Spots on gem tang (ich?)

[jsmcnguyen]

Hi everyone, I have several fish in quarantine right now and one of them is this gem tang. He is currently in a 55 gallon hypo-salinity tank with a blue jaw trigger, melanarus wrasse, leopard wrasse, and a pair of long fin clowns. They were in my 265 gallon along when I someone managed to get what appeared to be ich in the tank. They have been in hypo-salinity since 1/4/23 and all seem to be active and eating very well. The ich seemingly cleared up within just a day or two of going hypo but just yesterday I spotted some spots on the gem tang that look a bit different than the ich did. The blue jaw trigger also has some new spots on his fins but they appear translucent and are only on the fins. They seem longer than ich. Could they be flukes? He also has something happening just below his mouth. I'm wondering if this is possible from bumping into something in the tank and injuring himself.
I have seen absolutely no aggression between any of these fish while in the display tank or in the treatment/quarantine tank. I thought the ich and flukes were both treatable by going hypo. To the best of my knowledge the quarantine/treatment tank hasn't gone above 1.09 salinity. I used an ATO for it to hold the salinity steady. I've been cautious to use any other treatments because of the wrasses. I also have a small bowl of sand in the tank because both wrasses sleep in it. Aside from that there is only PVC pipes of various sizes for hiding as well as a couple of plastic plants to give them a bit more to hide behind.
I've attacked a couple of pics...sorry they aren't the best quality. It is hard to get them to be still. Disregard the spots floating in the water. I had just fed them mysis. Any feedback about what the spots may be and how to best treat them given the sensitivity of the wrasses. Thoughts on Prazipro and or some type of copper treatment, or do I continue with hyposalinity? Thanks so much!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi everyone, I have several fish in quarantine right now and one of them is this gem tang. He is currently in a 55 gallon hypo-salinity tank with a blue jaw trigger, melanarus wrasse, leopard wrasse, and a pair of long fin clowns. They were in my 265 gallon along when I someone managed to get what appeared to be ich in the tank. They have been in hypo-salinity since 1/4/23 and all seem to be active and eating very well. The ich seemingly cleared up within just a day or two of going hypo but just yesterday I spotted some spots on the gem tang that look a bit different than the ich did. The blue jaw trigger also has some new spots on his fins but they appear translucent and are only on the fins. They seem longer than ich. Could they be flukes? He also has something happening just below his mouth. I'm wondering if this is possible from bumping into something in the tank and injuring himself.
I have seen absolutely no aggression between any of these fish while in the display tank or in the treatment/quarantine tank. I thought the ich and flukes were both treatable by going hypo. To the best of my knowledge the quarantine/treatment tank hasn't gone above 1.09 salinity. I used an ATO for it to hold the salinity steady. I've been cautious to use any other treatments because of the wrasses. I also have a small bowl of sand in the tank because both wrasses sleep in it. Aside from that there is only PVC pipes of various sizes for hiding as well as a couple of plastic plants to give them a bit more to hide behind.
I've attacked a couple of pics...sorry they aren't the best quality. It is hard to get them to be still. Disregard the spots floating in the water. I had just fed them mysis. Any feedback about what the spots may be and how to best treat them given the sensitivity of the wrasses. Thoughts on Prazipro and or some type of copper treatment, or do I continue with hyposalinity? Thanks so much!

What odd behaviors are you seeing with the fish such as :
Loss of appetite?
Labored breathing?
Itching or scratching ?
Active or less active?

Hyposalinity duration is typically 30 days but my suspicion would have been Neobenedenia flukes but hyposalinity also addresses them also. My guess would be crypto which is Marine ich. Im assuming the prolonged duration may have invited bacteria (as you can see substance on the mouth of trigger. The fins show possible lymphocytis if water quality has detriorated..
hmmm. . .
@Jay Hemdal

 

[Jay Hemdal]

IMO - in the absence of any secondary symptoms, I think these are just random rub marks/damage….with perhaps some minor secondary bacterial infection involved.
Jay

 

[jsmcnguyen]

What odd behaviors are you seeing with the fish such as :
Loss of appetite?
Labored breathing?
Itching or scratching ?
Active or less active?

Hyposalinity duration is typically 30 days but my suspicion would have been Neobenedenia flukes but hyposalinity also addresses them also. My guess would be crypto which is Marine ich. Im assuming the prolonged duration may have invited bacteria (as you can see substance on the mouth of trigger. The fins show possible lymphocytis if water quality has detriorated..
hmmm. . .
@Jay Hemdal

That's the wild thing...none of them have had any noticeable odd behaviors. They are eating and breathing just fine. They haven't been itching/scratching/flashing since the first day or so of being in the treatment tank. Their activity level seems totally normal as well. I keep scratching my head and wondering what is going on. I did wonder about lympocytis because I was having some difficulty keeping the pH up, but that has since leveled out. The trigger had those spots on his fins sporadically in the display tank and they have always lasted a few days and then gone away on their own but now I'm stumped.

 

[jsmcnguyen]

IMO - in the absence of any secondary symptoms, I think these are just random rub marks/damage….with perhaps some minor secondary bacterial infection involved.
Jay

Hi Jay! There have been no secondary symptoms that I have noticed. I wonder if they were just rub marks. The trigger likes to hide in a piece of PVC that is smallish for him (he has bigger options, but I'm guessing he just feels more content in the tighter space), so I wondered if that may have been the cause. The spots on the tang seem a bit more odd to me because he doesn't hid in any of the small spaces and when hiding tends to stay in that piece of PVC in the photo, which is pretty large. However, during most of the waking hours he's awake and quickly comes to get my attention to at feeding times. I'm not sure how to best treat the situation. I'll keep going with hypo for now and will continue to monitor. These pics were from yesterday and they look about the same....no better or no worse today.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi Jay! There have been no secondary symptoms that I have noticed. I wonder if they were just rub marks. The trigger likes to hide in a piece of PVC that is smallish for him (he has bigger options, but I'm guessing he just feels more content in the tighter space), so I wondered if that may have been the cause. The spots on the tang seem a bit more odd to me because he doesn't hid in any of the small spaces and when hiding tends to stay in that piece of PVC in the photo, which is pretty large. However, during most of the waking hours he's awake and quickly comes to get my attention to at feeding times. I'm not sure how to best treat the situation. I'll keep going with hypo for now and will continue to monitor. These pics were from yesterday and they look about the same....no better or no worse today.

Lymphocystis would not be by the mouth and I too still believe bacterial. Although it can occur, I don’t see trigger injuring its mouth on the tubing
At minimum, keep an eye on it for any worsening effect
May be a precautionary measure to acquire some seachem kanaplex in case treatment becomes necessary