White dot on small Blue Tang

firstsalttank91011 · Oct 24, 2021

We recently purchased (10/16/2021) and just noticed a white spot on each side of our small blue tang as shown below. Wondering thoughts on what it could be, what to watch for, and possible steps to resolve if an issue.

Pictures below as best we could get!

Thank you all as always!

Jay Hemdal · Oct 24, 2021

The spot on its left side is too large to be ich. I can't see the spot on the right side very clearly. Are there any other symptoms? Is the fish scratching? Is it eating well?

Jay

firstsalttank91011 · Oct 24, 2021

I'll try and get a better pic of the other side but our tang really doesn't like to be photographed!

Everything else seems to be fine. Seems to eat and swim properly. Think it's still adjusting to our tank as it lays on its side between rocks at night but as soon as the lights come on during the day swim around fine.

Thank you for the reply and will look to get a better picture tomorrow.

Miami Reef · Oct 24, 2021

Question: did you quarantine this fish prior to adding?

firstsalttank91011 · Oct 25, 2021

Here are the updated pictures. Appears the spot(s) have gone down and the one on the right side of the fish is barely visible.

With regards to quarantining, short answer is no (though that will be a next purchase before any new fish). However, do have a question about that. When we asked our LFS about quarantining we were told it really shouldn't be necessary as they "medicate" their tanks. Obviously we're very new to the hobby and take our LFS advice. In short, I'm taking it that regardless we should always quarantine?

Brymac1 · Oct 25, 2021

firstsalttank91011 said:
Here are the updated pictures. Appears the spot(s) have gone down and the one on the right side of the fish is barely visible.

With regards to quarantining, short answer is no (though that will be a next purchase before any new fish). However, do have a question about that. When we asked our LFS about quarantining we were told it really shouldn't be necessary as they "medicate" their tanks. Obviously we're very new to the hobby and take our LFS advice. In short, I'm taking it that regardless we should always quarantine?

Many fish stores medicate their holding tanks to “hide” the appearance of things like ich or velvet. A 30 day medicated quarantine is required to truly eliminate ich or velvet.