Achilles tang swollen stomach

lone reefer · Apr 7, 2022

Hello, I need help trying to find out what’s wrong with my Achilles tang. I’ve had him about a month. Just got done with qt a few days ago. He went through 3 weeks of copper power with over 2 weeks at 2.5 ppm copper, about half way through qt he started flashing some with no visible signs of ich or parasites and always had a good appetite preferring to eat brine shrimp and nori sheets. I treated with prazi while still in copper with no issues, the rubbing had completely stopped by the second round of prazi, even did a third round of prazi for 24 hours after the first 2 treatments spaced 6 days apart. I put him in the dt a few days ago and he immediately started grazing for like normal for the first 24 hours but never saw him eat food. Then the grazing stopped but I thought it was due to stress caused by a purple tang that I also had in qt with the AT that I also put in the dt a few days ago. The purple tang and a yello that I had originally in the tank started going at it, so I thought that stress might be freaking out the AT, but then today I noticed a swelling in the Achilles abdomen that is very concerning. His behavior seems normal and no other fish are harassing him but the lump definitely doesn’t look good. I’ve posted a video and when he turns to where you can see his right side is where the lump is. Any help is appreciated. https://youtube.com/shorts/WjSDmCqcRxs?feature=share

vetteguy53081 · Apr 7, 2022

lone reefer said:
Hello, I need help trying to find out what’s wrong with my Achilles tang. I’ve had him about a month. Just got done with qt a few days ago. He went through 3 weeks of copper power with over 2 weeks at 2.5 ppm copper, about half way through qt he started flashing some with no visible signs of ich or parasites and always had a good appetite preferring to eat brine shrimp and nori sheets. I treated with prazi while still in copper with no issues, the rubbing had completely stopped by the second round of prazi, even did a third round of prazi for 24 hours after the first 2 treatments spaced 6 days apart. I put him in the dt a few days ago and he immediately started grazing for like normal for the first 24 hours but never saw him eat food. Then the grazing stopped but I thought it was due to stress caused by a purple tang that I also had in qt with the AT that I also put in the dt a few days ago. The purple tang and a yello that I had originally in the tank started going at it, so I thought that stress might be freaking out the AT, but then today I noticed a swelling in the Achilles abdomen that is very concerning. His behavior seems normal and no other fish are harassing him but the lump definitely doesn’t look good. I’ve posted a video and when he turns to where you can see his right side is where the lump is. Any help is appreciated. https://youtube.com/shorts/WjSDmCqcRxs?feature=share

Can be constipation in which the achilles is unable to pass waste its digestive system. If eating you can try frozen peas - boil about 3-4 and allow to cool, then feed the inner meat to the fish.
Other would be internal bacterial infection. Best remedy IF fish ids eating is seachem Metro with focus to add it as a binder to the food so fish can consume the medication.

lone reefer · Apr 7, 2022

vetteguy53081 said:
Can be constipation in which the achilles is unable to pass waste its digestive system. If eating you can try frozen peas - boil about 3-4 and allow to cool, then feed the inner meat to the fish.
Other would be internal bacterial infection. Best remedy IF fish ids eating is seachem Metro with focus to add it as a binder to the food so fish can consume the medication.

Ok thanks, I haven’t seen him eat in a couple days. I was feeding metro and focus for a couple weeks while they were in qt then switched to feeding general cure and focus at the end of qt. I’ll mix some up with food and try to spot feed him

Jay Hemdal · Apr 7, 2022

lone reefer said:
Hello, I need help trying to find out what’s wrong with my Achilles tang. I’ve had him about a month. Just got done with qt a few days ago. He went through 3 weeks of copper power with over 2 weeks at 2.5 ppm copper, about half way through qt he started flashing some with no visible signs of ich or parasites and always had a good appetite preferring to eat brine shrimp and nori sheets. I treated with prazi while still in copper with no issues, the rubbing had completely stopped by the second round of prazi, even did a third round of prazi for 24 hours after the first 2 treatments spaced 6 days apart. I put him in the dt a few days ago and he immediately started grazing for like normal for the first 24 hours but never saw him eat food. Then the grazing stopped but I thought it was due to stress caused by a purple tang that I also had in qt with the AT that I also put in the dt a few days ago. The purple tang and a yello that I had originally in the tank started going at it, so I thought that stress might be freaking out the AT, but then today I noticed a swelling in the Achilles abdomen that is very concerning. His behavior seems normal and no other fish are harassing him but the lump definitely doesn’t look good. I’ve posted a video and when he turns to where you can see his right side is where the lump is. Any help is appreciated. https://youtube.com/shorts/WjSDmCqcRxs?feature=share

Is the swelling mostly on the right side or is it equal on left and right? The swelling seems too high on the body to be the intestines, those are found lower down and closer to the anal opening.
Jay

lone reefer · Apr 7, 2022

Seems to be swelling on both sides, more noticeable on the right though, I’m not there at the moment, I’ll be able to get a better look in a couple hours.

lone reefer · Apr 7, 2022

Jay Hemdal said:
Is the swelling mostly on the right side or is it equal on left and right? The swelling seems too high on the body to be the intestines, those are found lower down and closer to the anal opening.
Jay

It seems to be equal on both sides, hard to get a good picture. Other than not eating and the swelling he seems pretty normal. Some damage that he had on one of his fins from aggression from the purple tang in qt has actually healed in the past few days and his color looks better than it did when he was in qt as well, but he would graze constantly and even the first day in dt he was grazing like you would expect a healthy tang to, but haven’t seen him eat or graze in at least 48 hours.

Jay Hemdal · Apr 8, 2022

lone reefer said:
It seems to be equal on both sides, hard to get a good picture. Other than not eating and the swelling he seems pretty normal. Some damage that he had on one of his fins from aggression from the purple tang in qt has actually healed in the past few days and his color looks better than it did when he was in qt as well, but he would graze constantly and even the first day in dt he was grazing like you would expect a healthy tang to, but haven’t seen him eat or graze in at least 48 hours.

Well - I'm stumped. The fish is acting as if it has an intestinal blockage, but the swelling still seems too high up to me. Maybe the blockage is in the stomach itself?

Here is the trouble - there really isn't a treatment for marine fish that have a blockage but that are not eating. If they are eating, you can feed Epsom Salts in their diet at 3%. With freshwater fish, you can put Epsom salts in the water, but that doesn't work with marine fish (their water is already 15% Epsom salts).

I know this is a very valuable fish, I'm sorry that I don't have an effective treatment for you! Sometimes, I've had cases of the fish being able to pass the blockage on their own though....

Jay

lone reefer · Apr 8, 2022

Ok I appreciate your time, he seems to be

Jay Hemdal said:
Well - I'm stumped. The fish is acting as if it has an intestinal blockage, but the swelling still seems too high up to me. Maybe the blockage is in the stomach itself?

Here is the trouble - there really isn't a treatment for marine fish that have a blockage but that are not eating. If they are eating, you can feed Epsom Salts in their diet at 3%. With freshwater fish, you can put Epsom salts in the water, but that doesn't work with marine fish (their water is already 15% Epsom salts).

I know this is a very valuable fish, I'm sorry that I don't have an effective treatment for you! Sometimes, I've had cases of the fish being able to pass the blockage on their own though....

Jay

Well great news apparently he was constipated lol, I got up this morning and the swelling was gone and he was grazing again! Fed him a few hours later and he’s eating again so happy, had already mentally prepared myself for the loss lol, definitely a best case scenario, nothing like a healthy happy fish especially after going through the trouble of quarantine and treatments. Thanks for the responses as usual!