Pacific Blue Tang

[littleme1969]

I got my last few fish yesterday the largest going in last. I got a longfin banner fish and a pacific blue tang. They came from an online store so was expecting small fish 4- 6cms. So was a bit suprised when I opened the box to fing a 4.5" banner fish and a 5" Tang Both fish look really healthy and the banner fish is eating well and fitting in OK.
The tang however is behaving slightly bonkers. All in all the body condition is good with few scares ar damage to scales and fins and the fish looks healthy. There is no obvious spots on the skin what so ever. It is however behaving as if it has an ichinfectation. Rubbing itself on the rocks and sand and spending the rest of its time wedged behind a bit of rock where my cleaner shrimp lives. Its constantly visited the cleaner shrimp having ever inch of its body and mouth cleaned to the point of OCD The poor shrimp must wonder what the hell is going on with a 5" blue monster wedged under his rock..lol
I guess I'm just wondering if this is the start of ich or is it just the fish settling in. This is my first ever tang so I have no experience with the type of fish. I have a 3ft quarantine tank all ready running and ready to go. Also have the meds ready ready if I need them. Though I'm a little concerned a I was expecting to have to treat a 4- 6cm fish and not a 5" monster that is not going to be happy in a 3ft 25g tank.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Colin_T]

tangs are notorious for getting whitespot.

A 3ft quarantine tank will be fine for it. I would move it into the tank asap and keep a real close eye out for spots. The other option is to leave it in the display tank and hope the fish settles down and the spots go. Quite often it is only the tang that gets spots and everyone else is fine.

 

[littleme1969]

Thanks for that Colin T
As I said above its not showing any signs of spots at all, so I'm just going to leave it and watch and see what happens. I'll be checking the tank every few hours anyhow so the first sign of trouble and I can whip him out.
I have also been reading that velvet has similar symptoms in tangs but with no white spots, instead they tend to get brown/grey patches to the skin. Is this as much of a threat to the other fish in the tank as white spot? Ive had no experience of it up to now so I'm at a bit of a loss.
The treatment I bought will treat both luckily
I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping its just a nervous fish thats a bit panicky, but ready for and expecting the worse

 

[Colin_T]

Velvet in a marine tank is Oodinium and is actually more dangerous than whitespot. It appears as very fine white dots (less than half the size of whitespot) that are sometimes so close together it almost resembles a white film or patch. The colour can vary a little bit depending on the body colour of the infected fish. But if you look really closely you can make out the individual dots. However, Whitespot is more common especially in tangs.

The other thing that could be causing the fish to scratch is being in the bag for a long time with poor water quality. Ammonia might have irritated the skin and be causing a few problems for the fish. If this is the case then it should stop rubbing and settle down usually within a day.

Monitor the tank for at least the next week, preferably two weeks. If it is whitespot, there might only be a few parasites on the fish. These will eventually drop off and sit in the gravel for a few days multiplying and then hatch out releasing lots of little parasites. It might take a few weeks before these build up in sufficient numbers to become noticeable on the other fish.

 

[littleme1969]

Thanks
Yes I did think the size of bag he was in was an issue for such a large fish. And his behaviour seems to be more of a general skin irritation than isolated areas.
I will keep a close eye on him for then next few weeks and just cross my fingers that it settles. He does seem lively and healthy in himself, though I have yet to seem him eat anything, but ever fish is different when it comes to settling in.
Thanks for the info its much appreciated.

 

[littleme1969]

Update

Well fingers crossed all is OK. Hes now swimming around normally though a little shy of people. Hes looking much healthy with his body now looking a much darker blue and hes not rubbing on anything anymore Hes also started tucking into his Nori of the clip and feeding of the rocks too. Everyone else in the tank also looks OK with no white spot to report as yet. But I'll be keeping my eye out for the next few weeks just to make sure.
Seems Colin was right and it was more to do with skin irratation from being in the bag.