Clown Tang with black spots - blotches

[dougedoug]

Got a clown tang less than two weeks ago, he has been eating well and is active. A little aggression, but nothing crazy. He has some black spots on him. They are more like blotches. Is this tang ich? All the other fish in the tank are fine/string and all my levels are fine. Should I just do a water change and maintain what I am doing with feeding and what not? I have a feel it could go away. I could treat with copper, please share your thoughts. Again he is eating well and active. He was not initially when I got him, but he is getting along just fine in the tank.

 

[beth]

Can you post a picture of the problem?

 

[dougedoug]

 

[beth]

Its not ich, or black ich. I'm inclined to believe it is stress related. And you mentioned aggression. Is the fish being the aggressor, or is another fish picking on him? Either way, its stress to fish, and tangs have been known to blotch under stress.
How big is your tank, and what are you feeding your fish?

 

[dougedoug]

I have a hippo in there which is smaller then the clown but from what I see they do not really go at it too much.. Clown is the aggressor but I would not say its regular. My tank is 200 gallons. He literally just started eating good and swimming well after 6 days of not being too active (new addition). I feed him mysis shrimp And seaweed sheets every other day. All the fish are on the same eating schedule. I am going to keep the water quality levels good and then get him as much greens as possible so that this can eventually pass.

 

[beth]

You are only feeding your fish every other day and only Mysis and seaweed? If so, totally inadequate diet. That could account for what you are seeing with this fish. You need to feed your fish twice a day with a variety of quality foods, in addition to the algae sheet daily.

 

[dougedoug]

He has been in my tank for less than 2 weeks and just started eating last week good. So I need to feed the clown tang daily? I notice he only eats the mysis and seaweed paper. With the paper only when its broken apart into small pieces. All my other fish silversides, prawn shrimp and seaweed paper every other day. I was never told to feed my fish every day.

 

[beth]

Quote:
Originally Posted by dougedoug http:///t/394650/clown-tang-with-black-spots-blotches#post_3512773
He has been in my tank for less than 2 weeks and just started eating last week good. So I need to feed the clown tang daily? I notice he only eats the mysis and seaweed paper. With the paper only when its broken apart into small pieces. All my other fish silversides, prawn shrimp and seaweed paper every other day. I was never told to feed my fish every day.
Fish spend their entire day looking for food and feeding. Particularly, tangs graze constantly and need to eat. Healthy fish need nutrition every day. You should feed your fish portions that they can consume without much going to waste. You may want to put your algae sheets on a algae clip so that your tang can graze in addition to the regular meals.
It looks like you have a fish-only tank, but tangs are still reef fish. You have a large tank. Have you considered adding live rock or going reef?

 

[dougedoug]

Hi Beth,
Thank you for all your help. The one issue with the algae sheets is my puffer literally will eat up an entire sheet so I always had to add extra. I was thinking about going reef but the issue is my tank is not deep enough. Live rock is a good idea? Only been in the hobby for about a year. To go to live rock i would probably have to start all over?

 

[beth]

Your tank is not deep enough for a reef? I don't understand. There are reef tanks that are pretty shallow, however, if you have a standard 200 gal tank, it is more than adequate.