My tang died :(

[hanahandbluey]

I bought and powder brown surgeonfish last Sunday and he was fine until I got home from work yesterday.. He suddenly had white spots, looks like a pimple which was properly popped out from its scales and fins..

Please can anyone let me know what it is? Is this Ich? And how to cure it? Also does anyone know why it happened?

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

How big is the tank? Was he stressed?

 

[hanahandbluey]

I don't think that the fish was stressed. Plus I have a yellow tang and a yellow tail damselfish with the new fish and they both seem fine. Even the shrimp is fine.. Do you have an idea what it is?

 

[carey]

Are they bumps under the skin or ON the skin? My blue gets bumps under his skin once in awhile but he alwasy seems fine.

How big is the tank, what else is in there all together and when did you get the other fish?

those answers might help......

 

[Jabibi]

What the fish has is ich. Can be caused from stress, to much temperature change, could be from not being acclimated correctly. If it is a reef tank there is really nothing you can put in the water that will take it away without harming the corals. Try getting a cleaner shrimp or a cleaner wrasse and they will take it off of the fish if it allows them to.

 

[Andy Sager]

Looks like....

View attachment 92620

I bought and powder brown surgeonfish last Sunday and he was fine until I got home from work yesterday.. He suddenly had white spots, looks like a pimple which was properly popped out from its scales and fins..

Please can anyone let me know what it is? Is this Ich? And how to cure it? Also does anyone know why it happened?

View attachment 92621

The bottom picture looks like a classic case of Ick or cryptocaron (both parasites) which appear when the fish is stressed. The exact cause may never be known but the timing of the outbreak sounds like he was not acclimated correctly or the yellow tang may have been harrassing him and stressing him out. He also may have been harboring some parasites when you bought him and the stress of the move alone could have caused the outbreak.
In the future, it would be wise of you to quarentine all new arrivals for a minimum of 14 -21 days to observe their condition, eating habits and general health. In this tank, you can medicate appropriately without doing any damage to your main tank.
FYI: A number of invertebrates can harbor these parasites as well so you would be wise to quarentine them as well. Animals that hold water such as anemones and corals are prime suspects in outbreaks that occur shortly after their introduction into tanks.

Sorry for your loss but I hope this helps...

 

[crister13]

Ick has to be introduced into the system. Also, a cleaner shrimp won't cure it or eating at all because ick is under the skin, and cleaner shrimp only eat things on the skin. The spots are a reaction to it.

 

[Andy Sager]

With all due respect....

Ick has to be introduced into the system. Also, a cleaner shrimp won't cure it or eating at all because ick is under the skin, and cleaner shrimp only eat things on the skin. The spots are a reaction to it.

With all due respect, I'm not sure where you are getting your information.
Oodinium and cryptocaryon (a.k.a. Saltwater Ich) are external parasites and are known to be carried by both fish and some inverts such as corals and anemones. (Yet another reason to quarentine new arrivals.) Older research found that the parasite Oodinium once introduced in a tank, can last over 4 weeks without a host fish. Fish left unmedicated in an oodinium exposed tank are extremely susceptible to infestation.
Cryptocaryon does have a more advanced stage when the parasite burrows into the flesh of the fish thereby making medicating a harder task. Early detection and treatment are extremely important when dealing with this organism. In certain fish, Tangs being one of them, the secreting of excessive mucus to protect the skin actually makes medications ineffective against the parasite whereby a cleaning shrimp would be a benefit to help expose the parasite and remove it from the skin. At this point, secondary infection (bacterial or fungal) will be the next threat.
This is, once again, why it is so important to quarantine new arrivals for a minimum of 3 to 4 weeks if medicated and 8 weeks or longer if not being medicated.
I suggest you do some more research on parasitic organisms so you can better prepare yourself and can help others.

 

[crister13]

I have had ich in my system and eradicated it with hypo salinity. I am well aware of the parasite. I have gotten my information from this site. I was told ich is a parasite that burrows under the skin, and that ich has actually never been found in the stomach contents of a cleaner wrasse of cleaner shrimp, which discouraged me from getting one. I also remember this information vein on many websites, and after reading many 10+ page articles on the parasite I have found this to be true. Is it possible your are speaking of freshwater ich? I don't know about that and if you are, sorry for the long post.

 

[crister13]

See http://www.3reef.com/forums/general-reef-topics/do-cleaner-wrasse-eat-ich-99867.html

 

[Andy Sager]

Once again, with all due respect...

I have had ich in my system and eradicated it with hypo salinity. I am well aware of the parasite. I have gotten my information from this site. I was told ich is a parasite that burrows under the skin, and that ich has actually never been found in the stomach contents of a cleaner wrasse of cleaner shrimp, which discouraged me from getting one. I also remember this information vein on many websites, and after reading many 10+ page articles on the parasite I have found this to be true. Is it possible your are speaking of freshwater ich? I don't know about that and if you are, sorry for the long post.

I refer you to the book "Treatment of Exotic Marine Fish Diseases" by Pathologist Edward Kingsford, M.D. Page 23 for Oodinium and page 26 for Cryptocryon. This is an older book that uses many meds no longer available but the pathology of the organisms hasn't changed. You are correct that at an advanced stage of "Ick" the parasite embedds into the skin and this is discussed in the literature however, this is the more advanced stage and treatment prior to this stage is when the fish has the most chances of success of being rid of the parasite.

You must be cautious as to what you read online. It's more about who the person is that's saying things as opposed to what they are saying. Even on this site, there have been postings that have been flat out WRONG. In fact, in an article I recently read about Fungus, the article even points out how there is so much misinformation and factually wrong info on the web about fungal treatments. They are the scientists developing the treatments, I think they would know.
I tried to go to the article you suggested to look at the qualifications of the posters but was unable to. If you can, What are his/ her qualifications to make the statement. In the case of cleaner wrasses, they may not be able to or don't pick off the embedded parasites but some shrimp may. Cleaner wrasses do eat a number of parasitic organisms and there are a number of parasites found in the ocean (Certain Copopods being one). As far as I know, any fish can succumb to Cryptocaryon. On the bright side, there are a host of other fish that in a juvenile stage, are parasite cleaners that may eat the parasite. Angelfish, most Thallasoma Wrasses, Juvenile Hogfish are all parasite eaters. It would be interesting to see the stomach contents of those fish don't you think? They have the mouth structure to eat larger scaled parasites. I've even seen schools of Passer angels converge on a Manta Ray to clean off the parasites. I doubt they were just looking for dead skin.

Hope this clears things up a bit

 

[crister13]

I'm sorry, I thought you were saying that the parasite is ALWAYS on the skin. You were talkin about when it first gets onto the fish! Lol. I see. Thx for clearing that up.

 

[Andy Sager]

I'm sorry, I thought you were saying that the parasite is ALWAYS on the skin. You were talkin about when it first gets onto the fish! Lol. I see. Thx for clearing that up.

Not a problem
Fish diseases can really be tricky to contain and diagnose these days and there IS so much bad info on the web that you really need to be careful. I almost always refer back to my library whenever I have a question because it's what I've used in the past that worked. I realize that a lot of today's diseases are just old ones with new immunities which is why they are so hard to treat. One remedy that will NEVER go out of style, Fresh Water Dips. The osmotic pressue will always be different and burst those nasty buggers. The only drawback to this is actually having to catch the fish Not always easy

Glad we cleared this up

 

[crister13]

HAHA ya catching fish is really annoying. And then once they go back in the tank if there's ich in it there's a chance they'll get it again.... Lol