Black Ich

[downhillbiker]

I just noticed that my yellow tang is showing several black spots on its body and I think that it is black ich.

What are the methods of killing this?
Will it kill the fish?
Will the fish fight it off?
Will it infect all the other fish?

Any help would be great. Thanks.

I really dont want to catch the fish if it is possible to avoid it. It causes a lot of stress and would be pretty difficult to catch. But if it needs to be caught I will do that. I really dont want my 6 other tangs to get infected and have any of them die.

 

[1geo]

Marine black spot disease

Marine black spot disease is also known as black ich and tang disease. Tang and surgeonfish are especially susceptible to this disease but it can affect a long row of other fish species as well. The culprits are turbellarian flatworms belonging to the genus Paravortex.

The life cycle of Paravortex flatworms somewhat resembles that of marine ich parasites. The young Paravortex organism lives in the substrate until it matures into an adult worm. The adult worm seeks out a suitable host fish and commences feeding. After roughly six days of feeding, the flatworm will fall down to the substrate again. About five days later, its body will rupture and a new batch of young ones is released. The cycle will now start over again.

When a Paravortex flatworm starts feeding it develops pigmentation and this is why infested fish becomes covered in black spots. The spots can look similar to grains of salt, but are black in colour. Other symptoms of marine black spot disease are scratching, anorexia, lethargy, rapid breathing, and loss of colouration. Secondary bacterial infections can occur in damaged areas.

Marine black spot disease can be treated by first giving your fish a freshwater dip and then following it up by a formalin bath. The freshwater dip should ideally last for 3-4 minutes, but you should remove the fish earlier if it shows signs of serious stress. For the formalin bath it is important to follow the recommendations from the manufacturer of the formalin product since different products have different strengths.

Dipping and bathing your fish will not remove the parasites from the aquarium and the risk for re-infestation is therefore high when fish are returned to their old home. Ideally set up a new aquarium and leave the infested one without fish for several months. If this is not possible, you can try using hyposalinity to kill the parasites. The salinity must be lowered to 12-14"° (this is equivalent to a specific gravity of 1.009 at a water temperature of 79-82°F). Unfortunately, quite a few marine aquarium species won't survive such a low salinity.

Source: AC marine aquarium.

 

[1geo]

Answers to your questions.

Answers to your questions.

What are the methods of killing this?
In killing it you have two problems. The infected tank and the infected fish. My previous post covers the fish. As for the tank, it must remain fallow for 8 weeks. And that is a FULL 8 weeks.

Will it kill the fish?
The short answer is YES! And it can do so quickly so you want to QT your fish and start treatment ASAP.

Will the fish fight it off?
Maybe. Much depends on the quantity of the parasite present and the overall condition of your fish and its immune system.

Will it infect all the other fish?
Absolutely. If one of the fish in your tank have the parasite then ALL have the parasite. The problem is, the parasite multiplies rapidly and the ONLY hosts it has is the fish in your closed system. So as more and more parasites infect the fish and especially start clogging its gills your fish becomes weaker and more susceptible to the parasite.