Goby1kenobe
New member
First, before the tang police chime in (which I typically agree with). I have a 8' long 300 gallon display with a total volume of 400 gallons, I have been in the hobby for 16 years. My favorite fish are the surgeonfish and I strive to provide them with a happy healthy environment, my tank is FOWLR and I have tons of flow via a Tunze wave box, two Jeabo WP 40's and 4 Koralia's of varying sizes. I am aware of the needs of each tang before I purchase them and I do know the white cheek is prone to illness. I understand that I am adding three Acanthurus surgeonfish to the same tank, I am under the belief that by adding all three at a small size and at the same time with the large tank volume will lead to my success. I have done this in the past but I did not have a qt back then and eventually wiped my entire tank out with what I believed to be velvet. I let the tank sit fallow for 8 months and in the meantime I set up a qt.
On to the issue...
I picked up three tangs that I had ordered from a local fish store yesterday and I am not sure what I am dealing with, I have used this guy in the past for purchases and always received healthy specimens. He ordered me a white cheek tang, a orange shoulder and what I believe to be a lavender tang (despite his attempts to tell me it was the black spot bariene as I requested, but the price was in the lavender range so I was ok with it). I have been buying fish from him for quite some time and his store is very small, when I went to pick the fish up I noticed scrapes on the side of the white cheek and some flashing. He had all three in a 12g display with a ceramic thing that the fish could swim through. I expressed a concern for the behavior and he gave the usual I treat with copper, the display is too small and he is just stressed out line. I talked him into giving me a week guarantee and if ich breaks out I can take them back. Now I would hate to see these fish die in his store so I figured I will give this a shot, plus I got a huge discount.
I do not believe in just blindly treating fish but I think some course of action is needed, they have been in my qt for about 18 hrs. My QT is a 55 gallon with a Fluval FX5, no carbon, a heater, air stone, some PVC pieces and a power head. When I do a water change in the display tank I mix 50% display tank water and 50% new saltwater and do a 100% water change of the qt. I am not running copper or any medication at this time, I do have Cupramine and the Seachem copper test kit so I can dose if needed but I'm not sure it will help what they have. My water parameters are as follows,
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrate between 5 and 10 ppm
PH 8.2
SPG 1.022
Temp is 80 degrees
I only turn a light on for an hour or so when I feed, I can test for more items if needed but I typically do not on my qt.
For the fish, The White cheek is the biggest and he is in the 4 to 5" range. The orange shoulder and the lavender are both just under 3", they are not fighting at all and there appears to be no aggression. The orange and lavender both eat like pigs but the white cheek just seems to pick at the food, I have offered pellets and Nori. I will try some frozen food tonight. After further examination of the white cheek the scrapes are more like sores and a couple of them are raised bumps, the lavender has much smaller sores but he still concerns me cause he is starting to flash too. If I were to guess at what they have I would say flukes. Please see the pictures below and let me know what you guys think and what I should do?
Thanks
On to the issue...
I picked up three tangs that I had ordered from a local fish store yesterday and I am not sure what I am dealing with, I have used this guy in the past for purchases and always received healthy specimens. He ordered me a white cheek tang, a orange shoulder and what I believe to be a lavender tang (despite his attempts to tell me it was the black spot bariene as I requested, but the price was in the lavender range so I was ok with it). I have been buying fish from him for quite some time and his store is very small, when I went to pick the fish up I noticed scrapes on the side of the white cheek and some flashing. He had all three in a 12g display with a ceramic thing that the fish could swim through. I expressed a concern for the behavior and he gave the usual I treat with copper, the display is too small and he is just stressed out line. I talked him into giving me a week guarantee and if ich breaks out I can take them back. Now I would hate to see these fish die in his store so I figured I will give this a shot, plus I got a huge discount.
I do not believe in just blindly treating fish but I think some course of action is needed, they have been in my qt for about 18 hrs. My QT is a 55 gallon with a Fluval FX5, no carbon, a heater, air stone, some PVC pieces and a power head. When I do a water change in the display tank I mix 50% display tank water and 50% new saltwater and do a 100% water change of the qt. I am not running copper or any medication at this time, I do have Cupramine and the Seachem copper test kit so I can dose if needed but I'm not sure it will help what they have. My water parameters are as follows,
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrate between 5 and 10 ppm
PH 8.2
SPG 1.022
Temp is 80 degrees
I only turn a light on for an hour or so when I feed, I can test for more items if needed but I typically do not on my qt.
For the fish, The White cheek is the biggest and he is in the 4 to 5" range. The orange shoulder and the lavender are both just under 3", they are not fighting at all and there appears to be no aggression. The orange and lavender both eat like pigs but the white cheek just seems to pick at the food, I have offered pellets and Nori. I will try some frozen food tonight. After further examination of the white cheek the scrapes are more like sores and a couple of them are raised bumps, the lavender has much smaller sores but he still concerns me cause he is starting to flash too. If I were to guess at what they have I would say flukes. Please see the pictures below and let me know what you guys think and what I should do?
Thanks
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