Cause of severe injury?

[Brian1f1]

Flesh eating bacteria, a predator (a hitchhiker, my boxer shrimp?), or the gyre?

My money is on the gyre now, but that still seems odd. Reefer 525, no other fish including bangiis impacted. This guy is still alive [emoji20]

 

[Gareth elliott]

Not the boxer crab, what other fish do you have?

 

[Brian1f1]

Well, a couple of tangs, a couple of wrasses, and a small borb, and a number of small fish... on second thought I’ll list.

Pair of purple tangs, couple grammas, a fang blenny, few other Bangiis (this has been an actively producing colony, I have young in a separate tank), few neon gobies, a flame cardinal, cave goby, pair of blue star leopards, pair of clowns, orchid dottyback, pearly jawfish, and I added my last fish to the system last night, a small borb I QTed for over a month.

I don’t think any of those would have (could have?) done that?

 

[Douglas grace]

Look for tea tree oil at lfs I got a tang with little parasites once and dosed the oil after a week he was clear and happy as can be. I cant remeber exactly what they called it but essentially it was tea tree oil. I actually kept using it after he was cured because my fish seemed to like it and it makes ur water smell kinda nice lol. Just used a little bit in my water changes.

 

[Big G]

Well, a couple of tangs, a couple of wrasses, and a small borb, and a number of small fish... on second thought I’ll list.

Pair of purple tangs, couple grammas, a fang blenny, few other Bangiis (this has been an actively producing colony, I have young in a separate tank), few neon gobies, a flame cardinal, cave goby, pair of blue star leopards, pair of clowns, orchid dottyback, pearly jawfish, and I added my last fish to the system last night, a small borb I QTed for over a month.

I don’t think any of those would have (could have?) done that?

Orchid Dottybacks can be incredibly mean. Your fish is in pretty rough condition. NFG powder is it's best chance for healing. Furan2 is a close second. But it needs antibiotics asap.

http://www.tfhmagazine.com/details/articles/dottybackschoose-carefully.htm

 

[HotRocks]

I am not trying to be a negative Nancy but that fish will likely succumb to that injury. I would use clove oil and euthanize if it were me.

It's aggression damage most likely. Sorry about the little guy

 

[KrisReef]

This is the second post today that has got me wondering what is lurking in a tank that could do that much damage? I have never had a Bobbit worm so I can't say if that is what predator you are dealing with but I checked your fish list twice and there isn't any sharks on it?
I'd net that fish and put it on ice. If you have some club soda you could put the cardinal into a 1/2 cup of tank water and just put in a couple of tablespoons and the carbonation will lower the O2 so that the fish goes out quick.

And I don't want to be negative either. Have mercy the spinal cord is open for a slow painful infection if it doesn't bleed out first.

 

[jsvand5]

If it were me I’d give it a day or two to see if it looks like it may heal over. I would imagine they could still live a pretty normal life even without the tail if it actually does survive. It sure which of the fish you listed could do that. I’d be surprised if it was the gyre. The suction is just not very strong on them. Any chance a bigger hermit got a hold of it at night?

 

[Ryan420r6]

I would watch the dotty back. I lost a yellow watchman to one. Took off his tail.

 

[Brian1f1]

No bigger hermits that I know of. The dottyback is much smaller than it and showed no interest in it while I watched, even in its injured state. I am concerned that there might be a nasty hitchhiker predator hidden in there...

I tried to catch him yesterday night. Still surprisingly quick. He got way in the rock work. I haven’t seen him today.

 

[Brian1f1]

Nobody thinks a coral banded could have done it? For some reason that has me most suspicious. I’ll post if I find the injured fish again.

 

[Gareth elliott]

What type of cb? I mean maybe one of the larger species if was really hungry, but i always found them an invert terror not a fish terror. Their claws are still kinda small for this kinda damage even for the largest mature ones.

 

[Brian1f1]

What type of cb? I mean maybe one of the larger species if was really hungry, but i always found them an invert terror not a fish terror. Their claws are still kinda small for this kinda damage even for the largest mature ones.

I don’t know? A standard one from the Caribbean. It is a mature specimen. I know they can kill gobies and the like, I’ve heard of that.

 

[4FordFamily]

I agree that’s aggression, not an invert, likely. Some serious tail picking and biting. Not likely a tang. Also, a pair of purple tangs is a ticking time bomb, especially as the sole tangs.

Other bangai can turn on each other, especially if two pair up (and they generally do).

I don’t think an orchid is responsible, for dottybacks they’re not very aggressive and they don’t typically target fish like this. An orchid MAY attack weak or smaller wrasse but even that I’ve never seen. Other dottyback species I would highly suspect.

My money is on the bangai cardinals (how many are left?) or even a royal gramma. Royal gramma can be aggressive, particularly toward a weak or injured fish, or if it consistently intrudes in its’ territory. While they’re not considered aggressive often, I’ve seen some tang were downright ferocious for their size.

 

[Brian1f1]

I agree that’s aggression, not an invert, likely. Some serious tail picking and biting. Not likely a tang. Also, a pair of purple tangs is a ticking time bomb, especially as the sole tangs.

Other bangai can turn on each other, especially if two pair up (and they generally do).

I don’t think an orchid is responsible, for dottybacks they’re not very aggressive and they don’t typically target fish like this. An orchid MAY attack weak or smaller wrasse but even that I’ve never seen. Other dottyback species I would highly suspect.

My money is on the bangai cardinals (how many are left?) or even a royal gramma. Royal gramma can be aggressive, particularly toward a weak or injured fish, or if it consistently intrudes in its’ territory. While they’re not considered aggressive often, I’ve seen some tang were downright ferocious for their size.

Three Bangaii left. They were two separate breeding pairs. Could have been an extreme bangaii attack, I’m guessing that’s most likely, but it must have been ferocious. I’ve not seen the grammas sustain an attack on anybody, but could be. The tang pair has been good so far. One is far larger than the other. If anything they’ve become less aggressive towards each other as they’ve aged. Anyway, you think adding another tang would make it more sustainable?

 

[4FordFamily]

Three Bangaii left. They were two separate breeding pairs. Could have been an extreme bangaii attack, I’m guessing that’s most likely, but it must have been ferocious. I’ve not seen the grammas sustain an attack on anybody, but could be. The tang pair has been good so far. One is far larger than the other. If anything they’ve become less aggressive towards each other as they’ve aged. Anyway, you think adding another tang would make it more sustainable?

You’d have to add a few more tangs, I don’t recommend that depending on the size of the real estate. Bangai attack sounds even more likely.