Spots on Powder Blue Tang

[rahul123]

Powder blue tang has started showing some skin symptoms. I bought this 2 weeks back and its very active with other tank mates. Today I observed something is popping out of his skin. It is not white or doesnot look like ich yet (2-3 dots both side)
I am yet to figure out what needs to be done.

Its a FOWLR tank with anemones.
Due to rock structure, it is very difficult to take him out.
He is taking food (pellets and flakes) as of now.

Please advise.

SG: 1.024
Temp: 78-80
PH: 8.2
Nitrate: 20
Phosphate: 0.1

 

[vetteguy53081]

Powder blue tang has started showing some skin symptoms. I bought this 2 weeks back and its very active with other tank mates. Today I observed something is popping out of his skin. It is not white or doesnot look like ich yet (2-3 dots both side)
I am yet to figure out what needs to be done.

Its a FOWLR tank with anemones.
Due to rock structure, it is very difficult to take him out.
He is taking food (pellets and flakes) as of now.

Please advise.

SG: 1.024
Temp: 78-80
PH: 8.2
Nitrate: 20
Phosphate: 0.1

Unfortunately, pics are dark from blue lighting and fuzzy.
Please retake under white lighting and assure both the glass and camera lens are clean.
If fish breathing normal or labored?
Still eating?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Powder blue tang has started showing some skin symptoms. I bought this 2 weeks back and its very active with other tank mates. Today I observed something is popping out of his skin. It is not white or doesnot look like ich yet (2-3 dots both side)
I am yet to figure out what needs to be done.

Its a FOWLR tank with anemones.
Due to rock structure, it is very difficult to take him out.
He is taking food (pellets and flakes) as of now.

Please advise.

SG: 1.024
Temp: 78-80
PH: 8.2
Nitrate: 20
Phosphate: 0.1

Sorry, I cannot see the spots either. As you are likely aware, this species is super-prone to developing marine ich. Some people call them "ich magnets".

Jay

 

[rahul123]

I could manage to take some photos in white light.

 

[rahul123]

Unfortunately, pics are dark from blue lighting and fuzzy.
Please retake under white lighting and assure both the glass and camera lens are clean.
If fish breathing normal or labored?
Still eating?

As of now the fish is breathing normal and still eating and roaming around tank. No behavioral change is observed so far.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I could manage to take some photos in white light.

Opposed to ich, I see a few mucus cones which can occur from past parasite, stress and skin irritation which this appears to be. Hyposalinity (1.009)as well as coppersafe treatment will often reverse this but both should be done in quarantine. Ruby Rally Pro may work in tank but not the recommended treatment.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I could manage to take some photos in white light.

The trick is - now that you have pictures of these spots, check the fish every day. If the spots change location and change in number day to day, it is more likely ich. If the spots stay in the same location and in the same numbers, and do not show on the clear portions of the fins, then it is more likely to be mucus cones.

Jay

 

[rahul123]

Opposed to ich, I see a few mucus cones which can occur from past parasite, stress and skin irritation which this appears to be. Hyposalinity (1.009)as well as coppersafe treatment will often reverse this but both should be done in quarantine. Ruby Rally Pro may work in tank but not the recommended treatment.

Thanks. It will be very difficult to take the fish out as it will quickly hide inside the rock.

Though I dont have any corals but have some anemones and inverts. Not sure if any in tank treatment is available for me.

What's your take, should I just wait and watch if the fish takes food or the skin rash remains as it is, or should I start any medication?

If not ich, can the mucus cones infect other fishes or cause of concern?

 

[rahul123]

The trick is - now that you have pictures of these spots, check the fish every day. If the spots change location and change in number day to day, it is more likely ich. If the spots stay in the same location and in the same numbers, and do not show on the clear portions of the fins, then it is more likely to be mucus cones.

Jay

Thanks Jay. I shall keep eye on it.

 

[Weeb]

If not ich, can the mucus cones infect other fishes or cause of concern?

No. As long as the mucus cones are not caused by parasites or bacteria.

The fish is thin. It's perhaps not getting enough or the right kinds of food. Pellets and flakes are something to move away from. Are you offering the fish seaweed? Help the fish by improving its immunity and ability to heal wounds by adding supplements for an ill fish to its diet as recommended in the Fish Health Trough Proper Nutrition post. Use especially Beta-1,3/1,6-D-Glucan.

should I just wait and watch

Yes, as Jay recommended. Watch the spots. I would get a hospital tank ready.

Was this fish ever quarantined (somewhere)?

 

[rahul123]

No. As long as the mucus cones are not caused by parasites or bacteria.

The fish is thin. It's perhaps not getting enough or the right kinds of food. Pellets and flakes are something to move away from. Are you offering the fish seaweed? Help the fish by improving its immunity and ability to heal wounds by adding supplements for an ill fish to its diet as recommended in the Fish Health Trough Proper Nutrition post. Use especially Beta-1,3/1,6-D-Glucan.

Yes, as Jay recommended. Watch the spots. I would get a hospital tank ready.

Was this fish ever quarantined (somewhere)?

Thanks for response. The fish was in my QT tank for 30 days prior to main tank. It was perfectly normal then. I am planning to feed him green algae seaweed later today.
The post you shared on proper nutrition is really helpful and I shall focus on it.

 

[Weeb]

The fish was in my QT tank for 30 days prior to main tank.

If you're not going to perform any Chemoprophylaxis treatment, I'd monitor the fish in quarantine for 6 weeks, and then only if you are looking closely at the fish a few times a day and are very good at discerning a fish showing the slightest symptoms. Even then, something can slip by (e.g., worms can take months to finally kill their host).

 

[rahul123]

Update: After 48 hours

The spots are still there in the fish body, not spreading not reducing, not scratching on rocks. The fish is behaving normal as of now and taking foods as usual.
Could not manage to take the fish out of the DT. Finger crossed

Please advise if anything is needed for now

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Update: After 48 hours

The spots are still there in the fish body, not spreading not reducing, not scratching on rocks. The fish is behaving normal as of now and taking foods as usual.
Could not manage to take the fish out of the DT. Finger crossed

Please advise if anything is needed for now

Since you can’t get the fish out of the display, there are not many options.

In re-reading this, I see you indicated the spots were coming up from under the skin. Ich trophonts sit closer to the surface. There are some turbellarian worms and digenean trematodes that can cause skin bumps. As long as their numbers don’t increase, I just ignore them.
That said, a powder blue tang that doesn’t contract ich when first acquired is pretty rare (grin). So keep an eye on it!

Jay

 

[Weeb]

The fish is thin. Try to get it eating more and the right kinds of foods. When you can, read through the linked post. Help the fish by improving its immunity and ability to heal wounds by adding supplements for an ill fish to its diet as recommended in the Fish Health Trough Proper Nutrition post. Use especially Beta-1,3/1,6-D-Glucan.

 

[jmichaelh7]

Feed heavy and add nori strips on clip. Let him not be stressed

Then think of considering a full quarantine for this guy. I have a powder brown that this week will be introduced to fully quarantine.

Yes you can manage it with uv sterilizer etc but he will always get it here and there. As he may be able to fight it off think of your other fish that aren’t. Like jay mentioned above, these guys are beautiful surgeon fish BUT are infamously known as ICH magnets.

What you don’t want is for this guy to deal with the parasite indefinitely. Would you want feeling like you had a flu or common cold all year round sporadically?


*To answer your question* :

Run quarantine with copper at therapeutic dose for that particular copper medicine for 30 days. Once the therapeutic level drops the therapeutic dose even once, the 30 days restarts.

It’s recommended to remove from display due to coral and liverock substrate, and invertabraes ;

Live rock absorbs copper, corals die from copper, and inverts will die from copper.

 

[rahul123]

Update: After 48 hours (96 hours from beginning)

Thanks for your valuable suggestion.
I fed the fish with Nori strips heavily and it worked like a charm.
All spots are fading out and now the fish looks normal.
I have Fluval UVC which runs 8 hours a day (not sure if it works similar to UV Sterilizer).

Already I had a ich outbreak 6 months ago and luckily apart from Juvenile Emperor angelfish and a pair of clowns all surgeon fishes survived that time.

I am focussing to develop fish immunity to fight with paracites and other infections.

 

[Weeb]

I am focussing to develop fish immunity

I'm not aware of any ornamental marine fish becoming immune to Brooklynella hostilis (Brook). I have not seen any reference or study suggesting that a fish becomes immune to this parasite. It is obvious however, that when a community tank contains Clownfish, and Brook expresses itself on the Clownfish but not other fish of the community, that the ‘other fish’ can carry the parasite without expression. The ‘other fish’ are asymptomatic. But there has been no study to identify that the ‘other fish’ are immune.

Marine fishes have been known to develop immunity to Amyloodinium ocellatum (Marine Velvet). The immunity process was done in a laboratory through repeated exposure of A. ocellatum from small to larger concentrations (e.g., Journal of Aquatic Animal Health, "Development of Immunity by the Tomato Clownfish Amphiprion frenatus to the Dinoflagellate Parasite Amyloodinium ocellatum" Charles S. Cobb, Michael G. Levy & Edward J. Noga Pages 259-263 | Received 08 Aug 1997, Accepted 10 Feb 1998, Published online: 09 Jan 2011).

Some research supports the hypothesis that ornamental marine fishes can develop an immunity to Cryptocaryon irritans (Marine Ich) lasting about 6 months (Burgess 1992; Burgess and Matthews 1995), and T. Yoshinaga, J.I. Nakazoe:Acquired protection and production of immobilization antibody against Cryptocaryon irritans (Ciliophora, Hymenostomatida) in Mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus) Fish Pathol., 32 (1997), pp. 229-230.

If non-immune fish are in the community aquarium, Marine Ich will persist and eventually infect the fish that was immune.

In theory, it would seem possible for an ornamental marine fish to obtain immunity from any parasite. It requires pristine water quality, the best foods like found in the Fish Health Rough Proper Nutrition post and the absence of any other stress sources (e.g., tankmate issues, overcrowding).

But let’s say a community fish does reach immunity. The fish that aren’t immune will play host to the/a parasite. Then too, how long would such immunity last?

It sometimes happens to think a fish is immune when in fact it has a different disease. A proper diagnosis is very important. Then again, back to where this post began, the fish could be asymptomatic.