Ich on Blue tang?

Hi all, I have a blue tang that I think might have ich but im not sure...

background: tank 9 months old, 2 clown fish, 1 blue tang, 1 red corris wrasse, blue starfish and a few hermits/snails. I have had most of them for at least 6 months, and the corris wrasse i bought 2 months ago. since then I have added 1 bubble tip anemone last week

food: i feed pallets, freeze dried mysis/brine shrimp soaked in garlic and nori seaweed soaked in garlic.

I also have a UV steralizer


None of my fish have had ich before, 2 nights ago i saw my blue tang scratch like crazy against rocks and my crushed coral, i searched it and found it could lead to ich. since then i've been watching him very closely, I saw a white spot which looked more like a bruise, the next day it was gone. and today I have seen 2 more white spots but they are very very dull (hard to see in real life) i dont think it looks like ich but im panicking and after someone elses advice!

here is the two spots he has now



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what do you guys think? or any advice? thanks in advance

 

i wouldn't be too concerned. the fish can usually beat marine ich. you might list your parameters so that people can see if there is anything that would be stressing your tang. i would suggest soaking your mysis/brine in selcon or kent zoe to add vitamins.

 

my blue tang breaks out in ich when stressed it normally goes away on its own with garlic added to food to help reduce stress. it was so bad that her whole body was covered once but none of my other fish ever catch it so i never really worry much. it is normal for blue tangs and as long as you keep a close eye everything should be just fine.

 

I would also like to add that there are thousands of pests/diseases/bacteria/fungus out there. So don't jump to the ich conclusion so quickly. I agree that you can add things like garlic guard and selcon, this is always a good practice. I do it all the time as a preventative measure. But just keep an eye on it, if it begins scratching more and the spots get worse, then you should begin considering a hospital/qt tank.

 

kinda hard to see from the pic honestly. But its not necessarily ich as there are plenty of other potential culprits. I would just keep an eye on him and feed'em well. If you want, you can add something like a cleaner wrasse or goby or cleaner shrimps to provide parasite control.

 

I would watch him for the beginnings of lateral line disease.

 

+1 to this!

I had some spots on my new yellow tang, and I didnt want to try to get him out of my DT, adding more stress to the fish. So I went to my LFS, and asked them to feed a cleaner wrasse that I was watching clean a raccoon butterfly. They dropped some mysis in and it was all over it. I added this guy, and has been cleaning any fish that will let him, and he eats anything i put in the tank. My yellow tang has stopped scratching and had no signs of spots on its fins. The other crazy thing is, none of my fish hassle the little guy, its as if they know what he's there for.

 

oh wow! didnt realize the replies here. it just seems weird.. ive never had ich so i dont totally know what it looks like, but from photos it looks like small crystals, like salt or sugar. my tang had a white spot which did not look crystally, then the next day it was gone, then 2 days later 2 grey spots which the photo is of above, which is now gone, and now hes got a big white spot on his face, still dosent look like crystals though. . . the White spots seem to be coming and leaving within a day, and then another apears in a different place. so im not sure what i should do.

water parameters:
PH: 8.3
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Temp: 26 degrees celcius
Salinity: 1.028 (kinda hard to read but its in range)

all the fish stores here dont have Selcom, but i have always used garlic guard

other fish seem fine.
Red Corris Wrasse
2 Clown Fish
1 Blue Starfish
1 Tropical Sea Abalone
Assorted hermit crabs and snails

 

The spots you see on the fish are the parasites going through their life cycle. It's only visible to the naked eye for a limited period of time, it then falls off into the substrate and goes on to complete life cycle and then re-appears on the fish and repeats the cycle.


http://www.3reef.com/forums/fish-diseases/life-cycle-marine-ich-96343.html