New Blue Tang (White Spots?)

[Squado]

Just picked up a small baby blue tang yesterday. While I was at the fish store I noticed that he had some small white spots on him that were kind of lumpy. I talked to the owner of the store and he told me that the white spots were due to stress, because the shipment of fish just got in yesterday. I drip acclimated him for about two hours, put him in the tank, and he seemed to be doing fine. Last night I noticed that he was sleeping on a piece of LR on his side. I nudged him with a feeding stick and got up and swam fine. Today he is showing no signs of wekaness but lays on his side from time to time. He also wedges himself in between the rocks and just lies there for half an hour at a clip and then comes out. I lifted up the rock without damaging him and then hes swims away fine. Is he just hiding or is he sick? Anyway, all of my water parameters are in balance and I was wondering if he needs to be treated or is this normal? He is kind of shy, will not eat during feeding (only picks afterwards when there is no competition), and hides a lot. Are the bumps normal and what is up with him sleeping on his side? I was thinking about returning him, but just wanted to know if this was a new stress thing going on. TIA

 

[Hara]

Baby hippo tangs and some adults for that matter, often wedge themselves in rock to sleep.

The small white spots sound like ich to me. Tangs are quite prone to ich. I take it there was no quarantining?

 

[ckmn101]

Everything I've read suggests that you never buy a fresh arrival like that, and you always ask to see the fish eat, and even my lfs says to Quarantine, Quarantine, Quarantine.
I have also seen Hippo Tangs "play dead" Mine hid in the qt except to dart out at feeding time. When I put it in the display I said, "well, you won't see that one for a couple weeks."
Immediately after it went in the water it came right over to me like it wanted me to see it, and has acted that way ever since.
jmo

 

[Squado]

I know that I should quarantine before I put in a new fish, but unfortunatly at the current time I do not have a quarantine tank. I know that this is something that is important to this hobby, but never got around to getting one, that will be the next purchase. What should I do to help him get better if he is already in the display tank? I do not want to add anything that has copper or will affect the other members of the tank. Ive read online about products that say you can add them to the display tank that will cure ich, but I am not sure if I trust them. Do you guys know anything that I should do to help him survive, and how bad is it if he has ich, and will it transfer to other members of the tank. Thanks for the replies...........

 

[roka64]

Worst case scenario. All your fish might get ich and you'll have to treat them all and leave your tank fallow for 8 weeks. Maybe in the short term, you can reduce the salinity of your tank to about 1.020, get some garlic extreme, zoe and selcor (soak their food in these for at least 30 mins), try to keep them as healthy as possible, maybe they might be able to fight it off. Get that QT (I have a feeling that you will be needing it). I would suggest not buying a fish with visible signs of ich. Well, I hope the best for you and your fish, keep us posted, we are here to help.

 

[Squado]

I do not want to have any major problems with my tank due to one fish, I would rather return him and just get something else that looks more healthy. If I were to return him tonight, do you think that the tank would be infested with ich (hes been in for about 24 hours). This is really bothering me because SW is enough work as it is and I would rather be on the safe side than infect my whole tank. What do you think I should do? Thanks for all your help....

 

[FishFrik]

IMHO, get a cleaner shrimp and a UV. The UV kills off the free swimming ick. The shrimp eats ick on any infected fish, LR, LS, etc. Not many people will agree with me but this has worked for me. HTH

 

[FloridaFinFan]

Neon Gobies are also excellent cleaner fish,but certainly not the solution.
No more poking with a stick would reduce stress,I know it works for me.
Best of Luck,Blue Tangs can be a real challenge.

 

[2revup]

dont worry about him laying on his side i have a large one have had him for sometime now and at night always finds is own place in some LR sticks and sleeps as if he is dead.
I still worry sometimes hahahah
qt your fish always i also learnt the hard way... best of luck.

 

[seaham358]

How about a pic.. I have seen the stress bumps on fish and know what your talking about. They should go away quickly if thats all they are.
My Naso still get s them once in a while even after being in the tank for a year...
If they look like grains of salt stuck to the fish then its probably ich.
What size tank? How old...
Stop messing with the fish let him settle in, slow down and don't spend tons of money on UV lights and other items not needed. Shrimp are cool but not the answer to ich, some will clean the fish some won't.

 

[Squado]

Actually, I just decided to return the fish and look for one without the bumps to begin with. I hated to do it since I really liked the appearance of the fish, but I did not want to risk anything. I wonder if it was ich, if it could have been introduced to the system already and if other fish may have gotten it. The fish was in for about a day, could it have spread in that time. Im not really familiar with ich. Thanks for all of the help, I got a good schooling about this and im probably gonna need it down the road.

 

[Scoot]

My black spot ich problems with my yellow tang have gone away since I added a UV.

I think one of my earier fish might have had some regular ich too, they fell off quickly before I could really diagnose, and they haven't come back (its been 3-4 months).

That's the main reason I went with a UV - even if it just helps a little, that's a little less chance of a really big problem.

 

[lando]

Cramped conditions = stress, stress = ick. Keeping both a koran and a blue tang in a 29gal tank is likely the problem. Way too small.