Spots on purple tang

[Jay Hemdal]

The fish aren’t new they’ve been in the tank for a year the whole setup it new 1 year old. They were all quarantined and treated for flukes and ich when I first got them for 30 days in copper and general cure. I know it’s possible go introduce ich into the system from corals. But how likely is that?

The fish don’t show any scratching, flashing. They’re going about their business grazing on the rocks and they’re feeding normally. I don’t want to go through the whole hassle of disassembling the aqua scape unless I need too. None of my other tangs (blonde naso, tomini, powder blue mimic) seem to have anything on them puffer, trigger, clown fish marine betta and one spot fox face have any spots. Just my purple tang and sailfin have spots.

Is it possible that maybe it from them fighting?

If new invertebrates came from a system that had an active ich infection, it is pretty common for them to carry ich over to a new tank, as the resting tomont stage can adhere to rocks and some invertebrates.

It could be from fighting, but usually, the spots would be larger and fewer in number, and you often see frayed fins to go along with fighting.

 

[bshake]

If new invertebrates came from a system that had an active ich infection, it is pretty common for them to carry ich over to a new tank, as the resting tomont stage can adhere to rocks and some invertebrates.

It could be from fighting, but usually, the spots would be larger and fewer in number, and you often see frayed fins to go along with fighting.

So the most likely scenario is it’s ich. Shouldn’t the rest of the fish start showing spots? I was able to get some better pictures

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So the most likely scenario is it’s ich. Shouldn’t the rest of the fish start showing spots? I was able to get some better pictures

Does the right side of the fish look similar to this? I saw some discussion about that early on, but I'm not sure of the current condition....

Purple tangs often show signs of ich first, before any other fish do. However, I'm still not 100% sure this is ich.

It could be flukes or minor damage from fighting, or brushing against something in the tank.

Have you tried mapping out the spots to see how fast they change location?

 

[bshake]

Does the right side of the fish look similar to this? I saw some discussion about that early on, but I'm not sure of the current condition....

Purple tangs often show signs of ich first, before any other fish do. However, I'm still not 100% sure this is ich.

It could be flukes or minor damage from fighting, or brushing against something in the tank.

Have you tried mapping out the spots to see how fast they change location?

the other side has some spots that are white and look like tiny scratches but not as many as the other side. The spots haven’t changed much in the past 2 days that I can notice. I assume if it was ich it would’ve multiplied and start infecting the other fish. Both the sailfin and purple tangs are the only ones that seem affected by this but they’re still very active and eating like cows.

I’m at work this morning but I’ll look again once I get home. Some of the spots look like bacterial tufts or viral nodules which he had before when he was in copper last year when I first got him.

 

[bshake]

Does the right side of the fish look similar to this? I saw some discussion about that early on, but I'm not sure of the current condition....

Purple tangs often show signs of ich first, before any other fish do. However, I'm still not 100% sure this is ich.

It could be flukes or minor damage from fighting, or brushing against something in the tank.

Have you tried mapping out the spots to see how fast they change location?

Just got home and saw both sides looking like they have ich

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Just got home and saw both sides looking like they have ich

This picture is much clearer. Ich versus flukes, now let me through out a third option: mucus plugs. These are a skin reaction to some stressor, sometimes there is no serious underlying disease process and they just go away on their own. Other times, the underlying stressor is ich or less often, flukes.

 

[bshake]

This picture is much clearer. Ich versus flukes, now let me through out a third option: mucus plugs. These are a skin reaction to some stressor, sometimes there is no serious underlying disease process and they just go away on their own. Other times, the underlying stressor is ich or less often, flukes.

When I came home today I saw the purple tang is covered with spots much more than the previous few days both sides were covered yesterday only 1 side. I just took apart the whole aqua scape removed all the fish from the tank took me 2 hours to find the 3 wrasse hiding in the sand bed. they’re right now in 2.0 of copper power. better safe than sorry I guess