Black Ick on Tang?

[ohioreef]

I have a yellow tang and I have noticed some black spots on him. The "spots" actually extend straight out from his body. It kinda looks like the black ick as shown in the sticky above. I tried to get a pic, but he is kinda camera shy.
He is eating fine and I just noticed them this evening so hopefully I've caught it early.
How do I treat this?

 

[elfdoctors]

Black ich can be caused by two separate organisms. Fortunately, the preferred treatment for both of them are formalin baths. Follow the procedure outlined in the basic FAQ sticky at the top of this forum closely, as formalin can be toxic for humans (as well as black ich).
Good Luck!

 

[ohioreef]

I looked this morning and it appears that the spots are gone. Is that possible? (I might just not be seeing them as the lights haven't come on yet.)

 

[elfdoctors]

Like regular ich, the disease has a free-swimming form. It is possible that the spots that had been attached to the fish have fallen off but they will likely come back again (and often worse). As I recall, the free-swimming form is a smaller part of the lifecycle so a tank only needs to be fishless for two weeks for it to be killed off.
Black ich is easiest to spot on light colored fish such as your yellow tang.