Blue Tang 911

[Nicolas Sabrun]

Hey everyone,

I need serious help with my blue tang.

He developed some really white spot on both side and close to the mouth.

He is not moving much. Only for eating and scratching.

He has been scratching all over the tank, looking for the coral banded shrimp for help. My flame angel seems to be picking at him to help with the white spot.

I dosed some kordon ich Attack since yesterday but no improvement so far. I also installed a couple of air stone in hope to help.

I have him for 7 years. Just upgraded from a 55 g to a 120g long about a month ago.

What should I do? I don't have a
quarantine tank available.

Please help.

 

[ngoodermuth]

@Humblefish @melypr1985

Edit. Just looked again...it looks like velvet :/

I'm going to wait for the experts to chime in, the one picture of its side looks weird to me...

 

[melypr1985]

I agree. What I can see of the fish in the pictures, it appears to be velvet to me as well. Take a look at this link for treatment options. I'm sorry, but you can't treat velvet in the display and you can't leave it alone.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/

 

[Nicolas Sabrun]

@Humblefish @melypr1985

Edit. Just looked again...it looks like velvet :/

I'm going to wait for the experts to chime in, the one picture of its side looks weird to me...

Sorry for the bad pics. First time it happens to me in 7 years.

I would try to get better pictures when I get home and if he will stand still for it.

The white dot are there but really small.

His left side got worst today. It is like straight scratch mark and a little brown around the scratch.

I did not added anything to the tank. Just upgraded to a bigger tank. No change to livestock. I did lost some corals since the transfer and my urchin.

 

[Nicolas Sabrun]

I agree. What I can see of the fish in the pictures, it appears to be velvet to me as well. Take a look at this link for treatment options. I'm sorry, but you can't treat velvet in the display and you can't leave it alone.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/

So far he is the only sick fish. I was hoping for ich honestly instead of velvet.

I don't understand though why the flame angel is picking at the white spot. It is almost like it is trying to clean my blue tang who doesn't seems to mind it.

 

[ngoodermuth]

Yea, that left side looks like there might be an infection setting in.

You are going to want to FW dip, followed by a Rally bath (acriflavine), and into a clean QT.

While in QT you should treat with copper as well as an antibiotic for the infection. Kanaplex is a good antibiotic to try.

Make sure to keep the water aerated, as running antibiotics and copper together can deplete the oxygen.

 

[Nicolas Sabrun]

Yea, that left side looks like there might be an infection setting in.

You are going to want to FW dip, followed by a Rally bath (acriflavine), and into a clean QT.

While in QT you should treat with copper as well as an antibiotic for the infection. Kanaplex is a good antibiotic to try.

Make sure to keep the water aerated, as running antibiotics and copper together can deplete the oxygen.

Thank you for the advice. I don't have a QT but I could get a 20 g and set it up with a canister filter and water from the DT.

Where can I get the kana plex and acriflavine?

No local lfs except petco

 

[ngoodermuth]

Thank you for the advice. I don't have a QT but I could get a 20 g and set it up with a canister filter and water from the DT.

Where can I get the kana plex and acriflavine?

No local lfs except petco

Marine depot carries them, but unless you expedite shipping it might be too late :/ Petco might have a different antibiotic that might work.

You can just give a freshwater dip to try to buy you time to get the meds in. And start copper.

 

[Nicolas Sabrun]

I will give it a shot.

Would any copper med from petco help?

I can't get anything from MD before Wednesday

 

[Maritimer]

Some Petcos carry CopperSafe, which is an excellent chelated copper product. The ones by me only carry Kordon's "Safe Copper-Aid", which also contains chelated copper, but you'll need three to four times as much. The directions on the bottles I've tried were just about useless - use an API copper test kit to monitor actual copper levels in your QT as you raise copper levels to 1.5 - 2.0 ... but if you can, before you even start copper, you might want to try a freshwater dip. See Melypr1985's excellent video tutorial here:
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/video-how-to-do-a-freshwater-dip.214/

The freshwater dip can provide some quick relief . . .

~Bruce

 

[4FordFamily]

I agree, looks like velvet to me. Coral and rock can and do transfer parasites. Right now, velvet is everywhere in the hobby. Your angel isn't far behind, it'll be badly affected soon.

Set up your QT asap, buy an ammonia alert badge by seachem to monitor ammonia and do large water changes if it's anything other than yellow. Chelated Copper is best, but cupramine will work too. I agree with ngoodermuth entirely on temporary treatment.

Good luck!