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Purple Tang is sick (now) ... uugg.

Well, just when I thought everything was settling in (after a bad run of Ick, Velvet and who-knows-whatelse) ... the Tang is sick. He's eating fine, not flicking himself (that I've seen), but has white flakes. Not spots like Ick ... more like loose flakes. These seem to be the best pictures I can get of him. Can you tell what it is? How shall I treat him. I've had bad luck with my QT ... so I'd rather leave him in the 120g. Hoping the other guys (2 Lookdowns, and 3 Wrasse do ok). :( Thanks ...

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Very interesting....It looks like the same thing I am going thru.......I don't want to bore you with my long story.....I have good news and bad news....The first time I saw stuff that looked like that it wiped out my entire tank....I left the tank fishless for 9 weeks, then added a kole tang, waited 2 weeks added a purple and yellow tang...Then I noticed some stuff on the yellow..It appeared to just be ich on the yellow so I really did not worry about it...I added a Gold Flake angel about 2 weeks ago and 2 days after I added him to the tank he had the same stuff on him that I think yours does....The best I can describe it is small pieces of sock lint. You can actually see them move in the water as the fish swims. I am not sure what it is maybe just a bad case of ich?????? This time the GF had it but it went away and he is still eating and acting normal after 2 weeks. I would think that if it was velvet the fish would not last that long and the others would also have it. Right now "knock on wood" my yellow and purple are clean......Hopefully a fish disease expert will have a better idea of what is going on.
 

MadReefer

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Can you tell if that white stuff is alive? Looks some type of parasite hitching a ride. Maybe a cleaner wrasse would help but I really have no idea.
 
The only thing I was thinking was a type of fungus. This may be caused by stress....

The deaths in my tanks may have been something totaly unrelated to the "sock lint" and it was just a coincidence.

Like I said so far so good with the Gold Flake and I would think that if it were velvet or something real bad he and the rest of the fish would be dead by now.....
 
I sent this link to Dr. Jim. He is a sponsor for this club and has extensive knowledge in the saltwater hobby.

His thought is that it is some kind of parasite. If you can't remove the fish and everything else from you tank and treat them then the best thing to do is feed a good quality diet and keep your water quality pristine.
 
I don't think its brook...But then again anything is possible in this hobby. The best chance for the fish is to keep up your water quality and feed them good and hopefully they can fight it off....
 
Well I hope you are right. Maybe I will try paragaurd. My sock lint is gone but he still has something on him
 
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