Spots on new blue hippo tang

[Idaho Mojo]

Noticing spots showing up on a new tang I bought from the LFS, not disclosing name yet, but am planning on writing a review of quality and lack of response to problems and/or deaths with stock purchased.

Had a cleaner wrasse bought at the same time from the same lfs go belly up randomly as well, but no spots. Nothing on any of the other fish.

The tang seems to be acting normal, or as normal as tangs act lol. Only seems to rub on anything when the lights are about to go out, and right after the lights come on, mostly on the heater where it beds down.

The tang mainly eats seaweed from a magnetic clip, but will graze on some of the filamentous algae as well.

I do not have the ability to QT

100G DT
30G sump/ref
3 fire fish
1 yellow tail damsel
1 mystery black fish (herbivore)
1 cleaner shrimp
2 conch
2 emerald crabs
1 black rock urchin
1 pin cushion urchin
Zoas
Xenia
Sea rod
Gorgonian
Candycane
2 varieties of Gsp
Cluster dusters
Misc crabs and snails

Running
2 pp8 jebao wave makers
2 165w viparspectra lights
Eshoppes skimmer
Canister filter running carbon, phosphate sponge, and filter floss.

Dosing
5ML/24 hours Red Sea NO3-PO4-X
15ml/24 hr each of reef fusion 2 part
10ml/48 Hr algaecide

Salinity 1.023-1.025
Phosphates 0-.25ppm
Calcium ~360ppm
Nitrates 0-5ppm
Nitrites 0ppm
Ammonia 0ppm
KH ~145ppm
PH 7.8
Temp 78-80* F


I have been having trouble raising the PH level as well, but never goes lower than this.
Also been fighting filamentous algae and bubble algae (hence the red sea additive)

 

[Florida Sunshine]

If there is truly no way to set up a QT/Hospital tank then your only hope is to reduce stress as much as possible (lights out and blocking the tank from high traffic levels will help some), keep a careful eye on water parameters and do water changes as necessary, and feed the most nutritious foods you can. Preferably whole/live foods like black worms or clams. You could also soak your food in vitamins such as Selcon.
If it is Brook then there is little chance of survival without treatment and it will go down fast and probably take all of your other fish with it. If it is Ich you have a bit of a better chance if you keep away the stress. Basically you are hoping that the fish's immune system will knock out the parasites.
You really should re-think the QT/Hospital tank as that is the only way the fish will be truly cured and your tank will be disease free.

 

[HotRocks]

It appears to be ich to me.

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

 

[Idaho Mojo]

If there is truly no way to set up a QT/Hospital tank then your only hope is to reduce stress as much as possible (lights out and blocking the tank from high traffic levels will help some), keep a careful eye on water parameters and do water changes as necessary, and feed the most nutritious foods you can. Preferably whole/live foods like black worms or clams. You could also soak your food in vitamins such as Selcon.
If it is Brook then there is little chance of survival without treatment and it will go down fast and probably take all of your other fish with it. If it is Ich you have a bit of a better chance if you keep away the stress. Basically you are hoping that the fish's immune system will knock out the parasites.
You really should re-think the QT/Hospital tank as that is the only way the fish will be truly cured and your tank will be disease free.

I should also mention the tang is new as of 2 weeks ago.
I feed a combination of reef frenzy, pellets, and seaweed for the fish, and target feed reef roids for the corals The damsel and firefish prefer the pellets.
Lights out as in completely dark? And for how long? I have only decreased my lighting levels for acclimation but the schedule has remained the same.
And there is only me and my girlfriend in the house, so little to no traffic.
I have not soaked any food in vitamins before, but am open to anything.

 

[ca1ore]

Noticing spots showing up on a new tang I bought from the LFS, not disclosing name yet, but am planning on writing a review of quality and lack of response to problems and/or deaths with stock purchased. Had a cleaner wrasse bought at the same time from the same lfs go belly up randomly as well, but no spots. Nothing on any of the other fish.

I cannot say whether the LFS is 'at fault' or not, but these two fish are not easy. Cleaners are designated as expert-only because they often come in malnourished and don't feed well in captivity. Hippo tangs are highly susceptible to skin parasites (particularly when small); probably not a good choice if you cannot do a proper QT. Unless you are willing to treat all your fish, there's not a lot of good alternatives. Feed them well, and hope that their natural slime coats will allow them to ward off the ich. You could also try running an oversized UV. It won't cure the ich, but it will reduce parasite pressure giving the fish a better chance to fight it off.

 

[Idaho Mojo]

I cannot say whether the LFS is 'at fault' or not, but these two fish are not easy. Cleaners are designated as expert-only because they often come in malnourished and don't feed well in captivity. Hippo tangs are highly susceptible to skin parasites (particularly when small); probably not a good choice if you cannot do a proper QT. Unless you are willing to treat all your fish, there's not a lot of good alternatives. Feed them well, and hope that their natural slime coats will allow them to ward off the ich. You could also try running an oversized UV. It won't cure the ich, but it will reduce parasite pressure giving the fish a better chance to fight it off.

Both have been eating extremely well since day one, the tang is eating seaweed from the clip and both the tang and cleaner were eating from the reef frenzy mix. Cleaner wrasse was swimming around fine then suddenly bolted and started shaking violently before going limp.

I did have a QT but it slowly turned into a catch all. I've also been reading how some people experience the same amount of issues due to stress from qt to dt.
Medicating the entire tank is also out of the question due to corals, inverts, and LR

I guess I was just looking for a confirmation of what it was, I am definitely more partial to treating with vitamins, garlic, and cleaning tankmates.

 

[ca1ore]

QT is certainly not universally advocated. Fish die in QT, of course, but it also helps to protect the display. Vitamins can help with fish health, and thus help them fight off the parasite - though if you’re feeding a balanced diet, they’re equally likely to be unnecessary. Garlic is useless against ich, as are cleaners.

 

[Swoody]

In this situation it’s only a matter of time and your fish will go one by one. Sad! If you are FOWLR you can treat in DT... otherwise just a 20 long with a HOB, and copper will keep them alive .....

 

[Idaho Mojo]

UPDATE!

In response to the ich on the young blue tang, I decided to try and tackle the issue from multiple different angles since I do not have a quarantine tank or the resources to set one up.

So far I have,
-increased my tank temperature from 78 up to 82
-increased the salinity to 1.026
-slowly raised the PH level temporarily with a ph increase additive
-started soaking all foods in selcon vitamins
-Relocated the seaweed clip to the opposite side of the tank near the cleaner shrimps "station" and successfully introduced the tang to the shrimp
-decreased flow by 50%
-shortened the time of the white channel by 2 hours (one hour later on, and one hour sooner off)
-completely removed pellets from feeding regimen

As you could see in my original post, the tang had multiple spots, after making the changes that I have, the ich has been reduced to 2 spots on the tail fin, and 2 on the left side, which sums up to over 75% reduction.
The cleaner shrimp continues to diligently pick the tang clean, and appetite of the tang had definitely increased.

I am not saying that anyone here is or was wrong, but I do believe there is more hope in other strategies than some people believe.

I will keep updating on the condition of the tang and other tankmates! [emoji16] [emoji106]