Why do blue tangs get white spot so easily?

This a very common problem with in the marine aquarium hobby as most marine keepers can attest to.

On the bodies of our pet fish there is firstly, from the outside, a mucus layer that gives the fish that slimy feel when you touch them and lets them slip from your hands.

With in this coating is the first line of defence in that it has and a chemical based immune system built into it?

On the blue tang(surgeon fish)are very small scales compared to most marine fish and this allows the parasites, such as the Flagellate Protozoan(oodinium or velvet) or standard protozoan(white spot)to attack the fishes flesh and lay the egg blisters of its off spring with in the near exposed flesh.

The fact that the fish is under attack by parasites still is something that needs to be attended to in your aquarium as with all tank inhabtants, small scaled or large because once you treat the fish, if the pre-existing problem is still there, you have achieved nothing but a little more time.

The small scales are not much of an effort for the parasites to get passed once that mucus barrier is depleted.
This is because of the stress you have placed upon the fish through a mistake made, most likely in the quality of the water in the tank or just where and when you have placed the fish.

This can be from many things, sometimes very simple things that you have taken for granted or just forgotten, but that is a long story and each individual tank has similar and different mistakes made.

The blue tang is not the only one to have a small scale barrier to parasites, just look at the fish and if you cannot see the scales, it is most likely parasite prone,unless it is just small.

If you look after your tank correctly a blue tang can be an advantage as they tell you when your water quality has dropped or something is stressing them.
Any stories on your blue tangs and cures and results that you have would be good to see!
I am sure we all would love to see what any one has to say on the subject as there is always something we can learn from each other and find interesting.

This was my first death in a marine aquarium.
My wife wanted a dory,it was our daughter really!
I matured the tank,followed the forums advice i was in to the letter,maybe even more carefull than i was advised.
The blue tang was the second fish to put in,the first was a premnus clownfish.
The clown did so well for a few days i got a blue tang,not cheap either.

Two days and i thought i saw white spots on it and pannicked.
I was told to do a freshwater bath,i did!
I thought it cured the fish and i was so proud,the next night it was on its side scratching and over the next two days i had it in the little quarantine tank i had set up and it died on the third day.
I only just got the medication up to the correct levels.

Things are better now,i still have the premnus,it has a partner and i havent tried a tang since.
Maybe one day.

The first one was a live and learn experience. I had him in a 46 gal. and got a new 90 and transfered him and others over to the 90. I did the transfer too quickly and ended up with all sorts of problems. This fish had white spots and we dipped him and QT'd him and nothing was helping because we noticed the fish had also gone blind, don't know how. That fish was very strong and did not want to die. We hand fed it for a couple of months and eventually he died. I caused the fish and others way too much stress and learned a valuable lesson about how long to wait before moving inhabitants into a new tank from an existing one.

That was a few years ago and I still have that 90 up and running stong since. After that mess got sorted out we found a blue Tang that a guy was selling because he was getting out of the hobby. We bought it and got it home and dipped it and Qt'd it for a week and everything seemed great. A month or so went by and I added 4 Bartlett's Anthias to the tank. Out of nowhere there were white spots all over the Tang. We of course pulled him out and QT'd him again and treated. The spots went away and everything was fine. That fish stresses too easily for me. I have a 4 foot long tank and I traded the fish for corals. The Tang went to a 6 foot, 220 gallon tank and has never been happier. These Tangs, as well as most all Tangs, need swimming space, lots of it. Also great places to hide.

As long as I have a 4 foot tank I will not have a Blue Tang. The problem over here in the states is the LFS will sell that fish to anyone and never asks what size tank it's going in. The Blue Tang is a very popular fish and it's a shame that the store owners do not do more to educate instead of collect money.


Oh and HI, I'm new to your site and I am enjoying the collection trip photos.

Here he is, the one we traded

Hi chuckwayne,good to see you here.

Thats a shame about the surgeon mate,they are a pretty fish.

A part from there scale size being so small and is the major white spot attraction to them,they are as thick as a brick as well.
When they are living in the ocean,especialy as i juvenile,they are very dependant on algae and invert animals in there diet to keep up good health.
They have a smallish gill plate area as well making them in need of high oxygen levels through out their life also to reduce stress.
When you find them in the ocean,they spend there first two and half to three inches of growth in a roughly two foot area,they live in the stag horn acropora and hover above it and duck into it of a night and when predators are near by.

It takes certain filtration forms to relaxe with these fish or be very vigilant.

The styles of popular filtration these days is not very condusive to successful small scale fish keeping.

The best form of filtration i have ever seen a blue tang kept in with near to no care taken with it,was an udergravel filtered tank.

Never did it have a trace of white spot,i wouldn't use an undergravel these days though,but you can combine something of a similar nature with current styles.

This is a video of a part of our last trip to get some of them.

My experiences with blue tangs has been somewhat similar, although i have one myself.

When i first got it it was fine, then a coupe weeks later it broke out and had crazy white spot.. so i just kept cutting up algae sheets and soaking them in salt water with crushed garlic in the water, and after a week or two he was all good again. Jas a couple of spots at the moment, but i just keep feeding em the algae sheets once or twice daily and they'll fight it off.

I once got told, don't medicate for something that isn't really a sickness.. when a fish only has a few spots, its like a person having the flu.. we don't start taking crazy flu meds because we've got a runny nose for a day, same for the fish. They'll fight it off themself.

That's a fantastic video! Really makes me want to come down there and dive with you guys, maybe one day.

I forgot to mention about the garlic. I too would mash cloves onto food and seaweed. I also bought some garlic guard that comes as a liquid and works too. Now they sell Nori with garlic mixed in already.