Diagnosis Please.

[Ishy]

Here is a couple of pics of our orange shoulder tang, they are both the same pic but one is obviously magnified. He has had this for 6 1/2 weeks and is very slowly getting worse. We have treated for Flukes with two different products but to no avail. I was ruling out whitespot on the assumption that if this were the case everything would be dead by now but I'm now not so sure. Other fish in the tank are showing symptoms but some are not. He flashes on the sand but occasionally but not as much as you would expect. All tank parameters are spot on so I'm at a bit of a loss. Going to try to do a skin scrape later in the week from a fish we can catch, we did have a go at catching the orange shoulder to give him a fresh water dip but spent most of a day without success other than to stress him out.

 

[Highgrade]

Looks like ICH

 

[Ishy]

It does but for 6 1/2 weeks? is this possible? He's feeding like a horse also.

 

[Highgrade]

Ich can come and go or stay present. What QT method did you use on your fish, corals and inverts?

 

[Humblefish]

Looks like ICH

^^ Agree

It does but for 6 1/2 weeks? is this possible? He's feeding like a horse also.

Very possible; ich is often a manageable disease by a wide range of species. However, being this is an Acanthurus tang I feel it is likely he will succumb eventually without treatment.

 

[melypr1985]

It does but for 6 1/2 weeks? is this possible? He's feeding like a horse also.

Yes. It's very possible. Rare for acanthurus tangs to survive that long with an active outbreak, but it happens. Every fish needs to come out for QT, treatment and let the tank go fallow for 76 days.

 

[Ishy]

Ich can come and go or stay present. What QT method did you use on your fish and inverts?

He's been in there a year so not a recent addition. Its probably due to another fish introduction but either way we don't quarantine.

 

[Highgrade]

He's been in there a year so not a recent addition. Its probably due to another fish introduction but either way we don't quarantine.

Bummer, that most likely is the cause. As @Humblefish stated it most likely is only a matter of time unless you remove all fish and QT them right away and leave the tank fishless for 76 days or longer. I had to do it once and learned my lesson to always QT. Best of luck

 

[Humblefish]

He's been in there a year so not a recent addition. Its probably due to another fish introduction but either way we don't quarantine.

Some fish (exs. wrasse, clownfish, mandarin) will not show obvious physical symptoms of ich, due to their thick slime coat. But trophonts can still harbor inside their gills where the mucous coat is reduced in composition. Unfortunately, an Acanthurus tang has a very thin slime coat all over so it is most susceptible to free swimming theronts; which latch on, burrow just under the skin and become feeding trophonts.

 

[Highgrade]

Some fish (exs. wrasse, clownfish, mandarin) will not show obvious physical symptoms of ich, due to their thick slime coat. But trophonts can still harbor inside their gills where the mucous coat is reduced in composition. Unfortunately, an Acanthurus tang has a very thin slime coat all over so it is most susceptible to free swimming theronts, which latch on, burrow just under the skin and become feeding trophonts.

Also the trophonts/theronts can hitchhike in on water, corals and inverts from other tanks. Keep that in mind if you added anything after the tang.

 

[Ishy]

Ok thanks for the confirmation.

 

[Reefahholic]

At 6.5 weeks and eating like a horse. My money is on ICH.

 

[Mandrew]

Wow I've never seen one of those fish before... it's beautiful... hope treatment goes well!

 

[Ishy]

Wow I've never seen one of those fish before... it's beautiful... hope treatment goes well!

He is and thank's, he's a gentle giant and has grown from around 2 inches when we had him to around 6 inches.

 

[Mandrew]

Wow... best of luck with the diagnosis and cure! Wish I knew enough to be of assistance.

 

[Ishy]

The only thing that confuses me is that with Ich you would expect the spots to drop off and re appear due to the life cycle at least to some degree but these don't seem to change other than very slowly getting worse.

 

[4FordFamily]

Yes. It's very possible. Rare for acanthurus tangs to survive that long with an active outbreak, but it happens. Every fish needs to come out for QT, treatment and let the tank go fallow for 76 days.

Strangely, I've seen several orange shoulder that lived in ich management tanks long-term they're one of the few occasional exceptions. They're just hardier than most acanthurus IMO. I've seen a few clown and sohals do so as well, two of which were my own.

I still argue that's not ethical, but nonetheless lol

 

[azreeftank]

Ick can be a tricky thing, I QT all my fish and the last fish I added was an Achilles Tang exactly 1 year ago this week. He was QT in cooper for a month and still developed ick the first week I put him in. He has constantly shown specks from 1 to several the entire year! No other tang or Moorish idol have developed it and all eat like pigs. The AT is beautiful, dark and super fat. He rules the tank...... yet has had ick for a year and I kinda gave up worrying about it unless behavior or color changes and it has not so far. I will say that when I first put him in the DT a year ago couple of my tangs (Blue and Mimic) broke out in ick. I mixed Ginger powder in their food for 2 weeks and all fish recovered and ick has not returned on them in a year. The AT is the only fish in the tank that carries ick the entire time. It's a large reef tank with a lot of corals and rocks so there is NO catching him or any other fish out.

 

[4FordFamily]

Ick can be a tricky thing, I QT all my fish and the last fish I added was an Achilles Tang exactly 1 year ago this week. He was QT in cooper for a month and still developed ick the first week I put him in. He has constantly shown specks from 1 to several the entire year! No other tang or Moorish idol have developed it and all eat like pigs. The AT is beautiful, dark and super fat. He rules the tank...... yet has had ick for a year and I kinda gave up worrying about it unless behavior or color changes and it has not so far. I will say that when I first put him in the DT a year ago couple of my tangs (Blue and Mimic) broke out in ick. I mixed Ginger powder in their food for 2 weeks and all fish recovered and ick has not returned on them in a year. The AT is the only fish in the tank that carries ick the entire time. It's a large reef tank with a lot of corals and rocks so there is NO catching him or any other fish out.

Unfortunately that is a disaster waiting to happen for the AT, on rare occasions this can last more than a year or two but it's just a matter of time before it catches up.