Bacterial infection or handling abrasion?

[Rick's Reef]

Hi, seeking some wisdom for a new acquisition please!

This juvenile regal angel has been in my QT about 7 days. She (assumed) appeared to have this marking from day 1. She has normal appetite (devours PE mysis, live brine, picks at LRS reef frenzy and grazes rocks).

On her left side though is a long dark spot. At first I was thinking surface abrasion from handling but then she came from the Divers Den so she should have been in 14 day quarantine on their end - time to heal? Now I fear this could be a bacterial infection and should I treat accordingly?

Some tank details: in a 20g continuously running QT with a small mandarin (also a new acquisition) and about 6-7 pounds of live rock that didn’t go into my display. The LR is TBS rock and has a healthy pod population, couple of reef safe crabs and snails. Ammonia 0, SG 1.026, Nitrate/Phosphate are not measured.

Thanks!

Can see her right side is clear:

 

[Humblefish]

That dark area looks dicey. I would at least start dosing Kanaplex to address it. If it worsens/starts turning red, add Furan-2 + Metroplex to the mix.

Probably too late to order to help with this, but I really like NFG for treating angels/butterflies with bacterial infections: http://store.nationalfishpharm.com/NFP-products-Nitrofuracin-Green-59584.Item.html

 

[melypr1985]

Agreed^^^. Something like that can linger for a while and not look worse, then all of a sudden - BAM!- it turns really ugly quickly.

 

[Big G]

+1 ^^^ Nitrofuracine Green Powder is almost a must have if you are attempting to house angels or butterflies. Works wonders on treating fish suffering from shipping and maybe rough handling. Especially if you see those "red" marks appearing on their sides or noses.

 

[Rick's Reef]

Thanks for the fast responses. I ordered the Kanaflex and the Furan-2/Metro as a precaution to have on hand (thanks Amazon next day [emoji5]).

The NFG I will order also but see it takes time.

The KanaPlex says it is not invertebrate safe. So I will need to pull the LR and replace with my PVC pipe structure (prefer this to moving the angel so as to not stress that much more). But is the KanaPlex going to nuke my pod population? If so, I guess I will have to move the mandarin that is sharing the QT? She is a captive bred and quite small - only 7 days in QT so she is not ready for the DT (no negative signs on her).

Thanks again for the fast outreach!

 

[Humblefish]

Why not move the Regal into a smaller QT and use antibiotics in there? You’ll need to do regular water changes whilst dosing antibiotics, and that will also help control the ammonia. I’d be surprised if this spread to the mandarin, as they are pretty disease resistant.