Is my yellow tang scarring my desjardini?

Trevorbaker96 · Jul 2, 2019

Every once in a while I’ll see the yellow tang go tail to tail near his territory with my desjardini. Are these marks from his barb?! No marks on the yellow tang I can see and these marks are very hard to see. I’m at a loss.

https://lensdump.com/i/WPH7Je
https://lensdump.com/i/WPHOek

EmdeReef · Jul 3, 2019

That doesn’t look like fight marks to me. Small yellow tang?

Have you QT’d your fish? Any new additions?

@4FordFamily?

4FordFamily · Jul 3, 2019

That looks like damage from a numerous parasite -- my first guess is velvet, second is black ich or another kind of "flukes". I'd start with a freshwater dip in a dark bucket. If you see "sesame seeds" at the bottom of the bucket upon completion, you are dealing with flukes. That does NOT rule out velvet, which I suspect is a factor. Insertion points appear dark on Sailfin tangs pretty often when they have ich/velvet. If you don't see dozens of "sesame seeds" in the bottom of the bucket I'd say 95% chance velvet.

Also, the color loss is another indicator. They damage the gills pretty severely (velvet in particular) so it can lead to breathing heavily and color loss since the gills cannot function as they need to.

Treatment would be copper/chloroquine phosphate in a quarantine tank for ich/velvet. Treat all fish, run the display tank fishless for 76 days to allow the parasite to starve out.

@HotRocks @ngoodermuth @Big G