Blue Tang has bumps on him, I can't catch him !

[fltekdiver]

I have a 180 Tank up and running now 2 months. Last weekend I bought the
blue tang. I Didn't QT him, because the LFS I been buying everything from
runs hydro salinity, and treats the fish with Para Guard

I found out after I added him, he appeared healthy on their tanks, no issues

I also forgot to ask how lobg they had him, I found out a few days later when I talked with them , they just got him in the day before I bought him

But a few days later after adding to my tank, he developed bumps under his skin

I wanted to see if it were stress, before pulling him. I read many people had the same issues with Blue Tangs, and they left them alone, fed them garlic food, which I'm doing, and the bumps disappeared

Problem is Today is day 4 since I noticed them, and if it is ICK, I want to get him out as quick and QT him now, as his breathing has gotten heavier, but he's still eating

Before I spread Ick all over the DT, I need to pull him,. I just did a water transferee from my DT to my QT, took a sponge I had in my fudge, threw it into my QT, and fired everything up

Now I can't find the little bugger, I been trying for 3 hours, theirs so much rock in my DT, I can't catch him

Maybe treat the DT and leave him?

Or, how the heck do I get him out?

Here's a pic of my tank, so you understand what I'm going through to get him out

[james30ct]

Just my opinion but I would leave it in the dt and keep feeding it. Especially nori. Trying to catch it is just going to stress it even more and stress everything else in the tank.

[slief]

Depending on it's size, a very small barbless salmon egg hook and a piece of Nori may work fine for catching him. I've used that method on more than once occasion to catch a fish in my tank. You just have to be quick on the wrist so you hook it as soon as it takes the bait. If the hook is barbless, catch and safe release is very easy.

In the mean time, I would strongly suggest aerating your tank with an air stone near a power head. If it's ich, it tends to attack the fishes gills making it difficult for them to get adequate oxygen. The air stones help that a little bit. As a matter of practice, I will not keep any blue tangs in my tank. Especially the Hippo tangs. They are always the first fish to break out in ich and more often then not will infect their tank mates.

If you can't get it out, continue to feed well and make sure you add more air to the tank. There was also a thread about ginger powder as a food additive to help cure ich. While I don't believe in witch craft, you never know what can help even though there is nothing scientifically proven to cure ich other than copper which you don't want to add to your display if you ever plan on having corals.

That said, you mentioned the fish having bumps, not white spots.. Bumps would sound like something other than ich unless they are white.

[oscarinw]

I would personally try the new snake oil: ginger powder. I know that others will disagree with this but I think it is worth the try. The fact is that your situation is very delicate with at least one other tang and bangaii cardinals in the tank. Ick just stays and multiplies like weeds in our tanks.
If that doesn't work and you don't see an improvement quickly, I would move the fish to the hospital tank and treat with copper.
Part of me thinks that you should probably do that directly and bypass the ginger.
Don't let catching them be a deterrent. It took me about a week to train everyone in the tank to eat inside my trap but once that happens, moving them was a breeze.
Oh man I hate that feeling when you see the dots on the fish the first time around... good luck

[fltekdiver]

Thanks. I fed him garlic flake food, he came out, swam around. I also fed him Nori

I feed them a 3"x3" pc of nori every morning, then feed shrimp, pellet food, flakes, etc at night, each night feeding them something different

The blue LED's are on, and there's no white spots on him, or the yellow tang, or any fish

They would really stick out with the blue LED's at 45% which Is run I run them after
7pm, then they ramp down to 0% at midnight

He has little bumps under his skin. He's had them now for 4 days

Reason I been watching so closely is, I know Ick falls off the fish after 4 days, and starts to populate

He's hiding again in the rocks, It's impossible to get him out

He's only 1" big, the store said he's 6 months old tops

He's to quick to get a picture of, and likes hiding in the rocks

I find him between the crack of 2 rocks, he gets into the smallest places

I also have a One Spot Fox Face, 2 Clowns, 1 Yellow Tang, 2 Cardinals, and a a dozen LPS and 1pc of SPS , large CUC, and cleaner shrimp

Where would I get the snake oil and ginger powder?

[Joe0813]

if it is ich it wont just go away.... its in your system now and will always be. id recommend a fish trap with mysis in it. move all your fish to a QT and treat all your fish there and leave them there for 9 weeks :/

[FTDelta]

This ^^^ I agree.

ALWAYS follow QT protocal regardless where you get your fish from.

[TYAG]

i found that if i placed the net in the tank and left it there for a while with the nori right next to it that they get used to the net and if you are quick when they come for the nori you and just rotate the net and grab him.

[fltekdiver]

He died last night

Woke up this morning to goto work, and he was dead under a rock

Knowing now what I found out about blue tangs, I will not be getting another one

Thanks for everyones help

I could not tell if he had any disease , because he was all different colors from being dead

His eyes were green though, weird

RIP My little blue Tang

[TYAG]

Sorry to hear of the passing, but at least you have some good times of watching with him

[fltekdiver]

That will be the last fish that goes into the DT without going into QT first. That was to much of a scare

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[TYAG]

QT's are really helpful and can save a lot of headaches in the long run

I never add anything straight into my DT
I QT for 6 or 8 weeks to make sure that everything is good and I can get them big and fat 😊

[fltekdiver]

Yes, I realized I can't catch a fish in my tank, that if he would have survived, and broke out bad with ick, I can't get the fish out, and the whole tank will be infected. I also don't want to go fallow for nothing. So lesson learned thus time, plus I lost a fish. Wasn't even 8 months old, poor little guy

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