White Spots for Weeks

[Absolutekind]

Hello and Happy Holidays!

My Powder Brown Tang has had these white spots for three weeks now. I first thought it was Ich and have since treated the tank with copper power (two weeks in with therapeutic level) testing daily and maintaining between 2.0 PPM - 2.2 PPM.

Any ideas what else this could be? My Foxface and Sailfin Tang had a few of the same spots that have since gone away.

The two Tangs and Foxface were added just a month ago.

Edit: He’s been eating and acting normally. Right around the time the spots appeared he was flashing and rubbing against the sand. That behavior lasted just 2-3 days.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello and Happy Holidays!

My Powder Brown Tang has had these white spots for three weeks now. I first thought it was Ich and have since treated the tank with copper power (two weeks in with therapeutic level) testing daily and maintaining between 2.0 PPM - 2.2 PPM.

Any ideas what else this could be? My Foxface and Sailfin Tang had a few of the same spots that have since gone away.

The two Tangs and Foxface were added just a month ago.

Edit: He’s been eating and acting normally. Right around the time the spots appeared he was flashing and rubbing against the sand. That behavior lasted just 2-3 days.

Somewhat exclusive with certain tangs, these are mucus cones mixed in with ich often starting as a skin irritation
Isolation in a treatment tank is needed with fish treatment with coppersafe or copper power for a full 30 days at treatment level 2.25-2.5
Tank should be fishless 4-6 weeks
Add aeration during treatment

 

[MnFish1]

Hello and Happy Holidays!

My Powder Brown Tang has had these white spots for three weeks now. I first thought it was Ich and have since treated the tank with copper power (two weeks in with therapeutic level) testing daily and maintaining between 2.0 PPM - 2.2 PPM.

Any ideas what else this could be? My Foxface and Sailfin Tang had a few of the same spots that have since gone away.

The two Tangs and Foxface were added just a month ago.

Edit: He’s been eating and acting normally. Right around the time the spots appeared he was flashing and rubbing against the sand. That behavior lasted just 2-3 days.

are the spots coming and going? If so it could be just Ich that is infecting and re-infection. If the spots are staying the same - it's more suggestive of mucus plugs. Ich is a little less likely, if none of the other fish have the spots. If you never QT'd the fish , I would say you might as well do the standard protocol with coppersafe and followed by Prazipro. I would tend to leave the tank fishless for 45-76days - depending on which protocol you choose. Best wishes with the fish

 

[Absolutekind]

are the spots coming and going? If so it could be just Ich that is infecting and re-infection. If the spots are staying the same - it's more suggestive of mucus plugs. Ich is a little less likely, if none of the other fish have the spots. If you never QT'd the fish , I would say you might as well do the standard protocol with coppersafe and followed by Prazipro. I would tend to leave the tank fishless for 45-76days - depending on which protocol you choose. Best wishes with the fish

Hey, thanks for the reply. The spots on the PB have stayed the same. Still a huge mystery to me. The spots on the foxface and sailfin came and went but it makes me wonder about it being sand or not.

 

[Absolutekind]

Somewhat exclusive with certain tangs, these are mucus cones mixed in with ich often starting as a skin irritation
Isolation in a treatment tank is needed with fish treatment with coppersafe or copper power for a full 30 days at treatment level 2.25-2.5
Tank should be fishless 4-6 weeks
Add aeration during treatment

Hey, thanks for the reply.

I looked into mucus cones after your reply. The spots are not raised at all. Could it still be a mucus cones? And would Ich still be on the fish after three weeks?

What makes you say 2.25-2.5ppm for copper? I’ve consistently seen 1.5ppm as a therpudic dose. Since I’ve already dosed the copper power to my DT, is there a benefit to removing all of the fish now? I was thinking it would cause more stress, and since I don’t have coral, I may as well keep them all in the DT at this point.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey, thanks for the reply.

I looked into mucus cones after your reply. The spots are not raised at all. Could it still be a mucus cones? And would Ich still be on the fish after three weeks?

What makes you say 2.25-2.5ppm for copper? I’ve consistently seen 1.5ppm as a therpudic dose. Since I’ve already dosed the copper power to my DT, is there a benefit to removing all of the fish now? I was thinking it would cause more stress, and since I don’t have coral, I may as well keep them all in the DT at this point.

Yes or bc even mucus spores. Too large to be ich but likely mixed in with ich

 

[Absolutekind]

are the spots coming and going? If so it could be just Ich that is infecting and re-infection. If the spots are staying the same - it's more suggestive of mucus plugs. Ich is a little less likely, if none of the other fish have the spots. If you never QT'd the fish , I would say you might as well do the standard protocol with coppersafe and followed by Prazipro. I would tend to leave the tank fishless for 45-76days - depending on which protocol you choose. Best wishes with the fish

Re-infection was my first thought. For the other fish, they had very few spots and they’re now gone. However, they never fell of the PB tang, which is making me wonder if it’s something else altogether.

 

[Absolutekind]

Yes or bc even mucus spores. Too large to be ich but likely mixed in with ich

Still ich after three weeks? That’s what makes me think it’s something else.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Still ich after three weeks? That’s what makes me think it’s something else.

3 weeks. . .. you want to treat at therapeutic level for FULL 30 days
What copper level were you treating at and how were you testing it?

 

[Absolutekind]

3 weeks. . .. you want to treat at therapeutic level for FULL 30 days
What copper level were you treating at and how were you testing

3 weeks. . .. you want to treat at therapeutic level for FULL 30 days
What copper level were you treating at and how were you testing

 

[Absolutekind]

Right, the spots on the PB tang have been on the fish for three weeks. Treating for 70 days 2.0-2.2 PPM copper.

 

[Uncle99]

Same spots exactly for three weeks and in the same count?
I’ve had spots for weeks but not the same spots, some fall off, some are new, count went from 12 to 25 to 15 to 6, then gone about 4 weeks total no meds.

 

[Absolutekind]

Same spots exactly for three weeks and in the same count?
I’ve had spots for weeks but not the same spots, some fall off, some are new, count went from 12 to 25 to 15 to 6, then gone about 4 weeks total no meds.

Ahhh…that sounds like my situation. Did it end up being ich and you treated with copper? I think the commonly understood cycle may not be the same for every fish. With a stressed fish prone to ich it sounds like the parasite can stay on longer then just a few days.

 

[Uncle99]

Ahhh…that sounds like my situation. Did it end up being ich and you treated with copper? I think the commonly understood cycle may not be the same for every fish. With a stressed fish prone to ich it sounds like the parasite can stay on longer then just a few days.

It certainly looked like ick, small white to grayish oval spots.
I say some fell off, some new ones appeared,was cycling every 4 days, then just got fewer and fewer, no nothing for months now.

Not possible for me to treat without destroying thousands of dollars in corals pulling fish out. That itself would just put everyone at risk. My rule is, if a fish gets ick, it either solves it itself or dies. sounds cold but theme the choices.

But three times in 5 years this tang, a blue, showed up with ick spots but ultimately survived each bout and no one else got infected.

It would be way cheaper to replace the fish than the corals.

 

[Idech]

With a stressed fish prone to ich it sounds like the parasite can stay on longer then just a few days.

IME ick rarely lasts just a few days, unless the fish has fought it before and won the battle. In newly infected fish, ick will last weeks, not days.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Right, the spots on the PB tang have been on the fish for three weeks. Treating for 70 days 2.0-2.2 PPM copper.

The copper level is weak. You want to run at 2.25 to preferably 2.5. The coppersafe strength is the issue- not strong enough. Im sorry for confusion from others ,