what's wrong with my tang?? **pics** :(

[cateyes]

i woke up this morning to an unhealthy looking powder blue.. i've had him for about 5 weeks now no problems. he's been eating well and getting along with his tankmates..

he's hovering close to the bottom somewhat struggling and appears to be covered with a mucaslike slime some trailing off of his top fin which can be seen in the pics...

i have a large plate coral, about 5" across, that i' think might have stung him, is this a possibility? in the past month i've lost a manderin and a sleeper goby, i'm begining to think that it might be the culprit...


i'm almost positive it's not ich, the particles you see in the pics are sand granules sticking to the slime being produced...

any ideas, and if he was stung what can i do for him... plate coral has been removed from the tank...

poor tang..

evil(?) plate coral

 

[siren]

looks like he has ich to me. the plate coral may have caused the missing fish, but I've never heard of a sting like that making a fish emit mucus.

 

[BrianD]

He also looks very gaunt to me. I will move this to the fish disease forum, where perhaps you can get some more help.

Good luck

[moved]

 

[cateyes]

thanks Brian,, that's what i was going to do...
he's been eating very well, mysis, brine cyclopeeze and seaweed from a clip..... Lisa

 

[cateyes]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9531078#post9531078 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by siren
looks like he has ich to me. the plate coral may have caused the missing fish, but I've never heard of a sting like that making a fish emit mucus.

i really don't think it's ich. the white spots are sand granules sticking to him. at first glance this morning i actually thought he had been buried somehow...

 

[Kahuna Tuna]

Looks like he is sloughing mucus which is what many fish do when fighting off a skin parasite. If I had to venture a guess I would say it looks like marine velvet which is really bad news. At this stage he doesn't have much chance if it is velvet, do you have a QT or treatment tank? Treating with copper is the best way to treat velvet but this is one of the nastier fish diseases.

 

[rekn]

id feed him formula 2. also, he doesnt look fat enough imo. give him more food.


my convict, wich is the size of you pb eats half a sheet a day

 

[cateyes]

well this afternoon the tang is looking and acting much better. the filimentous slime is gone, he still appears a little dusty apearance wise.
this morning he was hovering at the sandbed he is now out swimming. he had no interest in food this morning but now is actively eating algae from the clip..

is it possable for a fish to harbor velvet for 5-7 weeks and appear perfectly healthy then all of the sudden come down with it?
would he improve from a case of velvet or would he just go down hill?


i'm keeping my fingers crossed that he was stung by the plate coral and is getting over it...

thanks,,, Lisa

 

[cateyes]

double post

 

[cateyes]

unfortunatly my poor little powder blue has now developed a HORRIABLE case of ICH.....
he is covered with a ZILLION white specks...it's amazing how quickly they came up/out on his body...
he had been the picture of health ever since i got him.. i'm convenced "something" (maybe the plate coral) stung/stressed him out over night...
he has been removed from the tank and is begining copper treatment... i hope he makes it but he really looks bad now..

now to keep my fingers crossed that my other fish don't come down with it... i'll be feeding metronidazole in their food for some time...

thanks for the help,,, Lisa

 

[Hattie B]

Hi cateyes,

he did not just develop it, he has had it.. And an extremely bad case of it..

The skin sloughing is also a sign of ich.

The other thing is no matter how much you have been feeding him its not enough, that fish is really skinny. But it could also be chronic stress attributing to weight loss due to the high load of parasitic infection.

make sure to add vitamines in the food too.

Your main tank has ich too, so when he gets better make sure you leve the main fallow for at least 6 weeks (8 is better) to kill all the other parasites in there so he will not be reinfected. If you have other fish remove them too.

Its much easier now to remove them if you have one out.

Powder Blues are notorius ich magnets, and if you dont get rid of it from the main, next time there is a stressor, change in temp, PH new fish esc.. you run the possibility of him contracting it again.

Check levels daily in your QT.

I wish you the best.

HB

 

[cateyes]

Hattie B -- thanks for the words of wisdom but unfortunately my little PB did not survive the night in treatment... i guess his little body just couldn't tolerate it...

thanks again,,, Lisa

 

[TerryB]

It looked like a bad case of ich to me. In the furture quarantine all new fish for 30+ days prior to adding them to the display. You still have ich in the display tank. Listen to Hattie. The best treatment for ich is hyposalinity in a Qtank or hospital tank. Copper can work, but it makes things worse in the beginning of treatment when the fish are already sufficating with excess mucus. Copper increases mucus production all the more.

Terry B

 

[n3mo]

So...is it possible to treat the ich and have the ich re infect the host...ie pb tang. I thought that once the ich was treated that it wouldnt miraculously return unless it wasnt treated completely in the first place

 

[cateyes]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9547625#post9547625 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by n3mo
So...is it possible to treat the ich and have the ich re infect the host...ie pb tang. I thought that once the ich was treated that it wouldnt miraculously return unless it wasnt treated completely in the first place

the way i see it you are never really free of ick, or at least the possibility it will show it's ugly head at any time...

 

[n3mo]

I have always been under the understanding that ich is parisitic and has a life cycle that if broken with no host to feed that the parasites would die off...

how could ich be present in a tank and fish exhibit no signs of ich until one fateful day?

just my understanding, any thoughts