help with powder blue tang

[farieslayer]

we just bought the powder blue tang and we just notice there are like white clear color parasite,only about 5 or 6 right now, they are near his eyes and above his mouth. if about triple the size of the 0.7 mechanical pencil head and he keep scratching near that area with the rock a lots. what should i do?, and what type of medication should i use.

 

[beth]

Please use your search feature on this BB and look up the disease ICK. By reading the information, and if you come to the conclusion that this is what your fish is suffering from, then use the same search feature and look up hyposalinity.
If you have any more questions after reading, post back! We'll be glad to help you out.

 

[farieslayer]

i am very certain that is not ichs, is look like a leech but is clear color and it move around above is mouth. Mr.Tang suggested this
"what you are most likely dealing with is called an ISOPOD, and it is a parasite.
they appear prelimenarely around the mouth area. they need to be physcially removed with tweezers.
it could also be another type of copepod (parasite) which should be easily removed with a fw dip. "

 

[farieslayer]

bump

 

[beth]

How is your fish doing? Is he acting and behaving normally otherwise? I would suggest, if the fish is normal and eating, that you feed it garlic soaked food and keep an eye on the situation. FW dips can be stressful for fish so its something you want to jump into unless necessary.

 

[farieslayer]

he is normal but the black color on his head is a little less black than normal.

 

[pitons]

I too have a powder blue that had the same thing when we first got him. Fortunately, he made friends with our 2 cleaner shrimp and we didn't have to do anything about it. Do you have any cleaners? They are not a "cure all" but they sure do help and problem has not resurfaced since! If the problem gets worse, you'll have to remove them yourself.