Sick yellow tang

[Marcos Delacamara]

Fish info:
my yellow tang has been in my tank for about a month. About three days ago he started looking a bit fuzzy and getting some spots on his fins. my coral beauty had gotten ich before. He didn’t stop scraping on rocks and barely came out to eat. But the dots were all over and the fish was not fuzzy. I believe that the tang does not have ich, he’s still eating lots, swimming around lots, and not hiding. The dots are also a bit different and the fuzzy skin is throwing me off.

All other fish are fine, all my parameters are well except nitrates (around 40) , since I dose triton I haven’t rely on doing water changes to help (not like it will do much with just one or two water changes anyways). I did start carbon dosing to reduce nitrates with a diy version of Nopox. One week in and nitrates are still the same, I don’t expect it to change until 4-6 weeks in.

Does anyone have an idea of what it could be?

 

[LAReefer4Life]

Hi there. Looking at the picture it looks like it could be flukes or possibly ICH. To eliminate flukes from diagnosis I suggest conducting a fresh water dip.

Here is what you need.

- RODI water that is same temperature and PH as your aquarium
- Air stone for water circulation
- amquel or prime to help reduce ammonia build up
- allow for 5-7 minutes in the FWD depending on the health of your fish.

Start there and if you see sesame seed like pieces fall off into the water you will know how to proceed.

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

+1 to a freshwater dip.
The only thing I can add is that if your fish starts stressing too bad you may want to cut the fwd short and try again when he has calmed down. Even a short dip might show improvements. If you see the dip helping do it again in a day or so and treat the water accordingly.

 

[Marcos Delacamara]

If the FWD works will it be enough to help the fish? Or should I place him in QT still? I already started to set up my QT tank. Was going to remove him later tonight but if it’s not necessary then I can just do the FWD place him back in the tank and try it again the next day.

Also, is flukes similar to ich, can it spread to other fish in the aquarium ?

 

[Marcos Delacamara]

If the FWD works will it be enough to help the fish? Or should I place him in QT still? I already started to set up my QT tank. Was going to remove him later tonight but if it’s not necessary then I can just do the FWD place him back in the tank and try it again the next day.

Also, is flukes similar to ich, can it spread to other fish in the aquarium ?

 

[Marcos Delacamara]

If the FWD works will it be enough to help the fish? Or should I place him in QT still? I already started to set up my QT tank. Was going to remove him later tonight but if it’s not necessary then I can just do the FWD place him back in the tank and try it again the next day.

Also, is flukes similar to ich, can it spread to other fish in the aquarium ?

 

[Marcos Delacamara]

If the FWD works will it be enough to help the fish? Or should I place him in QT still? I already started to set up my QT tank. Was going to remove him later tonight but if it’s not necessary then I can just do the FWD place him back in the tank and try it again the next day.

Also, is flukes similar to ich, can it spread to other fish in the aquarium ?

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

If the FWD works will it be enough to help the fish? Or should I place him in QT still? I already started to set up my QT tank. Was going to remove him later tonight but if it’s not necessary then I can just do the FWD place him back in the tank and try it again the next day.

Also, is flukes similar to ich, can it spread to other fish in the aquarium ?

I would reccomend a qt still. I dont know too much about flukes personally. But what I do for ich is quarentine, fwd And if you have no corals in the tank I would raise the temp to about 82° during the quarentine. Of course drop the temp back down when you go to add your little guy back in!

 

[Marcos Delacamara]

I would reccomend a qt still. I dont know too much about flukes personally. But what I do for ich is quarentine, fwd And if you have no corals in the tank I would raise the temp to about 82° during the quarentine. Of course drop the temp back down when you go to add your little guy back in!

Seems safe enough. Should I also treat the water just to be sure? Last time i had a fish with ich I used herbtana and it worked. I was planning on using it for the tang as well

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

Seems safe enough. Should I also treat the water just to be sure? Last time i had a fish with ich I used herbtana and it worked. I was planning on using it for the tang as well

If you have inverts and coral its possible that you could cause harm to then using medicine. Also any protein skimmers/carbon filters will remove the medicine so you will want to remove those. If you have no corals then I would treat the tank as well.

 

[Marcos Delacamara]

If you have inverts and coral its possible that you could cause harm to then using medicine. Also any protein skimmers/carbon filters will remove the medicine so you will want to remove those. If you have no corals then I would treat the tank as well.

I was planning on treating the tang by himself in QT.
I don’t have corals yet, and only two snails.

Should I treat main tank as well and turn off skimmer for a few hours?

 

[Mjrenz]

I think flukes are likely as well, do the freshwater dip and get him into qt
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/freshwater-dip.248898/
I think I may see a bacterial infection also
@Big G @ngoodermuth @4FordFamily @HotRocks ?

 

[Mjrenz]

Also, if he does have flukes or ich you can be certain that your other fish have it too
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/flukes-–-general-guidelines.224423/

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ich-cryptocaryon-irritans.191226/

 

[Marcos Delacamara]

Alright. I will be taking him out later tonight. Give him a fwd and place him in the qt.
Question: do I have to acclimate him when I’m placing him in the qt or just place him in?

 

[Mjrenz]

Alright. I will be taking him out later tonight. Give him a fwd and place him in the qt.
Question: do I have to acclimate him when I’m placing him in the qt or just place him in?

Match the temp and salinity and you can just drop him in. You'll want to get some bottled bacteria like biospira and start adding it to process ammonia. Make sure to aerate and add a small powerhead to get water moving at the top of the tank for oxygen

 

[Mjrenz]

Let us know if you find flukes, the experts I tagged above will chime in at some point with a treatment plan

 

[Marcos Delacamara]

Match the temp and salinity and you can just drop him in. You'll want to get some bottled bacteria like biospira and start adding it to process ammonia. Make sure to aerate and add a small powerhead to get water moving at the top of the tank for oxygen

I don’t have any bottled bacteria but i bought sponge filters a few months back and I had them sitting in my sump for times like this where I had to qt a fish. Would that be enough?

 

[Mjrenz]

I don’t have any bottled bacteria but i bought sponge filters a few months back and I had them sitting in my sump for times like this where I had to qt a fish. Would that be enough?

It will help but you'll need to get the bacteria also, tangs will yuck up a tank pretty quick

 

[Marcos Delacamara]

It will help but you'll need to get the bacteria also, tangs will yuck up a tank pretty quick

Okay. I will get the bacteria tomorrow. Thank you for all the help I will update you guys on how the fresh water dip went/ flukes

 

[Mjrenz]

Okay. I will get the bacteria tomorrow. Thank you for all the help I will update you guys on how the fresh water dip went/ flukes

You're welcome, I hope he does well

 

[Mjrenz]

I was planning on treating the tang by himself in QT.
I don’t have corals yet, and only two snails.

Should I treat main tank as well and turn off skimmer for a few hours?

I was just reading back a few posts, this won't be an effective treatment, the only way to eliminate ich from your dt is to remove all of the fish and leave it fallow for 76 days

 

[LAReefer4Life]

I was just reading back a few posts, this won't be an effective treatment, the only way to eliminate ich from your dt is to remove all of the fish and leave it fallow for 76 days

+1 ^ After FWD you will definitely want to QT and treat with meds. If it is flukes then you will need Prazipro or API General Cure and then go fallow (fishes) for 4 weeks in DT.

Things to remember for FWD are:

- RODI water that is same temperature and PH as your aquarium
- Air stone for water circulation
- amquel or prime to help reduce ammonia build up
- allow for 5-7 minutes in the FWD depending on the health of your fish.

If its ICH you will need to QT fish in copper for 4 weeks and your DT tank will need to run fallow (fishes) for minimum of 76 days.

Things to keep in mind with treating copper are:

- Slowly increase copper over 2-3 days to therapeutic levels
- Don't add PRIME or ammonia reducing agents
- Keep lights off to reduce stress
- Keep ammonia levels in check (ice ammonia badge)

Hope this helps!

 

[Marcos Delacamara]

Last time My fish had ich I wasn’t able to remove all the fish from the DT, I just removed the coral beauty. I treated him with the treatment I showed above and after 30 days of qt I placed him back in the DT. One other fish also got sick. I tried to qt him with copper and he didn’t make it.

I don’t think I will be able to take all the fish out of the system. I have 6 fish and only one qt. Plus I’m really bad at tank husbandry (reasons as to why I decided to use Triton method since the start of the tank) I’m sure I would stress the fish out through this 76 day process. I’m afraid that this method won’t work for me.

If none of the other fish show symptoms can I leave them in the DT, I know I won’t get rid of ich this way but if they don’t stress out and avoid an outbreak would they be okay?