Sick Naso and Hepatus - Dark and Lumpy.... ??

pacificfloor

New member
Hello All,

I have two tangs that are not doing as well as I would like. Each has been in a different display tank, but both are exhibiting very similar afflictions.

I've had my Hepatus for about a year. When I first acquired him he had a bout with Crypto, which I helped him kick through the use of QT/Hospital and hyposalinity. Since then he had been doing very well until a couple months ago. He was a beautiful, fat specimen, grown to about 3", and housed in a 180g reef tank. I then decided I'd treat my little friends to some live brine shrimp; whether this is relevant or not, I can't be sure. What I can be sure of is that starting the very next day, my tang was nearly all black except a normal color blue patch on his shoulder. The other inhabitants all still appear very healthy; there have not been any symptoms of any diseases or deaths in this tank. The tang still has his appetite and eats like a champ to this day, but his colors have never returned and he now is getting thin behind his gut, which has become very lumpy and asymmetrical. I initially attributed this to internal parasites. I moved him to a hospital tank over a month ago (after trying unsuccessfully to catch him numerous times) and began the usual regimen, starting with a FW dip + MB prior to going into QT. Nothing has appeared to help. I'm currently treating with Maracyn-Two and hope that this time it will help. I have NOT tried hyposalinity as I don't know if that will help. Should I try that?

Now to the Naso. This naso is about 3" in length, and is housed in a 110g tank. He has never been in contact with the Hepatus, although some of the live rock was transferred from the Hepatus' display tank to the naso's tank. He was purchased about a month and a half ago, and appeared to be very healthy. After QT for a couple weeks, he was placed in the display tank. He has been eating very well; yet he is developing the same symptoms as the Hepatus tang. He looks more like a powder brown than a naso most of the time, and is getting thin behind the gut, which is becoming very lumpy and asymmetrical.

Hmmm... Two tangs, two tanks, two sickies. What's common? Well, the food, for one. I feed frozen brine, frozen brine with sprirulina, frozen mysis, frozen marine entree, (all frozen foods are Hikari brand), plus live grape caluerpa, occassionally ogo, Julian Sprung's sea veggies, and nori (only the naso and an angel will eat it). I rotate VitaChem, Selcon, and Garlic X-treme on a frequent basis.

Now here's another concern. I have a gorgeous 6" naso in the 180g, who is very picky and will only eat caluerpa (it's getting hard to come by around here as a result!). He will rip at hair algae placed on a small rock, but then usually just lets it float around the tank. I really don't want him getting whatever this is.

Any help would be extremely appreciated. Thanks in advance!
 
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Sorry!

Sorry!

I apologize for the unfriendly format of my original post. I copied and pasted my posting from an unformatted text file I had created, and was unaware it would show up in the forum that way...
 
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