Does my tang have ich?

Question

I have a 5 inch Lopezi Tang. He eats normal, swims normal, no sign of stress. On his left side on his face the skin looks white. I looked closer at it and it isn't popped up, it's flat against his face. You know when you have dry or tannned skin and you run your fingernail over it? How it leaves a white trail? That's what it looks like on this fish. Only it's a big whiteish patch across the face and two smaller patches on his body. In the tank with the Lopezi is a Half Black Angelfish and a Dwarf Lionfish.  I figured that ich would spread to the other fish, but it's been three(?) days and the others show no sign of whatever it is. How do I fix it?
Ph 8.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40  
( battling with the nitrates )

Chrisoz · Accepted Answer

While fish have scales, they also have skin beneath their scales and both these layers are subject to many possible irritants. It could be anything from fungus, to cryptocaryon irritans to simply being a temporary "flushness" of that area. You do have another surgeonfish in the tank as well as a lionfish, both which maintain substantial defense systems, so there is another option to consider. 

If it were ich, you would likely observe "salt-like" protrusions on the fishes skin. Also, ich has a life cycle that may span 2-3 weeks, so 3 days is not necessarily going to tell you anything about the spread of the parasite.

Good Luck! A Picture would be worth a thousand words here.

Mike · Answer

you should get a refugium and stuff it with cheato algae to handle that Nitrate problem.  Only feed them twice a day.  If not a refugium, you could possibly stuff some cheato in a corner of the tank.  It's a non invasive algae so removal is not a problem.

Being a tang, It's just natural for this fish to have ich.  although it don't really sound like ich.  also, ich does not always spread to other fish if they are healthy.

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Does my tang have ich?

2 Answers