Naso Tang, Is this Ich??

[old salty]

I have a Naso in QT right now. The water has been at 1.009 for three or four days now. I'm going to maintain this for at least 30 days with 25% water changes every other day. I don't really know what marine ich looks like so I have some pics. The tang is eating very well and otherwise appears to be very happy. The white spots are not raised; they do not look like something is attached to the skin/scales. Just ugly white patches. Thanks for your help.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a129/olsaltybastard/Ich5.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a129/olsaltybastard/Ich4.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a129/olsaltybastard/Ich3.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a129/olsaltybastard/Ich2.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a129/olsaltybastard/Ich1.jpg

[3rotorFD]

yes it looks like it:( .

[old salty]

Bummer!! Well, that's what QT tanks are for. I will continue to keep him well fed with a varied diet and monitor his condition. The good news is that he is eating very well.

[TerryB]

NO that does not look like ich! It looks like stress coloration and that the fish has been a bit scratched up. How many times has this fish been netted recently? Check the pH, and add more plant based foods to the diet. Are you using vitamins and selcon? What are you feeding the fish? LOoks like it may have the start of HLLE along with some stress coloration. Put more PVC pipe in the tank for hiding places and keep the lights dim most of the time. Have you tried seeing if the color changes when you turn on or off the aquarium light? What are you measuring the salinity with?

Terry B

[old salty]

Terry,

Thanks for the input. I was under the impression that it may be due to the netting of the fish. I took it home the day after it was put in the LFS tank, but it already had those marks. Obviously it was netted by them when they took it out of the tank; I didn't net it as it went straight into QT. I wasn't too concerned with the markings as I am aware that tangs under stress are also prone to ich. I am not using vitamins or selcon at the moment, but I will do some research today and follow up.

I feed the fish mysis shrimp, emerald entree, brine shrimp, cyclopeeze, bloodworms, nori, and veggie flakes. There are several pieces of PVC in the tank (the pics are only showing one side of the QT.) I have a standard 17 watt light over the tank; nothing fancy. It stays on 10 hours a day. The tank is in a located behind my bar, so there are no external stresses other than me approaching the tank (usually it gets fed, so it sort of looks forward to my presence.)

I am measuring the salinity with a refractometer. I checked the calibration yesterday with distilled water; it checked OK. I am going to follow Dr. Farley's recipe for making a calibration standard close to NSW today.

Again, thanks for your input. Let me get going and check up on some vitamins and selcon.

Brian

[Brad Villeggiante]

That is not ick, it is due to stress.

[Asuran]

stress marks naso's do look like that when stressed mine does that when the lights in the basement are turned on abruptly when the tank lights arent on