Does my powder brown have a chance?

[t5Nitro]

I really don't want to lose him. Check him out:

May 25:

June 13:

August 21:

August 23:

Doesn't seem like he goes for the nori, but I fed formula 2 flakes and he ate. He comes right out to eat the flakes, otherwise he is staying near his cave a lot and just looking out into the open. He comes out to the front a few times and goes back in his cave.

Like I said, he did eat formula 2 flakes when I fed, but I think he had more of a miss than hit. He did eat, but it seems like he tried to take a flake and missed; you can tell his eyes are cloudy. My CBB disappeared totally just a few days ago, so I think he died and the snails ate him. The ammonia was 4.0 in the tank. I changed out the phosban, carbon, and 10 gallon water change and then the ammonia was 0. He was getting that way before though I think, just today it is real bad as shown in the last pics.

Looking right now, he swam to the other section of rocks and back to his again. Swims, but not like he use to all over the place. When I first got him, he got ich and stayed in front of the powerhead and then went and layed on his side on the sand bed under a rock. I think he almost didn't make it then. I also got him and he didn't eat anything but seaweed. I got him to eat like no other so he was fat, no line on his side at all.

What do you guys think?

 

[t5Nitro]

Also to mention my orange montipora cap was busted on one side and on the sand bed. Today I found my orange digitata busted on one of its largest branches. Not very fun since these are frags and I want them to grow and not grow and break lol. Do you think it is the powder brown trying to itch on things and busting the corals off?

 

[Sheol]

Looks like serious case of HLLE. So sorry, I've read that Powder Browns are pretty delicate.

Matthew

 

[t5Nitro]

Just keep soaking his food in garlic and feeding? He comes out of the cave now like he use to. Swims near the algae clip and looks at it and eats formula 2 and prime reef flakes.

 

[t5Nitro]

The pics make it look a lot worse I think, but he is still scraped up a bit.

So he still eats and comes out of his cave again. I think I am going to feed him 3 times a day with flakes and keep the food in garlic xtreme. He ate twice already today, once with formula 2 and once with prime reef. I wonder if the ammonia spike from the CBB threw him off balance a bit. He had some ich and I think the copperband brought it in when I got it. Then it turned a bit worse and then after the CBB had gone missing, he looks like the pics above, so maybe the ammonia messed him up a bit more, and ya, they are delicate. I'm really glad he eats yet, maybe I can get him back to normal soon.

 

[Icil]

fwiw this isn't the delicate powder brown (A. nigricans) but the hardier A. japonicus. Looks really bad though. HLLE usually comes from dietary defficiency, so I might enhance his food with vitamins and feed frequently.

 

[Sk8r]

Soak his food in Zoe or Selcon. They have cured hlle. He started with a mild case of ich, and it progressed to something worse. He's been scratching on rocks, I suspect, and may have gotten a bacterial infection, which is worse than the ich infestation was. If he were mine, I'd pull him to qt, treat with a broad spectrum antibiotic like Maracyn, and dose his food with Zoe.

 

[t5Nitro]

Ok, is there a preference over zoe or selcon? I will get some. I don't have a QT tank for him. I don't like taking a large tang out and sticking it in a small tank anyway.

I just thought of that, I usually feed formula 2 flakes, nori, and frozen mysis shrimp each day. I only notice him eating the nori and formula 2, so it probably is a defficient diet. I have prime reef I am starting to feed him now along with the others.

What is your pick: zoe or selcon?

 

[Sk8r]

You cannot use maracyn in your display tank, no matter what it says on the package: you risk taking out your bacteria from sandbed and rocks: antibiotics kill bacteria.
I know that a fish of my acquaintance was cured of hlle with zoe: that is the only datum I have for certain.

 

[jnc914]

I completely agree with Sk8r. I disagree that the PBT has HLLE. I have cured fish with HLLE, and the PBT in question looks like a parasite infection that has led to infection. Did you add new specimen to the tank? I had an emperor that looked alot like the PBT pictured. After doing a FW dip, I found gill and body flukes that I suspect i introduced to the tank with the addition of a mystery wrasse from an LFS. You can definantly save him with a good QT, but he is not looking great. Good Luck, hope he pulls through.

 

[t5Nitro]

Thanks for the help, I will pick up some zoe.

 

[jnc914]

Zoe and Selcon will not do aything for a parasite or a bacteria infection. What is pictured is not HLLE, look it up either here or on wet web media. Instead of buying those supplements buy Maracyn.

 

[t5Nitro]

Are they able to pull through on their own with keeping them fed? The pics I think make it look worse since the flash really highlights them and a close up. I could try and get a better pic of him.

I don't want to QT or fresh water dip for major stress reasons anyway, and catching him with epoxied rocks isn't going to happen.

 

[Sk8r]

I would agree with you, jnc14. THe zoe will help his immune system, but Maracyn IN QT is the best choice. No available qt makes zoe the only last-ditch choice. But---

Try this if you don't have a large enough qt for him: go buy a 32 gallon Rubbermaid Brute trashcan, half fill with salt water of the same concentration, and medicate him in there, no carbon, nothing but a floss filter. The Brute material is safe, if wiped down, and the lack of view and light will keep him calm.

 

[t5Nitro]

I have a 46 gallon bowfront just sitting there, but not really the money to set it up or any place to set it up. As stated before, I won't catch him anyways.

 

[jnc914]

I agree, catching that guy is going to be next to impossible. Unfortunately feeding the fish may sustain it for a little while, bt eventually the infestation will further weaken the fish and it will stop eating all together. when my Emp. first started looking like your PBT, he ate like a pig for the next week. Then he started to dart around the tank and would hide in the caves. Eventually the coating on his eyes made him almost blind. That is when i FW dipped him (which was a complete pain in the @ss due to matching the PH and temp). As soon as I dipped him massve amounts of flukes started dropping off the fish. The eyes immediately cleared, however shortly after introducing him to my sump, he got a bacterial infection that eventually led to his death because I did not dose with medication. It sucks to lose one of your favorite fish in the tank. Could you use eggcrate and section off portions of the tank in order to trap the PBT?

 

[yoboyjdizz]

I would also soak his foods in vita chem and feed heavily lots of greens if you can.. Like jnc said could be a bacteria infection, but if its eating still thats a good sign.

 

[t5Nitro]

So there is no way to get around this without a QT with maracyn? I just checked Drs Foster and Smith and it is cheap, but catching him will make you pull your hair out lol. I tried catching my yellow tang in my 46 gallon when I transfered tanks and I had to tear all the rocks down and still couldn't catch him.

 

[Sk8r]

There is one guaranteed way to catch an uncatchable fish if you have a potent pump and some barrels: you pump the water out, digging a well in the sandbed near the front glass.

As water sinks, the fish go for the last water: you net the fish you want, and re-water your tank as fast as you can. No corals or fish are harmed by this process. Sponges may suffer, but not likely so: this 'low tide' happens on many reefs and the fish go with the water. So you've caught him via his own instinct, and you can get him into qt.

 

[t5Nitro]

There is no way at all to get around this without a QT?