ID Black dots on yellow tang?

danny zubot · #1 12-08-2009, 03:33 AM

Just noticed today that my yellow tang has developed black dots on it. They are very small, the size of ick. Is this a different type of ick? SO far the fish is fine, still eating and not scratching. Does anyone know what this is? I find it curious that this is the first sign of an illness in my tank in years, and that it has only occured since I lost my cleaner shrimp last week.

Lance · #2 12-08-2009, 03:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danny zubot

Just noticed today that my yellow tang has developed black dots on it. They are very small, the size of ick. Is this a different type of ick? SO far the fish is fine, still eating and not scratching. Does anyone know what this is? I find it curious that this is the first sign of an illness in my tank in years, and that it has only occured since I lost my cleaner shrimp last week.

Sounds like Black Spot Disease. Quite common on Tangs.

danny zubot · #3 12-08-2009, 04:02 AM

Thanks. I just looked it up and found a pic confirming it is black spot or black ick. It says the treatment is the same as other forms of ick. Bummer. Well, hopefully my new cleaner shrimp get here safely. Perhaps they will aid in this fight.

naesco · #4 12-08-2009, 04:03 AM

It is a fairly simple fix.
Remove the tang and give her a fresh water dip until you see the black spots go away. The black spots are actually worms not a parasite like ich.
Make sure that the ph and the temperature is the same as you main tank.

danny zubot · #5 12-08-2009, 04:43 AM

How long do you dip the fish for each time?

Delphinus · #6 12-08-2009, 05:26 AM

4 minutes ought to do it.

It's a flatworm so one treatment is usually enough to get them to literally fall off. In really bad cases maybe two treatments a day or two apart.

FWIW, and maybe this is bad of me, I don't know, but when I was advised what to do, I was told "don't bother matching pH, just use tap water, but DO match the temperature") and the tang was fine and I never had to do it again. (Which is probably good because I can usually catch a fish once, and ever after that they're onto me and I can't get near them with a net.) I'm not sure what you'd have to use if you wanted to match pH. If you could match pH I'm sure it would be easier on the fish.

naesco · #7 12-08-2009, 05:35 AM

You are right with the black worm procedure. Adjusting the ph is not necessary
If you are looking at a sick or dying fish everything that can lessen the stress is important though.
You can buy a small bottle of ph-up or ph down at the lfs

Leah · #8 12-08-2009, 12:21 PM

I had a yellow tang with black spot and I took him out and gave him a fresh water dip and put him in a 10 gal tank for about a week, if I remember correctly. And returned him to the main tank and never saw it again on him.

danny zubot · #9 12-08-2009, 05:42 PM

It's no big deal to adjust the ph. I just don't want to leave the fish in too long. Thanks for everyone's input, I'll let you know how things turn out.

Delphinus · #10 12-08-2009, 05:53 PM

They'll be fine for much longer than 4 minutes, but 4 minutes was what I found to be adequate for complete removal of the flatworms.