Blue Tang with Gill Flukes

YellowThunder · Jun 1, 2024

So two days ago I purchased a blue tang that’s about 1.5 inches long. It was placed in a 55 gallon and now eats like a monster. Already trained to eat seaweed off of a clip and gets variety of meaty foods like omega brine shrimp, spiralina mysis, mysis and mega marine algae. One thing I did notice however is that he will scratch his gills sometimes against the rocks. He has no visual signs. The other fish in the tank are 2 ocellaris clownfish, Big eye squirrel fish, small yellow spotted scorpionfish and a baby panther grouper. Yes I have a plan for them when they grow out. I was wondering what to do if they have gill flukes and if there are any treatments other than praziquantel. Thanks!

YellowThunder · Jun 1, 2024

vetteguy53081 · Jun 1, 2024

YellowThunder said:

Theses pics are very fuzzy to work with however this fish has little bumps all over its body and suggests skin irritations with ich and a chief reason for quarantining.
How do other fish look?
Young hippos yangs will hide, scratch and play dead for several months.
The repercussions for not quarantining is this:
You now have to isolate all fish in tank and treat them with coppersafe or Copper Power at therapeutic level 2.25-2.5 For a FULL 30 days (do not interrupt this 30 day period) monitored by a reliable Copper Test kit such as Hanna Brand- No API brand. Also monitor Ammonia levels while in quarantine with a reliable test kit and add aeration during treatment using an air stone.
The display tank will have to be kept fishless (FALLOW) for 6-8 weeks to assure the existing parasites go through their life cycle without a host fish and die off and with occupants exposed, they too should go into quarantine
A quarantine tank can be as simple as a tank from a second hand store or a starter kit from Walmart which most of the needed essentials.

YellowThunder · Jun 1, 2024

vetteguy53081 said:
Theses pics are very fuzzy to work with however this fish has little bumps all over its body and suggests skin irritations with ich and a chief reason for quarantining.
How do other fish look?
Young hippos yangs will hide, scratch and play dead for several months.
The repercussions for not quarantining is this:
You now have to isolate all fish in tank and treat them with coppersafe or Copper Power at therapeutic level 2.25-2.5 For a FULL 30 days (do not interrupt this 30 day period) monitored by a reliable Copper Test kit such as Hanna Brand- No API brand. Also monitor Ammonia levels while in quarantine with a reliable test kit and add aeration during treatment using an air stone.
The display tank will have to be kept fishless (FALLOW) for 6-8 weeks to assure the existing parasites go through their life cycle without a host fish and die off and with occupants exposed, they too should go into quarantine
A quarantine tank can be as simple as a tank from a second hand store or a starter kit from Walmart which most of the needed essentials.

Other fish have no signs, I’ve dealt with inch breakouts before, have copper power ready. It really doesn’t look like ich to me however. I know the blue tang is prone to ich due to having no scales but this case seems different because it hasn’t spread and also the spots don’t appear on the fins. However I’m not quite sure.

tzabor10 · Jun 1, 2024

I agree with @vetteguy53081. In the future, having a QT, even if it is just to fatten them up, is helpful. Most fish are shipped without food. Add a few days of starving with new tank stress and disease pops up. You might also want to consider an acclimation box.
Lots of tangs have flukes. A UV sterilizer can help out.

Jay Hemdal · Jun 1, 2024

YellowThunder said:
So two days ago I purchased a blue tang that’s about 1.5 inches long. It was placed in a 55 gallon and now eats like a monster. Already trained to eat seaweed off of a clip and gets variety of meaty foods like omega brine shrimp, spiralina mysis, mysis and mega marine algae. One thing I did notice however is that he will scratch his gills sometimes against the rocks. He has no visual signs. The other fish in the tank are 2 ocellaris clownfish, Big eye squirrel fish, small yellow spotted scorpionfish and a baby panther grouper. Yes I have a plan for them when they grow out. I was wondering what to do if they have gill flukes and if there are any treatments other than praziquantel. Thanks!

It probably does have gill flukes. The best treatment would be half salinity (1.012) for 30 days. Of course, the tank cannot have any invertebrates in it to do that.

Praziquantel does 2 or 3 times, 8 days apart is the next best option. Let me know if you want the details for doing that.

As the others said, there is also a risk that the tang could develop ich, etc.

I’m sure you’re aware, but the scorpionfish and especially the panther grouper will grow much faster than the tang, and if this differential gets big enough, the tang may get eaten….

vetteguy53081 · Jun 1, 2024

YellowThunder said:
Other fish have no signs, I’ve dealt with inch breakouts before, have copper power ready. It really doesn’t look like ich to me however. I know the blue tang is prone to ich due to having no scales but this case seems different because it hasn’t spread and also the spots don’t appear on the fins. However I’m not quite sure.

These bumps are cones and will likely not spread - at least yet then one day, others are infected. Again this is irritation mixed with ich and all fish are susceptible to ich, not just scaleless.

YellowThunder · Jun 1, 2024

Jay Hemdal said:
It probably does have gill flukes. The best treatment would be half salinity (1.012) for 30 days. Of course, the tank cannot have any invertebrates in it to do that.

Praziquantel does 2 or 3 times, 8 days apart is the next best option. Let me know if you want the details for doing that.

As the others said, there is also a risk that the tang could develop ich, etc.

I’m sure you’re aware, but the scorpionfish and especially the panther grouper will grow much faster than the tang, and if this differential gets big enough, the tang may get eaten….

I am very aware of that. Mainly I am a predator tank person but I’m trying to get a nice fish only community tank as well. The grouper will grow fast. I’ve had one in the past that got huge in just a couple months so I am very ready for it.

YellowThunder · Jun 1, 2024

vetteguy53081 said:
These bumps are cones and will likely not spread - at least yet then one day, others are infected. Again this is irritation mixed with ich and all fish are susceptible to ich, not just scaleless.

Sorry for the misunderstanding I was just noting that I know that Blue tangs are super prone to catch ich and then spread it through the tank.

YellowThunder · Jun 1, 2024

Jay Hemdal said:
It probably does have gill flukes. The best treatment would be half salinity (1.012) for 30 days. Of course, the tank cannot have any invertebrates in it to do that.

Praziquantel does 2 or 3 times, 8 days apart is the next best option. Let me know if you want the details for doing that.

As the others said, there is also a risk that the tang could develop ich, etc.

I’m sure you’re aware, but the scorpionfish and especially the panther grouper will grow much faster than the tang, and if this differential gets big enough, the tang may get eaten….

Just a quick question will copper power do anything to the flukes or will it have no effect?