Help my tang!

[bhav_88]

This is a very interesting story here, and I am at a complete loss. The other day I got a lawnmower blenny from my LFS. He had been in the tank overnight, and the next morning, was doing fine. Now, everything was great.
I left for an hour. JUST ONE HOUR. I came back and my regal tang is now covered in what looks to be whitish colored skin. It looks as if it is his skin, not something on it. Plus, it's only on one side.
IT isn't ICH, as this fish has had ICH before and it doesn't look like that. Could it be a scrape? If so, why is it white and crappy looking? The fish in question still eats and behaves normally.

 

[jumpfrog]

Are you sure it's not a stress response? Tangs will sometimes almost turn white in reaction to stress. It should go back to normal though after a short while.

 

[bhav_88]

I don't know what would be stressing him, other than perhaps the blenny, but the thing is, it's only on one side and it's uneven. It looks like a fungal growth, but it isn't ON him like fungus, it IS him.

 

[fishfreek]

It sounds to me like stress too. Mine did this when i recently moved the tank to a differedt house. My regal was very light blue to almost white in areas of his body. It could be stress caused by things like stray voltage or a power head that is making too much noise. I would check into these possable stress factors and go from there.

 

[beth]

Tangs will really show off their stress because of their solid light color, as well as their high-strung temperment. The oddity is one side.
Does the fish appear pale, or is their coating to it?
How is the fish behaving, eating, swming, etc?
Can you get a pic for us?

 

[bhav_88]

Well... If you've ever tried to take a pic of this particular tang, you'll know it's impossible. I doubt even RyeBread could get a clear picture of him, the way he manages to evade every shot.
Anywho... the tang is behaving exactly as always. He changes is color at will, so I can't really say there... he's either bright blue or pale blue, depending on whether he thinks I'll feed him or not. So... most of the time, he's a brightish blue. Occasionally, he'll be a nasty looking white color, but usually only if something spooks him (Such as a hermit crab while he's relaxing on a rock)

 

[wyldgunz]

Dont take it lightly .. i had the same thing happen to me i brought home a clown fish and noticed small spots on both of them ... a few days later the clown fish was dead and the hippo was almost compleatly white and his eyes were hazed over . I treated with copper for 2 days and on the 3rd day he was dead at that time he was laying on his side gills going 100 miles an hour.
I was told it was marine velvet and every thing i read pointed to it.
It could be nothing but it could be something just watch it close you never know. my tang ate just fine untill the 2nd day in the q-tank.

 

[bhav_88]

No no, you aren't understanding. The blenny is utterly fine. No problems. It's just the one fish, and it happened instantly, not over a day or two. It also does not appear as of now to be getting bigger, but it still covers most of his right side.