Purple Tang, Half White??

[Z3speed4me]

So I just took my purple tang out of QT who was perfectly fine the whole time... now in the display tank for 2 days, had a little quarrel with the yellow but they have settled their differences.

This morning looked FINE, afternoon I go down to check the tank and give a little more mid-day nori and his right side has all sorts of white patches and dots, the left side is flawlessly perfect still. I almost have to root out ich / velvet as it came out of nowhere in immense amount so fast and is strangely on only one side of the fish.

Did he run into one of my urchins? Did he fight an anemone, something else? Is it an illness, stressed out?? Any ideas... thanks in advance everyone!

 

[CMMorgan]

Looks like velvet.

 

[Z3speed4me]

It’s practically randomly gone now later in the evening / night. Very confused I’ll see more in the AM, but does velvet go from nothing to like crazy coverage in a matter of 2-3 hours?! Previously no signs just hours prior...

 

[Rmckoy]

Does it look like a burn ?

if they get stuck in a anemone the sometimes can fight away but end up with a pretty nasty burn

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Velvet shows up first in the gills, and would not affect just one side of the fish. A scrape can do that, as can some neurological issues.
Jay