ich or mucus plugs??

[paxton.rock]

My powder blue tang died soon after these white spots showed up. My butterfly is covered in them in the morning but they seem to fade off throughout the day (except the tail fin, they stay there) and then re-appear the next morning all over. Is this ich or mucus plugs??

 

[blaxsun]

#fishmedic

 

[paxton.rock]

#fishmedic

???

 

[blaxsun]

???

Flagging your post for the resident disease experts.

 

[Tonycass12]

That looks like ich to me. What quarantine procedures do you follow?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

My powder blue tang died soon after these white spots showed up. My butterfly is covered in them in the morning but they seem to fade off throughout the day (except the tail fin, they stay there) and then re-appear the next morning all over. Is this ich or mucus plugs??

That's marine ich. It tends to "come and go" at first, then the spots get worse and worse until the fish start to die.

My concern is that there may also be something else going on here - the powder blue tang on its side has ich for sure, but not a heavy enough infection to kill it outright.

The tank looks pretty new, what is the ammonia level and what are you testing it with?
Are you seeing rapid breathing?
What other fish are in the tank?

Can you treat with hyposalinity, or are there invertebrates in the tank?
Coppersafe is my go-to treatment, but you can't use that with rocks and sand in the tank.

Jay

 

[paxton.rock]

That's marine ich. It tends to "come and go" at first, then the spots get worse and worse until the fish start to die.

My concern is that there may also be something else going on here - the powder blue tang on its side has ich for sure, but not a heavy enough infection to kill it outright.

The tank looks pretty new, what is the ammonia level and what are you testing it with?
Are you seeing rapid breathing?
What other fish are in the tank?

Can you treat with hyposalinity, or are there invertebrates in the tank?
Coppersafe is my go-to treatment, but you can't use that with rocks and sand in the tank.

Jay

I have all the fish in my QT at the moment. My DT is fallow. I’m going to dose “copper power” for 60 days. Should I rank it? Or go strait to 2.0-2.5 ppm??

 

[get-salty]

My powder blue tang died soon after these white spots showed up. My butterfly is covered in them in the morning but they seem to fade off throughout the day (except the tail fin, they stay there) and then re-appear the next morning all over. Is this ich or mucus plugs??

my purple tang had ich 5 or 6 times worse than this. his eyes was fully covered where he barely see pellets/mysis in front of him. but i kept feeding heavily and cranked up the flow and temp for a solid week. he got better after the 10th day. my point is.. dont panic and start pulling fish out and throw them in copper treatment right away. taking fish out causes a tons of stress on top of that is poisoning them w/ copper. keeps feeding - heavy and bump up the flow and heat. good luck

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I have all the fish in my QT at the moment. My DT is fallow. I’m going to dose “copper power” for 60 days. Should I rank it? Or go strait to 2.0-2.5 ppm??

You should only need to run the copper power for 30 days beyond the date you last see spots.
Don’t ramp up too slowly, but you also don’t want to add too much and overshoot the 2.5 ppm dose. I usually add half a dose, let it mix for a couple of hours, test and then add a corresponding partial dose to get up full, then let it mix a few hours and test again to confirm.
Jay

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

my purple tang had ich 5 or 6 times worse than this. his eyes was fully covered where he barely see pellets/mysis in front of him. but i kept feeding heavily and cranked up the flow and temp for a solid week. he got better after the 10th day. my point is.. dont panic and start pulling fish out and throw them in copper treatment right away. taking fish out causes a tons of stress on top of that is poisoning them w/ copper. keeps feeding - heavy and bump up the flow and heat. good luck

Actually, raising the water temperature is something to do with freshwater ich, but not marine ich - 84f is the sweet spot for marine ich, it just makes it tougher to kill.
Jay

 

[paxton.rock]

You should only need to run the copper power for 30 days beyond the date you last see spots.
Don’t ramp up too slowly, but you also don’t want to add too much and overshoot the 2.5 ppm dose. I usually add half a dose, let it mix for a couple of hours, test and then add a corresponding partial dose to get up full, then let it mix a few hours and test again to confirm.
Jay

And you do think it is the best idea to copper treat and leave tank fallow rather than just ride it out and leave them in the tank with no treatment?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

And you do think it is the best idea to copper treat and leave tank fallow rather than just ride it out and leave them in the tank with no treatment?

Well, one fish has already died, so I don’t think riding it out is an option here. Even copper isn’t a sure thing once fish loss has taken place.
Ich management really needs to be started earlier if it stands any chance of working.
Jay

 

[paxton.rock]

Well, one fish has already died, so I don’t think riding it out is an option here. Even copper isn’t a sure thing once fish loss has taken place.
Ich management really needs to be started earlier if it stands any chance of working.
Jay

Okay, I’ll try my best! Wish me luck! Also, thank you for all of your help jay. Seriously, I can’t thank you enough

 

[nuxx Verified Sponsor]

Oof... something I don't miss not having a tank...

Even though I never really had an Ich outbreak, it was something I was constantly worried about, even with a full QT EVERYTHING wet rule.

Just having so many tangs, esp. dark colored ones like a purple, black, black hybrid, gem, achilles and achilles hybrid it was always on my mind...