Yellow tang had for 1.5yrs now has black spots

[bklynmet]

Yellow tang I have now had for 1.5 years now has black spots - size of pinheads, about 1/2 dozen per side. Are these worms?

I noticed two days ago and have been impregnating food with garlic since. Three other fish in the tanks show no spots - false percula, lawnmower blenny and bengai cardinal fish. I can put him in QT but don't know if that would eliminate the worm (?) if it has spread in the tank.

I did not feed him nori for about a week right before the spots began appearing (had to go away on business) and tank temp has been higher than normal during the same time frame. Could this outbreak be stress related?

 

[Steven Pro]

It could be black ich. There is a picture for comparison as well as the required treatment here,
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/blackich.html

 

[bklynmet]

looks like it's going away.. only a few total today... i think getting him back to normal feeding and the tank back to normal temps has helped him fight it off... still soaking food in garlic though and keeping a close watch on the others...

 

[Steven Pro]

From the link/article I provided, "Juvenile turbellaria attach to the host fish and grow from around 77 to 450 ìm. After around 6 days, they drop off the host and fall to the substrate where their eggs and larvae develop internally for 3 to 4 days. The adult's body wall ruptures and up to 160 juveniles escape and can immediately infect any susceptible hosts. The life cycle takes around 10 days at 24.5°C (76°F)."

 

[ShellBell]

Mine had it too. I gave it a freshwater dip which removed the black dots, only for them to come back. I just let it go and eventually they went away. My tang has been spotless for about 9 months. I wouldn't worry too much.