Tang - white "spongy" thing on fin tips

ReefingFun

ReefingFun

Member
Hey all,

I just came home and noticed that my yellow tang has some white thing on the tip of each fin. Looks very soft or spongy.
Any ideas what this might be? Also her dorsal fin (thats the one on top right?) is fading in color a bit.

EDIT: I just noticed a pinkish / redish spot going out of her gills aswell. It's very feint color but still not yellow like normal.
Water parameters:

pH: 8.2
nitrate: 0.5ppm
nitrite: 0
ammonia: 0
ca: 430
mg: 750 (ye i know this is rly low, need to get it up slowely)
temp: 25 degress celcius
salinity: 1.024

Can't get a clear picture of it sadly enough.
 
PSU4ME

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
Pictures definitely help:)

White dots are an indicator of marine ich.........reddish stuff or red veins etc is an indicator of a bacterial infection. very different treatments so you'll need to help us narrow it down.
 
ReefingFun

ReefingFun

Member
I'll do my best. Hopefully I can take a picture tomorrow during the day. I don't like putting on the light now after it's out for a while already.

Some symptoms are the ones mentioned above and the following:

* More rapid breathing.
* Really skinny imo. I can see her white stripe very clearly during the day and her insides press against her skin so I can almost see it.
* Eats really good now. She wasn't eating since I got her last week and today when I fed her she went nuts when I backed off the aquarium a bit more.
* The redish / pinkish spot under her gill is almost like a small burning wound with humans. Looks a bit like ammonia burning too me. (googled that and looks like it)
* The white spots are only at the top of her fins. Look really fluffy like its something on top of it that can be scraped off.


This might help a bit hopefully. Trying to describe it as much as possible, but will do my best to take a clear picture.

Thanks for your help and time.
 
PSU4ME

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
What are you feeding her and what are the parameters of the tank?

Did you just get her?
 
ReefingFun

ReefingFun

Member
I got her 25th of March. She wasn't eating till today really. She grazes a bit here and there but there really isn't much green algae in my tank so don't think she got that much food out of it.
The shop owner gave me frozen Artemia, live Artemia and Nori. She nibbled a bit on each but never really came out of her cave to eat. Even now I need to back away from the tank before she dares to come and eat.

Tank parameters:

pH: 8.2
nitrate: 0.8 ppm
nitrite: 0
ammonia: 0
ca: 430
mg: 750 (ye i know this is rly low, need to get it up slowely)
temp: 25 degrees celcius, max 26.4.
salinity: 1.024


My 2 cardinals died aswell, but that was the same day as I bought them. They were already laying still in their bag when I came home (15m drive) and died the same evening.
They both didn't have any signs of a sickness in shop. When I put them in my tank (acclimated them first with drip method) they let themselves drop on the sand, then rise up suddenly, rush to a powerhead and seem to get "sucked" by the side of the powerhead and stick on the roster like they couldn't get away. Though then suddenly coming alive again and dropping to the sand. They repeated that cycle till they died.

I don't know if this all can be related to what my tang has, but trying to provide as much info as possible.

Sticking on a powerhead or roster like this:
P1040717_zps61d63ea4.jpg


One of the cardinals had a red dot on the top as you can see here:

P1040712_zps110ad6ab.jpg
 
ReefingFun

ReefingFun

Member
I made a short movie as pics seemed impossible for me sorry. Check the end of her fin for the white spot.
Also under her gill she has a sort of splinter sticking out :O I got no clue what it is... It really looks like a splinter.

[video=youtube_share;2uy-ANWPBYI]http://youtu.be/2uy-ANWPBYI[/video]
 
PSU4ME

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
Well that is interesting. I'm going to have to look around to see what that is.
 
ReefingFun

ReefingFun

Member
I can't find anything that resembles what she has so far. As for the splinter sticking under her gills, I got no clue if I should get it out or not. I tried catching her today but that proved to be near impossible to do.

EDIT: i just did my water tests and something is really fishy... Yesterday my Ammonia readings were at a clear 0 ppm. Now I'm reading 0.12 ppm... Nothing has been introduced since the 4th. I bought 2 new LR and the owner said they prewashed it and everything and I could just put it in. Can that ammonia spike be from the LR after a week time and in 1 day time?
 
J

jerry26

Member
The rate at which matter is going to decompose is unpredictable. im going to guess your parameters are unstable and its stressing the fish very badly. Ive seen the white spot on the fin your talking about and ive never been able to figure out what causes it. I always assumed it was some sort of fungus.
 
PSU4ME

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
The ammonia can be burning the gills of your tang. I would do a good water change immediately. The white stuff can be fin rot or recovering areas. I would focus on good nutrition to get her fat and healthy. Feed her plenty of seaweed and quality food. Does you have any fats/vitamins to sofa the food in like Zoe or selcon?
 
ReefingFun

ReefingFun

Member
jerry26 said:
The rate at which matter is going to decompose is unpredictable. im going to guess your parameters are unstable and its stressing the fish very badly. Ive seen the white spot on the fin your talking about and ive never been able to figure out what causes it. I always assumed it was some sort of fungus.
Click to expand...

The parameters were stable for the last 2 months. I check them every 2 days since the tank started up in Oktober. Which is what makes me wonder why the sudden spike now.
You could actually be right about the white spots. Certainly seems plausible.


The ammonia can be burning the gills of your tang. I would do a good water change immediately. The white stuff can be fin rot or recovering areas. I would focus on good nutrition to get her fat and healthy. Feed her plenty of seaweed and quality food. Does you have any fats/vitamins to sofa the food in like Zoe or selcon?
Click to expand...

Yes I thought that too, though the ammonia wasn't that high yet when the signs started. Perhaps fish are more sensitive to the least of ammonia changes than my RS test kit, which listed it still at 0 ppm till today.

I have no seaweed at present nor vitamins as the store I go too was out of them last week. They gave me Artemia to feed till they had more food back in stock. I'm going there first thing tomorrow and get me a variety of food and vitamins.

Any suggestions for both food and vitamins for tangs are more than welcome!
 
PSU4ME

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
I use zoe for vitamins and selcon for fats. I feed seaweed every day for my purple tang. I use Larry's food (LRS PREMIUM REEF FOODS) every day and alternate in some new life spectrum pellets. That's my version of "complete" nutrition and it has served me well.

If you're not feeding seaweed and only brine shrimp then i think your fish are suffering from less than optimal nutrition. Larry's food is great, you can also try to speak with your LFS to carry it and make it easier on you. In the mean time, I'd get mysis, NLS pellets and some seaweed.
 
ReefingFun

ReefingFun

Member
PSU4ME said:
I use zoe for vitamins and selcon for fats. I feed seaweed every day for my purple tang. I use Larry's food (LRS PREMIUM REEF FOODS) every day and alternate in some new life spectrum pellets. That's my version of "complete" nutrition and it has served me well.

If you're not feeding seaweed and only brine shrimp then i think your fish are suffering from less than optimal nutrition. Larry's food is great, you can also try to speak with your LFS to carry it and make it easier on you. In the mean time, I'd get mysis, NLS pellets and some seaweed.
Click to expand...

Thanks!

I'll look up Zoe and Selcon now. I live in Europe and in my country it's really hard to find the same variety of reef material in general, compared to the US it's a nightmare here. I have yet to find an online shop that ships in or too Europe as well.
 
ReefingFun

ReefingFun

Member
So I went to the FS today and asked the owner if he ever saw the white spots on the fins before. He immediately said it is a fungus that can be very easily removed. Either you catch the fish and just take it off. It won't grow back once you take it off.
Second option is to dose something like " Aqua-Crobes", which will fight the fungus and microbes for nutrients.

I opted to try the second one as I don't have a fish trap and catching the tang without is impossible with my aquascape. Dosed it for the first time today and I'll update this topic in a week or perhaps 2 to see if this worked.


I also got Julian Sprung's Sea veggie mix, along with some Aqua Medic Aminovit. Seems to have almost the same vitamins and fats as Zoe and Selcon, suggested by PSU4ME. (Thanks again for that btw)

Hopefully the tang will slowly start eating and start improving bit by bit :)
 
J

jerry26

Member
all the tangs ive had started out kinda iffy about the seaweed but once they got a few tastes they would shred that stuff.
 
ReefingFun

ReefingFun

Member
jerry26 said:
all the tangs ive had started out kinda iffy about the seaweed but once they got a few tastes they would shred that stuff.
Click to expand...

She refused to eat it today, but not sure if it was the seaweed or the blue feeding clip I used. All new for her so guess it will just take time :)

I just wonder about something. Is a juvenile fish more shy than an adult in the first weeks?
 
ReefApprentice

ReefApprentice

Well-Known Member
Sounds like she might recover. Fingers crossed. A juvi. might be a little shy because it is small and vulnerable still and might take some time to adjust and become acquainted.
 
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