Sick tang

[kyuubichan218]

My white tail bristletooth tang is sick. I don't think it's ich, because the spots are huge, and the ones on his tail and fins are red. The ones on the rest of him may be red too, but since he is red, it's hard to tell. I've been trying to get a picture but he hasn't been venturing out much. His whole body seems to be covered in gunk though, and I think his top lip looks a little swollen. As far as I've seen, he hasn't eaten in a few days, though I haven't been home as much as I would like to watch. I've started adding garlic extract to the food that I'm putting in though, and I think that he's gotten a little better. I'm afraid taking him out to treat would stress him out so badly that it would kill him (he's a really shy fish). Any thoughts on any way to coax him into eating, or how to treat him? I'm currently feeding a mix of Elite reef blend, New Life Spectrum pellets and Formula 2 pellets. All other fish in the tank (3 lyretail anthias, 2 dragonface pipefish and a midas blenny) look great and have good appetites. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Aaron]

Sorry to hear about that. I might take the fish out and put him in your quarantine tank. If you have your quarantine tank setup properly the effect will be the opposite and reduce the stress on the fish. Sadly, there is no scientific evidence that garlic or any supplement will cure a fish (or human for that matter) when it gets sick regardless of the infection or parasite.

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/23132-marine-ich-myths-facts.html

Best case: Hopefully it's just that the Lyretails are picking on him. They can be aggressive. Quarantine would be good for him.

Worst case: Do you have any new fish in the tank? Were they quarantined for at least 8 weeks before putting them in, following proper quarantine procedures? Tangs are ultra sensitive to skin parasites odds are it's just a omen of things to come. I've learned this the hard way on my own tank and am now a firm believer in quarantine (I have a 30Gallon and 10Gallon tank setup in my basement for such purposes). If it really is a disease, you'll have to use one of the proven cures (copper or low salinity), the article I reference has instructions.

 

[daverf]

Sorry to hear that, not good. It does sound like an external parasite as you can see spots that are on the outside of his body. Or a fluke/worm infestation? If worms, generally these attack conspecific hosts, so you may not see the other fish affected. Sounds like the gunk is slime coat shedding, which is a bad sign and means it could be close to the end. Act fast and you might save it? And keep an eye on the other fish, as parasites generally are not conspecific and tangs are more apt to quickly succumb to them than other fish.

I would look up disease on wetwebmedia.com and do your best to diagnose, so you know what you're dealing with. Hyposalinity may be good way to go as this would treat parasites or worms and you may need to get it going as quick as you can get it started in quarantine. A freshwater dip at transfer may help drop the pathogens off and buy the tang more time to recover...

Tangs are easier to catch at night, surprise when sleeping...figure out how to goose him out of the rockwork then net him...

 

[kyuubichan218]

Thanks all for the responses. He's looking much much better, and actually eating again. I think either the garlic helped him eat more, which helped his immune system, or my increase in feeding made more of the algae he likes to eat grow, and he started eating more that way. His mouth is back to normal (thank goodness, WWM said that was usually game over for fishies) and he's only got a little crap left on him. It's hard to tell how much is sand cause he likes to hide under a rock when he's scared, which happens a fair amount. The other thing I changed was the temperature; it was hanging around 77 and now it's averaging 79.

He and the anthias get along great, no fighting. Other than my pipefish, I think every fish in my tank thinks it's an anthias. They all school together.

Gonna keep an eye on him and see how he does.

 

[ReefCheif]

Make sure your feeding plenty of Nori or algea supliment of some sort. Tangs needs lots of it to keep their immune systems up and running. I feed Elite Reef Cusine as well, but they do not put enough marine algea in it to sustain tangs.