Just had the same problem with my yellow tang. Got me real nervous until I read this thread. I will try to treat it as mentioned above. It great that you guys are around. I'd be pulling my hair out because my LFS had no idea what it was. Maybe I was asking the wrong person.

Should I put my yellow tang that has these symtoms in a hospital tank or just try to have him get better in my main tank with my water changes?

I would start with a couple of large water changes first. If the tang doesn't show any improvement after a couple days, than treat in a hospital tank.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Dont Fear The Reefer [/i]
[B]Here is the tank. Fish,LR, and hopefully more reef in the future.

Thanks for the help.
Dane
[IMG]http://www.palstudios.com/Reef/2WeeksLater.JPG[/IMG] [/B][/QUOTE]

I noticed you have a 3 spotted domino damsel. It is one of my favorite damsels! I was wondering if you ever experience them changing colors like white?

No, never seen Domino change colors. He is a great fish. Been with me for a while. He has a bit of an attitude, but not so much to stress other fish. Have to watch for a color change. Never heard of the Domino doing that, but there are many things I have never heard of.

BTW the Yellow tang turned out to be a Mimic Tang. Dont know what his parasite/stress problem was, but I gave him an 8min freshwater bath (matching temp and ph) and he was fine after and showed immediate improvement. Within 2 days he was good as new. I was told to never give a freshwater bath to any fish with an open wound. Mine had only the discolorations, and symptoms of itching.

Dane

Adult [i]D. trimaculatus[/i] go very pale when they get into reproductive condition, especially the females. They also coo like a pigeon to warn off intruders. It can be quite noisy when diving near the territory of a family.

my yellow tang last week had 3 spots pop up on him out of nowhere....{maybe from my addition of ruby reef the week before?}....anyways , did 2 water changes 20% each in the past week and he is 100% I thought for sure he was a goner...it looked BAD

Sorry, what is better, a 10% water change every 2 or 3 days to treat a yellow tang with read streaks or a 45% or more (large) water change? the tang had 2 days with red fins

Carlos,
A large water change is going to have a more immediate effect, but smaller more regular changes water changes will have the same long term result. For example, 10% weekly, 20% biweekly and 40% four weekly have the same effect over a long period, but the 40% four weekly would result in larger variation in water parameters with each water change.

I would go for the one large one followed up by smaller ones until the problem clears up. If it doesn't appear to be getting any better, you may have to move the fish and treat with antibiotics in a treatment tank.

As Bill said in the first post of this thread. Clean water, make sure your protein skimmer is removing the waste it is supposed to, water changes.

THAT IS IT. Proper nutrition and overfeeding should also be watched.

Do not overdo. Overdoing anything will ruin it all.

:smokin:

thanks for the answers, I will check the skimmer too. I will write the results.

I got a yellow tang two days ago. At the LFS he was a new arrival, and some of the other tangs in the tank with him had some red splotches, as described in this thread, though mine didn't have any.

I bought him anyway, almost viewing it as a challenge to see if I could give him a good home. After I had him in QT tank for 24hrs, he's repeatedly scratching his sides & belly on the sand. I almost expected this, so I decide to treat him with hyposalinity.

Over 24 hrs I lowering the SG from 1.020 to 1.015 . Next night when I come home, he's still eating, swimming, etc, except now I see some tiny specs on his body - lots of them. They are either black or dark red, I can't get close enough to tell.

I'm not sure if I induced this with too rapid a water change or what, I'm going to proceed with hypo, and try to monitor things.

I called the LFS. The best they could do - no laughing now - is maybe he was repeatedly hit with the dagger on the other tangs' tails, and now I'm seeing little "scabs". Uhhh...I don't think so.

Does anyone know what black or dark red specs could be?

It could be turbellaria (AKA black "Ich") which are not uncommon on tangs.

See: [url=http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=281356]Black Ich??[/url].

If it is, you'll need to bathe the tank a few times at 3 day intervals in a formalin bath. See the details in the other thread.

My yellow just developed the red streaks/sploches. THe LFS said it was an infection and the only way to treat was to use anti-biotics. I dont have a hospital tank either, but my 29g is a FO tanks, so I went ahead. So now I have a tank of bright, dark green water! When all I needed was to clean my filter, put in a skimmer (just bought a CPR bak-pak) and maybe change his diet a bit. Thanks for the great info, Ill start the water changes tonight and order that food from Drs Foster and Smith.

The only thing that concerns me a bit is really isnt eating now. He still has his color and his spots look a little better. He does still swim around though. Could it just be effects of the anti-biotics? All the fish seem a bit "slow" since the addition of the drugs.

For the red splotches, is there any reason NOT to treat with antibiotics if the fish is in a quarantine/hospital tank?

The only thing I can think of is that the antibiotics will kill off all the "good" bacteria in the filter, and the tank will need to cycle again after treatment stops.

ugh...here we go again....advising people to add chemicals to their tanks.....

My yellow tang has had the red streaks in the past....I changed its diet, and the streaks went away....Not sure if the change in diet did it, but the streaks went away without chemicals.

[QUOTE]ugh...here we go again....advising people to add chemicals to their tanks.....[/QUOTE]

Well, not to be snippy or anything, but your answer was hardly responsive to my question.:rolleyes:

Can you explain WHY adding chemicals to a dedicated quarantine/hospital tank with nothing but the sick fish in it is a bad thing.:confused:

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by rrrrob [/i]
[B]ugh...here we go again....advising people to add chemicals to their tanks..... [/B][/QUOTE]
I suggest you read the whole thread. You will see that improving water conditions is the first recommendation.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Hal [/i]
[B]For the red splotches, is there any reason NOT to treat with antibiotics if the fish is in a quarantine/hospital tank?

The only thing I can think of is that the antibiotics will kill off all the "good" bacteria in the filter, and the tank will need to cycle again after treatment stops. [/B][/QUOTE]
Hal,

Generally, it is better to avoid using antibiotics if at all possible because over use can lead to resistant strains of bacteria. Start by improving the water conditions and diet and of you still see issues a FULL course of antibiotics is recommended. Make sure you do the full course because cutting it short can also lead to resistant strains.

While the antibiotics can inhibit the bacteria in the biological filter, I have not had problems, myself, in my quarantine tank.

I suggest you read the whole article also--there IS mention of adding chemicals. My yellow tang's red streaks disappeared without the water changes OR chemicals. However, mine was not scratching itself on the rocks....that sounds more like ich to me (what is the amonia level?), and perhaps in your case the red blotchy streaks are a result of abrasion rather than a bacterial infection?<br><br>

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by ATJ [/i]
[B]I suggest you read the whole thread. You will see that improving water conditions is the first recommendation. [/B][/QUOTE]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by rrrrob [/i]
[B]I suggest you read the whole article also--there IS mention of adding chemicals. My yellow tang's red streaks disappeared without the water changes OR chemicals. However, mine was not scratching itself on the rocks....that sounds more like ich to me (what is the amonia level?), and perhaps in your case the red blotchy streaks are a result of abrasion rather than a bacterial infection?<br><br> [/B][/QUOTE]
What do you suggest people do if after changing the diet there is no improvement? How long do they wait to see an improvement?

has anyone got any pics of a yellow tang with this condition, as I was looking at my YT and he has orange lines running along the rays of his/her dorsal fin.

Regards
Mike

thanks for all your replies I don't know where to start!!!!!!!!!!!

Cute Yellow Tang

I see a good trend here, I was having the same problem too.