White patch on purple tang

[Gobi-Wan]

My purple tang has been developing a white patch a couple times a month lately. I think this is the 4th time its happened and I'm getting really tired of it coming back. I thought it was a bacterial infection, but I need to know whats going on so I can keep it away for good. She is about 3 years old and well acclimated to aquarium life. The white patch usually comes on one of her pectoral muscles, just below her fins. This is the first time I've seen it on her mouth. It just looks like all the color is bleached out of her skin. Every time it happens, I soak metroplex, kanaplex, and focus into nori, and its usually almost gone the next day, and undetectable the second day. Then i continue for a few more days after its gone. Then a couple weeks later there it is again. It doesn't seem to affect her appetite but she does seem kind of panicked when it happens, swimming faster than normal and kind of jumpy. Can someone please tell me whats going wrong? I have had 2 other tangs in qt almost a month, hoping to introduce soon but I dont want to if I can't figure out whats up with the purple tang.

 

[Cole.mormon]

Maybe a close up would be helpful

 

[Cole.mormon]

Also maybe herbtana would help as it it is an immune system booster

 

[Cole.mormon]

Possibly anchor worms if it is a patch as they are sometimes white

 

[Gobi-Wan]

Maybe a close up would be helpful

There thats a little better. She isndifficult to photograph

 

[Gobi-Wan]

forgot to mention- ignore the patch on her back thats an old hlle scar. Only talking about around her mouth.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Appears your fish is affected with Columnaris or fungal infection mainly due to water quality and i would do some testing focusing on ammonia, PH and nitrate. What is your salinity and what are you feeding this fish ?
Treatment would be either melafix or more effective- Sulfa or parinox

 

[Cole.mormon]

Possibly

 

[Gobi-Wan]

Appears your fish is affected with Columnaris or fungal infection mainly due to water quality and i would do some testing focusing on ammonia, PH and nitrate. What is your salinity and what are you feeding this fish ?
Treatment would be either melafix or more effective- Sulfa or parinox

PH 8.3- red sea
Ammonia 0- API
Nitrate 0- API (well doesn't show up anyway)
Phosphate .03- hanna checker
Salinity 1.026

I turf-scrub pretty heavily and usually have more trouble keeping nutirents in than out.

I feed LRS frenzy or Rods every day mixed with either mysis or brine shrimp alternately, and i feed heavily. Then every day to every other day I feed nori soaked with krill oil and selcon which the tang eats most of.

 

[vetteguy53081]

PH 8.3- red sea
Ammonia 0- API
Nitrate 0- API (well doesn't show up anyway)
Phosphate .03- hanna checker
Salinity 1.026

I turf-scrub pretty heavily and usually have more trouble keeping nutirents in than out.

I feed LRS frenzy or Rods every day mixed with either mysis or brine shrimp alternately, and i feed heavily. Then every day to every other day I feed nori soaked with krill oil and selcon which the tang eats most of.

For a piece of mind, take a water sample toa trusted LFS and heave them test for you to verify your salinity, ammonia and nitrate.
1.026 is fine as long as your gage isnt producing a false reading.

 

[Nigel35]

+ on what vetteguy53081 said. Tested my water once and thought it was good. Went to LFS and thought to test the water. My pm's weren't what I thought they were...

 

[Cole.mormon]

Good

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Possibly anchor worms if it is a patch as they are sometimes white

Anchor worm is a freshwater copepod, so not involved here.
Jay

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Appears your fish is affected with Columnaris or fungal infection mainly due to water quality and i would do some testing focusing on ammonia, PH and nitrate. What is your salinity and what are you feeding this fish ?
Treatment would be either melafix or more effective- Sulfa or parinox

Just to clarify - Columnaris is strictly a freshwater bacteria (Flavobacterium columnaris) and external fungal infections of marine fish are exceedingly rare(I've verified this only once in my career). Internal fungal infections are a much bigger issues.

Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

Just to clarify - Columnaris is strictly a freshwater bacteria (Flavobacterium columnaris) and external fungal infections of marine fish are exceedingly rare(I've verified this only once in my career). Internal fungal infections are a much bigger issues.

Jay

I believe this is associated with water quality. Your thoughts ?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

My purple tang has been developing a white patch a couple times a month lately. I think this is the 4th time its happened and I'm getting really tired of it coming back. I thought it was a bacterial infection, but I need to know whats going on so I can keep it away for good. She is about 3 years old and well acclimated to aquarium life. The white patch usually comes on one of her pectoral muscles, just below her fins. This is the first time I've seen it on her mouth. It just looks like all the color is bleached out of her skin. Every time it happens, I soak metroplex, kanaplex, and focus into nori, and its usually almost gone the next day, and undetectable the second day. Then i continue for a few more days after its gone. Then a couple weeks later there it is again. It doesn't seem to affect her appetite but she does seem kind of panicked when it happens, swimming faster than normal and kind of jumpy. Can someone please tell me whats going wrong? I have had 2 other tangs in qt almost a month, hoping to introduce soon but I dont want to if I can't figure out whats up with the purple tang.

Ha! I was focused on the HLLE scar.. the mouth issue is bilateral/symmetrical from what I can see. In your second picture, it looks more like a color change due to a stress reaction, and not from some infectious agent. That would also coincide with the behavior change you noticed. Your treatment and the alleviation of the symptoms could simply be a red herring - the pale area may have resolved without treatment. That said - what could be setting the fish off?

Jay

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I believe this is associated with water quality. Your thoughts ?

Could be, but I'm thinking now it is a behavior/stress response to something going on in the tank....

Jay

 

[Gobi-Wan]

Could be, but I'm thinking now it is a behavior/stress response to something going on in the tank....

Jay

Interesting. Now that you mention it, the actual color and quality of the skin looks like when she is pale at night. But why would it occur in patches like that? The last 3 or 4 times it was on one side only, under one pectoral fin. This time it was mostly around the lips and extending up the left side of the face.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Interesting. Now that you mention it, the actual color and quality of the skin looks like when she is pale at night. But why would it occur in patches like that? The last 3 or 4 times it was on one side only, under one pectoral fin. This time it was mostly around the lips and extending up the left side of the face.

Stress responses are typically bilaterally symmetrical, I was just basing my assumption on the last pic that showed a pale snout. If you see this on just one side, it is less apt to be from stress. Still, the fact that it comes and goes seems to indicate an external cause.

Jay

 

[Gobi-Wan]

Stress responses are typically bilaterally symmetrical, I was just basing my assumption on the last pic that showed a pale snout. If you see this on just one side, it is less apt to be from stress. Still, the fact that it comes and goes seems to indicate an external cause.

Jay

It has always only been on one side.