Weird dots on blue tang

[buruskeee]

I’ve tried searching around but could t find anything similar besides possibly lymphocystis.

So it mostly looks like the dot is raised a bit and I’ve only seen it in the black stripe area - almost like the blue underneath is what’s exposed, not really a “white” spot.

It came and went away all within an week and now there’s one forming on the other side.

Anyone had experience or know what this is?

 

[nuxx Verified Sponsor]

I'd guess Ich personally... first thing I'd think if it was mine, esp. being a tang.

What were your QT procedures on current and past fish?

 

[CasperOe]

Yup, that looks like early stages of ich in my opinion! Did you add it to your tank recently?

 

[threebuoys]

Based on one dot, I would hold off until more appear to conclude this is ich.

Plugged pores occur from time to time on tangs. If more dots appear and if they come and go at different locations, ich would be indicated.

How long have you had the fish, and have you previously had ich in your tank?

I assume you did not QT when you first acquired your fish?

 

[buruskeee]

Yup, that looks like early stages of ich in my opinion! Did you add it to your tank recently?

Based on one dot, I would hold off until more appear to conclude this is ich.

Plugged pores occur from time to time on tangs. If more dots appear and if they come and go at different locations, ich would be indicated.

How long have you had the fish, and have you previously had ich in your tank?

I assume you did not QT when you first acquired your fish?

Yes all new fish, but all fish was fully QT before going into DT, added about a little over 3 weeks ago. I thought ich looked more like sprinkled salt? These don’t look like they can be scraped off or fall off.

That was the pic from last week with the one dot that slowly raised and then slowly recessed over a few days.

Now here’s the current ones I see on the other side.

Sorry for the bad pics. These are the only ones I can get in focused from a video because it swims too fast trying to catch the micro bubbles all day.

 

[threebuoys]

If your QT procedure included copper treatment per our recommended protocol, I 'll stick with what I said earlier. But, if you do notice more appearing at the same time and in different locations for several days at a time, or if you see similar spots on other fish in the tank, we will need to reconsider the diagnosis.

 

[buruskeee]

If your QT procedure included copper treatment per our recommended protocol, I 'll stick with what I said earlier. But, if you do notice more appearing at the same time and in different locations for several days at a time, or if you see similar spots on other fish in the tank, we will need to reconsider the diagnosis.

Each fish was isolated for QT before added. Used copper, praziquantel, and formalin for 14 days and this blue tang in particular stayed isolated in QT (no more meds) for another 7 days before adding to DT. No other fish (so far) show any signs of dots (more like perfectly circular bumps really).

I’m in process of hooking up my UV so hopefully if it truly is ich that will mitigate it. Just sucks that it’s a fresh tank and all fish were quarantined in a similar fashion for ich to still show up.

 

[threebuoys]

Each fish was isolated for QT before added. Used copper, praziquantel, and formalin for 14 days and this blue tang in particular stayed isolated in QT (no more meds) for another 7 days before adding to DT. No other fish (so far) show any signs of dots (more like perfectly circular bumps really).

I’m in process of hooking up my UV so hopefully if it truly is ich that will mitigate it. Just sucks that it’s a fresh tank and all fish were quarantined in a similar fashion for ich to still show up.

What copper product did you use and at what concentration?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yes all new fish, but all fish was fully QT before going into DT, added about a little over 3 weeks ago. I thought ich looked more like sprinkled salt? These don’t look like they can be scraped off or fall off.

That was the pic from last week with the one dot that slowly raised and then slowly recessed over a few days.

Now here’s the current ones I see on the other side.

Sorry for the bad pics. These are the only ones I can get in focused from a video because it swims too fast trying to catch the micro bubbles all day.

While it appears to be ich. Dots spread and move every 24 hours if you’ve noticed this?

 

[MnFish1]

It is unclear what the 2 dots (that I see) are. That said - if you only did the QT procedure that you did - it wouldn't surprise me if some Ich got through. I would repeat the process - with all of your fish - that were exposed - and leave your display tank fallow. Now - the one thing would be - is the behavior of the 'dots'. are they coming and going (suggests ich), etc.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Yes all new fish, but all fish was fully QT before going into DT, added about a little over 3 weeks ago. I thought ich looked more like sprinkled salt? These don’t look like they can be scraped off or fall off.

That was the pic from last week with the one dot that slowly raised and then slowly recessed over a few days.

Now here’s the current ones I see on the other side.

Sorry for the bad pics. These are the only ones I can get in focused from a video because it swims too fast trying to catch the micro bubbles all day.

The spot on its left side seems too large to be ich, but the two spots on its right side are smaller, so maybe?

I also see some caudal fin damage. What other fish is it in with? The white spots could be tag marks from another fish.

Generally, with ich, you'll see spots come and go, and change location every few days. Injuries will be in the same location for days/weeks. Same with the mucus plugs that were mentioned.

jay

 

[Uncle99]

Maybe, mine gets a dot here and there for years, never caused any problems.

 

[buruskeee]

What copper product did you use and at what concentration?

Copper Power @ 2.0-2.2ppm for 14 days.

The spot on its left side seems too large to be ich, but the two spots on its right side are smaller, so maybe?

I also see some caudal fin damage. What other fish is it in with? The white spots could be tag marks from another fish.

Generally, with ich, you'll see spots come and go, and change location every few days. Injuries will be in the same location for days/weeks. Same with the mucus plugs that were mentioned.

jay

So the left side was old, and it started tiny (like there was a break in the black pigment) and then grew to that size in the pic, and then shrunk. Nothing just shows up then disappears - it's all gradual.

The right side was like pinsized yesterday, then today they were that sized. Tomorrow I'd guess it'll get to almost as large as the left side was. They don't look "white", but rather the black pigment is separating and the blue pigment is making it's way through almost.

It's really hard to tell. It still eats like a pig and plays around all day in the water - observed for an hour straight earlier and no scratching or anything.

No one in my tank messes with the blue tang, they’re all super nice to it. The purple tang does show some aggression once in a while to the yellow tangs, but nothing serious (usually when they start grazing in its area). The blue tang’s tail has always looked that way since picking up, maybe when it was shipped to the LFS it happened? but it looks full besides one little slit, at least to me.

The newest fish are 3 Biota yellow juvie tangs (i did not treat in QT, but only observed the 3 together for 2 weeks before adding to tank -they are about 1 week in DT now)

There is a purple tang and melanurus wrasse that was QT'd and put into the tank at the same time as the blue tang pictured - i bought those 3 at the same time and all were QTd with the meds listed earlier individually.

When you say comes and goes, they usually attach and detach, not show and get bigger right? Also, ich is normally pretty clear that it's attached onto the skin and not like "in the skin" so to speak, or is this not correct?

Good news is that while I was absent from responding, I just now finished setting up the UV (had it laying around and it was just a daunting task to fit in and plumb it and wire it up to my Apex. It's a 25W for roughly 150G/600L of total system water - I have the pump running around 400GPH right now (rated at 530gph only pumping up 1ft and have it running at around 90%).

If it's not ich, what could it be? I'm still cautious of it being ich, just setup the QT tank (besides water) just in case I see a turn for the worse, but hope it's just something weird that shows and vanishes.

 

[buruskeee]

While it appears to be ich. Dots spread and move every 24 hours if you’ve noticed this?

No, it's always the same spot and gradually gets bigger until it looked like the first pic then gradually gets smaller until it's gone. What I'm seeing right now is this time the current pic that shows 2 of the dots on the other side - it was smaller yesterday and will probably get to the size of the first pic.

See my previous reply to others before this post for more details I wrote out.

Thank everyone for the assistance!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Copper Power @ 2.0-2.2ppm for 14 days.



So the left side was old, and it started tiny (like there was a break in the black pigment) and then grew to that size in the pic, and then shrunk. Nothing just shows up then disappears - it's all gradual.

The right side was like pinsized yesterday, then today they were that sized. Tomorrow I'd guess it'll get to almost as large as the left side was. They don't look "white", but rather the black pigment is separating and the blue pigment is making it's way through almost.

It's really hard to tell. It still eats like a pig and plays around all day in the water - observed for an hour straight earlier and no scratching or anything.

No one in my tank messes with the blue tang, they’re all super nice to it. The purple tang does show some aggression once in a while to the yellow tangs, but nothing serious (usually when they start grazing in its area). The blue tang’s tail has always looked that way since picking up, maybe when it was shipped to the LFS it happened? but it looks full besides one little slit, at least to me.

The newest fish are 3 Biota yellow juvie tangs (i did not treat in QT, but only observed the 3 together for 2 weeks before adding to tank -they are about 1 week in DT now)

There is a purple tang and melanurus wrasse that was QT'd and put into the tank at the same time as the blue tang pictured - i bought those 3 at the same time and all were QTd with the meds listed earlier individually.

When you say comes and goes, they usually attach and detach, not show and get bigger right? Also, ich is normally pretty clear that it's attached onto the skin and not like "in the skin" so to speak, or is this not correct?

Good news is that while I was absent from responding, I just now finished setting up the UV (had it laying around and it was just a daunting task to fit in and plumb it and wire it up to my Apex. It's a 25W for roughly 150G/600L of total system water - I have the pump running around 400GPH right now (rated at 530gph only pumping up 1ft and have it running at around 90%).

If it's not ich, what could it be? I'm still cautious of it being ich, just setup the QT tank (besides water) just in case I see a turn for the worse, but hope it's just something weird that shows and vanishes.

Yes - the spots (trophonts) will drop off when they mature, sometimes leaving the fish spot free for a day or so….then, new spots show up in different numbers and in different locations, with the general trend of increasing in numbers. The spots are small and raised up a bit at first, later, they can develop a mucus coat around them, making them look less “sharp”.
Mucus plugs are common, they are caused by general stress and really are not an issue. Missing scales can also cause white spots as I mentioned.
Jay

 

[buruskeee]

Here’s a quick video I just took after putting in the nori clip. It eats and then chases bubbles and then eats again like normal (even farted bubbles and then chased those bubbles to the surface too lol).

Sucks that videos can only be viewed via computer web browser. Cant make out the spots there though - it swims too much for me to really get a good pic. I’m starting to wonder if it’s scratches instead. It recently made a new bed on the drag rack on the back wall and sleeps under my floatie scraper flat on its side (like in the 1/2” gap I left between it and the drag rack - I haven’t used it since it started using this spot to sleep). Maybe it’s getting scratched by that area?

Do fish always itch themselves when they catch ich even if it’s just a spot or two? Because for the past week it has the single spot on the other side and this last couple days it hasn’t even tried scratching once whenever I’ve observed.

 

[threebuoys]

I think you should continue to observe closely to determine if more than a couple of spots are present and in increasing numbers. As Jay said, mucus plugs remain a possibility. I have personally experienced that situation.

Another matter to keep in mind is your copper administration. Our recommended dose is 2.25 to 2.50. Below that is not strong enough to kill the ich parasites. Also, copper should be maintained at this level for 30 days. You were under both of these guidelines and, if the spots prove to be ich, might be a problem.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Here’s a quick video I just took after putting in the nori clip. It eats and then chases bubbles and then eats again like normal (even farted bubbles and then chased those bubbles to the surface too lol).

Sucks that videos can only be viewed via computer web browser. Cant make out the spots there though - it swims too much for me to really get a good pic. I’m starting to wonder if it’s scratches instead. It recently made a new bed on the drag rack on the back wall and sleeps under my floatie scraper flat on its side (like in the 1/2” gap I left between it and the drag rack - I haven’t used it since it started using this spot to sleep). Maybe it’s getting scratched by that area?

Do fish always itch themselves when they catch ich even if it’s just a spot or two? Because for the past week it has the single spot on the other side and this last couple days it hasn’t even tried scratching once whenever I’ve observed.

beautiful video you took but fish is distant and its hard to see fish in whole as it is moving around a lot going after food

 

[buruskeee]

beautiful video you took but fish is distant and its hard to see fish in whole as it is moving around a lot going after food

Thanks. Was just showing how active and normal it was. I’ll take another tomorrow during good lighting hours of trying to focus on the spots.

 

[buruskeee]

I think you should continue to observe closely to determine if more than a couple of spots are present and in increasing numbers. As Jay said, mucus plugs remain a possibility. I have personally experienced that situation.

Another matter to keep in mind is your copper administration. Our recommended dose is 2.25 to 2.50. Below that is not strong enough to kill the ich parasites. Also, copper should be maintained at this level for 30 days. You were under both of these guidelines and, if the spots prove to be ich, might be a problem.

I’ll definitely observe closely. Hoping it’s mucus plugs (although that sounds painful for the fish). I’ll update the thread over the next couple of days.