I think i have black ich/worm , should i treat or erradicate

[ADHDan]

Hi, this year ive been slowly setting up a new 1000litre mixed reef tank, @ the minute the only lifestock i have is 3 chromis, 2 clownfish, a engineer goby and a blue hippo tang (+ turbo snails and hermit crabs /pods & chaeto refug) , no corals or shrimp.
I noticed black raised spots on side of the tang and he started flashing, i have setup a AIOnano tank to use as a hypo sickbay for the tang, (wish i had setup a qt at the start now), should i catch and remove the rest of the fish and hypo those as well just to be safe? the goby is mostly black and i wouldnt be able to see if he has infection or not, also would the clown fishes slime offer any protection from parasites? I would like to be rid of it (black spot) before i add any new livestock but i dont know how extreme i need to go to achieve this

Also, how quickly is it safe to lower the salinity? can i catch the fish and add them straight into hypo with the tang? assuming its safe to freshwater dip a fish then going from 1.023 to 1.010 is safe or? i read increasing the salinity back up should be done slowly over a few days but the drop is less of an issue?
thanks
Dan

 

[DrZoidburg]

I have treated fish with metronidazole and levamisole that also had crabs and urchins in the tank. These were emerald crabs. As for levamisole or praziquantel that could hurt some snails. In the past though if I remember right I treated a tank that had hermits. The hermits did not fare well to this combo some died some lived. If anything qt the inverts for an extended time and treat the tank is what I would do.

 

[ADHDan]

I have treated fish with metronidazole and levamisole that also had crabs and urchins in the tank. These were emerald crabs. As for levamisole or praziquantel that could hurt some snails. In the past though if I remember right I treated a tank that had hermits. The hermits did not fare well to this combo some died some lived. If anything qt the inverts for an extended time and treat the tank is what I would

after posting that message i actually decided to catch the remaining fish from the display tank, and introduced them into the hypo tank with a short acclimation. All doing well.
Do you know the life cycle of black spot/ich? ive read some conflicting stuff, some say 7-10days others 30days before fish reintroduction

 

[DrZoidburg]

I would have to look more into it. Not sure how long next life cycles are. Treatment for 7 days, and maybe retreat incase eggs hatch with medication route. Possibly less days depending on temperature. The thirty days is reference to some research saying that some worms can stay on fish for 30 days before next stage in life cycle. 10 days maybe an average or another relative again not sure. If you go into hypo tank you might want to let other tank go fallow. Either way you would have 30 days + wait to be safe without research of specific species worm it is. I don't know how well fish would do in more than 30 days hyposalinity.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi, this year ive been slowly setting up a new 1000litre mixed reef tank, @ the minute the only lifestock i have is 3 chromis, 2 clownfish, a engineer goby and a blue hippo tang (+ turbo snails and hermit crabs /pods & chaeto refug) , no corals or shrimp.
I noticed black raised spots on side of the tang and he started flashing, i have setup a AIOnano tank to use as a hypo sickbay for the tang, (wish i had setup a qt at the start now), should i catch and remove the rest of the fish and hypo those as well just to be safe? the goby is mostly black and i wouldnt be able to see if he has infection or not, also would the clown fishes slime offer any protection from parasites? I would like to be rid of it (black spot) before i add any new livestock but i dont know how extreme i need to go to achieve this

Also, how quickly is it safe to lower the salinity? can i catch the fish and add them straight into hypo with the tang? assuming its safe to freshwater dip a fish then going from 1.023 to 1.010 is safe or? i read increasing the salinity back up should be done slowly over a few days but the drop is less of an issue?
thanks
Dan

The three black spots in the triangle pattern seem too large to be tang turbellarians/black ich. They could be a skin reaction to other parasites though.
You’re correct; you can drop the salinity of fish to hypo in four steps over 36 hours, but taking them back up needs to be much slower - I take five days and 10 steps.
Jay

 

[ADHDan]

The three black spots in the triangle pattern seem too large to be tang turbellarians/black ich. They could be a skin reaction to other parasites though.
You’re correct; you can drop the salinity of fish to hypo in four steps over 36 hours, but taking them back up needs to be much slower - I take five days and 10 steps.
Jay

The tang is very small, the black dots are about the size of a dot on paper with a ball point pen, they were bumpy in the DT but by the time id got the fish down to hypo-levels the lumps had started to disappear, the black dots seem to be completely flat now 3days in