Reef Discussion

[Brekel]

Hi.

I purchased a new blue tang and acclimated it to the tank on Wednesday evening. No, I didn't quarantine it first, which I probably should have. It's a small one, I would estimate it as approx. 60 or 70mm long including tail.

As soon as it was acclimated and released it explored all through the tank. I waited about 5 min then put in some mysid shrimp, which it went beserk over and ate heaps. I noticed after itwas in the tank that it had a few light patches on it's sides. These were just a diffuse light region, not sharp edged, and not raised lumps.

Within 2 days they were gone, and I figured they were maybe stress related with the move to a new tank. You can see them below, taken about an hour after introduction to the tank.

Despite eating well, it was loking a little thin to me yesterday. I was home for the day, so I carefully monitored it and fed small quantities quite a large number of times through the day, with it coming out from behind the rock and eagerly eating on every occasion. Feeds consisted of mysid shrimp, New Life Spectrum Optimum flakes, and Nutrafin Max Spirulina flakes. It ate all three. It was also grazing on a section of live rock throughout the day, and had a couple of goes at some nori I put in for the yellow tang.

This morning it was hiding in it's hole and won't eat. I was out last night until late, and forgot that the auto switch on the lights was off so they were on until late. Note sure if maybe it's just confused and out of sync?
While I'm typing this it's just come out a couple of times and chased a couple of bits of food. So hopefully this is all it was.

I'm also a bit concerned about a little white spot on it's side - I'm hoping not ich? It's just the one dot now, and it doesn't appear to be below the surface. If you look in the shots below you can see that it's almost like a little white ball just off the surface - in the first one you can see the shadow it casts, and the second one you can see it side on. Sorry about the quality - it was hanging around in a low light area.

In this shot, you can also see lumps and bumps on it's side. Is this just because it's thin and hasn't eaten today, or is there something else going on?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Fishy]

To me it looks like ich :(

 

[aussieant32]

same to me.

 

[Dr. Schell]

looks like ich. I find that my Blue tank has occasional bouts of ich (dispite no new livestock entering the tank). My fish seems to cope very well to the point of ambivelance, even when completley covered. Important thing is to give the fish a healthy diet and keep the water qualty high. Dispit the bouts ot ich, my tang has remained healthy and growth relatively large whist I have had it.

 

[Brekel]

Thanks guys - ich it is then.
@dr_schell : have you ever treated it? Or, as your post sounds, not found it necessary?
I was considering doing the hyposalinity thing. I'll watch him (or her) closely the next couple if days and see how things go.

 

[Dr. Schell]

@Brekel, i have not treated as I could not remove the tang from the tank, and was not willing to exose the inverts to medications/hyposalinity. The hyposalinity will aid in the reduction of moisture loss from the skin which often kills fish with ich. However, remember when increasing the salinity, this will have to be done over a number of days.

 

[Brekel]

I've heard a number of variations, but the general consensus in what I've read is to take 24-36 hrs to reduce the salinity, and between 4 and 7 days to raise it. Does this sound about right?

 

[Dr. Schell]

Yes

 

[MagicJ]

Just remember that if you go down the hypo path, you need to treat all of your fish and not just the blue tang. You will also need to keep your display tank fish free for 8+
weeks.

 

[Dr. Schell]

do not attemp hypo-salinity with any inverts in the tank, you will end up killing them! Best to remove the fish and then leave the display tank fish free for the 8+ weeks. This will break the lifecycle by ensuring that the hatched cysts do not find a hose (and thys dye without forming new cysts).

 

[Brekel]

It'll be hard to leave the dt fish free for that long, but there's no point cutting it short just to have to do it again. Might as well make sure it's eradicated.

 

[slin1977]

Ok let's not panic, you might find it clears up without your intervention. Tangs often show these symptoms. Then again I lost my whole tank to ich years ago.

 

[Dr. Schell]

I do nothing for outbrakes in my large system and it appear to clear itself up. Not sure if fish develop immunity to this parrasite, but certianly in my system, the Tang is the only fish that shows symptoms of ich. Having said that, I lost an angler fish that was in a seperate compartment 3 weeks after being placed in the tank to ich. No other fish was impacted by the outbreak!

 

[Dr. Schell]

the issue with having an outbrake in a closed system is that there is no dilution effect, so parasite numbers rapidly build up. Natural immunity can develop in fish exposed to outbrakes. See the link below:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-10/sp/feature/

 

[Brekel]

Yeah, that was one of the first articles I read on it. I'll probably just observe closely for a couple of days and decide whether I think intervention is required.

 

[RobbieMVFC]

I did bit of reading on Itchabout a year ago and what i recall was....
Itch is a parasite that lives in short cycles.
I cant remember how long it lives for.
The parasites find themselves a host. Then in X amout of time they drop off lay eggs then die and the process starts all over again.
UV lights will kill floating parasites but it will only help contain the problem.
In the wild they will cure in time but in an aquirum the fish are more likly to attract the parasite time and time again.
Me personaly I had a case of it with my yellow tang and at the time I did have a UV filter on the tank.
Itch came and went and I have no doubt that it still exist in my tank but my fish are not stressed and I no loger see them attempting to scrach them selves on the SB.

Also there was some sort of link between Itch and stressed fish that I cannot recall.

I recomend you make your own educated decision but I thought you would like to hear about what I did.

 

[RobbieMVFC]

apologies to @dr_schell I just seen your post with the link now ,

 

[Brekel]

Thanks for the input guys.
I'll let you know how things go.

 

[chrispc66]

I agree with dr schell.....provide plenty of good food and water quality and your BT will thrive despite this minor issue.

Before you know it you'll be buying a huge tank to house it...they grow fast under good conditions, and become a bit of a pig denying most other fish a decent feed.

I love these fish, awesome characters......good luck with it all, your fish looks to be in good health.

 

[Ian G]

I do nothing for outbrakes in my large system and it appear to clear itself up. Not sure if fish develop immunity to this parrasite, but certianly in my system, the Tang is the only fish that shows symptoms of ich. Having said that, I lost an angler fish that was in a seperate compartment 3 weeks after being placed in the tank to ich. No other fish was impacted by the outbreak!

I've been reading a lot about crypto lately and there does seem to be a strong school of thought that some fish (usually not tangs - they are ich magnets) may build a partial immunity to them. Thinking I've read, is that the parasite still prevails but symptoms become less noticeable.