Is it a disease??

[adamPL]

Hi,
I just started a new tank, and bought all the fish at one shot, two of them have some weird white spots, for me the spots look diferent on each fish. Do you have any Idea what it could be, and how should I treat it? Tank is 215 gal so it is impossible for me to catch the fish, so I guess treatment must be done in the tank. Please help

 

[dcombs44]

Hopefully those fish aren't truly your fish. Even though the thread is a joke, those tangs do have ich, so somebody probably actually did kill them.

 

[adamPL]

I don't know what are you talking about, joke? Why not mine? I have them for a week now!! Anybody with any answer?

 

[mk_kraje]

Hey Adam.
I'm new to this hobby also (~6 months) but have enough experience to say yes thats white itch, yes you can catch the fish even in a 215 gallon tank (fish traps, netting when feeding on the surface + lots of patience) and adding the fish all at once to a new tank is a definite no no.
I suspect that is why the previous poster asked you if the thread is a joke. This is amplified by the fact that 215 gallons is a huge tank.
You would want to quarantine your fish because having white itch in your main tank is no fun. There are several options of treatment including copper and formalin, none of which IMO should be used in a main tank.
Good luck.

 

[dcombs44]

So you're telling me that you've been a member on this site for 4 years, and your current tanks in your sig line don't agree with your original post, yet you set up a huge tank in one day and threw all of your livestock in with it that day?

I'm not buyin what you're sellin.

Forgive me if my hunch is still wrong. I guess I caught sarcasm from the smiley at the end of the post.

If in fact these are your fish and you did put them in an uncycled tank, I'd take them back to the LFS and tell them that they shouldn't have sold you a bunch of fish that your system couldn't handle.

You could set up a QT tank, but since you probably don't have an established biological filter to add to it, you'll be constantly changing water out of it to keep the fish alive.

I still say your best bet is to take them back and let your system establish itself before adding fish.

 

[crvz]

It could be that dcombs read your profile, which indicates you have a 26 gallon tank, which is rather unsuitable for those fish. In any case, those fish do seem to have a bit of a parasite, but it's hard to say to be honest. At this point, I think you should just monitor the situation and be sure to provide a very good diet for all the fish. In tank treatments arent really a good idea, and if you have any invertebrates at all it's pretty much out of the question. If the fish are still active and eating, don't worry about a hospital setup right now. If they get worse, it'll probably be time to take action.

 

[adamPL]

I bought cured LR for this tank, and fish was added one month later. I still didnt move some of my corals from 26gal tank, but all fish are there!!
Yes, I do have 26gal and 215gal, just no time to change info

 

[adamPL]

Just to clarify...because I don't want ppl to misunderstand or jump to conclusions like dcombs. Smiley face was not intended, because I am obviously not happy about this situation. Also, disregard the profile info - haven't had time to update.

I had a 26g tank, like I previously posted. Then, I set up a 215g tank and added cured liverock to it. I had the new tank set up for about two months with the liverock. After having the tank for a month, I bought five chromes. A few weeks later, after continuing to check the levels, I put in two clownfish and a week later, I put another seven fish that were purchased from one store. Two of these fish are showing the white spots. The spots appeared a week after putting the new fish in the tank. I have been monitoring the other fish, and everything else seems okay.

Does anybody have any other advice about this? Is it enough to just catch the two fish and treat them, or do I have to treat all the fish?

BTW, I purchased the fish and was advised to place them all together in the tank because I bought five tangs. I was told that if I waited to put in fish individually, they would become territorial and aggressive towards each other.

Thanks crvz for your help...does anyone else have any input? Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[luther1200]

As long as you wait a while before you put any coral in I think you will be O.K. As far as the fish it looks like ich to me. I would keep a close eye on them, and watch to see if they get worse. If they do I would do something about it.

 

[Salamander]

You're going to have to pull out all the fish an treat in a separate tank.

Look here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1500214

 

[dcombs44]

I agree. All of the fish probably need to be treated, but it's going to be tough being that there are so many and some of them are so large.

Best way to avoid this in the future is to QT all of your fish, but again, if you're buying 7 tangs, it's going to be hard to have a QT tank big enough to keep them all in for a month.

It really is a tough call, but just treating the affected fish probably won't accomplish anything because your tank has now been exposed, and to eliminate the problem, it probably needs to set dormant without fish for 4-6 weeks.

Due to your specific situation, it may be best to hope that the fish are healthy enough to fight it off and hope for the best, but I don't feel comfortable recommending that.

Also, my apologies about jumping to conclusions. The original post just struck me weird. Plus, my wife ran our new car down the side of the garage that day, so I was a little on edge. Good luck.