Red Sea Purple Tang

[arsanc]

Recently I bought a Red Sea Purple tang. The fish is gorgeous, however, I noticed yesterday morning, when I turned my lights on, that it has a few white spots and its color was somewhat faded. By the evening he looked fine again. This morning, same thing. A couple of months back I had a yellow eyed tang and tomato clown that had these but were covered by these both died. I have a maroon clown, an orange shoulder tang and a yellow tail damsel all of what have never seemed to be affected what so ever. I figured after 2 months whatever killed the other 2 fish wouldn't be a problem especially since the other fish were not affected. Any idea whats going on? Why does this seem to clear up once the lights have been on for a while? What can I do to treat this fish who is in a coral tank?
Thanks!!!

 

[blueface]

It sounds like odomium (ick) to me. As long as there is fish in your tank you will always have it present. It goes in cycles. The "white spots" burn off after the lights are on. You should remove ll of your fish and qt asap. As far as dosing the reef tank good luck. The only really good remedies will kill all of your corals. Try feeding garlic & using a uv sterilizer it may help. I'm guessing you didn't qt your fish first. It's always a gamble to add fish directly to the main tank first.

 

[dogstar]

Sounds like Ich to me. Its a parisite that attacts weak fish.
Most new fish have a weakened immune system from the stress of collection and shipping ect. and are not able to fight off the parisite. Aggression from estabished fish often adds to the stress and leads to ick in the main tank also.
Always best to place new fish in a QT tank so there is less stress and allows the fish to regain a strong immune system and see if it gets sick without infecting the main tank. After about a month or so and it seems fine then you can add it to the display tank.
Tangs do seem to get ich easier than some other species so I suggest setting up a QT and placeing the Purple in there and treating. Hopefully any other fish you have in the main tank are heathy enough to fight it off.

 

[lion_crazz]

Yep, I agree with dogstar.
blueface, I just need to clarify something you said. Amyloodinium is not ich, that is velvet. Velvet is far more dangerous than ich. Cryptocaryon is the scientific name for saltwater ich.

 

[ophiura]

What are your water parameters? Including ph, alk and calcium?
The paleness, in general, is not uncommon in sleeping fish. The spots, as mentioned may be ick.

 

[firedog]

Originally Posted by lion_crazz
Yep, I agree with dogstar.
blueface, I just need to clarify something you said. Amyloodinium is not ich, that is velvet. Velvet is far more dangerous than ich. Cryptocaryon is the scientific name for saltwater ich.

This is correct. I was also reading that velvet will often accompany ich, or follow it. Ich may cure itself, but velvet is always fatal if untreated. Problem is velvet hits the gills first and is not visible right away. This is from one of Tullock's books.
It can be hard to diagnose these problems, they look similar.
I hope everything works out for you.

 

[arsanc]

I am in process of checking water parameters and will post. Does anyone know why other fish would not be affected. Is ich contageous? How does garlic help? This morning I got him some greens together to place on the feeder that attaches to the inside of the tank. I crushed some garlic, rolled it in the greens like a doob and he was going to town on it.

 

[ophiura]

Ick is contagious, for sure, but healthy non-stressed fish stand some chance of fighting it off. As an example, I had a kole tang and a coral beauty that did not like each other. Those two developed rather serious cases of ick, while a sixline wasn't affected at all. The stress in the tank was two fish that wanted the same territory - as opposed to a water quality problem. Once one fish was removed, the ick "went away" so to speak (meaning it was no longer an obvious parasite on the fish). It is still present in the tank, waiting for a weak fish or stressfull situation to arise and will take advantage at that time.
It is rather like a cold in the office. Lots of people may get it around you but many may not ever come down with it if they are not stressed, etc.
Some water quality situations can be stressful to single fish, especially new fish in a tank, while established fish have become used to the issue. It is worth ruling that out.

 

[arsanc]

Thanks for the responses!!

 

[arsanc]

The tang is looking 100% better over that past couple of days. Just curious.....How does garlic help?