Red patches on yellow tang

[Jenaellyn]

[URL=http://s1052.photobucket.com/user/jenaelaashkevron/media/IMG_20141031_161428_zps573c7bb9.jpg.html][/URL]

Not sure what's wrong with my yellow tang. I've had it for abt 1.5yrs and it developed these red patches overnight.

Anyone know what's wrong?

=(
Jen

 

[tylersarah]

My guess is bacterial septicema, if it was my fish I would treat with erythromycin in the tank, not in the water column, but in the food. My method is: thaw frozen meaty seafood, mix in emycin powder, add Seachem Focus to bind the med to the seafood even more and refreeze. Feed 3x/day in small amounts for 10-14 days regardless if symptoms improve.

 

[Jenaellyn]

tks! my poor fishie... :sad2:

 

[pinnatus]

Also, he is very pale. What do you feed?

 

[hedgedrew]

You could try the antibiotic food thing. But id rather treat him outside tank in hospital tank. Also im not fan of em its not broad spectrum enough and helps mostly gram pos Most bacterial infections in marine are gram neg. kannamycin and furan combo will heal that.

 

[Jenaellyn]

Tks, he eats new life spectrum finnicky fish food n swims too fast to get caught.

 

[avandss]

+1 hemorrhagic septicemia, anyone know if it is contagious btw?

i would not treat in DT, you should def take him out and place him in a hospital tank

search for fish traps, you will find many threads on methods to trap fish

 

[lagatbezan]

What are your water parameters and how big is your tank? Besides an infection, Red patches/streaks could also be due to poor water quality which cause ammonia burns. Had this happen to my yellow tangs while they were in qt. after they were moved to my DT it went away within a weeks or so on its own. Yellow tangs are known to show red patches due to poor water quality and stress in a small tank.

 

[Jenaellyn]

3x2x2 tank.

I do a wkly 10% water change.all my other fish n corals r happy so don't think it's the water.

I'll try n catch him out but that bugger is super fast.

 

[tylersarah]

Erythromycin works very well for treatment of bhs and it's safe to feed w/food in the tank because it's also used as "red slime remover"

 

[Jenaellyn]

Tks

 

[tylersarah]

Bacterial Hemorrhagic Septicemia is not contagious, it's a bacterial infection that has entered the bloodstream causing poisoning, it is fatal when untreated. Conversely, Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia is VERY contagious and fatal - it comes with other visible symptoms like pop-eye & ulcers. BHS is a symptom, has an underlying cause whether it be water quality (ammonia), ectoparasites, injury (tankmates/rocks/small tanks) etc.

The reason my treatment choice is erythromycin: it is commonly found in fish stores, even Petco, whereas kanamycin is most likely an online order. I don't doubt the effectiveness of kanamycin + nitrofurazone combo, but nitrofurazone has a low potency relative to other antibiotics, thus the need for a higher dose. I understand the combo can be synergistic, but not necessary in this situation.

Antibiotics are best administered when fed, keeping the fish in the tank and feeding erythromycin will eliminate additional stress on the immune system (brought on by QT) and you would likely have 2 days of treatment underway while you may still be trying to trap your fish for quarantine with the other.

I have seen improvement with emycin in 2-3 days and if I ran into a case where it didn't work (bacteria was resistant) I would then put the fish into QT and treat with Doxycycline, powerful stuff.

 

[Jenaellyn]

Will the medication affect corals?

 

[tylersarah]

The small amount that absorbs into the water column will not affect the corals. Erythromycin is the active ingredient in red slime cyanobacteria removers and is widely used in reef systems.

 

[Jenaellyn]

Tylersarah i want to thank u for the elaborate explanation. Tks to everyone else who gv me advice.

Hope my buttercuppee aka the sick fishy recovers soon.

Cheerful,
Jen

 

[tylersarah]

Good luck, let us know how it turns out.

 

[pscbadvr]

We just had this same problem. Ours happened because we went from a 75 to a 125. Apparently not enough bacterial because when we finally tested the water everything was perfect except for the nitrates which were through the roof. Once we did a water change the blotches started clearing up. Since then, we have done 3 cater changes and it cleared up completely.

 

[Jenaellyn]

He's a lot better

He's a lot better



Unfortunately i couldnt get my hands on emycin so I've bn feeding Dr G's antibacterial caviar.

It contains kanamycin.

So thanks folks for all ur support and advice!

He's my longest surviving fish that survived two tank crashes so Im glad he's doing well again.

Cheers,
Jen

 

[Jenaellyn]

ps i think he comes across pale cos of my camera phone. he's fine in rl.