black/brown spots

[wildblue4]

I have a new yellow tang in my tank. its been in for 5 days and when i came home from work today it had brown/black spots that look like ich, but i have never seen ich that color. any suggestions or treatments for what this may be? i have no QT so what would be the best chemical treatment for the tank? thanks in advance

 

[beth]

This is black ick a.k.a black spot disease. You can treat the fish using fresh water dips, 1x a day for 5 days. When dipping, be sure that the water temp as well as the pH is the same as that of the tank where the fish is coming from.
Dip for approximately 3 mins at a time.
You can also use formalin treatment. Using the same water from the tank, add formalin as per directions on the bottle giving your fish a 30-45 min bath daily, again for 5 days. Be sure to aerate the bath water while the fish is in it.

 

[wildblue4]

thanks Beth, Is this a ich brought on by stress or did it come with the fish? Will catching the fish cause more stress and hurt the chances of cureing it? of all of my years doing this i have not seen this one yet, thanks again for the advice.

 

[beth]

Black ick is a parasite so yes it was introduced to your tank via a fish host. Yes, a parasite on your fish can be "under control" until the fish is stressed enough that the disease can cause illness.
Just be sure to keep that temp and pH in a FW bath at the same level as your main tank.