1. My niger trigger has a parasite on him "a little worm and all around the worm is a whitish color. "Ouling" suggested raw shrimp with garlic or a cleaner shrimp. Do you have any other ideas.

2. I think i have a retarded tang - he swims in circles around a powerhead continuosly, he does this like 80% of the day is it normal ??

Thanks,
Chris

1. You could maybe try a freshwater dip to kill it, but make sure you read up on it first to make sure that's the route you want to go. You will need to match the temp and PH of your tank before dipping him though.

2. Nope, it's not normal-he's definately retarded!!! Just kidding, what type of Tang? How long has he been in the tank?



Big D

chris ...my purple tang did that for about 3 weeks after i put him in but its been 3 months now an he dont do it any more

Tangs do like to swim round n round. It does seem a bit odd but I would give him some time to establish his territory.

I would ask the dip master, Brandon, for some help. He is often running around in different areas of town and can walk you through the process.

Oh and cleaner shrimp are rarely a bad idea. You probably need to find the biggest one you can as you have some semi-aggressive fish if I remember correctly.

a fresh water dip sounds good, how long will the fish last in pure ro water?? Thats if i can catch him. Also i will look for a large cleaner shrimp.

The tang is a powder brown.

The trigger i have seems docile but i have only had him for a week and i have a pistol shrimp in the tank that he has not eaten and the shrimp is small. \

On a side note i got rid of my puffer "should have done more research" he ate some zenia:(

Thanks

Yah the puffer was the only really questionable one, they're definately not reef safe, but are such cool fish I understand the appeal. Niger's can be reef safe, but some individuals are not. Hopefully you'll get lucky on yours. Can you take a pic of the parasite on the niger for identification? It's always best to identify what you have and then use the appropriate treatment.

"Did I hear Dip?!??!" said the man coming out of the wood work in search of Rep points to catch back up to Cameron!

Yes, for better or worse, I have dipped many creatures and become somewhat good at it. I must say I have never dipped a trigger (other then in a butter and caper sauce with a nice glass of Pinot.) but I will be more then happy to give you a few tips and supplies.

Read here: http://www.atlantareefclub.org/wiki/Ich first. About half way down, I stole the best procedure for dipping that I could find and then mad a few minor touches to it. I would be interested in hearing more about this "parasite" to make sure what it is and if it will be affected by a FW dip. Could be "black spot/ich" but I need more info before I can say for sure. (plus your tang SHOULD have it before any other fish.) I was just fixing to do a Wiki about black spot so you might get the preview version if you are lucky enough. Anyways, I regress, if you want to dip read what I "wrote" and ask me any questions before you do it. The only thing I can say is, the dip, if done right, WILL be harder on YOU then the fish! ;)

wow xyz, thats a good article you wrote. But yes that would be a total pain in the *** to get all that stuff together ! What if i just filled up a small cooler with ro water and put him in there until the worm jumped off. I am at work now so i cant take a pic. Ouling was over today and he would know better than i and he said it was a worm?? Ill call the wife and see if i can get her to take a pic of the spot in question.

Chris, PM sent

xyz your mailbox is full -

Empty now. Sorry it is hard being so popular! ;)

Empty now. Sorry it is hard being so popular! ;)or too retarded to count to 200.

200 i only get 50!

^^^ You're a member- you should be able to have 200

BTW, what's in that pipe of yours?

is hard to see but here it2579 is

inside that white spot is a little worm thing

What color is the worm? Do you see the worm move? I suspect the color change is due to the area of stress/wound and has no bearing on what is ailing the fish right now. My first guess of common "worms" is black spot..

hmm, well ouling said he saw a worm maybe it is not a worm, I thouhgt i saw a little worm thing maybe it wasnt ??? you think i should just monitor him for a week or so ??

metronidazole
It is a parasite, and I am extremely sure. Freshwater dip sometimes work, but mostly i see from small parasites such as ich and worms. metronidazole works pretty well for those kinda things.

You can always catch it and scrape it off with your nail.

Well, if it is Black spot, it usually is not a "killer" so little to worry about there. That is the good news!! The bad news is it does not seem like the things that people often mis-identify as black spot, melanin in cells etc.. Other bad news is: What is to worry about it the life cycle and the longer it has to breed the more complex the problem is to control. I would watch it for a day or two but take action soon. You know it is there, you know it is not going anywhere *unless it falls off to infect other fish and/or breed, so it needs to be addressed sooner then later. As a side note, if you catch it early enough, there have been reports of eradication without system wide treatment. I do not know how much I believe them but everyone knows I am the "treat first worry about it less" type of person.

I know it is going to be next to an act of god to get a picture of it close up but if you can it would go a long way... If not, try to look at it and paint a picture for me of what it is like. You can often see black spot moving on the fish if you can get close enough.

DRUG CLASS AND MECHANISM: Metronidazole (http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=751) is a man-made drug that is effective against certain bacteria and parasites (protozoa). It is used for treating ******l infections with protozoa such as Trichomonas ******lis, ameba, and giardia and also is effective against anaerobic bacterial infections. (Anaerobic bacteria are a type of bacteria that grow without oxygen.) Metronidazole gel also is used for treating rosacea. Metronidazole was approved by the FDA in 1963.

metronidazole
It is a parasite, and I am extremely sure. Freshwater dip sometimes work, but mostly i see from small parasites such as ich and worms. metronidazole works pretty well for those kinda things.

You can always catch it and scrape it off with your nail.


I wish I could put faith in metronidazole but I just can not. I will admit my testing of it ends as a treatment for crypto but it just does not seem like a good treatment for much. It does not disolve in water, it has a hard time bonding to foods without focus and even with focus, proper treament is based on body weight of what you are treating (put your fish on a scale lately?) and even if you could get the proper dosage, there is no way to be sure that you are going to get that dose into the mouth of the fish. Add to that, the fact that if you overdose to make sure your fish gets enough and he gets too much it it pretty bad stuff (kidney failure, etc...) and you run into the same problems with repeated usage and long term exposure.

Dip would be my first line... I hope to be able to test interceptor on things like black spot and Ich in the future but as for now, FW would be my course of action.

yes i will try fw dip for 30mins with airstone, i still am not sure if i am able to catch him ??

LOL Ya catching him is the hard part.

Again, 30 min is a good goal but watch him closely and pull him if there are major signs of trouble. 30 min is a guideline but depending on the fish (type and overall health) sometimes it is better to go 15-20 if that is all the fish can handle. Again, I have heard of fish going 18 hours so if done correctly, there are little problems.

cool , thanks for all your help xyz

You can rent a trap from Stevhan that works great for catching fish.

who is stevhan ?

who is stevhan ?he is the owner of its fishybuisness