Single spot on Yellow Tang

[JCTReefer]

I have had this Tang going on 2 years. It has developed a White spot on its side. This fish was quarantined for two weeks at therapeutic levels with copper power at 2.0ppm per Hanna Copper Checker. Followed by a transfer to a sterile quarantine with 2 rounds of GC. When the blue lights are on late at night, I can see some small specs of white here and there on the Tangs fins. These specs are only visible under blue lighting. The white spot in question has not changed location on the fish and can be seen under full spectrum lighting. The spot has gotten slightly larger over the last few months. I though it might be skin/flesh missing at first. Late night I have also seen the Tang Flashing and swimming erratically. Sometimes scratching on rocks. This is a tale, tale sign for me, and I know that can be an indicator for many ailments. The fish otherwise behaves normally. Eats like a pig. Normal feces. And normal respiration. I have noticed sometimes at night the respiratory rate is faster than normal. All of this being said, all of my current livestock will go through quarantine again before they are transferred to my new tank. Something could have hitch hiked in on a coral over the last couple of years as I did not quarantine all corals that went into my current system. The spot on the Tang looks slightly raised to me. I don’t think it looks like Lymphocystis. I’m really not sure what it is. All other livestock look great. Any ideas or opinions would be great!!!

 

[Damdeno]

When I dose medication I like to dose with a stress coat or like a pick me up after and that’s worked for me. Have you ever tried just fw dip to see if it comes off ? I know it can sometimes be difficult to catch these suckas but it’s better than dipping them in copper again

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I watched the video a few times and can’t pick out the spot....roughly where is it?
The timeline here, and lack of other symptoms rules out the major parasite issues as well as Lymphocystis IMO. The flashing is definitely a symptom, but it kind of depends on how often...couple time a minute, hour day?
Jay

 

[JCTReefer]

I watched the video a few times and can’t pick out the spot....roughly where is it?
The timeline here, and lack of other symptoms rules out the major parasite issues as well as Lymphocystis IMO. The flashing is definitely a symptom, but it kind of depends on how often...couple time a minute, hour day?
Jay

The spot Is located on it’s left side, right in line with its lateral line towards the caudal fin. The flashing is only at night that I’ve noticed. It is so much easier to see in person rather than a video. I have not tried a freshwater dip to see if anything comes off. When I pull all the livestock, I’ll run them through another round of copper and GC.
And likely a freshwater dip. I’ve dipped many fish over the years and never lost one, but for some reason the last yellow i dipped didn’t make it. I pulled it at the 4 minute mark and it never gained it equilibrium back and perished shortly after. I tried guiding through the water with my hand, but no luck. This is the replacement Tang. But, a fish that doesn’t make through a FW dip isn’t likely going to make it anyways.

 

[kenchilada]

I think here?

 

[JCTReefer]

I think here?

Yes!!!!

 

[JCTReefer]

A few Screen shots out of the video. I know not great. Geez!!!!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

A few Screen shots out of the video. I know not great. Geez!!!!

I can see it now, thanks. Too large to be flukes or protozoan, wrong location for Lymphocystis. I would not give this fish a FW dip, the stress of capture in this case would outweigh the limited diagnostic benefit. This could be a sterile abscess from a previous injury. If it spreads, then it isn't sterile and is either a bacterial infection, or much less likely, fungal. At this juncture, any treatment would require moving the fish to a treatment tank and I just don't see that as a viable option, again given the risk of having to chase the fish down to catch it.

Jay

 

[JCTReefer]

I can see it now, thanks. Too large to be flukes or protozoan, wrong location for Lymphocystis. I would not give this fish a FW dip, the stress of capture in this case would outweigh the limited diagnostic benefit. This could be a sterile abscess from a previous injury. If it spreads, then it isn't sterile and is either a bacterial infection, or much less likely, fungal. At this juncture, any treatment would require moving the fish to a treatment tank and I just don't see that as a viable option, again given the risk of having to chase the fish down to catch it.

Jay

Thank you for your reply
So, when I eventually move the fish out of this tank and quarantine in route to the new system, would you try a broad spectrum antibiotic? I do have some spectrogram on hand. It’s a Kanamycin/Nitrofurazone Combination. I do have a microscope also, but have never performed a skin scrape. And besides that, if I did, I wouldn’t know what I’d be looking at anyways. Lol. I am getting pretty good at identifying different types of dinos though!!! Haha! I’m just hopping all the fish survive the second round of quarantine. I hate medicating when it’s not necessary, but in this day and age, it’s the only way to be sure nothing makes it’s way in. So with that view, I’ve chosen to prophylactically treat all livestock. Twice that is. I wish I would have quarantined all corals that were introduced into my current system from the get go. I know it’s highly unlikely anything hitch hiked in on a corals skeleton, rock, etc over the last 3 years, I still feel all the livestock needs to be treated again on the way to the new tank.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

If the lesion doesn’t grow and if new don’t develop, I wouldn’t treat. If it changes, you will need to jump on it quickly, but treating blindly with antibiotics is just not a good idea IMO.
Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

it can also be a side effect from copper (common in hippo tangs) especially if levels at some point had gotten high.

 

[Uncle99]

Resist medication of things you can’t diagnose especially if it is not growing, repeating and the fish is otherwise normal. I shutter sometimes with hobbyists using meds with no apparent reason. Just because a fish survives meds, it likely has long term effects with shortened lives,

 

[JCTReefer]

it can also be a side effect from copper (common in hippo tangs) especially if levels at some point had gotten high.

Yes, I have read copper can have side effects. After all it is a poison!! And Hippos especially are susceptible to HLLE. And this tang was treated with copper right at 2.00ppm per Hanna Checker. This was about two years ago when the tang originally went through quarantine. I really noticed the coppers effect on my damsels. Its almost as if it caused scale deterioration. Almost look liked HLLE. They eventually healed 100%. This could very well be some sort of after effect from the copper. Of course I know this isn’t HLLE I’m dealing with, but could have something to do with copper exposure I suppose!

 

[JCTReefer]

Resist medication of things you can’t diagnose especially if it is not growing, repeating and the fish is otherwise normal. I shutter sometimes with hobbyists using meds with no apparent reason. Just because a fish survives meds, it likely has long term effects with shortened lives,

Yes, I don’t really like treating something I’m not sure of. The growth has grown little by little over the last few months. The flashing at night does make me curious if there is something going on though. That and the scratching on rocks. This fish doesn’t have this behavior during the day which is strange. Who knows! I’ll keep an eye on it for now!