Is the head and lateral line erosion?

[dom418]

I had to put my maculiceps tang in a 125g hospital tank yesterday as he has a bad case of ich and stopped eating. Today I saw this

I believe it's most certainly from stress. I am currently running Cupramine on the tank and was wondering if this is head and line erosion deadly? And will it heal once he isn't stressed?

 

[dom418]

Also notice the red around his mouth...

 

[snorvich]

When was the last fish introduced into the tank?

 

[dom418]

About 1 month ago. That fish was the first to die from ich. My maculiceps was one of the first to go into my DT. He looked completely normal until transfer to the HT

 

[snorvich]

About 1 month ago. That fish was the first to die from ich. My maculiceps was one of the first to go into my DT. He looked completely normal until transfer to the HT

Probably not ich based on appearance and timeline. Appears to be brook or uronema. We have stickies in the master sticky on treatment (which is the same for either)

 

[dom418]

Probably not ich based on appearance and timeline. Appears to be brook or uronema. We have stickies in the master sticky on treatment (which is the same for either)

All of my fish have white spots though and have been symptomatic for over a week. If it was brook wouldn't all of my fish be dead?

 

[snorvich]

All of my fish have white spots though and have been symptomatic for over a week. If it was brook wouldn't all of my fish be dead?

It is possible you have more than one parasite. Ich is a parasite that overwhelms, so your initial fatality was almost certainly not due to ich. The picture you presented, assuming the fish did not look like that a week ago, is definitely brook or uronema. The diagnosis between the two is subtle so I cannot say which it is based on the picture. In any case, all fish which had exposure to that water need to be treated. If ich, tank transfer is the best and quickest, but if something beyond ich, that would not work.

 

[dom418]

Thanks for your input and this is the most frustrating part of this hobby. Misdiagnosis of diseases. I may be treating a disease that doesn't exist and time is of the essence. Even if these fish are quarantined how do I know what preventative meds I should initiate.

 

[snorvich]

Thanks for your input and this is the most frustrating part of this hobby. Misdiagnosis of diseases. I may be treating a disease that doesn't exist and time is of the essence. Even if these fish are quarantined how do I know what preventative meds I should initiate.

That problem is a bear and is so difficult. I wrote a guide as part of the master sticky, which at least tells you where to go next. Unfortunately each parasite type needs to be treated differently. I personally, always start out with fish behavior because you will see issues there before visible symptoms present. If you are sure you only have ich, tank transfer is best by far. But remember ich is a parasite that eventually overwhelms whereas the other ones kill much more quickly.

 

[dom418]

So if my fish have uronema are they doomed? Issue is my HT is using cupramine and if formalin is needed I need to rid the tank of copper first. Or they may have ich and uronema which makes me ill thinking about it. Nothing worse than feeling helpless while your fish are suffering

 

[snorvich]

So if my fish have uronema are they doomed? Issue is my HT is using cupramine and if formalin is needed I need to rid the tank of copper first. Or they may have ich and uronema which makes me ill thinking about it. Nothing worse than feeling helpless while your fish are suffering

I have never tried to treat two parasites concurrently. Google pictures and decide which you have and go that direction. Ich is less of a quick killer than Uronema, which is, so if I had both, I would treat that first.

 

[dom418]

Thank you!