First major health challenge

S

Sharkonwheels

New member
Well, my wife woke me up, and my Purple Tang has little tiny white dots completely covering his body, and fins.

Anyone nearby here (Pembroke Pines, Pines Blvd and Flamingo) have a small tank I can borrow tonight to work on him? Of course, it would happen after everything closed!

Well, 'cept walmart, so that's a last resort, flying way out west.


Tony
 
If you don't find anyone closer to you, you're welcome to borrow a 20L or a 20h from me in Tamarac (McNab & University near Big Al's).
 
I have a few different meds that you could pick from to treat him and I also have pre-mixed saltwater that is ready to go as well. I am on I-75 and Miami Gardens Drive. I'll PM you my info.
 
I have the same issue. I just set up my 20gal for quarantine and am currently acclimating them. Good luck with yours. I'm not sure if i have Ich or marine velvet. Judging by the way my clowns are rubbing up against things i'm guessing it's ich. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed as none of my fish( two clarkii's and a naso tang ) are eating.

My fish have a film over them now. From what i've stated can anyone tell me what to treat for and what is the best to use to treat it? Sorry didn't mean to hijack your thread. But hopefully this info will help both of us.
 
if it is a film, it might be Oodidium (sp?) if you can get all of the fish into a Q tank, copper them right away as it can kill fish in a matter of days.
Josh
 
Oodidium usually results with the death of the fish within 48 hours.... do as the previous poster stated if it's the case... good luck
 
Last edited:
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9569999#post9569999 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by itz frank
I have the same issue. I just set up my 20gal for quarantine and am currently acclimating them. Good luck with yours. I'm not sure if i have Ich or marine velvet. Judging by the way my clowns are rubbing up against things i'm guessing it's ich. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed as none of my fish( two clarkii's and a naso tang ) are eating.

My fish have a film over them now. From what i've stated can anyone tell me what to treat for and what is the best to use to treat it? Sorry didn't mean to hijack your thread. But hopefully this info will help both of us.
Click to expand...
If they've developed a film of mucus they could have Brooklynella hostilis parasites, a type of Ich sometimes referred to as Clownfish disease.
I just recently read up on it after being warned by Jeff and Christy after my latest GS Maroon purchase from Big Al's.

Are your clowns "panting", breathing heavy, or gulping for air at the surface?
That's a key symptom as their gills become clogged with mucus.

Unfortunately if it's not caught right away it progesses pretty quickly and even if the fish doesn't die from the primary infestation they'll often develop fatal secondary bacterial infections due to the sores and lesions.

Jeff and Christy successfully cured one of their clowns using Formalin dips.
I'm not sure if they dipped using tank water or FW, but I've read from Bob Fenner to do it with ph-adjusted FW.
Good luck!
 
This is Tony (Sharkonwheels) apparently, there's something wrong with that account, in that anything I click, asks me to log in again. Click 'Post Reply" and I get a login prompt, and then I log in. Enter a message, click Post, and I get another login, etc...


First off, I want to thank everyone for the assist.

I especially want to send a shout to NickInMiami - this cat was with me from 11pm until 3am Sunday night.

Not only did he provide the rubbermaid container to immediately quarantine the worst-affected fish, and not only the air pump, stone, and airline, and not only the heater, but even the medication, copper testing kit, and saltwater to boot!!!

loyal: thanks for the offer, but I couldn't take you up on it because of the issues I had here.

reddawg34: I never got your PM at all. I can READ PM's, I just can't send or reply to them (under that account).

I hope the admins/mods don;t get ticked at me for making another account, but I had to get on here and give thanks, especially to Nick.

Turns out he's a longtime friend of a co-worker of mine.

Small world indeed....


Seems ich is some great mystery, so i plan on doing a little research, while battling. Nick and I quarantined my Purple Tang, Kole Tang, and Half-and-Half Wrasse in one tank, and we're using Cupramin in there.

I have a Foxface Lo, 2 clowns, and a red-spotted cardinal (all ut the foxface are 1" long) in a 10g (for now - see? i need tank space Steve!!) and I am using Kordon Rid-Ich+ in there (Formalin and zinc-free malachite green-based).


The originals undergoing Cupramin are OK and kicking. The Purple Tang was literally covered completely. he looked like he was salted to be fried!!! The rest in that tank had a few white spots.

In the 10g, the Foxface has about 8-10 spots, the clowns and cardinal have none. I figured just for good measure.
I hit them with about a 75% dose of Rid-Ich+, to go a bit easy.

Oh, btw, the 10g was loaned by another good samaritan out in West Pines. Bob, i don;t know if you frequent here, but thanks! He provided a 10g with lighted hood, heater, PVC, and I only needed to add a filter.

I have a Marineland Penguin 330 dual-biowheel filter running on the 72g to maybe get some bio-filter building, so I can put it on whatever tank I get.

Alternatively, if someone has a 30-40g tank, with wooden stand (light-colored) they are selling, not too tall or bulky, let me know.
I need a 2nd tank, and will later acquire a 3rd for Q-Tank/Hospital.

Moral of the story: Quarantine, quarantine, quarantine!

I went too fast, for too long, with too little precaution.

C'est la vie - we live and learn, and this is a hard lesson!


"tanks" for helping out, folks!



Tony
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9570296#post9570296 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by loyalrogue
Jeff and Christy successfully cured one of their clowns using Formalin dips.
I'm not sure if they dipped using tank water or FW, but I've read from Bob Fenner to do it with ph-adjusted FW.
Click to expand...

We also used ph-adjusted FW. When adjusting pH of RO/DI water, baked baking soda makes the pH go up, regular baking soda makes pH go down, and a pH probe is extremely helpful. Also, for anyone thinking of trying this, you'll need heavy aeration with an airstone, once you add formalin, oxygen levels will be dangerously low.
 
Well.....Wife called a little while ago....

The Yellow-Eyed Tang, and the red-spotted cardinal didn't make it.
Both were fine up until 10am or so when I left to Exotic ... Kind of frustrating, because you've gone through some much trouble, and care to set up the main tank, then with the rocks, the placement, the pump aiming, the food prepping, etc...

Then the quarantining and it's numerous water changes.... almost makes you want to cry out of sheer frustration!

Hopefully when I get home and put to use the tanks I got from Exotic (thanks again guys!) I can save some of the fish...


Tony
 
Finally got the half-and-half wrasse and the purple tang moved into one of the Exotic Aquatic 15g tanks - did I mention thanks guys? - and out of the rubbermaid container (thanks NickInMiami), along with a therm, filter (Penguin 330), heater, and air pump/aerator.

...will kepp updating as it occurs - remainder still alive and kicking to this point, 'cept I'm worried about the foxface lo. He won't eat, and hangs near the surface for a few min at a time, I think looking for air.

Sad, really. It's breaking my heart to watch these guys suffer.

I'm trying everything i can, and can find out.
Me thinks I'm fighting a losing battle, but I'll keep trying....


Tony
 
Remaining fish still doing OK so far....

Purple Tang looks MUCH better....Foxface Lo looking a little better, but still a little bit of difficulty breathing, so I'm continuing the aeration. At least he's not hanging around near the top to breathe any more.

Can't get the Q-Tanked fish to eat, though.
Any suggestions? I've tried garlic-soaked frozen mysis shrimp and brine shrimp, for the tang, soaked formula-2 algae balls and sea veggies (what a MESS), and no luck....

Forgot to mention...on the Penguin 330 hang-on filter in the 15g...
Most meds say to remove carbon, so I slit the mechanical filters open, and yanked out all the carbon bits, cut 2 pieces of 100micron filter felt pad, and inserted it inside to catch the critters when they're floating about... I don;t know if you can get a mental picture, but think of the cartridge with the slit in the filter as an envelope. I slid the sheet in there.

Wasn't THAT easy, as it was snagging on the mech filter, and the plastic, but I managed to wedge them in there.

Hope that will help a bit.


Tony
 
Just checked on my Purple Tang, looking better every day....
I noticed, he has a dark purple horizontal section about midway in his body, which contrasts against the lightness of the rest of his body.

I assume they kind of lose their color when they are stressed/sick?

Kind of looks like some of my blue baseball caps that get sweaty in the summer - they have the lighter areas where the sweat has dried and left the salt behind. Means it's washing time.

That's about how he looks, except for the darker portion coming out now.

Is this normal?


Tony
 
That is how our purple tang looks when the lights are out or early in the morning just after the lights have come on. I have also seen him lose his color when stressed out, but only temporarily. If his color doesn't return shortly, it might be a sign that he is seriously stressed or ill.
 
Checked him early afternoon, spots again.
This is in a Q-tank with copper!

Man - this stuff is STUFF!

Was already getting ready for that, and having been lowering the salinity slowly, to try hyposalinity.

Tony
 
Took another peek at the Purple Tang yesterday - completely covered again. This time, even on the edge of the eyes. The ones on the eyes were not there this morning.

He's under hyposalinity now (since Saturday Night) so I'll be keeping a close eye on him.


Tony
 
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