My Tang is Tickled? Disease or Copepods?

gilpil

Member
My Yellow Tang is rubbing against rocks and fake plants and sometimes even the glass. I have many copepods on the glass and have heard these can tickle fish into this behavior. I do not see any white spots so I do not think it is ick. what could it be?
 

razoreqx

Active Member
sounds like ick or some other type of parasite. Ick will look like grains of salt sticking to the fish.
Oh I have had my yellow tang for over a year now and he scratches once in a while the same way. Usually for a couple days then hes fine. Either whatever attached to him falls off or gets scrapped off.. or one of my pistol shrimp make a meal of it..
 

gilpil

Member
How many spots are there? There are two little sand looking grains on the very top of his fin, really close together, but they have been there for a few days. I figured ick would be more abundant.
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
How long have you had this fish? Have you added new fish to the tank wo QTing first?
It could be ich.
 

gilpil

Member
I have had the fish for about 6 weeks, and have not added anything but snails since I have gotten him. I am setting up a quarantine tank, but the cycle is not done yet. I will keep an eye on the tang. Does ick affect invertebrates???
 

gilpil

Member
I asked because I read this part of an article in a purely educational website about saltwater tanks:
How To Control or Remove Copepods and Amphipods
Even though considered a food source to some tank inhabitants, these bugs are considered no more than a nuisance to others. Sometimes when very large populations of these bugs are present in the free swimming larval and juvenile stages, you may see fish in the tank shaking or shuddering. This is because the bugs crawl around on the bodies of the fish, causing what you might explain as a tickling sensation that is annoying to them. This can become overwhelming and exhausting for the fish, because they find it difficult to get any rest as they constantly move or dart around to keep the bugs off of themselves.
If this happens and you are concerned about your fish, and you do not have any bug eating animals present in the aquarium to help reduce their numbers naturally, it may be necessary for you to take steps to control or thin them out. This can easily be accomplished by simply running a hang-on-tank type canister filter (read reviews compare prices) with a fine micron sleeve or pleat cartridge on the aquarium for a short period of time to filter the bugs out of the water.
 

lildirty77

New Member
my tang scratches against things and I learned that it loosens up algae then eats it. That could very well be the thing if there are so visible signs of disease
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
That sounds very much like typical ich life cycle. Take a look at the FAQ Thread and read the post on ICH.
 

gilpil

Member
According to the post, I should have seen ich appear again on fish within 1 to 2 weeks, but I have not had any occurances for almost exactly 4 weeks. I think I am alright, unless I read the post wrong.
I am not sure though, I am a beginner, what do you think Beth?
I have a quarantine cycling right now, and I have medicine just to be sure, since I did not want it to occur on the weekend and have the lfs be closed. Maybe only time will tell.
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Gilpil, yellow tangs can be difficult to detect problems, including a mild infestation of ich. Use a magnifying glass to give the fish a thorough look and keep this up daily over the next couple of weeks. [In fact, this is generally a good practice: to view all your animals thru the mag glass. Early detection of problems could mean the difference between life and death].
In the meantime, feed the fish foods soaked in the juices of fresh garlic. Crush the garlic in a container till the juices emerge, then add fish food [not flake or dry] to the garlic juice. Let it soak for 30 min in the refridgerator before feeding to your fish.
 

gilpil

Member
ok, I do not have a magnifying glass, but I will try to find one. I have been letting their food soak in garlic for the last week and have been feeding them every other day. Does that sound alright?
Also, should I soak the invertebrates food in garlic, or is it benificial to them. Being the CC starfish and my CBS that I spot feed frozen tuna or seafood. By the way the Tuna is a yellow fin tuna I caught in Mexico, not canned tuna.
 
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