HELP!! Yellow Tang with white spots...

[toddles]

HELP! I am very new to saltwater (2 months now) so all of this is helpful to me...

I have a 75 gallon acrylic tank with trickle filter, charcoal, and protein skimmer...

It houses 2 clown fish, 1 lemon damsel, 1 yellow tang, 1 longnose butterfly, and 1 hermit crab.

All fish had been doing GREAT, but this morning when I woke up to feed them, my yellow tang has white spots on his fins and a few on her body. I am very upset because she had been doing so well (she started out very shy, but is getting more and more personable)... Her body still looks good, and she still seems to have her appetite.

The longnose butterfly is new (about a week old) and perhaps carried in a disease with him?? He became accustomed to the tank very quickly and has been a wonderful addition... None of the fish pick at each other, and they all seem to get along great. They all have their appetites and seem very active...

I am at work now and hope that she (yellow tang) is not WORSE by the time I get home tonight.

What do you recommend I should do to help her?? I DO NOT have a quarantine tank (which may be my major problem because I added the longnose straight from the fish store - after of course floating the bag and slowly adding tank water to his bag to get him used to the water... he made the change from bag to tank perfectly it seemed)...

Should I add copper to my tank?? or should I purchase a quarantine tank?? My tank is a FISH ONLY tank, except for my little hermit crab which I love dearly... I have no live coral or live rock or anything like that to worry about... Maybe I can keep the hermit crab in a bucket with air for a few weeks while running copper? Or should I get a quarantine and remove the fish?? What size quarantine would I want, and what kind of setup do they require? I don't have extra filters or pumps or anything...

ANy advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks much!
Toddles

 

[steve-s]

Should I add copper to my tank?? or should I purchase a quarantine tank?? My tank is a FISH ONLY tank, except for my little hermit crab

Purchasing a QT arrangement would be your best, safest option. Never add copper to your main display. It will kill any/all inverts very quickly and chances are good you will never be able to keep inverts in the tank again.

The QT need be nothing fancy, a large rubbermaid container, heater, corner filter and powerhead. The basic set up can be found >>here<<. Then either the copper or hyposalinity can be used.

Once the QT is going, all the fish must be placed in the QT and the main display must remain fallow for 4-5 wks to allow the parasite to die out naturally. Without a fish host C irritans cannot survive, the crab can be left as is.

Hard lesson to learn, but with a proper QT for all new arrivals only the butterfly would have been needed to treat instead of all the fish.

Cheers
Steve

 

[toddles]

IS it safe to QT ALL of my fish at once? THe page you attached recommends QTing one fish at a time...

Is it completely necessary to QT all fish even if they look and act perfectly (my clownfish seem absolutely perfect)?? and what size QT would I need for the 5 fish mentioned (2 clowns, 1 yellow tang, one longnose butterfly, and 1 lemon damsel)? Will they all fit in a 10 gallon rubbermaid bucket type QT?

Thanks!

 

[steve-s]

As long as the QT is large enough and you provide "hiding" spaces via short PVC piping pieces, you should be fine.

You must QT all the fish. If even one fish in the display tank becomes infected, it will just keep the cycle of the parasite going and you will never be rid of it. Placing all those fish in a 10 gallon would be a bad idea. You can get the large rubbermaid totes that would be much easier. 10 gal would only suit one fish. You could also consider two regular totes for each large fish. The smaller ones could be divided up with each of the larger.

The parasite lives in 3 stages Free swiiming, on the fish and as a "cyst" where it multiplies and re-infests the tank. The only real stage in which you can battle the parasite is when "free swimming" or known as the theront. When you place only the "visibley" affected fish in the QT, you are leaving the others at the mercy of the sure to follow emerging theronts that will come from the tomont (cyst). It only takes about 5-7ish days for the theront to attach to a fish, mature and detach to form the cyst.

Cheers
Steve

 

[toddles]

I went home for lunch and my tang is looking a lot better it seems?? I don't know if I am being paranoid, or what... I will watch tonight for white spots... is there a link somewhere to see a PICTURE of a yellow tang infected with ICH / Whitespot so I can try to deduce whether she has it or not?

Thanks much!!

 

[steve-s]

Couldn't find one with a yellow tang, But hope this helps,

Cheers
Steve

 

[toddles]

She looks worse in the mornings it seems... last night she seemed better (although she seemed to be baiting my crab to pick at her.... ever seen that before?)

The lights in the aquarium go on at night and I don't really see the spots... but then this morning, it seemed that they were back... I took a picture although it didn't turn out the greatest... Let me know if you think this looks like ick. My wife thinks she might be ok and that I'm being paranoid, but I swear she has little white looking spots that weren't there before... as to why I can't see them at night with the tank lights on, I don't know???

I really hate to pull all of my fish out of the main tank and build a QT for them, but I suppose I will have to if she has gotten it... Is there any chance that it just goes away if she can fight it off?

ALL the other fish seem PERFECTLY fine?? That is why I hate to remove all of them and throw them in a small tank.. they all appear happy and healthy where they are... Well - check out the picture and lend any advice.

Thanks much!
Todd

 

[steve-s]

I really hate to pull all of my fish out of the main tank and build a QT for them, but I suppose I will have to if she has gotten it... Is there any chance that it just goes away if she can fight it off?

The on again off again appearance of the parasite is just part of the natural life cycle of the pest. It tend to lead people into thinking it's going away on it's own, which it will not. This is also an indication it has gone at least one full life cycle and the tank now has many theronts looking for food. The other fish will most probably be infected but it can usually take 3-5 days before the trophont is visible.

ALL the other fish seem PERFECTLY fine?? That is why I hate to remove all of them and throw them in a small tank.. they all appear happy and healthy where they are... Well - check out the picture and lend any advice.

The tang definately has C irritans. Setting up a QT and treating all the fish is the absolute best course of action at this time. Considering the stock you have I would honestly suggest two 20ish gallon QT's or larger if the pocket book allows.

I would not wait too long before taking action. The tang does not look well and the level of infestation will not take long before it affects the gills.

Cheers
Steve