Is this Marine Velvet?

[kadamik]

My Powder Blue Tang was doing fine last night, he was eating and look good. I did notice him swimming against the powerhead stream for a little bit, which got me concern. I woke up this morning and he was dead. It kind of looks like velvet but not exactly just wonder your opinions.

 

[MnFish1]

I personally find it difficult to decide based on a picture out of water. Perhaps some of the others will weigh in @Jay Hemdal, @fishguy242, @nereefpat.

The other questions though - do you have any other fish, how are they doing, how long is your tank up, do you have a QT tank in case something else developes

How old is your tank, your parameters, and how long have you had the Tang. Did you Qt him

 

[Losthawk69]

It is hard to tell but to me it looks like bacterial infection or brook

 

[MnFish1]

It is hard to tell but to me it looks like bacterial infection or brook

Hard though - to tell what is 'decomposition' vs lesions. Certainly a rapidly progressive bacterial infection could cause multiple lesions such as this.

 

[kadamik]

It is hard to tell but to me it looks like bacterial infection or brook

It happened so fast. He was doing good and was the Boss of the tank. I did see one of my Clownfish with stringy poop and I know that might be a sign of infection. I am going to order a water parasite DNA test online to see what is in my water. I also ordered the API General Cure and was going to dose the tank today. I am new to the hobby so I don't know what I don't know. The tank has been running for around 7 weeks. In the last 3 days I have lost 3 fish. Clownfish he was just sitting on the bottom of the tank and then died the next day. I had a gobby that was spinning round and round trying to swim with heavy breathing. He died that day. Then the Powder blue tang. Ammonia is 0, Nitrite is 0 Nitrate is 20. It now seems like most of the other fish don't have an appetite. Do you have any suggestions? I still have a small lionfish, puffer, 3 clowns and 1 eel.

 

[kadamik]

Hard though - to tell what is 'decomposition' vs lesions. Certainly a rapidly progressive bacterial infection could cause multiple lesions such as this.

He was still 10 percent alive this morning, and the lesions looked the same. I took the picture right after he died.

 

[MnFish1]

It happened so fast. He was doing good and was the Boss of the tank. I did see one of my Clownfish with stringy poop and I know that might be a sign of infection. I am going to order a water parasite DNA test online to see what is in my water. I also ordered the API General Cure and was going to dose the tank today. I am new to the hobby so I don't know what I don't know. The tank has been running for around 7 weeks. In the last 3 days I have lost 3 fish. Clownfish he was just sitting on the bottom of the tank and then died the next day. I had a gobby that was spinning round and round trying to swim with heavy breathing. He died that day. Then the Powder blue tang. Ammonia is 0, Nitrite is 0 Nitrate is 20. It now seems like most of the other fish don't have an appetite. Do you have any suggestions? I still have a small lionfish, puffer, 3 clowns and 1 eel.

OK thanks for the info - Are there any spots/lesions on any of the other fish? Look carefully and closely.

No offense thats a lot of fish - and a lot of difficult fish for someone with a 7 week old tank.

What size tank is it? what is your filtratration? Any carbon (activated). Oxygenation?

Can you send a picture of the tank? A hospital tank would be better - with copper assuming its velvet or another parasite. Flukes would seem odd to cause such a rapid decline without other symptoms.

 

[kadamik]

it is a 75 gallon tank and no offense taken. I trying to do the best I can. I have a canister filter with 5 chambers filled with matrix and have 2 packs of purgen. I also have a protein skimmer. I also have a bi-color angle fish that looks like it might have a small lesion but it is staying under rocks so it is hard to see it. It is not eating either and it was 2 days ago. I have Rally Pro and was thinking that might be worth a shot at treatment. I don't have a hospital tank or QT tank. I might be able to go to Petsmart and buy a small aquarium for a hospital tank. The only other symptom that I see is stringy white poop from a clownfish.

 

[MnFish1]

it is a 75 gallon tank and no offense taken. I trying to do the best I can. I have a canister filter with 5 chambers filled with matrix and have 2 packs of purgen. I also have a protein skimmer. I also have a bi-color angle fish that looks like it might have a small lesion but it is staying under rocks so it is hard to see it. It is not eating either and it was 2 days ago. I have Rally Pro and was thinking that might be worth a shot at treatment. I don't have a hospital tank or QT tank. I might be able to go to Petsmart and buy a small aquarium for a hospital tank. The only other symptom that I see is stringy white poop from a clownfish.

I might check with your LFS and see if they could/would take at least some of those fish back for treatment. I do not see them doing well in a 'small hospital tank'. Additionally - lets assume its velvet - the Rally Pro may work fine. Copper might be better - without going into great detail - some of your fish may tolerate copper better than others. And some of the symptoms will not be treated by copper that well.

That said If thats what you can do go with the rally pro - are you sure that your oxygenation is ok - thats a lot of fish for 75 gallons - unless there is really good flow.

BTW your other parameters - pH, ammonia, etc - are they all ok?

 

[kadamik]

I might check with your LFS and see if they could/would take at least some of those fish back for treatment. I do not see them doing well in a 'small hospital tank'. Additionally - lets assume its velvet - the Rally Pro may work fine. Copper might be better - without going into great detail - some of your fish may tolerate copper better than others. And some of the symptoms will not be treated by copper that well.

That said If thats what you can do go with the rally pro - are you sure that your oxygenation is ok - thats a lot of fish for 75 gallons - unless there is really good flow.

BTW your other parameters - pH, ammonia, etc - are they all ok?

still learning but wanted to discuss the lot of fish for 75 gallons. 3 Clownfish, 1 saddle puffer, 1 fuzzy lionfish 1.5 inches, and one small bi-color angle fish, 1 snowflake eel. Are you saying that the tank is over populated? That sucks because I barely see any fish. They are all very small.

Oxygenation -- I thought a protein skimmer gave lot of oxygenation, I also have a wave maker pointed at the surface.

PH is 8.1
Ammonia is 0

 

[MnFish1]

still learning but wanted to discuss the lot of fish for 75 gallons. 3 Clownfish, 1 saddle puffer, 1 fuzzy lionfish 1.5 inches, and one small bi-color angle fish, 1 snowflake eel. Are you saying that the tank is over populated? That sucks because I barely see any fish. They are all very small.

Oxygenation -- I thought a protein skimmer gave lot of oxygenation, I also have a wave maker pointed at the surface.

PH is 8.1
Ammonia is 0

Great - then that means oxygen should not be an issue. (and usually there would be other symptoms as well)

I think the bigger point is - thats a lot of fish to be added within 7 weeks - and 3 others have died. I would say the puffer, lion fish and bicolor and eel are what I would call 'difficult' fish for a new reefer.

A couple more questions - any possible toxins? on your hands - in the room, etc.

BTW I meant to ask - how big was the tang. If it was small - is it possible it was attacked by the eel overnight. I see multiple white scratches under the dorsal fin.

 

[kadamik]

ok that helps on "lot of fish added in 7 weeks" Yeah I was trying to recreate a tank I had 25 years ago and those are the fish I had and kept for over 2 years before I moved and sold everything.

Toxins -- I am pretty good about rinsing my hands and drying them good before i go near the aquarium. I do have 2 kids age 6 and 10 and no telling if they have done anything. I have talked to them about it so I am hoping they have not put anything in it.

We done use any cleaning products within 10 ft of the aquarium.

Question on the eel. Why do you classify it as difficult? It seems pretty hardy and keeps to itself. The only problem I had was the PB Tang was really aggressive towards it, but that calmed down after I moved some of the rocks. The eel is easy to feed and seems to just leave everyone alone. Just want to make sure I am not messing anything.

 

[MnFish1]

ok that helps on "lot of fish added in 7 weeks" Yeah I was trying to recreate a tank I had 25 years ago and those are the fish I had and kept for over 2 years before I moved and sold everything.

Toxins -- I am pretty good about rinsing my hands and drying them good before i go near the aquarium. I do have 2 kids age 6 and 10 and no telling if they have done anything. I have talked to them about it so I am hoping they have not put anything in it.

We done use any cleaning products within 10 ft of the aquarium.

Question on the eel. Why do you classify it as difficult? It seems pretty hardy and keeps to itself. The only problem I had was the PB Tang was really aggressive towards it, but that calmed down after I moved some of the rocks. The eel is easy to feed and seems to just leave everyone alone. Just want to make sure I am not messing anything.

Great - I was not thinking a toxin was likely - given the situation. Second I was under the impression that you had only been reefing for 7 weeks - as compared to your prior experience. The care of the eel is 'easy' on its own. its when it starts bugging other fish - especially if they are smaller. They tend to hunt at night - as compared to seeing open aggression during the day.

 

[kadamik]

Great - I was not thinking a toxin was likely - given the situation. Second I was under the impression that you had only been reefing for 7 weeks - as compared to your prior experience. The care of the eel is 'easy' on its own. its when it starts bugging other fish - especially if they are smaller. They tend to hunt at night - as compared to seeing open aggression during the day.

I had 2 years of past experience but I purchased the aquarium used and fully setup with all the fish in it, so I never had any problems with it. Nothing bad ever happened in that 2 year period so I really didn't learn anything.

Thank you so much for your help with everything. I have decided to dose with Rally Pro and see how that goes.