PBT in trouble

griff500 · Apr 11, 2019

I have had it for several years and it was fine until a couple of weeks ago – very fat, healthy with great colour. Now it is losing some of its colour from the base of its stomach and is covered in some type of parasite. Help please!

4FordFamily · Apr 11, 2019

The pictures are very grainy, but I suspect flukes, brook, and or/velvet.

Let's start with a freshwater dip in a dark bucket, report back if you see any "sesame seeds" (flukes) in the bottom of the dark bucket.

Halal Hotdog · Apr 11, 2019

Have you added any new fish to the system?

griff500 · Apr 11, 2019

4FordFamily said:
The pictures are very grainy, but I suspect flukes, brook, and or/velvet.

Let's start with a freshwater dip in a dark bucket, report back if you see any "sesame seeds" (flukes) in the bottom of the dark bucket.

It's tough to get a decent picture. It looks like the skin is disintegrating - threads hanging off him, colour completely gone from the bottom of his body. I doubt he would survive a freshwater dip but maybe I've got no choice now.

griff500 · Apr 11, 2019

Halal Hotdog said:
Have you added any new fish to the system?

I have but he had some spots prior to that. I just thought it was a little bit of ich, which he has been through before and hasn't shown any signs of for a couple of years

griff500 · Apr 11, 2019

I also have a Purple and Yellow tang in the tank - they had some spots but not much and don't really seem to be showing any symptoms now.

Halal Hotdog · Apr 11, 2019

Take a look at brooklynella, is that the strings you are describing? I am not a fan of living with parasites. No matter what happens with PBT I would recommend medicating all fish and running DT fallow.

ccombs · Apr 11, 2019

4FordFamily said:
The pictures are very grainy, but I suspect flukes, brook, and or/velvet.

Let's start with a freshwater dip in a dark bucket, report back if you see any "sesame seeds" (flukes) in the bottom of the dark bucket.

Agreed with @4FordFamily , my immediate thought was flukes or velvet. 4FordFamily will steer you in the right direction so I will let him take it from here diagnosis wise.

Do you have a QT and medicines on hand? If not, I would recommend getting a cheap tank from petco set up and finding the following 5 medications as they will cover a wide range of problems and you might need them depending on diagnosis here. (They are also good to have on hand in general)

1) Copper Power (or Cupramine if you can't get that quick)
2) API Furan-2
3) Hikari Metroplex
4) Seachem Kanaplex
5) PraziPro

Copper treats everything from ich to velvet

Furan-2, Metro and Kanaplex is sort of a trifecta of antibiotics that will cover most bacteria infections and/or secondary infections from treatment.

Prazipro will cover flukes

Best of luck to you!

justmee · Apr 11, 2019

griff500 said:
I have but he had some spots prior to that. I just thought it was a little bit of ich, which he has been through before and hasn't shown any signs of for a couple of years

It's most likely your new fish brought some kind of disease in, PBT has such thin skin that it is always the first fish to get sick and to tell you if you have any disease in your tank.

Really sad to see your PBT that way. Good luck!

4FordFamily · Apr 11, 2019

griff500 said:
It's tough to get a decent picture. It looks like the skin is disintegrating - threads hanging off him, colour completely gone from the bottom of his body. I doubt he would survive a freshwater dip but maybe I've got no choice now.

This sounds like brook and/or infections. Metroplex treats brook, but I suspect ich or velvet in addition, it's also likely that you have a fish with infections secondary to the parasites.

I also agree, you'll need to treat all fish. It's a matter of time. This tank will need to remain fishless for 76 days.

griff500 · Apr 11, 2019

Sigh. I’ve got no quarantine and ten fish. Perhaps the new fish brought in something when he already had a small bit of ich, which he has dealt with before. You can see how great he was looking in my build thread.

justmee · Apr 11, 2019

Tang are ich magnets. If I were you, I would start setting up a treatment tank for your other fishes especially for your purple and yellow tangs as soon as possible...

griff500 · Apr 11, 2019

justmee said:
Tang are ich magnets. If I were you, I would start setting up a treatment tank for your other fishes especially for your purple and yellow tangs as soon as possible...

I know. As I said, he'd had it a couple of years ago and got over it with no signs since then. The Yellow and Purple got a few spots and then seemed fine - they always seem to shrug it off far quicker. It always took the PBT longer. None of this is particularly unusual as far as I am aware. What I am surprised by is how this has developed, although I think it's perhaps something else by now. Considering how bad the PBT is I'm surprised to see zero symptoms (including behavioural) with the other Tangs.

I've no idea how big a quarantine tank I'd need for all of my fish, how I'd handle water quality for that many fish or where on earth I would put it. I've got three tangs, Cleaner, Tamarind and Diamond Tail Wrasse, a pair of Lineatus Wrasse and a pair of Picasso Clowns

justmee · Apr 11, 2019

griff500 said:
I've no idea how big a quarantine tank I'd need for all of my fish, how I'd handle water quality for that many fish or where on earth I would put it. I've got three tangs, Cleaner, Tamarind and Diamond Tail Wrasse, a pair of Lineatus Wrasse and a pair of Picasso Clowns

I used to have 12 fish that I had to treat, I had a spare 20 gallon that I used to treat all the fishes, and it did the job.

griff500 · Apr 11, 2019

justmee said:
I used to have 12 fish that I had to treat, I had a spare 20 gallon that I used to treat all the fishes, and it did the job.

Did those 12 fish include 3 tangs? It's a lot of poop and seems like a small space for my fish to be confined to for 76 days or so. Would that even work? Managing water quality?

griff500 · Apr 11, 2019

The Purple Tang has a very cloudy eye. No other signs on him yet. Yellow has a bit of cloudiness in his eye.

I can see where this is going...

I've no idea how I can quarantine them and maintain water quality for the required period of time, tank size needed, where I'll be able to put it. I guess there's a sticky somewhere.

justmee · Apr 11, 2019

griff500 said:
Did those 12 fish include 3 tangs? It's a lot of poop and seems like a small space for my fish to be confined to for 76 days or so. Would that even work? Managing water quality?

It included 4 tangs about 3-4" big (PBT, Yellow, Kole, and Hippo).

Forgot to mention, changed 20% of water every 3 days so there won't be any problems with ammonia.

griff500 · Apr 11, 2019

justmee said:
It included 4 tangs about 3-4" big (PBT, Yellow, Kole, and Hippo).

And they were all in a 20-gallon tank for 76 days or so? No problems?

griff500 · Apr 11, 2019

Just checked my build thread and the PBT showed the first signs of an issue on 15 March. Just a few spots that I fully expected him to shrug off. This was him around 05 February in perfect condition and having had no issues for a couple of years or so...