Sick tang - flukes? ich/velvet?

[KarenLR75]

A couple of weeks ago we noticed the tang's tailfin and his other fins started looking a little battered. We thought, as he has done before, that he and another fish were fighting.

As time went on, we felt we had checked enough things (he had not had any of the usual white spots at the start and he has a habit of scraping his head on tight spots in the rocks when he is DETERMINED to peck at something even though there is plenty of nori/algae, etc. elsewhere so we had gotten accustomed to him 'scraping his head' but usually within a week, it got better.

Well, this time he hasn't gotten better and as you can see in the pics of his fins, I started wondering about fin rot, etc. Tang's appetite up until 4 days ago was still voracious. Past week he has been hiding more and we've noticed the red fire shrimp (or whatever the red shrimp is called that is pretty and everyone buys only to find out they hide in the back of the tank) has been cleaning him in the back. That is the only place this shrimp hangs out and it is also the tang's favorite place but we were alarmed as he was not swimming around as usual.

Husband started dosing with prazipro and the fin erosion has halted, unsure if it had halted already or not but it has not continued to erode (yes, it looks very bad in the pic). The tang has started coming out more in the past couple of days.

I'm the only one in the family that believes in posting online and getting help so I'm posting the pics we've managed to get. I think 1 of them was from a few days ago.

If parasite/infection I feel it came from last addition to the tank of several blue green chromis (added without quarantining them which was a general disagreement here). At this point, I feel the fish are paying the consequence of that decision so I think that the point has been made crystal clear that ALL new livestock should be quarantined.

If you feel you recognize what is hurting the tang (fluke, ich, fin rot, ???), I'd appreciate it along with any treatment recommendations.

 

[Uncle99]

For sure someone's nipping the tail.
The picture is not good enough to see Ick or velvet.
Velvet dots are white or yellow gold and perfectly round...these start more in the gills and kill the fish in hours, maybe a day. Hard to medicate for velvet, Cupramine is the only thing but fish with velvet do not have a good prognosis.
Ick dots are whitish, oval, and look like a smattering of fine sugar. Fish can become lathargic, struggle to breathe, eyes go glassy, will stop eating.
Ick can be treated but all fish must come out of the DT.
Again, I can't see any dots on the YEKT, just a nipped tail.
Once you can diagnos, you can treat.

 

[reeftemptation]

Check your water parameters. Its hard to make a diagnosis without further details

 

[billdogg]

What else do you have in the tank? It looks to me like it's been nipped as well, although that can easily progress to a bacteria infection.

Also, as mentioned above, a little more information about your tank could be helpful. Tank size, how long it's been set up, lighting, filtration, and basic water parameters all are useful for figuring these things out.

Although I use Prazipro on all new additions while they are in QT, it is used for internal parasites/worms, not for Ich or other external issues, so the fact that the fish is looking better is almost certainly coincidental. No harm in it's use either but probably of no help for this.

Keep us updated!

 

[monkeysee1]

My money is on FLUKES.
From the pics and what you're describing. Fins shredded, white BLOTCHY spots (NOT salt/sugar grainy like). Eyes cloudy. THAT'S FLUKES.
Keep up with the PRAZIPRO.