EMERGENCY-What is this brown stuff on my foxface?

[Makubex]

Have you adjusted the salinity?
Have you done a water change to lower the Ammonia

If you have not addressed the real issues you cant really do any treatment.

Yes I have, salinity is 1.026 now, ammonia decreased by a little bit but added seachem prime to neutralize it it is now .1

 

[Steve and his Animals]

Looking at your pictures, this doesn't look like a disease. This looks like head and lateral line erosion (HLLE), which also appears to be starting on the head of that hippo tang. This is mainly caused by poor water quality and stress, which seems to be a very obvious problem you have going on. Salinity should be 1.024 to 1.026, ammonia in a marine aquarium that is cycled should be zero. Honestly, these fish shouldn't be subjected to a tank this new, but since you already have them, do what people are advising and get a large water change going (at least half) with the proper salinity.

 

[Makubex]

Looking at your pictures, this doesn't look like a disease. This looks like head and lateral line erosion (HLLE), which also appears to be starting on the head of that hippo tang. This is mainly caused by poor water quality and stress, which seems to be a very obvious problem you have going on. Salinity should be 1.024 to 1.026, ammonia in a marine aquarium that is cycled should be zero. Honestly, these fish shouldn't be subjected to a tank this new, but since you already have them, do what people are advising and get a large water change going (at least half) with the proper salinity.

 

[Makubex]

Looking at your pictures, this doesn't look like a disease. This looks like head and lateral line erosion (HLLE), which also appears to be starting on the head of that hippo tang. This is mainly caused by poor water quality and stress, which seems to be a very obvious problem you have going on. Salinity should be 1.024 to 1.026, ammonia in a marine aquarium that is cycled should be zero. Honestly, these fish shouldn't be subjected to a tank this new, but since you already have them, do what people are advising and get a large water change going (at least half) with the proper salinity.

I bought the blue hippo, gem tang and purple tang ALL WITH HLLE, it had happened years ago(to them) thats why i got them for DIRT cheap, is nothing new theyve always been like that, the last owner did say his blue hippp had hlle/hole in the head but it was YEARS ago

 

[mehaffydr]

I'm guessing burn from ammonia but not really sure but at least for now you are starting to get the tank livable it's time for help
@fishmedic
Can you guys help here please

 

[Steve and his Animals]

I bought the blue hippo, gem tang and purple tang ALL WITH HLLE, it had happened years ago(to them) thats why i got them for DIRT cheap, is nothing new theyve always been like that, the last owner did say his blue hippp had hlle/hole in the head but it was YEARS ago

This doesn't change the fact that their condition will only get worse if you keep them in these sorts of conditions, and it appears that this new foxface is now suffering the same issues or similar ones. Ammonia burn is also a likely diagnosis. I've seen fish recover from HLLE, but you have to put them in good conditions to do so.

 

[Makubex]

This doesn't change the fact that their condition will only get worse if you keep them in these sorts of conditions, and it appears that this new foxface is now suffering the same issues or similar ones. Ammonia burn is also a likely diagnosis. I've seen fish recover from HLLE, but you have to put them in good conditions to do so.

We're pretty sure is something bacterial here... just dont know where to get malacyn 2 and how to use it(in a qt tank?)

 

[Steve and his Animals]

We're pretty sure is something bacterial here... just dont know where to get malacyn 2 and how to use it(in a qt tank?)

Bacterial infections are usually red, like sores or wounds on any animal. Don't bother with Maracyn 2, just get regular Maracyn (erythromycin) if you really want to try using it. Again, you should fix your display tank's water issues before bothering trying to treat anything. Even with medication around, a stressed fish is not going to heal.

 

[Makubex]

Bacterial infections are usually red, like sores or wounds on any animal. Don't bother with Maracyn 2, just get regular Maracyn (erythromycin) if you really want to try using it. Again, you should fix your display tank's water issues before bothering trying to treat anything. Even with medication around, a stressed fish is not going to heal.

Okay parameters are good now, what should I do next?

 

[sfin52]

A couple rocks/1 skimmer/powerhead/ came from my 75 reef, a canister can create anoxic areas is what i heard, those gases are deadly when introduced to your aquarium..

Thats not true about canisters. Been using a canister for the last 8 yrs no issues. I like them better than hob

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Go buy some ammo lock or something similar to buy you time until your tank is cycled. Slowly bring down you salinity. It really is not fair to the animals you are keeping to have them in such an environment. Like others have said, ammonia and nitrite should be zero. I usually try to be supportive on this forum but this is poor form!

This is why I walked away from the thread. Just poor form in general with the poor conditions of the fish combined with the questionable answers given by the op.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Just putting this out there (both for the OP and for others): while you can in fact insta-cycle a tank and add fish that same day without issues using BioSpira (like the individual did in the thread I’ve linked below*) or similar bottle-bac products (such as Fritz Turbo Start 900), you do need to be quite cautious in how you do so. It sounds like in this case, the OP was not cautious enough, and they likely either didn’t add enough bottle-bac, or their tank is not able to handle the bioload they added to it, as there shouldn’t be any meaningful levels of ammonia registered by testing (i.e. the ammonia should test to be 0) if the insta-cycle is done correctly. The best recommendation I’ve seen for insta-cycle is from Dr. Reef **based off a study they did for intsa/skip-cycling here on R2R.*** You add two to three times more bottle-bac than recommended, and you should be fine (provided you don’t start with an enormous bioload, that is). To be safe and avoid situations like the one this thread is about, people usually start with lower bioloads and build up over time.

All of that said, people also usually avoid situations like this one by mixing salt cautiously so they don’t end up having a salinity of 1.031 in their tanks.

So, @Makubex , after taking advice from the #fishmedic who will likely be able to help you treat your fish, what you should do next is learn from this experience and take things slowly with your reef. Remember you’re dealing with live animals here, not decorations. Be careful and make sure you keep your tank and water parameters in good conditions (as confirmed by testing and good reef tank parameter guidelines) to avoid situations like this in the future.

Good luck.

Links:
* https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bio-spira-works-great.668674/
** https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/will-instant-cycle-set-me-up-for-disaster.914970/#post-10261919
*** https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bacteria-in-a-bottle-myth-or-fact.403226/

 

[Makubex]

Just putting this out there (both for the OP and for others): while you can in fact insta-cycle a tank and add fish that same day without issues using BioSpira (like the individual did in the thread I’ve linked below*) or similar bottle-bac products (such as Fritz Turbo Start 900), you do need to be quite cautious in how you do so. It sounds like in this case, the OP was not cautious enough, and they likely either didn’t add enough bottle-bac, or their tank is not able to handle the bioload they added to it, as there shouldn’t be any meaningful levels of ammonia registered by testing (i.e. the ammonia should test to be 0) if the insta-cycle is done correctly. The best recommendation I’ve seen for insta-cycle is from Dr. Reef **based off a study they did for intsa/skip-cycling here on R2R.*** You add two to three times more bottle-bac than recommended, and you should be fine (provided you don’t start with an enormous bioload, that is). To be safe and avoid situations like the one this thread is about, people usually start with lower bioloads and build up over time.

All of that said, people also usually avoid situations like this one by mixing salt cautiously so they don’t end up having a salinity of 1.031 in their tanks.

So, @Makubex , after taking advice from the #fishmedic who will likely be able to help you treat your fish, what you should do next is learn from this experience and take things slowly with your reef. Remember you’re dealing with live animals here, not decorations. Be careful and make sure you keep your tank and water parameters in good conditions (as confirmed by testing and good reef tank parameter guidelines) to avoid situations like this in the future.

Good luck.

Links:
* https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bio-spira-works-great.668674/
** https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/will-instant-cycle-set-me-up-for-disaster.914970/#post-10261919
*** https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bacteria-in-a-bottle-myth-or-fact.403226/

Okay attached are the best pictures I could get.

 

[gbroadbridge]

My ammonia is currently near one as I just added biospira to this 125-3 days ago, i run 2 reef octopus hob for up to 125 gallons each, a marineland emperor hob filter for 90 gallons(I was gonna use a canister filter but i was told freshwater filters arent that useful in sw), got like 100 pounds of live rock, proper water movement, water temp is 72.7f. Salinity is 1.031

That tank is way too young to have any animals in it at all -even a snail.

I'm afraid all those fish are likely to die.

The tank needs at least a month before you add fish.

 

[Makubex]

If i add maracyn 2 or ruby rally pro do I need to take the carbon out of my tank? What about the good bacteria? I heard it kills off all the beneficial bacteria as well, and the skimmers?

 

[threebuoys]

Slow down. Don't try to solve your earlier mistakes by throwing more chemicals into the tank without a confirmed diagnosis.

The issue with the foxface could easily be due to the high level of ammonia that was present. If that was indeed the cause of the problem, the fish will need several days to recover from the injury.

Closely observe other fish for possible injury due to ammonia also.

At this point, you should concentrate on doing no harm to the fish. Water condition should be your number one objective. When you believe everything is stable, then WAIT until you can determine if the fish are improving or deteriorating before you do anything else.

Follow the link below to provide additional information that may be useful to help diagnose should the fishes' health does not improve naturally.

While you wait to see if the fish improve, you may want to reflect on what mistakes you may have made, and do some more research about some of the assumptions you made along the way before you make any other changes. Diagnosis and treatment can be difficult, and are even more difficult when poor tank conditions throw even more variables into the mix.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I forgot to add my livestock... its:
This 6" rabbitfish
4-3.5" tangs,
3" picasso
2 cardinals
1 engineer goby
2 clownfish
Maybe too much bio load?

Did I read the numbers correctly, ammonia is near one? That needs to be corrected immediately. That level will be lethal to the fish. You may not be able to control the ammonia with that load of fish with just one addition of biospira. Is there any way you can get established media from another tank? Can you take some/most of these fish back to the store?

The temperature needs to be raised to 77 degrees F. and the specific gravity (salinity) dropped to below 1.024.

EDIT: the skin lesions on the foxface are superficial, and are not caused by any of the main contagious diseases. You should concentrate on maintaining zero ammonia and watching for other, more serious diseases to develop, as there is a good chance that they will.

Jay

 

[Timfish]

Are you seeing variation in the brown coloration over time? Foxface are nmotorious for changes in coloration. If it varies much it's likely just moody.

 

[Makubex]

Did I read the numbers correctly, ammonia is near one? That needs to be corrected immediately. That level will be lethal to the fish. You may not be able to control the ammonia with that load of fish with just one addition of biospira. Is there any way you can get established media from another tank? Can you take some/most of these fish back to the store?

The temperature needs to be raised to 77 degrees F. and the specific gravity (salinity) dropped to below 1.024.

EDIT: the skin lesions on the foxface are superficial, and are not caused by any of the main contagious diseases. You should concentrate on maintaining zero ammonia and watching for other, more serious diseases to develop, as there is a good chance that they will.

Jay

Ammonia is .4 not .5 anymore, salinity is 1.024 now

 

[threebuoys]

Your target ammonia should be 0.0 before adding fish. Some additives take days to deliver a "cycled" condition. Some who use additives add fish more slowly rather than all at one time in order to reduce the load on filtration until the tank is established. Daily measurement of ammonia until the cycle is confirmed is critical if fish are in the tank.

I didn't see in this thread what test kit you use. Some kits are more difficult to use and get accurate measurements than others. Which are you using?

Have you considered taking a water sample to your LFS to have them measure for you to get confirmation?