Possible sick Tang?

[SWANGOSWANGO]

Greetings fish folks! I am in dire need of advice. I have a Yellow Tang (wild) that has small pitted spots around his eyes and nose. It also appears that he has a bit of ick on his fins. The Tang is active, eating and swimming normally around tank (no flashing) . I have had my (marine only) saltwater tank up and running successfully without problems for 13 months. My Yellow Tang is a new addition and has only been in the tank for about 1 month. I did not quarantine. My tank is a 39 gallon Eclipse system with skimmer, powerhead and live sand substrate. Including my Tang there is a Yellow-tail Damsel and a Pink Pseudo Chromis. So a total of (3) fish in tank along with a few hermit crabs. There is no aggression between the fish. I have been primarily feeding the Tang 1" square pieces of nori and also flakes daily. I have not yet treated tank. It also appears that Pseudo Chromis is suffering from a very light case of Ick as well.
Here are my tank paremeters:
ammonia: between 0.00 and 0.25 ppm
nitrates: between 10 and 20 mg/L
nitrites: 0 ppm
sg: between 1.022 and 1.023
pH: 8.4
temp: 77 degrees

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!!!

Many Thanks!!

swango in ohio

 

[ccCapt]

You are going to have to set up a quarantine tank for all 3 fish. You can either cure them with either hyposalinity treatment or copper.
Both these treatments will kills any inverts in your tank so you must set up a quarantine tank for them. There are hundreds of other things to try, but if you want to truly rid your system of ich, use hypo or copper treatments.
While you are treating your fish, your main tank must be left with no fish for at least 6 weeks so any remaining parasites will die off by not having a host fish to live on.

The pits on the tangs face may be bacterial or the start of head and lateral line erosion. Both are different treatments than ich.

I would bump up your SG a bit. Natural sea water is 35ppt which is about 1.026

Temp can go up a degree or two too.

What kind of test kit are you using for amnonia? Some are really hard to read.

 

[seaham358]

how about a pic.. pitted spots? ich looks like grains of salt.. A QT may be a way to go but it may not.. If its pits then the ich may have bailed already into the tank.. if its ich?
A good pic woulb help alot.
bumping SG now when the fish is stressed is IMO not the best move.. Sick fish need a stable tank, any wwings in temp, sg, ph can bring on more issues.
the SMALL tank INO is the issue... How big is the tank? they need large tanks a min on 55 on most species some 100++. You may need to up grade or trade in the fish. they need LOTs of swimming room and in a 39 its not gonna happen.

 

[SWANGOSWANGO]

I agree....

My dear Tang (his name is Poon) : ) is too big for my tank. I have will have to find a new home for him.
Thanks again

 

[melosu58]

That sounds like a valid accessment. A lot of people cant see that but you did.