Black Ich???

[Bangaii Breeder]

Hello all. I am new to reefs.org but glad to have any help I could receive. I have a Yellow tang that has bee in my reef system for about two months now. In the last day the tang has begun showing signs of a disease I have not seen before. Unfortunatley I do not have a digital camera but my friend should be coming over in the next few days to take some pics for me. The tang appears to have tiny black or brown specks covering his entire body. The spots don't look the same as common ich to me but it is sort of hard to tell because of the bright color of the fish. The infection looks to me like a human that has touched a stinging nettles plant, the nettles just seem to be a darker color. None of the other fish in the tank appear to be infected but I am worried about them, especially my first pair of breeding Bangaiis reside in the same tank. My tank peramiters are all well within the healthy range. I run a wet dry and a skimmer. The only new additions to the tank since the yellow tang have been two small corals. I would greatly appreciate any help. Thanks, Matthew

 

[jamesw]

Matthew,

I suggest you also post this in the General Reefkeeping Discussion. Perhaps there are other hobbyists there that can help also.

Cheers
James Wiseman

 

[AF Founder]

Hello all. I am new to reefs.org but glad to have any help I could receive. I have a Yellow tang that has bee in my reef system for about two months now. In the last day the tang has begun showing signs of a disease I have not seen before. Unfortunatley I do not have a digital camera but my friend should be coming over in the next few days to take some pics for me. The tang appears to have tiny black or brown specks covering his entire body. The spots don't look the same as common ich to me but it is sort of hard to tell because of the bright color of the fish. The infection looks to me like a human that has touched a stinging nettles plant, the nettles just seem to be a darker color. None of the other fish in the tank appear to be infected but I am worried about them, especially my first pair of breeding Bangaiis reside in the same tank. My tank peramiters are all well within the healthy range. I run a wet dry and a skimmer. The only new additions to the tank since the yellow tang have been two small corals. I would greatly appreciate any help. Thanks, Matthew

Matthew,

It sounds like your tang has Posthodilostomum. It is a pathogen that cannot reproduce in the aquarium having a complex life cycle, and if your tang is healthy it will recover naturally. Do not attempt ot medicate your tang.

 

[Bangaii Breeder]

Thanks James and Founder. The tang does appear to be healthy, it is still eating when I feed it and shows no signs of distress. I will continue watching it

 

[tanakiye]

your tang has a disease commonly known as "black spot" or "black ich". This can sometimes be brought on by poor water quality. If you haven't got a skimmer I suggest buying one as soon as possible. To get rid of the black spot, give your tang fresh water baths. Just fill a small bucket with freshwater and check it for ph and temp...the closer it is to your tank parameters the better. Either net or trap your tang (netting is better) and put him into the freshwater (keep him in the net or container). The tang will most likely thrash a bit, then relax. Keep him in the water 1-3 minutes, keep an eyes on his behavior, if he starts to keel over remove him and put him back in the tank. Make sure you DONT pour any of the infected freshwater back into the tank. If you take a good look at the tang while you are giving him the freshwater bath you will actually see the black spots falling off into the freshwater. the longer you keep him in the freshwater, the more parasites you will kill.You may need to repeat this treatment a couple of times but it is very effective at getting rid of black spot and several other parasites.