Blue tang been in TT and hypo for a month. What is this on him ?

[Candymancangt]

I h

ave a blue tang i rescued from ***** a month ago.. horrible case of ich. I did tank transfer on him for 13 days.. changing the containers every 24hrs with fresh air stones. after 9 days he cleard up and looked much better but i kep going for 13. i decided to also do hyposalinity just in case as i noticed he had grey patchs on his skin.



Not raised.. deff not ich from what i could tell not flukes either.. Anyway hes been in hypo for 14 days now.. still no ich. Flukes would be long dead being in hypo.. Deff no velvet, brookylnella i dunno i doubt.. Pretty sure hed be dead from that too. And i see no slime coat or raise slimey areas. its just grey patchs.. Like he lost pigment in those areas.



I just took him out of the qt and put him in a small cup to observe him better with a light.. i see absolutetly nothing on him.. cept those paths still.



Maybe bacterial ? Or stress i dunno.

Here is a picture. What do you guys think ? He is eating but very very veryyyyy timid.. and hides 24.7 in qt.. Its a 5g tank hes barely 2 inchs. But hes getting a pinched stomach and i try not to feed the tank too much due to ammonia.. since i just set this qt tank up a month ago plus its in hypo which reduces BB bacteria count .
Im thinking of raising salinity and putting him in my main tank... i really dont think he has ich anymore.. not after tank transfer for 2 weeks and hypo for 2 weeks.

Ive done hypo many times but i usually do it for 4-6 weeks minimum.. i dunno.
I feel these blotchs are not parasitic but bacterial or stress related and i feel he needs to go in the main tank.
What do you guys think ? Id sure hate to bring ich in my ich free 150 and yes its ich free.. after it being in hypo for 2 months ive not introduced fish or corals from tabks with fish in 5 months

 

[beth]

It looks like stress and a HLLE (Head and Lateral Line Erosion). I'm afriad that a 5 gal QT is far from ideal for any tang.

I'm not sure I understand what you are mean my airstones? Airstones do nothing for aeration and water circulation for a marine tank.

What are the water readings in the QT? Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH, Salinity?

What pumps are you using?

What are you feeding this fish and how often?

Start using either zoecon or selcon a supplement for this fish.

Please refrain from removing this fish to observe in a cup, etc. This can lead to a great deal of stress and even infection of this fish.

If you can post a whole picture of the fish, that would be helpful as well.

Info and examples of HLLE:
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/c/index.php/articles/content/head-and-lateral-line-erosion.105

 

[Candymancangt]

It looks like stress and a HLLE (Head and Lateral Line Erosion). I'm afriad that a 5 gal QT is far from ideal for any tang.

I'm not sure I understand what you are mean my airstones? Airstones do nothing for aeration and water circulation for a marine tank.

What are the water readings in the QT? Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH, Salinity?

What pumps are you using?

What are you feeding this fish and how often?

Start using either zoecon or selcon a supplement for this fish.

Please refrain from removing this fish to observe in a cup, etc. This can lead to a great deal of stress and even infection of this fish.

If you can post a whole picture of the fish, that would be helpful as well.

Info and examples of HLLE:
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/c/index.php/articles/content/head-and-lateral-line-erosion.105

Airstone for tanktransfer.. meaning i put in an airstone in the container.. and every 24 hours id put him in a new container with a new airstone and tubing to keep from spreading ich while i transfer..

Airstones work... they move water and movement and surface agitation does airate even in salt water. Where did you get that info that it doesnt work in marine tanks.

Make sense ? I feed him omega one marine flakes with garlic 1x a day.. id feed more but anymore causes ammonia to spike up since my main 29 gallon qt tank had wrasses in it that cant handle hypo.. i had to pull my 5.5g out with a small hob and put sand and rock from my 150g in it. It was all i had for him Make sense ?

But yea i dont think its ich anymore i think the combo of tank transfer and hypo worked. Has to be stress.

I decided to start raising salinity. Once it back to normal ill put him in my 150g and feed him nori and stuff like i do my other tangs.

I looked at your sticky with diseases and pics. The one where you have pics for stress.. it looks identical to mine.. greyish patchs.

 

[lmforbis]

I agree on the air stone for TT. I use them all the time for that, but only with really tiny fish. They creat enough surface movement for oxygen exchange in a very small tank <2 gal. Usually I use an air stone with a sponge filter soaked in bottles bacteria in larger tanks. I just toss the sponge after each transfer and sterilize the air stone and tubing with 10% bleach.
you shouldn’t need hypo with TT. Neither TT or hypo treat anything but ich.

Definitely looks like a stress reaction with HLLE. Beth’s suggestions are sound and backed up with a history of success. Look for a bigger QT. I wouldn’t use less than a 10 for a tang if it is small. I’d use a 20 for bigger fish. I always have a couple 10s and a 20 on hand for immediate use.
Dump the flakes they’d aren’t what it needs. Good frozen food meant for herbivores. Also algae sheets on a clip. As long as you aren’t using copper you can treat with prime.
Id suggest a cheap sponge filter. They are great bio filters Soak the sponge in bottled bacteria for a couple hours then put in the tank. Sponges are great for colonizing bacteria and soaking in bottles bacteria for a couple hours will help give the colonization a jump start. I keep several sponges in my sump all the time to keep them well colonized. It works well.

 

[beth]

Once salinity is raised, wait a week before placing him in the display to ensure that ich doesn't return. Zoecon or Selcon supplement helps out a great deal with HLLE due to it containing omega3 fatty acids. Works particularly well in helping to remediate HLLE. Add it directly to frozen foods.

Of course, if he remains in a 5gal, that will continue to contribute to the stress but hopefully the supplementation and a major change in diet will compensate. You didn't provide info on the water readings requested and it sounds like you may be experiencing water quality issues judging from your comments regarding ammonia. If the water in you display tank is good, best to use water from the display for the 5 gal as you bring it out of hypo.

 

[Candymancangt]

Ammonia is 0 as long as i dont feed tons in that qt tank

Anyway i put him in my display tank 2 days ago, i havent seen ich on him in 3 weeks and i wanted him out of the qt tank. So far hes looking really good. No signs of ich at all. Those white dots in the pic are justt bubbles floating by in my 150. Not ich lol. I was way ahead of you using the display tank water to raise hypo.

Hes eating really well tell fed my tank 4 times today.. twice with nori.. twice with omega one marine flakes. And he ate both foods. He also never hides in the 150 like he did in the qt tank. Hes out swiming 24.7 and none of my other tangs or fish bother him

 

[beth]

Yep, he's looking pretty good there. Looks like the white blotches are gone. How many other tangs do you have? That may be problem with aggression.

 

[Bella Smith]

Yep, he looks really good. Happy to see that.