Blue Hippo tang - black spots, tattered fins

fessoclown

Dis-Membered
My Hippo tang has developed black spots it almost looks like Lesions maybe. It is not scratching on the rocks and seems to be behaving and eating normal. They appeared about a week ago and are getting worse... yesterday it's fins started to look tattered and today it is much worse. It doesn't look like ich. At night it sleeps in an sps (branching monti) colony. Could it be getting stung? No other fish are affected.
It's been in the display for about 3 weeks. The tank is about 140 Gallons, light bioload, all small fish.
Water parameters are all within acceptable/desired ranges although my PH is a little low at 7.9 but stable.

Here are some pictures:
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Maybe black ich? (also called tang disease). Black ich isnt like regular marine ich. Black ich is caused by a parasitic flatworm (Tubellerian worm).
Not sure though because black ich normally looks like grains of pepper on the fish.
 
Is the fish in a hospital tank now? I'd start there and freshwater dip the fish to see if any of those things come off. Then I'd try other dewormers
 
Thanks,
Ya, I figured I should try to get it out, I have been trying to catch it. I have a QT tank ready to go.
 
Agreed on the FW dip and meds. Tubellerian worms are a pain to deal with! This was my first experience with a parasite. I had a cleaner wrasse that actually took care of most of them on a Yellow Tang but the dip will accomplish the same thing and is a better choice. The earlier you start treatment the better as they will certainly kill your tang.
 
I finally managed to catch the Tang and it is in QT now. I am going to try the freshwater dip tonight. I still need to do a bit more reading on that procedure. Now what about my tank, If I treat the Tang and keep it in QT for the recommended time period do I need to do anything with the tank? IE: remove all the fish and leave it fish-less for 6 weeks?
I really hope not...
 
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