Tang White Spot Headache

[littleme1969]

Well after a 6 week period on my tank and dropping the s.g. down to .009 I finally added my fish back after thet had done their treatment with the copper meds. All fish where ich free and looked well. They where put back into the tank last monday and a few new fish added on tuesday with a few other going into quarantine.
My problem is this.. dispite the 6 week break and low s.g. my pacific blue tang had again got white spot I mean my god whats going on? surely there could have been no white spot in the tank after all that. I wouldnt mind but the nes mimic tang I bought that is in quarantine has shown no signs of white spot what so ever.
The blue is not acting as if he has white spot. He has a couple of bumps on one side and about 5 on the other. Some have stayed the same and not grown in the past 5 days and others have grown like the white spot did before. I have made sure he is well fed but this does not seem to be having any effect, infact all I get is a fat fish
I know they can get stress spots and to be honest at first this is what I thought they where but 7 days on now I'm not so sure. No other fish are showing any signs so what should I do? I'm not messing with the s.g. again or adding anything to the main tank as that had no effect last time. Should I leave the tang a while and see if he recovers on his own? Take just him out and re treat or do I have to strip down yet again and treat all the fish? *BANGS HEAD ON DESK AN SOBBS*

 

[SkiFletch]

Wow, you must have infinite reserves of patience littleme, sorry to hear about the problem. If it IS ich, you'd be through about one cycle already. If this were my tank, I'd probably leave him in for another week since you say he shows no secondary symptoms of the parasite (lethargy, difficulty swimming, rubbing against rocks, etc) and observe if it spreads, stays the same, or gets better. If it spreads significantly I'd probably QT him, otherwise I'd leave him in there. Good luck

 

[kj23502]

Maybe it came from the new fish that were just added Sorry to hear about all your trouble littleme...

it makes me nervous

Although, I still plan to forge ahead and eventually get a sw up and running. Good luck!!! I hope it all turns out ok and the tang DOESN'T have it again.

 

[littleme1969]

To the above sugestion. I would say no it didnt come from the new fish as the tang showed spots within 12 hours of going back into the tank before I even added the new fish. Non of my other fish are showing any signs at the mo even the Mimic tang and parrot wrasse that are in quarantine. Its a bit of a nightmare but at least i'm more prepared this time with quarantine tank running and meds already here.
I'm going to just leave it and wait and see as ski suggested. Like ski said the spots should have gone by now and should be comming round to second infection but they are still present and only just starting to fade. All I can hope is that it is stress spots and the Tang will get over it.
If it does turn out to be ich then it must be one supper strain to survive a 2 week drop of s.g. to .009 then 6 weeks slowly going back to .024 Plus 6 weeks with no fish what so ever I guess it means having to re think how to get rid of it
If in another week the tang does re infect but no one else I will take him out, not sure how yet but I'll find a a way. But if it turns out that others show symptoms too then its back to stripping down again and sticking everything in quarantine and treating , leaving for 2 months then just add back the main fish stock with no blue tang and try and find him a new home. Or I may have a huge panic attack and sell the lot!!!

 

[rednwhite barmy]

bloody hell my fav yorkshire lass is having a nightmare i think your tang is showing some stress lumps like my regal tang was a few weeks ago, just keep a eye on him and when he settles down and regains his old territories they may disappear. the rest of your boys are are clean and your tang is'nt scratching so there is some positives, keep my fingers crossed for you!

 

[littleme1969]

bloody hell my fav yorkshire lass is having a nightmare i think your tang is showing some stress lumps like my regal tang was a few weeks ago, just keep a eye on him and when he settles down and regains his old territories they may disappear. the rest of your boys are are clean and your tang is'nt scratching so there is some positives, keep my fingers crossed for you!

Thanks LOL I need all the fingers crossed I can I'm realy hoping it is just stress bumps but knowing my luck it will be full blown white spot Now poor Big C has to wait again for his frags The poor guy aint ever going to get them at this rate.
I trust your tang is now settled and healthy This gives me some hope

Thanks Guys

 

[rednwhite barmy]

aye just looking at him now, looks great, feeding very well and aint scratching, i put the lumps/spots on him down to a change of lights and a move around of rocks. i was talking to the gaffer at my local store and he was telling me that EVERY tank will have ich floating around but it only becomes a issue when the fish are stressed, his advice has always been very good but i'd love to hear what people think of that (ski?) am sure your lads will be ok little but keep us updated.

 

[littleme1969]

aye just looking at him now, looks great, feeding very well and aint scratching, i put the lumps/spots on him down to a change of lights and a move around of rocks. i was talking to the gaffer at my local store and he was telling me that EVERY tank will have ich floating around but it only becomes a issue when the fish are stressed, his advice has always been very good but i'd love to hear what people think of that (ski?) am sure your lads will be ok little but keep us updated.

Thats a topic of much debate, and as I would say its true of the fresh water variety of the ich with the reasearh I have done its not of the marine kind. Its totally different and is either in your sytem or not. My tank showed no signs until I brought in the Tang. The tang showed signs straight away of going in the tank with constant rubbing on rocks etc and within days showed spots. The second Tang I just bought has spent 4 months in quarantine and has never shown any signs while being held. Its them gone into my 25g quarantine tank which has been treated with copper and again no sign what so ever of ich.
From reading up certain types of fish are Prone to ich.. First off are your tangs closely followed by butterflies and then your angels. From my own experience I can actually back this up as the only fish that where badly effected in my tank where these 3 types. There is a lot of info out there on the net if you are prepared to look for it and it makes some interesting reading.

Fishy update..
Well still no other signs in the tank what so ever. All fish are healthy happy and eating well. About 50% of the bumps on the fish have gone down. But obviously I wont breath out again until its gone another 5 days or so and there is no re infection. The tang reamins full of beans, eating like a hungry pig and not showing any of the rubbing or irritated behaviour it did before. So fingers are crossed for it to just be stress related It seems the stress bumps can be quite common.

 

[kj23502]

i was talking to the gaffer at my local store and he was telling me that EVERY tank will have ich floating around but it only becomes a issue when the fish are stressed

sw ich is actually a parasite that needs a host to grow/reproduce. Not every tank has it. It only has it if the parasite is introduced. That's part of why QT is so important.

 

[kj23502]

How is it going littleme?

 

[littleme1969]

How is it going littleme?

Pretty darn good thanks
Hes looking much better only the odd lump left and no other outbreaks. All other fish are doing great , even managed to get the orange clown and royal grammer eating properly with the addition of twice daily hatched brine shrimp. I was getting a little owrried about them as they only picked at the food and where getting quite thin.
My Mimic tang and purple head wrasse will go into the main today as they are looking fab And i'm pretty sure that there is now no white spot issue as he would have been infested by now after weeks. So fingers crossed all the hard work paid off but I wont relax till the new fish have settled and they show no problems either.
I'll put some pics up on the dairy page when everyones settled

 

[BigC]

Stick at it LM, Show some of that old Yorkshire resiliance, Don't worry about the frags they can wait. It will all turn out fine in the end....deep breath.
Good luck with the treatments. This side of the fence sure causes a heap of stress. Ordinary tropicals were never this physical or mentally draining.
Regards
BigC

 

[rednwhite barmy]

aye its great to know things r on the up and its great wen the top people come out and show support on this site.

 

[kj23502]

Littleme, I'm so glad things are looking up for you

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[ally--19]

the regal tangs can get stressed with evan a little change in the tank

is there any fish chasing it about

i think you should get a few cleaning wrasses in you quarintein tank

thats what my LFS told me to do before i got my powder blue tang