bacteria infection on quarantined Achilles tang; treatment recommendations please!

[crvz]

I've had this achilles tang for about 5 weeks, and it has been doing well in the quarantine system. The QT is only a 40 breeder (with sump, skimmer, etc.), certainly not ideal for a fish of this magnitude, but it is eating sheets of nori very aggressively and has even taken to some flake foods. In the last three days I've noticed what appears to be some infection on the fish. Observe.

It is still eating well so far, I did a 50% water change since I noticed it, and the other fish appear unaffected in the tank (I have a halichoeres genus wrasse, a small naso tang that I've had for a while that I put in there to help coach the achilles on how to eat the nori sheets, and a sargassum trigger).

I'm thinking I want to treat with Furan 2, but as you can see there are a few corals in that tank as well. I would just as soon remove the corals to treat before setting something else up for the fish, but is that necessary? I do not care if I loose these corals due to the treatment, this tank is just housing overgrowth from the 300 gallon display, but if they're going to die and make the water quality in the tank worse than I'll pull them out. Advice on what option to take.

1) just dose the furan-2 as directed and watch tank parameters closely.

2) remove all the corals and inverts from the tank (temporarily placing them in a 10 gallon tank with some circulation, for up to 1 week) and then dose the Furan-2 as directed

3) other ideas?

 

[caribfan]

Not positive it's bacterial from those pictures. Kind of resembles a fluke infestation. If you are brave enough, I might recommend a FW dip, in water with matched pH and temp.

 

[crvz]

I'm not brave enough for said freshwater dip. ;-) what other treatments are best, and maybe more so how do I confirm a diagnosis? I've ordered some prazipro, but I don't have experience with it (should be here tuesday at the latest).

 

[Newsmyrna80]

Prazi is easy and fairly easy on fish. Follow directions on bottle. Read the stickie on fish parasites for info on flukes. While I agree this does look like flukes it looks like an infection also which is common with flukes.

 

[caribfan]

Prazi is easy and fairly easy on fish. Follow directions on bottle. Read the stickie on fish parasites for info on flukes. While I agree this does look like flukes it looks like an infection also which is common with flukes.

Agreed. IME, a fresh water dip can provide immediate relief from a fluke infestation. Might be a good option if Prazi isn't coming until Tuesday.

I know it sounds scary, but they aren't as bad as you might think. I once dipped an idol for close to 20 minutes. I don't know of a more sure fire way to determine flukes either. Usually within the first 3 minutes or so, you can see the bodies start to call off.

If you decide to go this route, as I mentioned earlier, be sure to match temperature and pH. Also, I like to heavily oxygenate the water with an air stone for 15 minutes or so prior to the dip.

Cover the vessel used for the dip with a towel to help lower stress levels, but be sure to peak at the fish and monitor it's condition. It will very likely change color, go rigid and look awful, that is fairly normal. If the breathing is rapid, put the fish back into its tank.

I like to use a clear vessel and put it under something black afterwards to help identify the parasites.

 

[crvz]

alright, I researched a freshwater dip, went ahead and did a 5 minute dip on the tang. A bunch of white blobs started floating off of it, so that would probably confirm the diagnosis. I've got prazipro on the way, looks like it will be here tomorrow night, and I'll treat the whole tank with that.

Anything I should watch out for during treatment? I'm hoping this clears it up. And how long should I extend my QT, knowing that I was 5 weeks into a planned 8 week QT. Start the 8 weeks over?

 

[caribfan]

Way to go!

I like to add an airstone when doing prazi. Also, the QT looks to have a number of corals in it, is that right? I would probably remove those.

Have you treated this fish with cupramine yet/ do you plan to?

What is your typical quarantine protocol.

 

[Newsmyrna80]

alright, I researched a freshwater dip, went ahead and did a 5 minute dip on the tang. A bunch of white blobs started floating off of it, so that would probably confirm the diagnosis. I've got prazipro on the way, looks like it will be here tomorrow night, and I'll treat the whole tank with that.

Anything I should watch out for during treatment? I'm hoping this clears it up. And how long should I extend my QT, knowing that I was 5 weeks into a planned 8 week QT. Start the 8 weeks over?

I'm sure your fish is thanking you Just be aware that Prazi can suppress appetite. No need to start time click over. I'm sure you've read the stickies on flukes. Dose as directed on bottle. I believe it's 1 tsp/20 gallons.

 

[crvz]

I have in the past run cupramine preemptively, but I was not planning on that with this fish. My typical QT was to put any new fish in 120 gallon dedicated QT, run 4 weeks of cupramine, then 4 weeks of observation. I broke that system down recently, as I wasnt bringing in that many new fish, so this was the last few fish I was hoping to put in my display. So for this fish and the sargassum trigger (the only 2 new ones), I was planning on just the 8 week observation in the 40 gallon breeder system (which was a coral grow-out tank, but is isolated from the main display). Obviously that was a best case, so now my QT plans have been rearranged.

 

[caribfan]

Gotcha, I was asking because whatever you do for this round of treatment is only as good as what you've done in the past. In other words, if you had not treated preventatively with cupramine in the past, but did so this round, it would be kind of pointless as the other fish in your tank could have possibly been carrying c. Irritans.

 

[crvz]

Yeah, I had to catch all the fish in my display earlier this year for an ich outbreak. They all went through a cupramine treatment, and the tank ran fallow for 10 weeks, so I'm confident the display is clean. I just got the prazipro, I'll read up on it a little and dose this evening.