black spots on tang

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saltydunc

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Apr 11, 2007
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dundee scotland
my yellow tang has developed a few small black spots on it side and some on its head....i noticed its rubbing its self on the sand now and then....its been dashing around a bit aswell....hes been eating normally and he seems ok apart from these black spots....if anyone can help it would be appreciated.
 

saltydunc

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Apr 11, 2007
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dundee scotland
yes i have 2 cleaner shrimps in the tank....ive been reading the forums and it seems he has black ich which doesn't seem good....hard to treat etc....i don't have a hospital tank and i have corals,crabs and shrimps so i can't use meds....im hoping theres a natural remedy to treat him or the outlooks grim....i'l be seriously pissed off if i lose him cause hes doing so well apart from this black ich.
 

Ace25

www.centralcoastreefclub. com
Oct 3, 2005
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Sounds like you have few options.

1. leave him in there and hope the cleaner shrimp get them off.

2. Take him out and bring him to your local fish store and see if they have a hospital tank that can treat him.

My LFS offers that service for free as they care about the fish and will do anything within reason to help save one. Hard part is catching the fish. Call around and see if any stores in your area will help you out. I don't know any other way to rid ich, especially black ich, within your tank if the cleaner shrimp don't do it. As you already know, meds, especially ich meds, are not recommended in reef tanks.
 

saltydunc

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Apr 11, 2007
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dundee scotland
what about adding a cleaner wrasse.....i would go and get one tomorrow if need be....the problem with the shrimps is when they go near the tang he tends to want to nibble their feelers and it puts them off going near him....maybe the wrasse would be more effective.
 

saltydunc

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problem is i don't have a quarantine tank and the parrasite will be in my tank now....so i will have to erradicate it from my whole system especially as i want to add 1 more other type of tang eventually.....there my favourite fish....cheers for the link atnixon and your comments ace.
 

severum mama

is a big bowl of wrong.
Dec 30, 2006
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Please don't add a cleaner wrasse. They really are best left in the wild. First of all, they have a dismal survival rate in captivity, even if they become accustomed to eating prepared foods. Second, they are invaluable to their natural habitats since they clean parasites off of wild fish.

If black ich is anything like white ich (I forgot the sci. name), then it is very contagious to your other fish. Your best bet in that case is to set up a QT, remove all the fish from your main system, medicate them or use hyposalinity, and let the display tank run fallow for about 8 weeks. Since your inverts can't tolerate meds, that will probably be the only way for you to ensure that the parasite has been removed from your tank. Then you will have a QT ready to go for every new addition in the future.
 

dorkfish

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Jul 25, 2005
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If black ich is like normal ich, then a cleaner shrimp, cleaner wrasse, etc. will not help, as ich is too deeply embedded in the flesh for these creatures to get at.

As for erradicating the black ich from your display, well if the parasite doesn't have a host, it will die off from lack of food after about a month. I know you don't have a quarantine, but you need to get one, if you want to give your fish an effective treatment, AND, espescially with tangs (the way I look at it any newly bought tang WILL get ich) you need to be quarantining new arivals to keep parasites out of your display.
 
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