Tangs flashing, but nothing visible.

LagunaGlide · Mar 26, 2018

I have a 240gal with 1 sailfin, 1 purple, 1 yellow tang, 3 clowns. Currently no coral, but have snails and crabs.

Recently the sailfin and the purple have been flashing a good bit. I have seen the sailfin go to crabs and hover over/next to them and change his color like he wants them to clean him. I don't see anything on either fish, but they are flashing a good bit. The purple appeats to be trying to rub the back end near the "tang" on one side only. Is there anything I can treat for with them in the DT in hopes of ridding whatever it may be (except ich of course....). The fish just recently came back to this tank about 2 months ago and were in a friends tank for QT since December before that while I got this set back up.

Looks like I likely brought something in with the Clean up crew....

LagunaGlide · Mar 26, 2018

I should also note that my Nitrates are high, but working on bringing them down. Other parameters are in range. Stray voltage is low, but also using a grounding probe

HotRocks · Mar 26, 2018

LagunaGlide said:
I have a 240gal with 1 sailfin, 1 purple, 1 yellow tang, 3 clowns. Currently no coral, but have snails and crabs.

Recently the sailfin and the purple have been flashing a good bit. I have seen the sailfin go to crabs and hover over/next to them and change his color like he wants them to clean him. I don't see anything on either fish, but they are flashing a good bit.

Looks like I likely brought something in with the Clean up crew....

My sailfin does the same thing with my fire shrimp all the time. I have only seen him flash once or twice though. My tank is certainly parasite free for now, I have an Achilles tang and would see other symptoms if there were a problem. Have you recently added the clean up crew? Maybe these are the early stages of an infestation? Just not severe enough to see spots on fish yet?

LagunaGlide · Mar 26, 2018

HotRocks said:
My sailfin does the same thing with my fire shrimp all the time. I have only seen him flash once or twice though. My tank is certainly parasite free for now, I have an Achilles tang and would see other symptoms if there were a problem. Have you recently added the clean up crew? Maybe these are the early stages of an infestation? Just not severe enough to see spots on fish yet?

Yes I would say CC came in about 3 weeks ago now.

HotRocks · Mar 26, 2018

LagunaGlide said:
Yes I would say CC came in about 3 weeks ago now.

@Humblefish
@4FordFamily
@Big G
@melypr1985
@Maritimer

Hopefully they can help. Without actually seeing spots on the fish it could be a variety of things, requiring different treatment plans.

Humblefish · Mar 26, 2018

It sounds like a parasite (or worm), but without visible physical symptoms (e.g. white dots) it's hard to say which one.

@LagunaGlide Can you catch one of your fish to do a 5 min FW dip to check for flukes?

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/freshwater-dip.248898/

melypr1985 · Mar 26, 2018

I agree. The freshwater dip would be helpful to narrow things down a bit. Let us know how it goes.

LagunaGlide · Mar 26, 2018

Humblefish said:
It sounds like a parasite (or worm), but without visible physical symptoms (e.g. white dots) it's hard to say which one.

@LagunaGlide Can you catch one of your fish to do a 5 min FW dip to check for flukes?

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/freshwater-dip.248898/

I imagine it should be one of the tangs who is flashing. That will be a chore, but I shall try. Both are about full grown