Gregcoyote
Aquarium Advice Addict
It certainly sounds fungal, but could also be bacterial. Fish sounds stressed, which is not unusual for tangs. How big is his tank?
HELP! Sick Blue Jaw Trigger
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TheTodd
Aquarium Advice Addict
I think they said 75 reef in the original post, which means its in a smaller than suggested tank by about 100 gallons. It's gonna be stressed.
My tang is in a 150.. He was clean when I got him 3 weeks ago. But of course stress probably caused the cotton like symptoms.. But like I said. Last week he was clean. And today he is much worse.. Still swimming about tho like nothing is wrong.. I don't know if I should qt it. Or will water changes with stress coat work..
Gregcoyote
Aquarium Advice Addict
It unfortunately sounds like it might be marine velvet. This is not good, as treatment is usually copper, which is a disaster in a reef, so the fish needs quarantine to be treated, which will stress him even more. Trying to get it to eat some healthy food and trying to reduce stress on him is all you can do IMO. It might be a small bacterial infection on some damaged skin and might just go away, we can hope for this.
I won't go tang police, but even a 150 is a bit small for a Regal, or most any tang IMO. When I tried to keep tangs years ago, they always had ICH or some other bad thing. When I built my 300, the tang problems disappeared. They must have room to swim, hidey holes to sleep in and plenty of good food. Otherwise their already thin slime coat breaks down and infections and parasites can attack them. This isn't opinion, it is a fact of biology. So even thou they are a very popular fish in the industry, they can be a problem if those rules aren't observed. There are many varieties of tangs and I am sure others on this forum will add those they think would be okay in a 150. My regal likes his hidey holes and eats an enormous amount of greens. He is also one of the most active swimmers I have.
There may be other treatments you can apply, but they will only be temporary if the overall health of the fish isn't considered, hope that helps some. I sure had my tang problems over the years.
I won't go tang police, but even a 150 is a bit small for a Regal, or most any tang IMO. When I tried to keep tangs years ago, they always had ICH or some other bad thing. When I built my 300, the tang problems disappeared. They must have room to swim, hidey holes to sleep in and plenty of good food. Otherwise their already thin slime coat breaks down and infections and parasites can attack them. This isn't opinion, it is a fact of biology. So even thou they are a very popular fish in the industry, they can be a problem if those rules aren't observed. There are many varieties of tangs and I am sure others on this forum will add those they think would be okay in a 150. My regal likes his hidey holes and eats an enormous amount of greens. He is also one of the most active swimmers I have.
There may be other treatments you can apply, but they will only be temporary if the overall health of the fish isn't considered, hope that helps some. I sure had my tang problems over the years.
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Thank you. I don't think it's velvet.. It's just on his fins.. But he does eat good and swim around with no issues.. He seems fine and very active. Just white puff balls on him.. I have been adding prime to my ro water. It has slime coat in it.. I may just take him out and qt him.. But I don't want to make it worse on him tho..
TheTodd
Aquarium Advice Addict
I've never heard of MV being described as looking like "cotton patches". It's usually more of a dusty covering layer all over the fish. That's what I saw with my recent bout with it at least. Lympho seemed closer, but I have never actually seen it or dealt with it. I've read it can come and go, which this seems to have done.
I totally agree with Gregcoyote on the Tang concerns. They are great fish, but they've gotta have room or they will have problems. You see it daily on here and hear from people that learned the hard way in the past. Places like liveaquaria give minimum tank size recommendations and for Tangs, those seem good as minimums. IMO, as the Tang grows, you can't stick with the minimum or you are begging for trouble.
I totally agree with Gregcoyote on the Tang concerns. They are great fish, but they've gotta have room or they will have problems. You see it daily on here and hear from people that learned the hard way in the past. Places like liveaquaria give minimum tank size recommendations and for Tangs, those seem good as minimums. IMO, as the Tang grows, you can't stick with the minimum or you are begging for trouble.
TheTodd
Aquarium Advice Addict
I guess my point was that a Unicorn Tang either has a suggested minimum tank size of 180 or 360 (depending on which type you have). At 150, it is already in a "too small" tank and that's if it is small. Tangs are more susceptible to disease than other fish, so ideally they are kept in tanks that are larger than minimally recommended. Too little space and not enough room to hide and they stress. Stress causes problems. That could very well be what we are seeing here.
Back to the immediate problem...look up Lympho and see if pictures and descriptions match what your Tang has. It's hard to tell from our side of the screen since we can't see it.
Back to the immediate problem...look up Lympho and see if pictures and descriptions match what your Tang has. It's hard to tell from our side of the screen since we can't see it.
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