Is my tang sick?

Byrns149

Byrns149

New member
So today when i got home from school i noticed my yellow tang just sitting in between two rocks which isnt normal. Hes usually out and about when i come home. I put the norm food for the day in the tank (mysis and a seaweed clip) and he went after it looking like he was interested, yet he didnt eat anything. It almost looked like he couldnt eat or something.

I started to look closer at him and noticed a few small white spots on both of his pectoral fins accompanied by 2 or 3 dark tiny spots right above his lateral line. His eyes also look cloudy. He is acting lethargic. I put my hand in the tank and he barely tried to get away which he always does.
I really think i am going to find him dead tomorrow.....

I only have one other fish in the tank and that is a blue damsel and he is acting normal.

The tang was acting completely normal yesterday and ate both mysis and seaweed.

My parameters have stayed constant. Salinity is 1.025.

Is this ich? What else could it be and what can i do right now to give him some chance of survival?
 
With your description the two things that come to mind are ich and worms referred to as black ich. Prazipro will work for worms but you will need a hospital tank and cupramime to treat ich (if that is indeed what it is)
 
If it does turn out to be ich, and this fish dies, could i just get rid of the damsel incase he is carrying ich( he was only like $5) wait a while and then add more fish a few months down the road? I do not have the recourses to set up a hospital tank.
 
Last edited:
If it is ich and the tang dies, then yes leaving your tank fallow for 12 wks makes it 99.5% chance all the ich life cycle has been killed off. I would feed some enriched food to the fish. The worms are usually caused by poor water quality and or over feeding. What size tank is the tang in?
 
Dmorty217 said:
If it is ich and the tang dies, then yes leaving your tank fallow for 12 wks makes it 99.5% chance all the ich life cycle has been killed off. I would feed some enriched food to the fish. The worms are usually caused by poor water quality and or over feeding. What size tank is the tang in?
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Hes a juvenile and hes only in a 30 for now. I planned on getting rid of him once he gets a little bigger ( i got him for free) because i know a 30 long isnt suitable for a tang. Hes not swimming to well right now and looks like hes on deaths doorstep.
 
Depending on what else is in the tank as far as inverts go you could use seachem para guard to treat the worms and ich. Is the tang still eating? Also when was the last water change?
 
Dmorty217 said:
Depending on what else is in the tank as far as inverts go you could use seachem para guard to treat the worms and ich. Is the tang still eating? Also when was the last water change?
Click to expand...
Last water change was 20% less than a week ago. Ive been doing 20% every saturday since i set the tank up. I have a bunch of hermits, a baby emerald crab, a few turbos and thats it. I got alot of softies and a few lps though.

He now has a bunch of salt like spots all over his body so im guessing the ich is setting in hardcore right now. Should i get rid of the damsel ? Should i do a water change tonight?
 
Yeah sounds like ich for sure. I have used para guard on my DT before at full recommended strength and it killed my deresa clam but nothing else was effected including my squamosa which was kind of strange? Without setting up a tank that you can treat or treating your DT it probably a lost cause. The damsel has been exposed to the ich so taking him out now won't do anything as far as ich goes. You should try and treat the tang. A water change won't help anything as far as disease goes. You could do the tank transfer method if you have two 5g buckets or two storage containers
 
Dmorty217 said:
Yeah sounds like ich for sure. I have used para guard on my DT before at full recommended strength and it killed my deresa clam but nothing else was effected including my squamosa which was kind of strange? Without setting up a tank that you can treat or treating your DT it probably a lost cause. The damsel has been exposed to the ich so taking him out now won't do anything as far as ich goes. You should try and treat the tang. A water change won't help anything as far as disease goes. You could do the tank transfer method if you have two 5g buckets or two storage containers
Click to expand...


Tank transfer method? Do you have a thread or video that goes more in depth?
 
Often times feeding will help the animal heal. Try and find some liquid garlic at your LFS and dump some into the tank. Soak the food in it as well as this often entices the tang to eat. I would do it ASAP as the tang sounds very close to succumbing to the ich.

Tangs are extremely susceptible to ich. I used to have major problems with my tang and ich until I bought a cleaner shrimp. It's been about a year now since his last case of ich, and none of my other fish have had issues.
 
Byrns149, your fish needs to be in a hospital tank if you have one. To do Tank Transfers, you need 2 tanks, sterilized and set up exactly the same with the same parameters.

Here is Snorvich's explanation of how to do a tank transfer. http://reefcentral.com/forums/blog.php?b=347
He also has several articles in that blog on how to treat marine ich.
 
He died this morning... Thanks for everyones help though. I'll see what happens with this damsel, so far he is fine.
 
Byrns149 said:
Tank transfer method? Do you have a thread or video that goes more in depth?
Click to expand...

Check the stickies under the disease forum it will explain it in there. It's not difficult and is extremely effective in treating ich in roughly two wks time
 
Rea17 said:
The timeline you presented has me thinking he had velvet. Did you take any pictures?
Click to expand...


No i didnt take any pictures... The damsel is still eating and everything. Did a 30% instead of the normal 20% water change today just to make sure things are good.
 
Rea17 said:
The timeline you presented has me thinking he had velvet. Did you take any pictures?
Click to expand...

I agree and the reclusive behavior is consistent with that diagnosis. 3 weeks from the last introduction suggests that the LFS runs a non-therapeutic dosage of copper and that would be the timeline that velvet would show up. Ich does not kill quickly, it overwhelms a fish eventually.
 
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