Is the such a thing as stress spots?

[TobyPhatz77]

Ive noticed mention of stress spots in this forum but when I try to research it elsewhere I can’t find any mention of it with all searches going straight to ich.

So are stress spots a thing and is it anything to worry about?

The reason for my thread is due to the below and I don’t know if I‘m delaying the inevitable by not acting on it.

My powder blue tang gets a bunch of white spots on its side after being stressed.
I’ve seen it happen a few times, usually I’ll notice the dorsal up and white stripes indicating somethings bothering it and after this ends the spots appear only to disappear again within a couple of hours.

When I first bought it 5 weeks ago I did notice some scratching against the sand and was worried about ich but after giving a healthy amount of garlic and time to settle this stopped.
I feed flakes but I still soak frozen food in garlic a few times a week just to help with their immune system.

Its very teritorial to the point of a lawnmower blenny starving to death after being introduced and the tang not letting it come out to eat but that’s a different story...
The tang is small, only 2-3 inches. I’m hoping the aggression is a phase, if there is such a thing!

The reason I’m posting now is after testing the mirror trick to see if there’s any point attempting to add more fish again and it worked, my tang freaked out! White stripes, dorsal in full bloom and attacking its reflection. I took the mirror away after 10 minutes as I was worried it might injure itself or have a heart attack! 5 minutes later I noticed the spots appear. 2 hours later they had disappeared.

It‘s healthy with a big appetite but do I have a festering disease that’s eventually going to take out my other fish or is this normal?

 

[Pistol Peet]

yeah itz called ich

 

[xxkenny90xx]

A stressed fish will be more susceptible to ick breakouts. If your tank is truely ick free then stress will not give fish spots

 

[Pistol Peet]

Sorry if it's not ich some fish do change color and have different spots that appear on them due to excitement stress what have you if it's ich tiny white spots all across their body it gets in their gills they have trouble breathing they scratch on the Rocks flash which is swim back and forth in a rapid motion

 

[Val1064]

Stress spots are real. It sounds more like your fish has been fighting with ich though.

 

[Pistol Peet]

I have a Powder Blue Tang as well his name is Soldier he is very Territorial and a very aggressive fish he does have certain stripes and spots that appear on him anytime he's wanting to attack something

 

[xxkenny90xx]

I have a Powder Blue Tang as well his name is Soldier he is very Territorial and a very aggressive fish he does have certain stripes and spots that appear on him anytime he's wanting to attack something

Interesting. Lets see a pic? My powder blue has had spots in the past. It was ick...

 

[Maritimer]

I believe that naso tangs get rows of white spots when they're stressed / excited. My own powderblue develops vertical pale bands when he's excited about something.

Stressed fish are definitely more susceptible to ich and other diseases, and if the spots you're seeing are tiny and randomly place (think spilled salt), ich may be in play.

~B.

 

[TobyPhatz77]

Thanks for all the responses!
I‘ll post a pic next time I see it and will also keep an eye out for anyone else adding to the thread.
My plan for now is to wait. I only have 4 fish at the moment and they all seem healthy. It might be the wrong move but I’ll update here if anything comes of it for reference.
It does flash sometimes btw, I just took that as its being a bit of a dick fish lol

I‘m not a big fan of the fish, look great but probably best left in the ocean...

 

[TobyPhatz77]

Actually screw it, going to quarantine. Just need to find a tank that’ll keep 4 fish, the only one I have is 30 litre (8 gallon)...

 

[SheldonH]

I bought a regal tang baby about an inch big. Was perfect at the store. 20 min after been in my tank he has tiny white spots all over. I'm guessing it's from stress as he got stuck in the bag. It's been 2 hours now and they still there. I'm hoping for the best. His a loan soldier chilling 1 man. No other fish. Let's see what happens.

 

[juanky]

I bought a regal tang baby about an inch big. Was perfect at the store. 20 min after been in my tank he has tiny white spots all over. I'm guessing it's from stress as he got stuck in the bag. It's been 2 hours now and they still there. I'm hoping for the best. His a loan soldier chilling 1 man. No other fish. Let's see what happens.

What happened at the end?
I’m in exact situation now..