Worms on Chevron Tang

[AchilesTang]

I just got this Chevron tang that was surrendered at a shop. He has these white strings on his skin. They only appeared after putting him in copper for 24 hours. I did a freshwater dip and none of them left him. He is eating well and haven’t seen any scratching. Looking for treatment advice but in the meantime he is in a copper prazi pro mix.

 

[fishguy242]

#fishmedic

 

[Tamberav]

I wanted to say Anchor worms but that is uncommon though not impossible.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

While anchor worms (a copepod) are sometimes seen on marine fish, the "worm" part is the twin egg cases of the females, so they are not single like this. Nematodes can live inside fish, but I've never seen them emerge like this, besides, they would have pointed ends and would be moving. There aren't any trematodes that look like this. There are a couple of other very rare worm types that I've never seen firsthand, but they don't emerge like this either.

In the end, I think these are extruded mucus - caused by the stress of the move and/or copper. Tangs do get those fairly often, but they don't normally grow this long. Think Play Doh being extruded from a toy.

Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

Looks like Piscicolidae Worm to me but not common location. Ive had piscicolidae before and formalin based was what knocked them down but this looks different and believe as Jay mentioned may be mucus.

 

[AchilesTang]

Mucus seems to make sense as when I tried to pull one off it broke in half instead. He just went into copper shortly before that so maybe it stressed him.

 

[nereefpat]

Beautiful chevron!

Are the 'worms' still there a couple days later?

 

[AchilesTang]

Beautiful chevron!

Are the 'worms' still there a couple days later?

I checked him today and they have disappeared. So looks like it was just mucus. I’m excited to have him in my display after he completes QT

 

[OrionN]

I am glad he is well. Beautiful fish. I really appreciate the fine pattern and color of this and my fish.

 

[nayrfc]

New to this forum, but my tang was showing and is showing strings as well now my triggers eye has this white spot and basically all my fish have started flashing any ideas?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

New to this forum, but my tang was showing and is showing strings as well now my triggers eye has this white spot and basically all my fish have started flashing any ideas?

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

The "worms" are actually mucus plugs. produced when certain fish have some stress or irritation. The flashing and white eyes leans to an issue with flukes - ironically a worm, but you can't see them, you just see the secondary symptoms.

You can try dosing with Prazipro, 2x, 8 days apart with good aeration. If they are in a fish-only tank, you could also try hyposalinity to 1.012 for 35 days.

Jay

 

[nayrfc]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

The "worms" are actually mucus plugs. produced when certain fish have some stress or irritation. The flashing and white eyes leans to an issue with flukes - ironically a worm, but you can't see them, you just see the secondary symptoms.

You can try dosing with Prazipro, 2x, 8 days apart with good aeration. If they are in a fish-only tank, you could also try hyposalinity to 1.012 for 35 days.

Jay

Thank you! I actually finally was able to catch the tang, in a 240 is quite the task! Did a fresh dip and could confirm it was flukes. Gonna use prazi on the display and wish fir the best coral wise