Purple tang white dots

[IURobert]

Hi all! Have this purple tang for more than one month and since 2 hours I just noticed those white spots on my purple tang. Can you please tell me what is this and how can i treat? I can’t have a quarantine tank at this moment. No other problems for now. He eat well.

 

[14 foot reef]

need photo with white lights only.
Also that fish looks very unhealthy, malnutrition is extreme here.
Need tank perimeters, maintenance protocol, what is your set up, tank filtration, lighting.
Other tank mates ..... Please offer up as much info as possible.
My first guess there is with the white spots is marine ich.

 

[IURobert]

need photo with white lights only.
Also that fish looks very unhealthy, malnutrition is extreme here.

 

[14 foot reef]

try more lighting and whiter lighting, or try using flash on camera.

 

[IURobert]

try more lighting and whiter lighting, or try using flash on camera.

Looks like ich… what should I do?

 

[IURobert]

try more lighting and whiter lighting, or try using flash on camera.

Please see attached photo under white light.

I keep this tank at:
Alk 8.8 dkh
PO4 0.05 ppm
NO3 2 ppm
Temp 24.5 celsius.

 

[Dbichler]

That’s ich and definitely very malnourished. @Jay Hemdal or @vetteguy53081 have treatments. This fish needs food and fast.

 

[jda]

I cannot help too much with the spots if you cannot QT, but you need to feed that fish as much as it will eat until it gets fat again - 10x a day if you have to. Pellets and mysis should be the staple, IMO, but a mix is good.

 

[IURobert]

I cannot help too much with the spots if you cannot QT, but you need to feed that fish as much as it will eat until it gets fat again - 10x a day if you have to. Pellets and mysis should be the staple, IMO, but a mix is good.

The only think i can do is to move it in the sump or in a 20 litre aquarium…

 

[jda]

That does not help if the parasites can just fall off and reproduce in there. I would not stress it more to do that. Get the food going.

 

[IURobert]

That does not help if the parasites can just fall off and reproduce in there. I would not stress it more to do that. Get the food going.

But if i keep it in the display tank it won’t affect the other fish? I have 2 clown, 1 foxface, 1 coral beauty, 1 midas and 1 chromy. All of them are fat and look healthy. This Tang was first in the tank but it was that skinny from beginning. I feed the tank with two cubes of frozen food once a day also include nori sometimes.

 

[jda]

You are way past that. The parasite is in the tank. All that you can do now is go to disease management by feeding well, keeping the water quality good and having good hiding places.

I would get an auto feeder and feed 6x a day with some pellets in a small amount. Then supplement with frozen, flakes and some nori also.

 

[apung]

Do you have any corals in the tank? If there is no coral, you can slowly decrease the salinity by doing water change with RODI only until you reach 1.01. Stay at that level until you see improvement. Like others said, keep feeding the fish.

 

[Icryhard]

need photo with white lights only.
Also that fish looks very unhealthy, malnutrition is extreme here.
Need tank perimeters, maintenance protocol, what is your set up, tank filtration, lighting.
Other tank mates ..... Please offer up as much info as possible.
My first guess there is with the white spots is marine ich.

It doesn't look like itch. Itch looks like a salt grain. This looks to be more of a stain somewhat.

 

[Icryhard]

But if i keep it in the display tank it won’t affect the other fish? I have 2 clown, 1 foxface, 1 coral beauty, 1 midas and 1 chromy. All of them are fat and look healthy. This Tang was first in the tank but it was that skinny from beginning. I feed the tank with two cubes of frozen food once a day also include nori sometimes.

Feed it plenty and (imo) dip it in garlic (even though people say it doesn't help). Garlic does attract them to the food. If it's itch and you have corals and stuff use Polylab aqua medic. Dose it three times a day for the full duration. Do not stop when you think it's gone. After the cure try to do some water changes gradually (30% each week). If you have UVC, use it. If it's itch, it's already in your tank and in order to kill it you'd have to have a fallow period of 67 days or something (correct me if I am wrong here). Assuming you do not have anything to house all of your inhabitants for that long, I'd try the above. It worked for me and solved the problem... at least my blue tang didn't suffer from itch any longer.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi all! Have this purple tang for more than one month and since 2 hours I just noticed those white spots on my purple tang. Can you please tell me what is this and how can i treat? I can’t have a quarantine tank at this moment. No other problems for now. He eat well.

This looks like cryptocaryon which is marine ich. You will need to place fish in Quarantine tank and treat with Coppersafe or Copper Power at therapeutic level 2.25-2.5 For a FULL 30 days (do not interrupt this 30 day period) monitored by a reliable Copper Test kit such as Hanna Brand- No API brand. Also monitor Ammonia levels while in quarantine with a reliable test kit and add aeration during treatment using an air stone.
The display tank will have to be kept fishless (FALLOW) for 6-8 weeks to assure the existing parasites go through their life cycle without a host fish and die off
A quarantine tank can be as simple as a starter kit from Walmart which most of the needed essentials.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

So - ich management won’t work on this fish because it is so thin. One of the primary methods used in ich management is a perfect diet, and unfortunately, this fish is malnourished.

Coppersafe is your best option. But without a treatment tank you are going to be severely limited as to other options. You can try a reef safe ich “medication”, but those usually don’t work…..sorry!

Jay

 

[Crabby48]

Copper and won’t take long for fish to get weight and get healthy if you supply good diet. During copper treatment I would keep nori in at all times for it to graze and multiple frozen feeding like lrs. Adding vitamin never hurt either.

Not sure why you say no qt at moment but a small 15-20 gallon with hob and heater and some Bactria and done. Might sound intimidating but really isn’t.

 

[IURobert]

I cannot help too much with the spots if you cannot QT, but you need to feed that fish as much as it will eat until it gets fat again - 10x a day if you have to. Pellets and mysis should be the staple, IMO, but a mix is good.

Copper and won’t take long for fish to get weight and get healthy if you supply good diet. During copper treatment I would keep nori in at all times for it to graze and multiple frozen feeding like lrs. Adding vitamin never hurt either.

Not sure why you say no qt at moment but a small 15-20 gallon with hob and heater and some Bactria and done. Might sound intimidating but really isn’t.

So - ich management won’t work on this fish because it is so thin. One of the primary methods used in ich management is a perfect diet, and unfortunately, this fish is malnourished.

Coppersafe is your best option. But without a treatment tank you are going to be severely limited as to other options. You can try a reef safe ich “medication”, but those usually don’t work…..sorry!

Jay

This looks like cryptocaryon which is marine ich. You will need to place fish in Quarantine tank and treat with Coppersafe or Copper Power at therapeutic level 2.25-2.5 For a FULL 30 days (do not interrupt this 30 day period) monitored by a reliable Copper Test kit such as Hanna Brand- No API brand. Also monitor Ammonia levels while in quarantine with a reliable test kit and add aeration during treatment using an air stone.
The display tank will have to be kept fishless (FALLOW) for 6-8 weeks to assure the existing parasites go through their life cycle without a host fish and die off
A quarantine tank can be as simple as a starter kit from Walmart which most of the needed essentials.

Feed it plenty and (imo) dip it in garlic (even though people say it doesn't help). Garlic does attract them to the food. If it's itch and you have corals and stuff use Polylab aqua medic. Dose it three times a day for the full duration. Do not stop when you think it's gone. After the cure try to do some water changes gradually (30% each week). If you have UVC, use it. If it's itch, it's already in your tank and in order to kill it you'd have to have a fallow period of 67 days or something (correct me if I am wrong here). Assuming you do not have anything to house all of your inhabitants for that long, I'd try the above. It worked for me and solved the problem... at least my blue tang didn't suffer from itch any longer.

I just went to see what the fish looked after this night and there are no spots visible anymore. Is this possible if infected with ich?

 

[Crabby48]

I just went to see what the fish looked after this night and there are no spots visible anymore. Is this possible if infected with ich?

The spot will be back in a few days. The problem will get worse not better. Without proper treatment the fish will die. It’s thin because it’s sick.