Regal Tang- White spots

zak

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Hi guys,

My latest addition to the tank seems to be infected with white spot. He scratches himself against the LR. What do i do? He's eating fine, feeding him flakes and tried nori this afternoon, he had a little..
 
Remove the fish asap. Put him in a plastic container with tank water with a heater and an air pump. You have to quarantine fish especially tangs as you have to take it for granted that they have white spot. Hopefully the ich did not spread to the other fish. I recommend using the bucket method
 
Once I've done that, what next?
 
well with the bucket method, you need two plastic containers, two heaters and pvc elbows. You fill bucket A with 20L of water (I just used DT water) then you put the heater, an airpump with an airstone and some pvc pieces to give the fish a place to hide. Add the fish. Then the next day you fill bucket B with tank water, set the second set of pvc pieces, pump and heater, transfer the fish. Then you empty bucket A, pour boiling water over the bucket, pvc, net etc and leave it in the sun to dry. Repeat for 7days. @Yuri will give you better info as I asked him about it :) .. This method uses no medication however depending on the degree of the condition, a copper based treatment may have to be used
 
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The answer to my monster WS outbreak was microbbliff herbtana!!!!

Did not have a QT so I treated my DT with it. 2 weeks all gone and all fish is still with me and happy!
 
I heard lots of good things about herbtana from the guys here who have tried it and some guys said it made no difference or the WS returned.. Not sure about it but its worth a try :)
 
Thanks for the input guys, for a newbie to cope with all of this is hectic :-(

Anyway, iv removed the Tang into a bucket with a heater and flow pump.. Anyone else with suggestions, please feel free..

Thanks for the detail Tremayne..
 
The answer to my monster WS outbreak was microbbliff herbtana!!!!

Did not have a QT so I treated my DT with it. 2 weeks all gone and all fish is still with me and happy!

Anyone else tried this product, please comment..
 
Thanks for the input guys, for a newbie to cope with all of this is hectic :-(

Anyway, iv removed the Tang into a bucket with a heater and flow pump.. Anyone else with suggestions, please feel free..

Thanks for the detail Tremayne..

Where in JHB are you?
 
I'm in Houghton..
 
I was going to try and pop over and have a look for you but i am not in that area until next week. If you want to bring the fish over in the evening you are welcome. I am in Lambton.
 
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I’m no expert but comen cense tells you the fish was probably stressed out when caught and placed in a bag when you bought it..there is no way for anyone to guarantee that by catching it again and back and forth in to a new bucket of water every day it will survive....this is a sure way to end up killing a healthy specimen...if the fish was w/s free at the lfs...all you need to do is leave it in the tank and first try and get the fish to settle in its new environment ...switch the blue lights of and increase the water temp slightly drop the salinity a bit and wait it out a few days...w/s comes and goes...all fish have it it’s like cancer...whether you going to kill the fish by stressing it out even more is up to you...There is also a product called (Myxazin from waterlife) follow the instructions on the botle.. Witch you can add to the tank which is reef safe...it kills free swimming w/s larva stage and also other diseases in the system ....if you done all this and the fish only gets worst then try all sorts of ways as the fish will probably die any ways...any lfs that is his salt worth will tell you the same...the qt way can work if when first you bought it you introduced it to a qt system treat it there and thereafter introduce it to your dt...now by catching it in your dt you stress all the other tank mates as well ...then the w/s gets the blame for the other fish in the tank getting sick...instead of you whom stressed out the inmates ...And Regals get stressed out for no real reason...you need to leave them so they can get use to the tank environment so this don’t happen every time you walk past the tank they get stressed...w/s is regals best friend and that is a fact...first do the as close to natural way treatments.. then if that doesn’t work try the human way..
 
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With all due respect to Jaco, DO NOT ADD MYXAZIN TO A REEF TANK. If you read up on it you will see there are mixed results which means it is not safe in your tank

I agree with him that WS comes and goes. My regal has the odd spot now and again, but if you have a full blown outbreak that is a different story, you will lose your fish in a few days. So keep an eye on it, if it gets worse then take action like qt'ing.

What you can do is feed often, as much as it will eat, and enrich it with vitamin supplements which you get at the shops

I used Herbtana which worked wonders in conjunction with more food, vitamins, less salinity and higher temp
 
zak, I was just telling you what Yuri told me :) .. Guys remember that white spot is a parasite which can be quarantined out of your fish. I got a tang on Saturday morning, looked perfect. Had it in the QT then yesterday it had white spot. Its eating well and I feed it nori everyday to boost the immune system. Most of the times you dont see the white spot as it is in the gills (or so I hear).. Dont beat yourself up about it zak, it happens to everyone eventually.. Oh yes zak, I use clear containers so that the fish can see you coming.
 
Regarding Herbtana

Please remember Herbtana is a " herbal, immune-enhancing stimulant"
It does not treat Whitespot or any other disease.
It only helps with boosting the natural immune system of the fish.
If the outbreak is not major, it might help, as it did work for some people.

I for 1 agree with Jaco that if the fish is not in very bad shape, do NOT catch him and try and RO dip him etc, as that will only stress him out more and has a negative effect on his immune system.

Even copper treatment has a negative effect on healthy fish.

Whether WS is always present in the tank, biologists still seem to disagree on that.

I lost a Regal and a Bi-color Blennie yesterday due to WS. But because my WS strain had a look somehow similar to that of Velvet, and the strain was physically very small, Herbtana did not work for me. I treated my 1 clown and Scopas with RO dips, once daily. and according to David Vaughan from Two Oceans Aquarium it should be done only ONCE a day, and not for more than 5 minutes.
 
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If you read up on it you will see there are mixed results which means it is not safe in your tank

Is this from experience or from reading up on it...

Its reef save for many refers use it as its probably the oldest method used for reef environment..But that is true what you say it’s not reef safe...as that’s what the bottle says any ways...but I have never heard of problems so that is what I use....

To start of Zak shouldn’t try and keep regals at this stage if he read up on it... as his system is still to new ...no hiding space in his d/t and no natural lg to feed on is a big no no for keeping tangs...The best for him would probably be to take the fish to @ Nemos Janitor as he suggested and see maybe they can save the fellow..
 
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