Powder grey tang!?

[Dimdim]

Ill have to post a pic later tonight, i honestly dont know if its ich. They are little white specks that appear and disappear, not as many on it when looked before i just left as compared to right after work a few hours ago, yesterday they were minimal but today theres more thenyesterday doesnt affect my fish at all

 

[Hondatek]

ok cool . Well the first time it happened to me it took me a week until I was sure and treated. So you usually have a few days to watch and see what is really going on . If you need any help with hypo or just ich info in general feel free to pm me or just ask .

 

[Dimdim]

Awesome thank you hondatek! I definately will!

 

[Hondatek]

No problem at all . also here is a pic of my whitecheek tang. I hope everything works out they are such a cool fish .

 

[Andy Sager]

I've read through this thread and wanted to throw in some of my experiences to help clarify some things.
#1- I have imported fish from all over the world and never heard of a powder grey tang.
#2- Tangs and surgeons that grow streamers are usually only the male fish. Females don't have the streamers so the fact that they are missing is meaningless.
#3- It does look more like a "Cat/ Gold Rim/ White cheek Tang. ( All three names are the same fish, just from different areas of the world) The fact that it is suffering from a disease now means that it may not be healthy enough to be showing all it's best colors. I had imported a rare WHITE Yellow Tang from my Hawaiian supplier. It's exoticness was really something to see. It really stuck out against the school of other Yellow Tangs until.... We always fed our Tangs ORGANIC Romain lettuce from a local grower. After a week of eating healthy food, that white tang turned as yellow as the rest of them. Obviously, this fish was suffering from a nutritional deficiency and may have just been a holdover fish in my supplier's supplier's tank. Rare, apparently not, Sick, possibly Something to think about
#4- Fish stores are known to "make up" names to describe a fish that may have been hard to sell or even get or just a bit slightly off of the "normal" ones. Back in the 1970s, I used to sell an Atlantic Clown Trigger. I dare anyone to find an Atlantic Clown Trigger that is not a transplant from the Pacific . What I was selling was a white spotted filefish. In the 1990s, I was working in a wholesale fish house in Miami, FL and a new diver/ collector brought in some, what he called " Atlantic clown triggers." 20 of them to be exact. I went to look in his bucket and don't you know, they were juv. white spotted filefish. So that name had stuck for almost 20 years. lol So, if you can't find a fish in all the many books that are out there on fish, chances are, either they are a new discovery and would be a fortune to buy, or they are not a real fish

Hopefully, once you cure this fish of any disease it may have and get it on a good diet, all these questions will be answered. ( BTW, if the white doesn't come out on his face, it's probably a gold rim/ achilles hybrid. We used to get them from Kona all the time. )

Hope this helps

 

[TheTodd]

I agree with Andy (even though he knows much more than I ever will). Powder Greys are White Cheek/Powder Brown/Gold Rim...Acanthurus Nigricans. You see them referenced that way on several sites. They are beautiful fish, whatever someone wants to call them. I think the stores go with the grey name when they are more pale.

 

[Andy Sager]

I agree with Andy (even though he knows much more than I ever will). Powder Greys are White Cheek/Powder Brown/Gold Rim...Acanthurus Nigricans. You see them referenced that way on several sites. They are beautiful fish, whatever someone wants to call them. I think the stores go with the grey name when they are more pale.

One last point on names: Common names can vary from area to area which is why actual identification for science is done with Latin names.
This brings to mind (amongst many similar experiences) the Majestic Angel ( Pomacanthus navarchus) In the South here, we call them Majestic Angels, Up North, they are referred to as Blue Girdled Angels and I was once asked by a customer from the midwest, for an Orange Saddled Angel. When I wasn't for sure which fish he was talking about, I gave him a book and told him to show me the fish. He showed me a picture of a Euxiphipops (it's old name ) navarchus. So it's not that any of them were wrong, they are just called different common names. That could also be what happened here with this tang.
Bottom line, we need to have that fish healthy to know for sure


okay, back to my rocking chair

 

[Hondatek]

So andy I posted a pic of mine to show the op a few posts up. Can you confirm that mine is a white cheek ?

 

[Andy Sager]

So andy I posted a pic of mine to show the op a few posts up. Can you confirm that mine is a white cheek ?

Well, in my "fishes of Baja California" book, it's called a Gold Rimmed Tang. In my "Fishes of Tahiti" book, it's referred to as Acanthrus glaucoparieus. On Google, it's referred to as a Cat Tang. In my "Hawaiian Fishes" price list, they are referred to as a Hawaiian Powder Brown Tang. Dr. Burgess's Atlas of marine tropical Fish also calls it a Gold Rimmed Tang.

My point is that it is called many things There is no doubt however, it's a Acanthrus (glaucoparieus) nigiricans (Today's newest latin name. ) You can call him a White Cheek if you want and be right I prefer Cat tang because in some areas, the Pacific Powder Brown Tang (A. Japonicus) is also called a Gold Rimmed or a White Faced Tang. Can be confusing


BTW, yours IS a nice looking fish

 

[Dimdim]

The tang has beaten the ich i came home today and most of if not all his little white ichy spots are gone! Hes a tough one to get to eat though yhats for sure! Wont eat flakes or pellets, just bought some nori and garlic extreme and he wont even touch it! This tang is only eating the algae on my rocks

 

[TheTodd]

Its good to hear that Tang is still alive, but it's important to understand that Ich will drop off a fish as part of its life cycle. The fish is not cured, its just that the Ich is now in the sand and rock multiplying. If fish in your tank are stressed and/or weak, it will show up again. Also, Ich is not always visible on a fish. Those white spots are a skin reaction to the parasite burrowing in. You sometimes can't see it in the gils. Ich is only "cured" through using copper or Hyposalinity in a QT and leaving the DT fallow so that the Ich in there die off due to not having a host.

 

[Dimdim]

My tangs white spots are going away! He wont eat anything other then the algae on my rocks though its stubborn for sure

 

[Andy Sager]

The tang has beaten the ich i came home today and most of if not all his little white ichy spots are gone! Hes a tough one to get to eat though yhats for sure! Wont eat flakes or pellets, just bought some nori and garlic extreme and he wont even touch it! This tang is only eating the algae on my rocks

What the fish is telling you is that he WANTS to eat but you are not giving him what he WANTS to eat. If none of those other foods work, try the old stand by: Romain Lettuce leaf attached to a rock so that he thinks it's natually growing from the rock. It has gotten many of my past fish to start eating. If all else fails, try live foods as last resort.
My best advice: Think like the fish

 

[Gregcoyote]

Flash freeze a few leafs of romain lettuce, it softens the lettuce and makes it a bit easier to eat.

 

[Dimdim]

Didnt touch the lettuce, quick boiled for 5 seconds. Then put it between some rocks, no go. Thawed some mysis shrimp in tank water and garlic extreme and he ate like a pig!!!