Yellow Tang... white Spots

[PrettyFishies]

I just got a yellow tang on wednesday. She seemed to acclimate fine. I used the drip method for about a little over an hour till salinity and temp matched up. She has been swimming and eating ever since.

Today...as I was staring at her... I noticed on one fin two white spots. I've seen this before in my FW tank and I suspect it's ich.

What do I do?!?

PS. I have a hospital tank up and running because my Percula has some kind of growth on his face... I'm treating that with Cupramine copper buffered treatment. I just started that today. But the Tang is in my main tank with LR.

 

[fishfreek]

Feed your tang food soaked in garlic juice. Do this on a continual basis for a few weeks even after you no longer see the spots.

One thing that is important is to not jump the gun. It could be the start of ICH or it could just be two spots. The garlic treatment can be started right away while you continue to make your observations.

 

[PrettyFishies]

Special garlic juice? or can I get this from the store? And...these spots weren't there on Wednesday...Plus, she eats the mysis and brine (frozen) that i feed as well as sinking morsels.... No problem with soaking these I guess...

1) what happens if I see more spots in the next few days?

2) will the garlic soaked food affect the other fish? (Flasher wrasse, Percula clown, Royal Gramma & Scooter Blenny)

 

[fishfreek]

Garlic juice from the grocery store. Garlic water from a whole clove of garlic that you have put thru a garilc press. What is ideal is something with as little extra stuff in there as possible.

Tangs really need a staple diet of algae. Soak the mysis and brine in the garlic. This way they can absorb some of it.

 

[PrettyFishies]

Thanks...I'm off to the store right now...

But, FYI... I also leave Sea Salad seaweed in the tank and I bought some algae plants, plus there stuff she picks off teh rocks... So, she has everything she needs...but I will get the garlic and soak the shrimp, mysis and seaweed...and see what happens..

 

[PrettyFishies]

Okay... I'm back... soaked the food and the seaweed... She ate up most of it with some help from those other greedy little.... Anyway... I can guess that she's attracted to the scent of the garlic, but does garlic have some magic immune restoration powers?

 

[bizzybeas]

Let us know how it turns out! What did you end up buying, just regular garlic juice?

 

[fishfreek]

The use of garlic is an item that has no real scientific proof that it works but let me tell you there are many a hobbists that will say it does work.

Some say that the garlic increases the fish's appitite and thus increasees their imune system as a result. Others say the garlic gets into the fish's body and they secreet it and the parasite releases its hold on the fish and falls off. since the parasite needs a host in that stage of its life it dies.

 

[PrettyFishies]

It was hard to find... people in the store acted like it didn't exist...then some little old lady showed it to me in the Herb section. It contains garlic, vinegar and salt. There was only one to choose from.

 

[reefrunner69]

Can you gewt a pic of the clowns face? Copper isn't going to do anything for it, btw.

 

[PrettyFishies]

I'll try but he doesn't like to pose for the camera LOL it looks like a large white ball above his eye and eye looks pressed/pushed out... plus he was bit on the mouth by the other Perc and it made his lips swell up

 

[reefrunner69]

Popeye can be caused by several different things, the most common is a bacterial infection and the next is metal poisoning (like the unneeded copper treatment). It sounds to me like your clown is suffering from a cacterial infection from the trauma to the lip.

 

[PrettyFishies]

Okay...I'm feeding the entire tank Garlic soaked food... and the Tang gets a good amount... There are still only two spots...but one has gotten significantly larger... Is this a long process before they start to fall off? Am I being impatient? Should I just be happy there's only 2 spots?

 

[reefrunner69]

Can we get a pic of the spots on the tang? Sounds like it isn't ick, but possibly lymphocystis.

 

[PrettyFishies]

Here's my precious anastasia's unwelcome hitchhiker

 

[reefrunner69]

Very good pic of the lympho!! Anyway, that is not ick and garlic or copper will not help. It is lymphocystis, lympho is viral and there is no effective treatment. I have always scraped the nodules off when they appear and over the course of a few weeks to a couple of months the fishes immune system will take care of it. Lympho is rarely fatal, but it is contagious and it is recommended that the fish be isolated until it is gone.

 

[PrettyFishies]

How do you scrape without dmaging the fin? If I scrape...will it no longer be contagious?

 

[reefrunner69]

Scraping it will not make it less contagious, but it removes the cyst from the fish. Many fish with lympho will develop bacterial infections around the cysts due to the constant irritation. There is the possibility of damage to the fin, so be careful if you choose to try. I usually used my thumbnail to scrape it, be careful, the fish isn't going to appreciate it very much and will try to spike you.

 

[PrettyFishies]

Did you catch the fish in a net first?

 

[reefrunner69]

yep. Make sure you disinfect the net after use.