Chocolate mimic tang issue!!!

[gulf coast reefer]

How’s it going everyone. Hope all is well!

I just got home from work and noticed something instantly wrong going on with my mimic tang.

before I get into things. I’ll note something that I’ve seen him do lately. There’s two rocks with a small cave in between them on the sand bed. I watched him force his way through to create a little trench in the sand bed to give enough room to break through. Over the past couple days he’s been going back and forth through it.
I’m wondering if swimming through that trench between two rocks could have damaged his face as he barely fits through it. Of all places this has become his favorite place to swim through.

anyways I’m not sure what I should do now other than put in QT tank because after coming home today he looks terrible. I’ll post a picture below for you guys to see. Let me know if you’ve seen anything like this before. It’s the wife’s favorite fish. I’m chop liver if something happens to it lol.

 

[MERKEY]

Oh man so sorry to see this.

It does sound like he has hurt his face digging.

Let's get some others in on this tho.

@fishguy242 @Eagle_Steve @F i s h y @Lost in the Sauce any suggestions

 

[gulf coast reefer]

Oh man so sorry to see this.

It does sound like he has hurt his face digging.

Let's get some others in on this tho.

@fishguy242 @Eagle_Steve @F i s h y @Lost in the Sauce any suggestions

Best picture I could get. I wish the best and hope he can pull through but he’s really banged up from digging into the rocks he just had to keep messing with. Sad day!

 

[gulf coast reefer]

He was perfect this morning. Zero issues at all. Ate like a mad man per usual

 

[MERKEY]

Can you get him out and into a QT?

 

[MERKEY]

@Jay Hemdal any suggestions on medication for this?

 

[gulf coast reefer]

Can you get him out and into a QT?

I have to wait till tomorrow to get my QT tank from moms house.
I removed the rocks he was digging into so at least he can’t go back to doing the same thing.

 

[z-reefer]

How long have you had him? Looks like it has ich on the body which could cause the scratching. Treatment for that would be copper but I’m unsure if that’s useable with the open wound/infection on the face. Best to see if the mods can move this thread to the disease section or start another thread there for more detailed help

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Best picture I could get. I wish the best and hope he can pull through but he’s really banged up from digging into the rocks he just had to keep messing with. Sad day!

I think this fish has a primary issue that is not from digging - it seems to have some parasitic issue, probably flukes. Those can cause scratching and wear spots like that.
Remember, fish are adapted to living amongst sharp coral. They won’t dive into the coral unless something really scares them. Flukes however can cause severe scratching.
Jay

 

[gulf coast reefer]

How long have you had him? Looks like it has ich on the body which could cause the scratching. Treatment for that would be copper but I’m unsure if that’s useable with the open wound/infection on the face. Best to see if the mods can move this thread to the disease section or start another thread there for more detailed help

I’ve probably had him for 4-5 months. Never had any ich. Could be sand from laying on his side from sand bed. None of my other fish have ich either and are doing perfect. I test my parameters every 2-3 days out of making it a habit to regularly test and inspect corals and fish very closely

 

[gulf coast reefer]

I think this fish has a primary issue that is not from digging - it seems to have some parasitic issue, probably flukes. Those can cause scratching and wear spots like that.
Remember, fish are adapted to living amongst sharp coral. They won’t dive into the coral unless something really scares them. Flukes however can cause severe scratching.
Jay

Ugh. No bueno. I’ve never noticed any issues with him before. Unless I’ve looked past a spot or two in the past months. I’ll pull him out tomorrow and put in QT. I’ll work on healing the wound and then whatever else I need to do. Sucks!
Definitely not a good feeling. Especially if I looked past something to cause him to beat himself up. But I’ve never noticed an issue before with him until today

 

[gulf coast reefer]

Thank you everybody for your responses so far. Means a lot

 

[vetteguy53081]

How’s it going everyone. Hope all is well!

I just got home from work and noticed something instantly wrong going on with my mimic tang.

before I get into things. I’ll note something that I’ve seen him do lately. There’s two rocks with a small cave in between them on the sand bed. I watched him force his way through to create a little trench in the sand bed to give enough room to break through. Over the past couple days he’s been going back and forth through it.
I’m wondering if swimming through that trench between two rocks could have damaged his face as he barely fits through it. Of all places this has become his favorite place to swim through.

anyways I’m not sure what I should do now other than put in QT tank because after coming home today he looks terrible. I’ll post a picture below for you guys to see. Let me know if you’ve seen anything like this before. It’s the wife’s favorite fish. I’m chop liver if something happens to it lol.

Having an adult chocolate, this fish is quite thin and needs a beefed-up diet. While I see possible damage, I do see facial erosion associated to HLLE and reverts back to the diet requirements. The swimming between therocks and sort of hiding may be from intimidation by another tank member?
What other fish especially tangs are in with him ?
HLLE causes pits and flesh missing mainly in tangs, angels and some rabbitfish. It is often caused by poor water quality, high use of carbon, elevated nitrate and ammonia and inadequate/poor diet. It is not life threating in any way but offers secondary infection in some cases.
Maintaining GOOD water quality and diet are often the fixes and with severe cases, some healing.
Some foods to feed tang are :
LRS herbivore diet
Formula 2 flake and frozen
TDO Pellets
small plankton
Hikari Marine cuisine
Ocean nutrition veggie diet
spirulina brine shrimp
mysis shrimp
Prime reef
Nori seaweed basted with garlic extract

Add selcon vitamins to foods occasionally

Here is mine:

 

[gulf coast reefer]

Having an adult chocolate, this fish is quite thin and needs a beefed-up diet. While I see possible damage, I do see facial erosion associated to HLLE and reverts back to the diet requirements. The swimming between therocks and sort of hiding may be from intimidation by another tank member?
What other fish especially tangs are in with him ?
HLLE causes pits and flesh missing mainly in tangs, angels and some rabbitfish. It is often caused by poor water quality, high use of carbon, elevated nitrate and ammonia and inadequate/poor diet. It is not life threating in any way but offers secondary infection in some cases.
Maintaining GOOD water quality and diet are often the fixes and with severe cases, some healing.
Some foods to feed tang are :
LRS herbivore diet
Formula 2 flake and frozen
TDO Pellets
small plankton
Hikari Marine cuisine
Ocean nutrition veggie diet
spirulina brine shrimp
mysis shrimp
Prime reef
Nori seaweed basted with garlic extract

Add selcon vitamins to foods occasionally

Here is mine:

I know it may seem like HLLE but this is extreme for what it looked like this morning before I left before work. Once again not the best picture but this morning looked completely different than when I got home. I feed Misis, red and green nori and seaweed extreme pellets. I’ll attach a photo from this morning below

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Ugh. No bueno. I’ve never noticed any issues with him before. Unless I’ve looked past a spot or two in the past months. I’ll pull him out tomorrow and put in QT. I’ll work on healing the wound and then whatever else I need to do. Sucks!
Definitely not a good feeling. Especially if I looked past something to cause him to beat himself up. But I’ve never noticed an issue before with him until today

If it is flukes (and I’m not 100% on that) you can leave the fish in place and dose with prazipro 2x, 8 days apart with good aeration.
Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

I know it may seem like HLLE but this is extreme for what it looked like this morning before I left before work. Once again not the best picture but this morning looked completely different than when I got home. I feed Misis, red and green nori and seaweed extreme pellets. I’ll attach a photo from this morning below

This if that quick may very well have stemmed form scratching/self injury. Do add to the diet and I just noticed jay mentioned flukes. If flukes, some signs you will see are : rapid breathing, fish acting lethargic or swimming near the water surface, hiding in the corner of tank or behind rocks, loss of appetite, shaking its head, flashing/darting, develop clamped fins, , or scratching against objects. They may also exhibit what looks like yawning from gill irritation develop, cloudy eyes and loss of color.

 

[nereefpat]

Would it be worth quick FW dip? That might provide some relief and help diagnose skin flukes.

 

[gulf coast reefer]

Would it be worth quick FW dip? That might provide some relief and help diagnose skin flukes.

I’ve done everything I could at the moment. I just performed a 5min freshwater dip in a black bucket I have and didn’t see any flukes. It was well worth a try. I’ve done everything I could possibly do until tomorrow comes around where I can set up my QT.

 

[gulf coast reefer]

Update. My mimic has passed.

from now on I will be taking all the extra safety precautions before adding anything new to tank and focus more on learning about all types of diseases and Illness and of course prevention if possible.

 

[gulf coast reefer]

Thank you all did your responses.