Have they got whitespot/ich/velvet???

[Mr_Floyd1976]

I noticed a few white spots on the body of my powder blue tang last week. I couldnt tell if they were spots of just bubbles (my skimmer produces a fair amount of tiny bubbles). I then noticed some other white spots on the fins of other fish.
I have put some treatment in the water that is safe for reef inhabitants and have turned off the skimmer. That was 4 days ago now. The powder blue now seems to hover in the corner of the tank, he never used to do that. He is eating well and the spots seem to have gone, but he looks like he has dry skin. Sounds silly, but his skin has little white patches.
Am I looking at setting up a quarantine tank?? And treating all the fish with copper? If so, how on earth do you catch the fish??

I understand that it will take some time to clear from the tank if it is ich etc..

 

[melosu58]

Yes Powder Blue`s are ick magnets. You will need to have a QT and treat. What size tank do you have?

 

[austinsdad]

He is eating well and the spots seem to have gone,

Ick will appear, then relase from the fish and swim and multiply in the water, I believe. Even thought the spots on the fish are gone, they're still there most likely.

I understand that it will take some time to clear from the tank if it is ich etc..

Yep 6 - 8 weeks without fish in the main for the nasties to die off in the main.

 

[melosu58]

Autin is right . for every one that falls off to the ground 200 tomites (small fry) weill be released into the main tank. Even though it seems they are gonw, They will come back and ussually with a vengence. Sorry but take precaution.

 

[Syn6644]

If you don't want to take down all of your rockwork...

You can use a DIY fishtrap using an inverted 2 litre bottle, which works wonders (be patient with this), or if that doesn't work, you can grab a couple of friends and some nets and see if you can't get them that way... I prefer the bottle method to nets though..

Or you can take down your rockwork if there isn't a lot of coral or anything that will perish, and catch them that way. The fish don't know where to hide anymore, and it'll be a lot easier to catch them. Good luck!