Help save yellow tangs

[Lionfish hunter]

I have 5 biota tangs that I got 6 or 7 months ago. 3 of them have had raggedy fins and now 2 of them have red soars on them. On a couple of them you can see their veins in certain spots. I dosed with kanaplex 2 doses and it is getting worse. Just started metroplex through their pellets and furan 2, stopping kanaplex as it is clearly not working. Any advice on how to save them would be appreciated. Water parameters are all great.

 

[Jekyl]

@Jay Hemdal

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Please test and post all of your current parameters. Great isn't a reading anyone can help with.


Are you seeing any aggression in the tank?

 

[Malcontent]

Kanaplex is recommended frequently in the freshwater hobby but I rarely hear of it actually working.

Noga's Fish Disease and Diagnosis book calls for a dose of 50-100 mg/L kanamycin.

Seachem's dosage is one "measure" per 20 L. One measure is apparently 180 mg.

From the SDS, we see that Kanaplex is 31.7% kanamycin.

That comes out to a dose of only 2.85 mg/L...

Nitrofurans aren't absorbed well from water so I wouldn't expect it to be effective against anything but a predominantly external infection like Columnaris in freshwater.

A lot of antibiotics that are absorbed from water are less effective at higher pH/hardness. In freshwater, you can manipulate those but in saltwater you're obviously more constrained.

Maybe find a vet and get an injectable antibiotic:

ABC Animal & Bird Clinic – AAFV FishVets.org

fishvets.org

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I have 5 biota tangs that I got 6 or 7 months ago. 3 of them have had raggedy fins and now 2 of them have red soars on them. On a couple of them you can see their veins in certain spots. I dosed with kanaplex 2 doses and it is getting worse. Just started metroplex through their pellets and furan 2, stopping kanaplex as it is clearly not working. Any advice on how to save them would be appreciated. Water parameters are all great.

Can you try for some clearer pictures and perhaps a short video. As mentioned, the water parameters would help.
What do you attribute the fin damage to? In YT it can be a symptom of how they show HLLE, but in that, the fin rays stand out, and the thin tissue between the rays becomes scalloped. If the fins are jagged, I’d suspect intra-species aggression. I know YT are a “schooling fish”, but that is a tenuous relationship in smaller tanks.
Skip the metroplex in the pellets, that only has antibacterial properties for anaerobes, and since these lesions are outside the fish, they are aerobes. Also, without careful calculation (see the stickies above) you won’t have a proper oral dose.

Be careful about hunting back and forth with treatments - antibiotics often take up to 5 days to start to show they are working, switching sooner than that without good reason can be a problem. Without a sensitivity study, you can only make an educated guess as to what antibiotic to use. I rely on neomycin or enrofloxacin (but I don’t think that is sold in stores).

Jay

 

[Jimmyneptune]

what size aquarium do you have?
How large are the fish?
A main issue can be not feeding enough. I suggest lots of meaty foods like Mysis soaked in vitamins, Selcon.
Increasing the amount of food available can decrease aggression and increase overall heath of many living organisms.
Medication may treat a problem; however the problem may be malnourishment and just feeding them more can correct the problem.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

Can you try for some clearer pictures and perhaps a short video. As mentioned, the water parameters would help.
What do you attribute the fin damage to? In YT it can be a symptom of how they show HLLE, but in that, the fin rays stand out, and the thin tissue between the rays becomes scalloped. If the fins are jagged, I’d suspect intra-species aggression. I know YT are a “schooling fish”, but that is a tenuous relationship in smaller tanks.
Skip the metroplex in the pellets, that only has antibacterial properties for anaerobes, and since these lesions are outside the fish, they are aerobes. Also, without careful calculation (see the stickies above) you won’t have a proper oral dose.

Be careful about hunting back and forth with treatments - antibiotics often take up to 5 days to start to show they are working, switching sooner than that without good reason can be a problem. Without a sensitivity study, you can only make an educated guess as to what antibiotic to use. I rely on neomycin or enrofloxacin (but I don’t think that is sold in stores).

Jay

They are small fish, 55 gallon qt tank. Very little aggression. Some are showing mild hlle as many biota yellow tangs do. Should I use metroplex dosed in the water? If so can that be dosed with the furan 2? I would say on the ragged fins, the needles of the fins are intact and the thin skin in-between the needles are missing in areas. At one point there was aggression but the fins all grew back since there was aggression.

Water parameters are 8.0 ph, 32 nitrates, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

Can you try for some clearer pictures and perhaps a short video. As mentioned, the water parameters would help.
What do you attribute the fin damage to? In YT it can be a symptom of how they show HLLE, but in that, the fin rays stand out, and the thin tissue between the rays becomes scalloped. If the fins are jagged, I’d suspect intra-species aggression. I know YT are a “schooling fish”, but that is a tenuous relationship in smaller tanks.
Skip the metroplex in the pellets, that only has antibacterial properties for anaerobes, and since these lesions are outside the fish, they are aerobes. Also, without careful calculation (see the stickies above) you won’t have a proper oral dose.

Be careful about hunting back and forth with treatments - antibiotics often take up to 5 days to start to show they are working, switching sooner than that without good reason can be a problem. Without a sensitivity study, you can only make an educated guess as to what antibiotic to use. I rely on neomycin or enrofloxacin (but I don’t think that is sold in stores).

Jay

it is possible there is some minor aggresion, but that did not come about until after the kanaplex was put in the water and they were already symptomatic. Fish eat alot, this is certainly not malnutrition. they get tiny fry pellets, seaweed, and omega one flakes daily and eat it all. Appetite of all fish is down since the kanaplex but they are all still eating.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

it is possible there is some minor aggresion, but that did not come about until after the kanaplex was put in the water and they were already symptomatic. Fish eat alot, this is certainly not malnutrition. they get tiny fry pellets, seaweed, and omega one flakes daily and eat it all. Appetite of all fish is down since the kanaplex but they are all still eating.

Actually, the link between diet and HLLE is purely speculative. I doubt that it is HLLE, but I need to cover all bases. It looks like tankmate aggression to me. It only takes a bite once or twice a day to cause that amount of damage and you’ll likely never see it happen. Even the red marks could be from scalpel hits. Not saying for sure, but something to consider here.
Jay

 

[Lionfish hunter]

Actually, the link between diet and HLLE is purely speculative. I doubt that it is HLLE, but I need to cover all bases. It looks like tankmate aggression to me. It only takes a bite once or twice a day to cause that amount of damage and you’ll likely never see it happen. Even the red marks could be from scalpel hits. Not saying for sure, but something to consider here.
Jay

whatever it was, they are healing up. 240 gallon just arrived so that should help whatever aggresion there was.