Powder Blue Tang - UPDATE

[Clown Monarch]

125/80 lbs LR/wet-dry/F-404/nitrates, nitrites, ammonia = zero.


My Powder Blue Tang (Mr. Blue) started developing small white spots very soon after I bought him. He was the first fish in the tank and has always looked very healthy - except for the spots.

He swims and eats constantly - and never scratches himself on the rocks. I have noticed that as of late he's not as active and isn't nearly as interested in algae as he used to be. He still isn't scratching. He also likes to sit directly in the return flow from the wet/dry as soon as the lights dim.

It looks like the spots could be silt from the tank substrate which is CC, because the spots vary greatly in severity every day. Some days he looks clean, some days he's completely spotted. His behavior seems to remain constant, although it appears he may be irritated by the number of fish that now inhabit his space...

Is there anything I should be concerned about?

 

[tripper]

That sounds like a case of ick to me, Tangs are very prone to it. Unfortunately, you are going to need to get ALL of your fish into QT as soon as possible and begin treating them. The main tank will have to be fallow for 6 weeks minimum so the parasite can go through its life cycle and die off. Meanwhile, you can treat the fish in QT with either Cuppramine or hypo-salinity. If you do a search in the forums you should be able to find a lot of information on exactly how to treat them. HTH

tripper

 

[Clown Monarch]

He's looked like this for about 6 months since I bought him. None of the other fish show any signs of ick. Would he really live that long with what, on the surface, appears to be the worst case of ick ever - without exhibiting the signs of ick?

Is it possible that the water conditions are very good and his environment is so stress-free that the ick just isn't bothering him?

 

[fishman]

are you sure its not sediment that is floating around in the tank and attaching itself to the tang? I thought my clowns had ick and looked like what you are describing and this went on for 3-4 months and none of the other fish had it...now 2 years later and they never came down with ick...I determined it was sediment from the tank bottom that was attached to the clown

 

[tripper]

It is possible that he could be living with the ick, I will leave it to the experts here to diagnose that. I had an ick outbreak a while ago and not all of my fish showed symptoms, but because all fish can be carriers, I was told to remove all the fish from the tank so that the parasite would die out in the main. I then treated everyone in QT regardless of whether they showed signs of ick or not, and added them back to the main after it had been fallow for 6 weeks.

Hopefully this is something else that is more easily solved . . . ick outbreaks are the worst.

tripper

 

[Clown Monarch]

Hopefully this is something else that is more easily solved . . . ick outbreaks are the worst.

tripper

Amen to that - that's why I'm trying to be proactive. It looks like fishman has had the same experience that I have - probably sediment from the tank. He does stir up the bottom by nipping at algae here and there, but the other day he looked worse than ever and seemed rather lazy.

 

[tripper]

Just thinking outloud, but what you might want to try is putting just the tang in QT for a few days. If your QT is bare bottom, you would expect the sediment to fall off after a while and you would be able to confirm that it is just sediment sticking to him. This, of course, only works if you have a bare bottom QT.

 

[Clown Monarch]

I might just monitor him for behavioral changes consistent with the disease, indefinitely.

But if I need to pull him, that'll be the plan.

 

[ZoozFishMaster]

Just a thought...if there are an excessive amount of bubbles in the main display, they could be sticking to him, giving the appearance of ick.

 

[austinsdad]

He's looked like this for about 6 months since I bought him.

That's what's making me think it may not be ick. How about a freshwater dip on one of those days when the spots are more dense? It may just put your mind at rest.

 

[Clown Monarch]

UPDATE -

Mr. Blue's white spots had gotten so bad that they covered his eyes and when he ate, he looked to be blind. He was starting to develop grey splotches on his sides too. His activity level had dropped to almost nothing.

After speaking to my trusted LFS, they advised me to lure him back onto a diet heavy on veggies and algae. He'd developed a taste for mysis and abandoned his algae feedings. I've been working him back onto Formula 2 for the past few weeks and he's looking absolutely 100% better, I'm happy to say!

He's lost a great deal of his weight, but he's back to sweeping across the tank and even picking at algae on the live rocks. His white spots were totally gone yesterday along with his grey splotches. He still loves the mysis, but goes for the Formula 2 also.

The guy at the LFS has once again solidified my business and trust.


Moral of the story - make sure your Powder Blue Tang eats his veggies.

 

[fishman]

Clown
You are right...I wasnt feeding my tang veggie matter either and after 5 weeks in QT, I went away on vacation for a week and came back to find him with a severe case of HLLE. I started feeding him Nori (seaweed) with vitamins and such and he has almost recovered 100% since that time...and HLLE is hard to cure totally. So yes please feed your tang veggies/seaweed!

 

[Clown Monarch]

I'll probably get some sheets of seaweed for him too. All my fish are pretty adventurous eaters.

I appreaciate your input on this matter, fm (and everyone else, too).