Purple Tang Splotch

Mr. Hyde · Dec 23, 2022

I have a purple tang that is about 18 months old. It eats great, very active, never shows any sign of stress or issue. But then today when I turned the lights on I noticed a white patch in its nose/face. I am attaching pictures but it does not look like ich or velvet that I have seen in the past. Has anyone seen anything like this before? Maybe a bacterial infection? The white spots in the first picture are food, I was feeding when I took the pictures; they are not on the fish itself.

vetteguy53081 · Dec 23, 2022

Mr. Hyde said:
I have a purple tang that is about 18 months old. It eats great, very active, never shows any sign of stress or issue. But then today when I turned the lights on I noticed a white patch in its nose/face. I am attaching pictures but it does not look like ich or velvet that I have seen in the past. Has anyone seen anything like this before? Maybe a bacterial infection? The white spots in the first picture are food, I was feeding when I took the pictures; they are not on the fish itself.

This is an injury that appears to be healing and could have stemmed from running into a rock, swipe from another tang or scrape. Although suggested is to keep an eye on it, prepare to have on hand either seachem Kanaplex or maracyn 2 for treatment should it become infected. This is where it is good to have a hospital/quarantine tank on hand in events like this and new arrivals.

Mr. Hyde · Dec 23, 2022

vetteguy53081 said:
This is an injury that appears to be healing and could have stemmed from running into a rock, swipe from another tang or scrape. Although suggested is to keep an eye on it, prepare to have on hand either seachem Kanaplex or maracyn 2 for treatment should it become infected. This is where it is good to have a hospital/quarantine tank on hand in events like this and new arrivals.

I have Kanaplex, Neoplex, Metroplex, and Focus on hand. He has been in the 180 Gal. dt for a little over a year now. I may go ahead and dose the food with Kana for a full treatment cycle just incase. My QT is full right now with new fish that started showing signs of Ich after about a week from buying them so I don't want to put him in there and stress him out more with the infected system if I don't have to. I haven't added any new fish in over 6 months to the DT. Right now it is just 2 Blue/Green Chromis, 1 yellow drawf angelfish, 1 phantom clownfish, and 1 Zebra Eel. So nothing too crazy and not super populated.

Weeb · Dec 24, 2022

Mr. Hyde said:
I have a purple tang that is about 18 months old. It eats great, very active, never shows any sign of stress or issue. But then today when I turned the lights on I noticed a white patch in its nose/face. I am attaching pictures but it does not look like ich or velvet that I have seen in the past. Has anyone seen anything like this before? Maybe a bacterial infection? The white spots in the first picture are food, I was feeding when I took the pictures; they are not on the fish itself.

Have you added any inverts recently?

Mr. Hyde · Dec 27, 2022

Weeb said:
Have you added any inverts recently?

No, I really haven't added anything to the tank in awhile. The only inverts that I have are various snails, 2 cucs, and a long spine urchin.

vetteguy53081 · Dec 27, 2022

Mr. Hyde said:
I have Kanaplex, Neoplex, Metroplex, and Focus on hand. He has been in the 180 Gal. dt for a little over a year now. I may go ahead and dose the food with Kana for a full treatment cycle just incase. My QT is full right now with new fish that started showing signs of Ich after about a week from buying them so I don't want to put him in there and stress him out more with the infected system if I don't have to. I haven't added any new fish in over 6 months to the DT. Right now it is just 2 Blue/Green Chromis, 1 yellow drawf angelfish, 1 phantom clownfish, and 1 Zebra Eel. So nothing too crazy and not super populated.

kanaplex will be best bet for treatment. You can add very tiny amount of metro to the food and treat with kanaplex which is absorbed