Filaments peeling off : Advice please

[WuHT]

After seeing light blotchy/unclearness (with specks) on the fins of my fish, i've turned my main tank in a QT tank under hypo (while moving my inverts to a regular QT tank).

Over 2 days i've dropped to tank to 1.010, and so far my larger fish are all eating well.
My damselfish has stopped feeding, and oddly enough, my larger fish seem to smother it ..thinking that it's a cleaner shrimp.


Lately the blotching on the fins have not gotten better, though it's only the 3rd day in 1.010 salinity ..and now my emperor angel has thread-like white filaments peelings off his skin and caudal fin.

Any suggestions what it is...as the search function ain't working out for me.

Worm..fungi... ? What should i do ?

I've fed them food w/ enriched garlic xtreme as well a hypo, wondering if a need some medication to add in.

Also.. should i help my damsel out ..as everytime he leaves his hiding spot the larger fish come looking for his imaginary cleaning service.


Thanks in advance.

 

[kevin2000]

Do you have LR or a sand bed in your ST ... if so then many of the micro organisms within them will die during hypo (which is why its not recommended in ST) potentially creating ammonia issues.

A picture would help.

 

[WuHT]

No this is a FO tank .. hence hypo in the display tank (less stress than fish out and plunking into QT)
----


Edit : I attempted several pictures..but none of them show the thread-like filaments very well ... but at least that gives me a better description of how thin/short these filaments are.


They are now throughout his body, with a few tiny filaments off his belly/flank, and some of it on his eyes.

However..his eyes are not cloudy ..but i dont know if thats a good or worse thing.

--I think it's a fungus, but there are no wounds on my emperor that i can see (aside from hlle) ..not sure if hypo is useful to combat it.

 

[kevin2000]

Hypo is only good for ich .. and light blotchy/unclearness might apply to several diseases but ich is almost always described as salt like spots covering the fish.

Fungus is very rare in SW.

Here's a link with pictures of various diseases .. perhaps you can spot your poblem in one of the pics and I can help with the cure.

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=127010

 

[WuHT]

the link doens't work but i visited saltwaterfish myself for the exact thread.


After looking through the pictures..it definately looks like the "Stressed emperor angels" pictures (blotching on the body).

However.. the white blotching on the fins don't match the stressed pictures..and if anything .. are more like a very mild case of brook.

The environment must be stressful (hypo) and my nitrates are high 50+ at the moment. I have an ammonimumalert sucked on my glass that would help me indicate nitrogenous toxins.

Thanks for your continued help kevin... and anyone else who wants to step in

 

[kevin2000]

My 02

For what its worth .. I would slowly raise the salinity back up to norm (over 3-4 days) and do some very large water changes to get you water quality back in line.

Using hypo in a show tank is a difficult task ... you end up killing all of the micro organism in your substrate and if you have live rock the infauna within that also dies off ... both end up degrading water quality.

Cloudy fins are often a sign of a bacterial issue ... if so they often clear up on their own and if not then QT combined with use of an antibiotic may be in order.

Good luck.

 

[WuHT]

Raising my salinity eh ? Alrighty .

Right now it's gotten WORSE ... he looks basically like he's swam into cobwebs.

 

[kevin2000]

A picture is worth a thousand words.

 

[WuHT]

agreed. Blotchiness easiest to see on triggerfish's anal fin

My emperor is not doing good, and the threads are not easy to see. But there is clear fin damage along w/ HLLE

 

[kevin2000]

That looks like minor bacterial problem to me .. often cleared up with the fish's own immune system .. if not then QT combined with antibiotic. In short .. nothing that I woudl be overly concerned with as is.

Water changes combined with good food may be the best med.

Good luclk.

 

[WuHT]

Argh not looking good :
emperor has stopped eating. Here is a picture of my triggerfish, which has some of this peeling of skin/mucus going on more clearly than my other crummy pictures.

The peeling occurs generally over his dorsal region and flank and cheeks..even his eyes..which makes me think it's not skin.

that's some potent bacteria .. dunno why im' so insistant that it's brook or even amlyoodium .. since my emperor spends so much time on the surface.