ICH? :(

[Nadiaa]

Have had this Tang a couple of weeks now. Suddenly today he has white spots and he is itching (presses against the rocks).
I have not done anything to stress him or the tank.
I do not have a quarantine tank. Can I just set one up? With a new filter?
What can I do? I have other fish as well. I do not see anything on either of them.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Have had this Tang a couple of weeks now. Suddenly today he has white spots and he is itching (presses against the rocks).
I have not done anything to stress him or the tank.
I do not have a quarantine tank. Can I just set one up? With a new filter?
What can I do? I have other fish as well. I do not see anything on either of them.

There has been an influx of these cases as of late and is something these tangs are susceptible to and are known as mucus cones and often starts from a skin irritation and then develops and is at times mixed in with ich. Treatment will be using coppersafe or copper power in a separate quarantine tank treating at therapeutic level 2.25 for a full 30 days monitored by a reliable Copper Test kit such as Hanna Brand- No API brand. Also monitor Ammonia levels while in quarantine with a reliable test kit and add aeration during treatment using an air stone.
If the other fish in the tank are not showing this issue, do monitor them and assure they dont become infected as in many cases they do not.

 

[MnFish1]

If you look at your picture - I think the coral waving its 'arms' - and the distribution of the spots on the tang - suggests that the tang got stung. The key is to watch for worsening. Now - I just want to make sure - are all of the spots clustered (like your picture shows) around the head?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I do not see sting issue here which would be circular marks or Hyper-melanization - This is a disease

 

[MnFish1]

I do not see sting issue here which would be circular marks or Hyper-melanization - This is a disease

I would be curious as to where the OP is seeing spots - the one's I see - do not look a known (at least to me) disease

 

[Jay Hemdal]

These mucus plugs on tangs are a bit of an enigma. They are larger than ich, and are usually on the body, not the fins. They seem to be caused by stress, but ich can be the stressor. In those cases, you get large white mucus plugs, mixed in with smaller white ich trophonts. It then becomes very difficult to see what is going on.

I would watch the other fish VERY closely - if any of them start showing small white spots, then ich is more likely. Otherwise, you might want to just observe the tang for now, and if no new symptoms develop (not eating, scratching, rapid breathing) then just try to wait it out.

 

[Jekyl]

Zoomed in there is way more spots on the fish than just the head it seems. Just making sure it wasn't missed.

 

[Nadiaa]

Both my Tang and Goby has it now

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Both my Tang and Goby has it now

Ok, that’s not good. The two treatments that work best would be coppersafe or hyposalinity. Neither can be done with coral or invertebrates in the same tank.

 

[MnFish1]

Just to make sure - can you send a picture of the others? - and yes - I would have a QT available for ALL of your fish - not just the ones with problems. Your tank (assuming this is ich) - will need to be fallow with no fish for 45-72 days - depending on which route you tank

 

[Nadiaa]

Just to make sure - can you send a picture of the others? - and yes - I would have a QT available for ALL of your fish - not just the ones with problems. Your tank (assuming this is ich) - will need to be fallow with no fish for 45-72 days - depending on which route you tank

Could be velvet as well :/

 

[MnFish1]

Could be velvet as well :/

My opinion - it's a bad case of Ich.