Sick Yellow Tang

I have had a yellow tang for about a week now. He looked great in the store. The next morning, he developed some black spots on him, but they were gone by the next day. He also ate very well the night I put him in. Since then, he hasn't been eating very much as far as I can tell. He looks to be getting skinnier. A couple days ago his lips started looking weird. The lips almost looked chapped. This morning, he has white spots on him in a few places.

How can I help my fish?


He is in a 72g with a tomato clown and some green chromis. He is showing no aggression and actually likes to swim with the clown.

Water parameters are: Ammonia: 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 20, salinity 1.023, pH 8.3, Temp 78.

I did a fresh water dip. I also set up a 10g hospital tank for the tang. Hopefully he pulls through. He still is not eating.

He probably did infect the tank. There isn't much else in there. I am going to take the remaining fish and put them into the quarantine tank tomorrow. I had a pH crash in my 24g a few days ago so I have my those fish in the quarantine. I am putting them back into the 24g tomorrow and should then be able to move the fish from the 72g into the quarantine. After that, I was planning on doing treatment on the 72g to get rid of the parasites.

Sadly, my fish has died. I was very sad. I didn't die from the disease, however, it died from a broken heater. The heater went out in the hospital tank and when I got home from work it was 65 degrees. Most of his external symptoms had faded and he had seemed to be doing alright the night before. My fiance is pretty sad about it all.

The big tank should be emptied of fish tomorrow once my 24g gets back up. I need the clown in the 72 to go into the 12 that my maroon clowns are in. I am going to drop the salinity in the main tank for a few weeks and hope that fixes it.