New tang flashing, Stress induced?

[emseeKAY]

I just added a small 3" yellow tang to my tank about a week ago. I did my weekly water change and today I noticed the tang and only the tang flashing here and there. I did note that my ATO was not kicking in and my salinity crept up to about 1.030 since the heat is on for the winter and the evaporation was really going. Can the flashing be caused by stress due to the higher SG in the tank? no other fish seemed stressed although I'm sure they were. Everything has been corrected now and the tang still seems to be flashing, however it is still eating as normal and does not appear to have any laboured breathing . No white spots or ich visible. Admittedly, I did not quarantine this guy as I should have... TIA.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I've never heard of fish flashing due to a salinity rise or fall. How often to you see it happen? I generally tell people that while a mammal scratches due to dry skin, fish flashing a lot is due to disease. When the ATO stopped, did your sump catch air?

The timing is about right for flukes to be a possibility. At first, the only symptom may be scratching. What else is in your tank? One option might be a praziquantel treatment, if you have that available in your area.

Jay

 

[emseeKAY]

I've never heard of fish flashing due to a salinity rise or fall. How often to you see it happen? I generally tell people that while a mammal scratches due to dry skin, fish flashing a lot is due to disease. When the ATO stopped, did your sump catch air?

The timing is about right for flukes to be a possibility. At first, the only symptom may be scratching. What else is in your tank? One option might be a praziquantel treatment, if you have that available in your area.

Jay

2 clowns and a lawn mower blenny, unfortunately I'm in Canada and can't get praziquantal. I'm thinking I might have to do a fw dip a few times which may be stressful. It's not constant, just here and there. I may see if anyone in my local area has any leftover prazipro or something. I'm taking the dogs to the vet this week and can see if she will be willing to write a script or not.

 

[emseeKAY]

Sorry about the flickering, I'm not sure how to change the frame rate/speed on this phone for the videos.

I ordered him online and he came fairly thin, still eating well as of right now. Left side of his body is showing some wear from rub. He's still very active and I'd say favours this side as territory in the tank but will swim back and forth.

Lesson learned, QT all new arrivals.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Yes - it is thin, and the rushing/flashing sure is reminiscent of flukes. Be sure to feed it small amounts, very often. Having some air dried algae for it to graze on (if it will take it) would help. A FW dip will buy you some time, and will help you confirm if it is indeed flukes.

Jay

 

[emseeKAY]

Yes - it is thin, and the rushing/flashing sure is reminiscent of flukes. Be sure to feed it small amounts, very often. Having some air dried algae for it to graze on (if it will take it) would help. A FW dip will buy you some time, and will help you confirm if it is indeed flukes.

Jay

Sounds good. Do you happen to know of any options without prazipro? I've been doing my research and will be asking my vet but that's a long shot at best... Canada sucks...

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

No really good options other than prazi. You should do a FW dip to confirm that this even is flukes. It is then possible to outrun flukes by moving the fish back and forth between clean tanks, with a FW dip in between.
Jay

 

[emseeKAY]

UPDATE:

I ordered prazipro online. Being in Canada it got here after a few weeks. In the meantime I had added a cleaner shrimp. The tang hung out with the shrimp and he seemed to clean him fairly often.

Its been a couple weeks now and noticing no flashing at all. Prazipro was delivered and I've decided to hold off for now. None of my fish are flashing (it had only been the YT anyways). No signs of ich, velvet or any other parasites. Also set up a QT tank.

 

[dvgyfresh]

I’ve found that loading up the foods with vitamins usually is the best I use selcon , I had a splendid dottyback that was flashing and Prazipro / metroplex didn’t quite cure, but after introducing vitamin enriched foods no more flashing