powder blue tang (help)

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ram303

AC Members
Nov 17, 2007
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darwin australia
Hi there ppl i need some advise and help with my newist addition to my tank. I have just bought a powder blue tang. and he has developed some small white spots. they seem to be raised like tiny little pimples. he isnt absaloutly covered in them but they appeare to be all over him, even on his fins I have heard of white spot before but have never seen it or know the treatment. I have also heard that powder blue tangs can suffer from (itch) wich i also have never seen. what could this be and how would i treat it. i dont have a hospital tank set up, and would rather not if i can help it. His colour seems ok and he is still eating, I just feed him some blood worm and mysis shrimp, with a little garlic powder in it. I have been told that a little garlic is good for fish and can help ward of some sicknesses. Is this true. All other fish seem to be fine and healthy
please help.
Ram..........
 

redfishblewfish

Ignorance Specialist
Nov 19, 2008
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That’s the one thing with powder Blue’s…you look at them cross-eyed and they come down with crypto. Since you already have this guy in your tank, you might wish to treat the whole tank if you can. Otherwise, you will have to set up a hospital tank. The one danger about treating the whole tank are the other life forms that don’t do well with crypto treatments (such as inverts).

Whatever the case, I don’t like using copper. Two reasons; it is poison to your fish and test kits for the home aquarist aren’t the greatest. So I vote for treating using the hypo method. You can search on-line for the methods to use…slowly lower / keep the tank hypo for 4 – 6 weeks / slowly raise salinity back up.

As far as garlic, there is no science that I know of that says it works. That being said, I always use it. Here in the States we have algae strips with garlic added. I use it for normal feeding of all my tangs.
 

ram303

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Nov 17, 2007
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darwin australia
it may be worth noting that my orange blotched surgon fish seems to be finenot a mark. also the white little dots on the powder blue seem to have dissapated a little today.
 

ram303

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darwin australia
I have just been told that a fresh water bath could be the answer. this sounds a little to weird though i was told buy another local marine keeper that 10 min in fresh water wouldnt kill my fish, but may kill any parasites on the fish. this sound plausable but extream has anyone ever heard about this.
I recon no way........
 

fsn77

AC Moderators
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Feb 22, 2006
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Some people do use a fw dip to help remove external parasites. However, it can be a stressful experience for the fish. If you do a fw dip, it's important to keep a very close on eye the fish, and end the fw dip if the fish begins to appear overly stressed.
 

ram303

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Nov 17, 2007
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darwin australia
thanks fsn77 so it is a treatment then. Today it appears a little better again. dont now what im doing right, but it seems to be working. Maybe the shot of stress zyme+
i put in 2 days ago is helping.
what is the differance between white spot and itch, is there any visual differance.
 

Ace25

www.centralcoastreefclub. com
Oct 3, 2005
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Ich comes and goes on its own from my experience and more so with Powder Blue and Blue Hippo Tangs. I think 10 minutes is a little long for a freshwater dip. Usually 2-3 minutes is more than enough time. Also, when doing a freshwater dip, you want to make sure your fish is at least acting healthy, meaning swimming good and eating. This is very important, make sure the freshwater is RO or RO/DI water and you have the temperature and pH of the freshwater adjusted to match that of your tank. You will see the white spots start to fall off around 45-60 seconds.

Here is the problem with most "Ich" cures, it only kills one stage of the lifecycle. When you do a freshwater dip you are only killing the parasites that have come to the surface of the fish, but there are many more inside waiting to come out. So it will not cure the fish, but it will help reduce the amount of parasites on it, hopefully reducing stress and scratching on rocks that Ich causes. Freshwater dips are not done much because it is such a stressful thing to do to the fish and most people feel the risks outweigh the benefits. Something you will have to decide yourself.

White Spot/Ich/Crypto are all the same thing. Also, there will always be less visible spots on your fish in the morning than in the evening. You may only count 10 spots in the morning but 30+ in the evening. This is normal with Ich. The term "Ich" is a follow over from FW fish that get something similar that really is called Ich for short. On marine fish it looks similar and people just commonly use the term on the marine side as well. Others will correct you and say the proper term on the marine side is "white spot" for a common name. I guess Ich is the only incorrect term, but pretty much everyone knows what your talking about when you say it.

In the end, there are many things you can do to help with Ich, but there is no simple cure. You can do hyposalinity (most common course of action), copper treatment in a hospital tank (not recommended for a Powder Blue IMO), freshwater dip (again, not really something I would do on a PB tang, a yellow tang sure, not a PB though), add extra vitamins like Vita Chem and Garlic to your food (this is my remedy for small/early outbreaks), feed them good nutritious food like Rod's Food.
 
Last edited:

ram303

AC Members
Nov 17, 2007
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darwin australia
Ace you are a ledgend you have answered my question perfectly thanks .
someone should sticky that answer..........
 
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