of a reef tank is always not optimal – it can cause more stress to the fish, the owner and the other fish than it's worth in some cases. Keep that in mind and do everything you can to minimize disturbances and stress during your operations. Maybe that means deconstructing the rock so there's significantly less chasing and potential for injury. Maybe it means try lots of different traps and/or bait. Etc.

One tip: Nets are really not great for catching fish. They can be handy for steering them into something though.

It is a 120 gallon macro/coral softie tank and the fish paces sometimes explores the tank other times, itches, and twitches occasionally, has the aforementioned dust on it but this disease only seems to be visible on my tang and maybe my coral beauty angel but it’s way harder to tell on the coral beauty, and I completely understand I had previously put all of the fish in a qt 40 gallon before and thought I had cured this before with cuprimine, it did not show any of these symptoms as the sickness seemed to wear down and the display was fallow for a good couple months (I had to be sure) to no avail because after I put the fish back into the display it or rather something different seemed to display itself on my Atlantic blue, before it looked like little black specs and not there aren’t any more black specs just dusting that seems to be growing. And the fishes main diet currently consists of mermaid blend which has an assortment of different foods for fish and coral a like.

 

[mcarroll]

I had previously put all of the fish in a qt 40 gallon before and thought I had cured this before with cuprimine

If cupramine is chelated, then this is a treatment I wonder about in some cases....it's copper, but not straight copper.....and straight copper is what all the studies have been done on over decades to validate that copper really works to the level we need. Chelated copper is largely untested, so evidence (as good as it seems) is almost all anecdotal. Breakthrough is what I think they call it where a treatment falls "just short" of effective and a significant number of parasites "break through" the treatment. Chelated copper should be suspected of higher levels of breakthrough than straight copper.

the display was fallow for a good couple months (I had to be sure)

>60 days is good according to most estimates I've seen, but this is another aspect of QT that I think folks tend to lean on maybe too heavily. A good measure in concept to be sure, but not very precise and impossible for us to validate at home....we think it works, but how do you know? That takes more detective work if you want to be sure.

to no avail because after I put the fish back into the display it or rather something different seemed to display itself on my Atlantic blue, before it looked like little black specs and not there aren’t any more black specs just dusting that seems to be growing.

I think there are more factors worth considering.

Although it's my all time favorite standard tank, 120 gallons (4x2x2) is not that big a tank. The way I look at it is that it's a large-but-stubby tank with a small tank's swimming length. So I'm wondering about swimming room, living space, sleeping space and thus stress levels for the fish. High average stress means high average susceptibility in the tank, on an ongoing basis. Usually over the long term stressful situation degrades further too....so eventually the "low" fish succumbs to the repeated stresses and starts shutting down, showing symptoms. In this kind of case, it'll always be something, even if it's not ich or velvet.

Stress causes disease, and it's hard to know how bad stress is in a lot of cases. It's a factor that often gets glossed over completely.

Can you get some good photos under white lights to show the fish in question?

If you have the ability, I would consider adding UV, micron and/or ozone filtration to your system while you sort this out. Possibly also check into Ruby Reef Rally.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi, I have an Atlantic blue tang that looks like he has velvet but eats phenomenally itches looks like he has dust on him and doesn’t align with velvet ich or brooklynella and has had it for about a week and as a first effort to try to help a little I got a cleaner shrimp and the shrimp doesn’t seem to be doing much. Could someone help please diagnose my fish he seems to be the only one who has it. I’ve also been trying to catch him to put him in the 40 gal quarantine tank to no avail.

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

A couple of things first - while cleaner shrimp do clean some parasites from fish, they won't actually control a disease outbreak. Also, if this fish has a contagious disease, moving it to the 40 gallon won't help the other exposed fish - they would need to be treated as well.

In the video, the fish is moving very fast, so it is tough to get a good view. It doesn't have velvet - that causes rapid breathing and not eating, almost from day one. If you can see distinct white pinhead spots, then it likely has ich. If the fish scratches a lot on various surfaces, it is likely to have flukes.

I know getting good photos/videos is tough, but we really need that for a proper diagnosis. If you can't do that, I recently posted a short article on self-diagnosis of diseases:

Self-Diagnosis of Common Marine Fish Diseases

Self-Diagnosis of Common Marine Fish Diseases Jay Hemdal, c. 2025 Misdiagnosing fish diseases often leads to ineffective treatments, which can result in the loss of fish. Early and accurate diagnosis is critical for successful treatment. While the Fish Medics at Reef2Reef are trained to...

www.reef2reef.com

If I had to guess (and I don't like to do that) I'd say the fish has flukes. That is one disease that can be treated with the fish and invertebrates in place using praziquantel:

Dosing Praziquantel (PZQ)

Using Praziquantel (PZQ) to treat flukes Overview In the early 1990’s, a researcher at the New York Aquarium published a paper on using Praziquantel (PZQ) to help control flukes, a parasitic flatworm. Also known as monogenean trematodes, these fish parasites can cause significant mortality in...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[reslawski1]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

A couple of things first - while cleaner shrimp do clean some parasites from fish, they won't actually control a disease outbreak. Also, if this fish has a contagious disease, moving it to the 40 gallon won't help the other exposed fish - they would need to be treated as well.

In the video, the fish is moving very fast, so it is tough to get a good view. It doesn't have velvet - that causes rapid breathing and not eating, almost from day one. If you can see distinct white pinhead spots, then it likely has ich. If the fish scratches a lot on various surfaces, it is likely to have flukes.

I know getting good photos/videos is tough, but we really need that for a proper diagnosis. If you can't do that, I recently posted a short article on self-diagnosis of diseases:

Self-Diagnosis of Common Marine Fish Diseases

Self-Diagnosis of Common Marine Fish Diseases Jay Hemdal, c. 2025 Misdiagnosing fish diseases often leads to ineffective treatments, which can result in the loss of fish. Early and accurate diagnosis is critical for successful treatment. While the Fish Medics at Reef2Reef are trained to...

www.reef2reef.com

If I had to guess (and I don't like to do that) I'd say the fish has flukes. That is one disease that can be treated with the fish and invertebrates in place using praziquantel:

Dosing Praziquantel (PZQ)

Using Praziquantel (PZQ) to treat flukes Overview In the early 1990’s, a researcher at the New York Aquarium published a paper on using Praziquantel (PZQ) to help control flukes, a parasitic flatworm. Also known as monogenean trematodes, these fish parasites can cause significant mortality in...

www.reef2reef.com

I completely understand I just got home and my fish now looks like this I treated the whole aquarium with Prazi-pro for flukes if that’s what it is and not a whole lot as changed however a day after I used it there were multiple white dots on him

 

[reslawski1]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

A couple of things first - while cleaner shrimp do clean some parasites from fish, they won't actually control a disease outbreak. Also, if this fish has a contagious disease, moving it to the 40 gallon won't help the other exposed fish - they would need to be treated as well.

In the video, the fish is moving very fast, so it is tough to get a good view. It doesn't have velvet - that causes rapid breathing and not eating, almost from day one. If you can see distinct white pinhead spots, then it likely has ich. If the fish scratches a lot on various surfaces, it is likely to have flukes.

I know getting good photos/videos is tough, but we really need that for a proper diagnosis. If you can't do that, I recently posted a short article on self-diagnosis of diseases:

Self-Diagnosis of Common Marine Fish Diseases

Self-Diagnosis of Common Marine Fish Diseases Jay Hemdal, c. 2025 Misdiagnosing fish diseases often leads to ineffective treatments, which can result in the loss of fish. Early and accurate diagnosis is critical for successful treatment. While the Fish Medics at Reef2Reef are trained to...

www.reef2reef.com

If I had to guess (and I don't like to do that) I'd say the fish has flukes. That is one disease that can be treated with the fish and invertebrates in place using praziquantel:

Dosing Praziquantel (PZQ)

Using Praziquantel (PZQ) to treat flukes Overview In the early 1990’s, a researcher at the New York Aquarium published a paper on using Praziquantel (PZQ) to help control flukes, a parasitic flatworm. Also known as monogenean trematodes, these fish parasites can cause significant mortality in...

www.reef2reef.com

Also here’s a few photos because the videos that I have been posting with aren’t playing at all which is really frustrating I took them and posted them with an iPhone 15

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I completely understand I just got home and my fish now looks like this I treated the whole aquarium with Prazi-pro for flukes if that’s what it is and not a whole lot as changed however a day after I used it there were multiple white dots on him

What day did you dose the Prazipro? (How many days ago?) Was it a full dose?

The fish still looks like it has flukes - it has cloudy skin and is posturing in front of the shrimp for cleaning.