Ich devolpment in ~4 year old established tank???

[roka64]

Is it just one spot or is there a pattern?

[produceb]

I think the 1.5 inch tang may be a midget dyeing of old age.

[BlueDolphin]

I feed my tang nori seaweed, and frozen cubes (Special Formula, VHP, Prime Reef, Formula One, Formula Two, and Spirulina).

She is probably closer to 2 inches, and I would say the white patches were not in any sort of pattern - there was one on her side and one on her head near her eyes and mouth. She hasn't come out of her rock since yesterday, so I don't know if her symptoms have changed, but I can still see her frayed dorsal fin.

I don't think I will be able to get her out of the main tank! What should I do? I did a partial water change on the tank today, but don't know what else to do as I definitely don't want to medicate the main tank.

Any ideas????

[macman7010]

you could always pick the whole rock out of the tank.

[Kurt_Nelson]

Originally Posted by macman7010

you could always pick the whole rock out of the tank.

Good point. Cracked me up when I saw my LFS capture the Royal Gramma I bought that way. The gramma did the "become one with the rock" thing they do so well, and the guy just picked the rock up out of the water over the collection container and it obviously let go of the rock, and dropped into the collection container! Pretty easy!

[BlueDolphin]

I actually had to do that when I moved the tank, but the rock that she calls home is fairly large and really don't think it would fit in the QT, or bucket....

[hsherman1986]

not a saltie here, but could you kinda aim her towards the QT tank or bucket and let her flop her way in out of the rock?

[roka64]

There are a few ways you can try to catch her:
1. Keep your net in the tank so she gets used to it and try to snag her.
2. Build a coke bottle trap with some food in it.
3. Wait about 2 hours after lights out and when she is sleeping, turn the lights on and grab her while she is still groggy (since she is sick, I would try the other two first to avoid as much stress as possible).

[BlueDolphin]

I guess I should've known if I was able to get her out of the main tank, then her illness was advanced. I ran off to buy some Maracyn 2 because after finally getting a good look at her, I thought it might be a bacterial infection. However, when I got home with the meds she was already gone.

I took some more pictures. I would greatly appreciate any input on what the issue looked to have been.

Also, the other fish in my main tank seem to be perfectly fine. Are bacterial infections (if that's what was the cause of my tang's illness) transferable between fish?

My tang was my very first fish for my tank, so she had a special place in my heart. I just can't believe that she had survived two hurricanes (one with our power being out for three days and my tank running on battery powered air bubblers, and manual oxygenation - the second one with her whole rock being transfered into a make-shift aquarium and driven 8 hours away) and an entire tank move from pensacola.... I will miss her so.

Thanks so much for everyone's help.

Kristen

[macman7010]

Kristen,

My best shot in the dark guess would be a bacterial infection though I question if that is the case with this fish. Bacterial infections though usually show up in the form of white patches of increased slime coat or even fungus. In addition to that bacterial infections are usually the product of highly diminished water quality; if your fish has been healthy for four years I find it hard to believe that your water quality was bad or bad enough to cause the fish's demise.

This could have also been a parasitic infection though. The white patches could represent areas where the fish was glazing against rocks and other decor in an attempt to scratch off parasites. I don't see any external parasites on the fish though that does not mean that they are not there. That goes without mentioning the possibility of internal infection as well.

Sadly without getting tissue samples under a microscope with someone trained to identify various parasites/bacterias the cause of your fish's demise will likely be unknown. I will say in one photo the fish's color near the bottom looks pale and I can see what somewhat looks like marine velvet cysts. Marine velvet is much smaller in diameter then ich and can sometimes be hard to diagnose. Sadly this parasite is a true fish killer and can wipe fish out with much higher efficiency then marine ich; in short it's no fun!

Posting your current water parameters and an idea about what this fish was fed would be helpful in determining what the problem might have been. As for you question about bacterial infections: They can transfer fish to fish though like I said earlier they are normally the cause of diminished water quality or sudden temp spikes. Does you tank have a UV sterilizer on it.


*EDIT*

Kristen,

I enlarged the one picture of your fish and carefully examined it. I can see what looks like a mixture of marine ich and perhaps other external parasites all along the fish. I would assume the patches you see are from stress compiled with other factors caused by the intense parasitic infection. In my opinion it was most certainly an external parasite that killed your fish and I would consider some options as your other tank mates may be infected.