I've got a powder blue tang, who I've had for several months, and I've been having nothing but trouble with him for the last three months or so. I know these fish are notoriously hard to keep because they get sick easily, but of course, I thought I'd try to see if I could pull it off. Anyway, he has these small, white stringy/wormy things that grow out of his skin (see pics). He sometimes also has white spots on his fins. I first tried treating with Prazipro in the display tank. Let that work for about two weeks with no results. Also tried Metroplex with Focus mixed with thawed frozen food. Even though he ate it, I saw no improvement with several attempts. Then I decided to bite the bullet and went fallow in the display tank for six weeks while I treated all of my fish with cupramine. None of the other fish have these wormy things or any signs of parasites/illness by the way. But the cupramine definitely helped the powder blue tang. The worms disappeared, and I didn't see any other signs of disease/parasites on him or any other fish. After six weeks, I put them back in the display tank. Two days later, the powder blue has a couple of white spots on his fins and the small white worms/strings on his body are back. None of my other fish show any signs of disease/parasites. Does anyone know what this is and how to treat it? I'm just about ready to give up on the powder blue...
Parasite ID and Help Treating
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Jay Hemdal
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Those are what I call idiopathic mucus plugs. Also called mucus cones. They show up on tangs quite a bit, I don’t know why, but in some cases, it seems to be related to copper treatments. Take a look in the article section here for one I wrote recently on fish mucus.
Here is the problem though: not all white spots are caused by the same thing. It can happen that a fish has mucus plugs AND some disease. Rarely, if ever will you see these spots on fins, so if you start seeing spots there, you may have multiple issues.
Jay
Here is the problem though: not all white spots are caused by the same thing. It can happen that a fish has mucus plugs AND some disease. Rarely, if ever will you see these spots on fins, so if you start seeing spots there, you may have multiple issues.
Jay
NigeltheBold
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Thanks Jay, I appreciate the advice. I read your article and it was very informative. But I'm a little confused, because these things went away when I put the tang in QT and treated with copper. You mentioned that these can sometimes be caused by copper... so it's a little confusing. They must be being caused by something else, which you alluded to. Why would the mucus plugs come back upon reintroducing the fish into the display tank? Stress from moving from one tank to another? Slight differences in water parameters? If that's the case, I would expect the mucus plugs to go away over time, as the fish adjusts to the display tank water. But when I first noticed the issue, it seemed to get worse and worse over a period of 2-3 weeks. It also seemed like they were worse in the morning, and it got better as the day progressed, and then became worse again overnight. Very strange!
Regarding the spots on the fins, I'll keep an eye on those. I need to get a better look at them, but I suspected possible lymphocytosis caused by stress from the move back to the display tank. I'll see if I can get a good picture and post it here.
Jay Hemdal
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Yes - I've not seen copper cause this myself, but I've had it reported to me here a number of times. Can't say there is for sure causation there. The few fish I've had with this just cleared up on their own.
Jay
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NigeltheBold
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Okay, I'll keep you updated. Thanks again
redfsh3
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I just notice the same thing on my blue tang. Did you find out what it is?I've got a powder blue tang, who I've had for several months, and I've been having nothing but trouble with him for the last three months or so. I know these fish are notoriously hard to keep because they get sick easily, but of course, I thought I'd try to see if I could pull it off. Anyway, he has these small, white stringy/wormy things that grow out of his skin (see pics). He sometimes also has white spots on his fins. I first tried treating with Prazipro in the display tank. Let that work for about two weeks with no results. Also tried Metroplex with Focus mixed with thawed frozen food. Even though he ate it, I saw no improvement with several attempts. Then I decided to bite the bullet and went fallow in the display tank for six weeks while I treated all of my fish with cupramine. None of the other fish have these wormy things or any signs of parasites/illness by the way. But the cupramine definitely helped the powder blue tang. The worms disappeared, and I didn't see any other signs of disease/parasites on him or any other fish. After six weeks, I put them back in the display tank. Two days later, the powder blue has a couple of white spots on his fins and the small white worms/strings on his body are back. None of my other fish show any signs of disease/parasites. Does anyone know what this is and how to treat it? I'm just about ready to give up on the powder blue...
