Yellow Tang black ich

m3rcfh · Jan 21, 2018

Hello everyone
Looking for some advice with black ich eradication...

My Tang fully recovered from Lympho about a month ago. I guess that opened the door on his immune system for the turbellarians to attach.
I noticed the little black spots above his skin near his fins yesterday, which coincidently, was the day I planned to transfer the tang, 2 clowns and two chromis to their new bigger home.
The clowns and chromis are now happy on the new tank, and I tranferred the tang to a QT tank.

My question is now if I should treat the tang on the QT (I'm going to go with Prazipro) or move it to the new tank and treat the whole DT with prazi, to make sure I erradicate the worms on the new tank too. I should add that the tang is eating normally on the QT, but mostly hiding when I'm near him (hoping he forgives me one day for chasing him with a net).

The other fish do no show signs of infestation... maybe treat the tang with 2 doses and the DT with one separatelly? Just want to make sure he doesn't get re-infected by the worms after I move him back to DT in a month or so.

Thanks in advance for any idea you guys may have

USMC 4 LIFE · Jan 21, 2018

You’re going to have to QT everyone. Remove them from the DT and leave that fallow for 76 days.

Then, treat the QT with prazi (you can use general cure) and may want to dip them in a formalin bath before hand.

You may also want to use this time to treat for other diseases that weren’t treated for.

Humblefish · Jan 21, 2018

You can actually attempt to eradicate turbellarians right in the DT using Prazipro (same as treating for flukes).

However, sometimes they can be more resistant to praziquantel than flukes are. If this happens, then you will have to QT all your fish, and treat by going hypo (preferred) or using formalin.

The links in blue above provide more detailed info.

m3rcfh · Jan 21, 2018

Humblefish said:
You can actually attempt to eradicate turbellarians right in the DT using Prazipro (same as treating for flukes).

However, sometimes they can be more resistant to praziquantel than flukes are. If this happens, then you will have to QT all your fish, and treat by going hypo (preferred) or using formalin.

The links in blue above provide more detailed info.

Thanks, I have been reading a lot of your posts and really appreciate it, has been an imense help!

So since I already have him on QT, should I just go ahead and treat him with prazi right there? Or would my best bet be trying to erradicate it on the DT first, to make sure I cover the other fish too? Treating him only on the QT makes me feel like he is going to have another infestation when I move him to the DT in 4 weeks...

m3rcfh · Jan 21, 2018

USMC 4 LIFE said:
You’re going to have to QT everyone. Remove them from the DT and leave that fallow for 76 days.

Then, treat the QT with prazi (you can use general cure) and may want to dip them in a formalin bath before hand.

You may also want to use this time to treat for other diseases that weren’t treated for.

I just saw you responded first... so I will have to QT everybody, then... or might try erradicating it on the DT first, and see how it goes before taking everybody out

I thought that since only one out of 5 displayed symptoms, the other 4 weren't affected by the worms and wouldn't have to treat them

USMC 4 LIFE · Jan 21, 2018

You can deal with the disease in the tank with every fish in it. I’m confident that you can get rid of black ich that way with prazi.

However, if black ich hitched a ride on your yellow tang which was in your DT, who knows what else could have accidentally gotten in. I would use this as an opportunity to QT everyone and treat for ich/velvet which would be incurable in the DT.

melypr1985 · Jan 21, 2018

Prazi is the way to go here. To be clear... if the tang was with the clowns and other fish before his current stay in QT, then they all need to be treated. To avoid having to go fallow for 6 weeks, you may just want to treat everybody in the display. Especially if you are wanting to transfer any of the other livestock, rocks, sand or even equipment to the new tank.

m3rcfh · Jan 21, 2018

melypr1985 said:
Prazi is the way to go here. To be clear... if the tang was with the clowns and other fish before his current stay in QT, then they all need to be treated. To avoid having to go fallow for 6 weeks, you may just want to treat everybody in the display. Especially if you are wanting to transfer any of the other livestock, rocks, sand or even equipment to the new tank.

I will give prazi a try before doing any formalin or freshwater bath... even though I can see many many spots on my tang, he is not flashing or rubbing himself against anything. At least during the time I'm watching him.

So I guess my last question would be if treating him in the quarantine tank alone would be more effective since he is already suffering with the worms, and treat the DT in parallel which might be easier to eradicate as there's no apparent host. Does it make sense? I'm thinking that on the DT as I have 90 gallons of water, substrate, live rock, inverts, corals, etc the prazi might not work at full strenth on the fish that actually needs it. Or moving the tang back to DT and treating everybody at the same time would have the same effect?

Humblefish · Jan 21, 2018

melypr1985 said:
Prazi is the way to go here. To be clear... if the tang was with the clowns and other fish before his current stay in QT, then they all need to be treated. To avoid having to go fallow for 6 weeks, you may just want to treat everybody in the display. Especially if you are wanting to transfer any of the other livestock, rocks, sand or even equipment to the new tank.

+1

melypr1985 · Jan 22, 2018

m3rcfh said:
So I guess my last question would be if treating him in the quarantine tank alone would be more effective since he is already suffering with the worms, and treat the DT in parallel which might be easier to eradicate as there's no apparent host. Does it make sense? I'm thinking that on the DT as I have 90 gallons of water, substrate, live rock, inverts, corals, etc the prazi might not work at full strenth on the fish that actually needs it. Or moving the tang back to DT and treating everybody at the same time would have the same effect?

No, I think I would move the tang back into the display and treat everybody together. You can do the freshwater dip on him first to lessen the amount of parasites on his body before the prazi treatment. The prazi should just as well in the display as it would in the QT. Do your first dose, then perform a water change 48 hours later. Wait 5-7 days after the first dose, then do it again.

m3rcfh · Jan 22, 2018

Okay, moved him back to the DT and he was super cool with it... ate like crazy and swam around, didn't seem bothered by the worms at all.

Now I dosed the Prazi (22ml for my 90g system, premixed on a acrylic bin with tank water) and the tang seems very bothered. It's moving fast around in short bursts... can it be from the worms being affected by the medicine that is "itching"? Or too early for the prazi to take effect?

Also, I noticed that the prazi was cloudy when I dosed the 22ml on the bin, and got clear when I mixed it a bit. It left a mark on the acrylic at the water level as some of glue... is it normal?

Hope the tang gets better, a virus and now worms... poor little guy is making me feel bad

m3rcfh · Jan 22, 2018

He is definitely flashing... should I be worried?

Humblefish · Jan 22, 2018

@m3rcfh When prazi is dosed, flukes begin to spasm before falling off. That is probably what is making the tang so uncomfortable, all those flukes shaking on his body/gills simultaneously. I recommend a 5 min FW dip (to force some of the flukes to drop off) before using Prazipro, whenever a heavy infestation is suspected.

melypr1985 · Jan 22, 2018

Humblefish said:
@m3rcfh When prazi is dosed, flukes begin to spasm before falling off. That is probably what is making the tang so uncomfortable, all those flukes shaking on his body/gills simultaneously. I recommend a 5 min FW dip (to force some of the flukes to drop off) before using Prazipro, whenever a heavy infestation is suspected.

I was just typing that out. To save time, I'll just say +1 lol

Humblefish · Jan 22, 2018

melypr1985 said:
I was just typing that out. To save time, I'll just say +1 lol

We should coordinate our responses better.

m3rcfh · Jan 28, 2018

Just wanted to provide an update in case anybody is having the same problem: today is the 6th day after the first Prazi dose, and the tang as well as his friends look healthy as ever. The tang started showing improvenents on the 3rd or 4th day after the first dose, and yesterday he was 100% free of the black spots.

I just did the second dose, and nobody seem bothered at all. Seems like Prazipro completely rid my tank of turbellarians.

Appreciate all the support!

4FordFamily · Jan 28, 2018

m3rcfh said:
Just wanted to provide an update in case anybody is having the same problem: today is the 6th day after the first Prazi dose, and the tang as well as his friends look healthy as ever. The tang started showing improvenents on the 3rd or 4th day after the first dose, and yesterday he was 100% free of the black spots.

I just did the second dose, and nobody seem bothered at all. Seems like Prazipro completely rid my tank of turbellarians.

Appreciate all the support!

Glad it worked out well!