White spots in powder brown tang (not ich)?

[marcusbacus]

What can be these white spots in my powder brown tang?
I bought this guy today and while I noticed it was a bit paler than the smaller powder browns in the display, I didn't notice that he had that many spots. It's definitely not ich, I suppose.
He's eating like a pig, is very active, isn't scratching or darting, isn't bothered by any other fish (he is the only tang) and seems pretty comfortable.
He was in a relatively small compartment with a zanclus at the store (no idea for how long) that was much bigger than he is. Could these just be "battle marks" caused by the zanclus or signs of old diseases (fluke, in this case)? One side has more white spots than the other.

 

[monkeysee1]

Yep, probably flukes. With the symptoms you describe (pale color, white blotches), if you see stringy poop and he's scratching up against your rocks or substrate, you can be pretty sure it's flukes.
Pretty easy to treat in your tank with Prazipro. Follow directions EXACTLY and he should be fine.

 

[marcusbacus]

Sorry for the large pic, I posted from my mobile and it didn't resize it...
I haven't seen his poop yet despite his incredible appetite (I saw him eating at the store as well). No scratching or darting so far, after about 8 hours here in the new tank. He was much much paler at the store, but I still think he's a bit paler than it should (although I know there are naturally paler individuals).
I have a cleaner shrimp and they just became friends, let's see if it helps. I don't have praziquantel here, but I have fluconazole (which is more used for fungal infections I think), will it help? I was suggested a fresh water dip, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea considering the fish is brand new in the tank and it won't be easy to catch it. I'm trying to find a generic praziquantel pill which is way cheaper than the "fish" kind...
As he is eating and is active (and goes crazy when he notices food!), I'm not extremely worried yet.
Also, I'm not sure if it helps any identification but the white spots are pretty regular in shape and are all about the same size and they all seem to be located at the top and front of the fish, there aren't any on his back or near the tail or in the back half of his body (but maybe because it's a lighter colour there it might be difficult to see the spots).

 

[fishguy597]

I would google flukes and see if it looks like it. Usually the flukes will be slightly raised. Looks like stress of a new environment to me. Sometimes the skin pigmentation will change like when the lights go off or just come on.After he is adjusted it will probably go away. This is a good reason for qt to observe a new fish. Good luck.

 

[ROlympia]

The coloring looks okay to me. Mine is more of a steel grey unless it's being aggressive and then it is brown. Don't know about the white spots though.

 

[marcusbacus]

Nevermind, the fish died overnight sucked by the wavemaker (or was sucked after dead). With that, the flow reduced a bit and a couple other fish died (pseudo diadema and cleaner shrimp dead and my 2 black clown are missing).

 

[monkeysee1]

I am sorry to hear that. :sad2:
Are your clownfish coming out now? Are they eating?
I would just leave them be if they are and NOT add any more fish for 4-6 weeks or so. Just see how these two do.
Keep a sharp eye on your ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, pH and alkalinity.
Do weekly water changes RELIGIOUSLY (20%).
If everything is good after 4-6 weeks, you can start adding new fish / inverts ONE AT A TIME.

 

[JTL]

I just lost two fish very quickly to flukes and in all my years in this hobby I had never seen an infection and had no idea what was going on. In both cases the fish were eating and in retrospect showing a little flashing and some loss of color. After the first on died I was concerned about the second one and finally caught him used a fw dip. The poor fish was loaded with flukes that could not be seen. By the time I got some prazipro he was dead. Interestingly my clowns did not show and symptoms but I assumed that they also had them. I am now on my 2nd dose of prazipro and hope all is well.

 

[marcusbacus]

Ammonia probably exploded, pH seems stable at 8.1 (w/ pen). Weird is that if the blacks are dead, there are no corpses so far. A pajama and a damsel and the 2 other clowns are fine like nothing happened. I just didn't feed them yet except that the clowns moved from the big bbbt to a hammer. They seem to be quite normal to be some case of a explicit disease, but who knows.

 

[marcusbacus]

I did some search and it seems that it's difficult to say it's flukes judging from just the appearance of the fish, but after a fw dip you see the little worms in the water, I should have done this with the dead body of the tang. After this mess I decided to do a major rework in the tank decoration, despite having my hands on fire due to the fireworms.... I'll wait for the dust to settle down and try to really see who's missing.
BTW, the black clowns were found dead below this rock...
Now I have 4 large rocks left that had no corals attached to them, which where there just to gather dust... My substrate looks like it's made of mud right now but I'm sure it's mostly superficial. Any test done now will be of no use, I guess.

 

[JustinM]

I would say you had a really bad infestation of flukes. It is likely your remaining fish have them as well. If you can catch one of them, FW dip them and go from there.