Powder blue skinny

[q.o.kingss]

I have a small powder blue that eats, but doesn't get any meat on his bones. From top view, he looks like a tadpole. Full belly but skinny body. Ive been trying to give him metroplex on mysis once or twice a day but im not really sure he's eating it, he's shy. He will eat non medicated though. Any other alternatives to get rid of internal parasites?
Thank you!

 

[threebuoys]

Why do you suspect internal parasites as opposed to the fish just not eating enough? How long have you had him.

Frozen mysis or brine shrimp usually spur the fish to eat, but these frozen cube are mainly water and hold limited food value.
Some other frozen foods are higher in protein and fat content and can be selected base on the content labels.
I typically try to train new fish, including tangs, to eat pellets since they have a known food value and can be easily monitored when feeding to determine if they are actually eaten. I thaw a cube of mysis or brine shrimp the mix some New Life Spectrum mini pellets with the liquid. Once the pellets absorb some liquid, I feed the fish and my experience has been they adapt quickly

 

[q.o.kingss]

Why do you suspect internal parasites as opposed to the fish just not eating enough? How long have you had him.

Frozen mysis or brine shrimp usually spur the fish to eat, but these frozen cube are mainly water and hold limited food value.
Some other frozen foods are higher in protein and fat content and can be selected base on the content labels.
I typically try to train new fish, including tangs, to eat pellets since they have a known food value and can be easily monitored when feeding to determine if they are actually eaten. I thaw a cube of mysis or brine shrimp the mix some New Life Spectrum mini pellets with the liquid. Once the pellets absorb some liquid, I feed the fish and my experience has been they adapt quickly

He eats. Always has a full belly. Just doesn't retain any weight. I feed pe mysis (70% protein), nori with selcon, and high protein flakes. I have 22 tangs, all are fat pigs. Except him. There is absolutely 0 bullying. He swims around, grazes on the rocks, eats when i feed (except medicated), and i feed 3-4 times a day minimum on top of nori always on multiple clips. I go through 2 full sheets of nori a day.

 

[threebuoys]

He eats. Always has a full belly. Just doesn't retain any weight. I feed pe mysis (70% protein), nori with selcon, and high protein flakes. I have 22 tangs, all are fat pigs. Except him. There is absolutely 0 bullying. He swims around, grazes on the rocks, eats when i feed (except medicated), and i feed 3-4 times a day minimum on top of nori always on multiple clips. I go through 2 full sheets of nori a day.

Pardon me! With 22 tangs, I should be asking you for advice! I only have 3 at the moment. Wish I had room for more. I assumed you were new to the hobby since you have only recently joined R2R.

Sounds like you have a good handle on things. Hope you find a solution. By the way feeding medicated food can be difficult for at least a couple of reasons. First, some fish just do not like the taste of metro. Second, determining and administering the correct dose is very challenging. Several stickies on the "Fish Disease and Treatment Diagnosis" sub forum address these issues if you are interested.

 

[q.o.kingss]

Pardon me! With 22 tangs, I should be asking you for advice! I only have 3 at the moment. Wish I had room for more. I assumed you were new to the hobby since you have only recently joined R2R.

Sounds like you have a good handle on things. Hope you find a solution. By the way feeding medicated food can be difficult for at least a couple of reasons. First, some fish just do not like the taste of metro. Second, determining and administering the correct dose is very challenging. Several stickies on the "Fish Disease and Treatment Diagnosis" sub forum address these issues if you are interested.

Haha, im no expert, which is why I'm here, but i just don't know what to do with this guy. I successfully treated all my wrasses/ other fish (62 total so far) with metro food, but he just doesn't seem too keen on it even with lower doses.

 

[bushdoc]

I will interpolate my knowledge as a human doctor to treat fish .
Full belly would be unusual with internal parasites, usually person ( sorry, fish) should be emaciated too.
Could it be constipation? It does apparently exist in fish. Have you seen your Tang pooping?
Again, I am not trained as a vet, but there are remedies for fish constipation.

 

[q.o.kingss]

I will interpolate my knowledge as a human doctor to treat fish .
Full belly would be unusual with internal parasites, usually person ( sorry, fish) should be emaciated too.
Could it be constipation? It does apparently exist in fish. Have you seen your Tang pooping?
Again, I am not trained as a vet, but there are remedies for fish constipation.

I have not, but i dont sit and watch for it. I assumed the full belly was bc of all the food it eats, its not weirdly swollen or anything but lumpy like i usually see in fish that eat alot

 

[JPM San Diego]

Do you have a second tank that could serve as a quarantine tank. I have never been successful with frozen medicated food as my fish have chosen to starve instead of eating it. I presume it was due to the taste. In a quarantine tank you can medicate the entire water volume and the fish would receive treatment though the gills and any swallowed water.

 

[q.o.kingss]

I have not, but i dont sit and watch for it. I assumed the full belly was bc of all the food it eats, its not weirdly swollen or anything but lumpy like i usually see in fish that eat alot

Ill try and post a couple videos

 

[q.o.kingss]

They are in qt. From ehat ive ready though, you cant treat internal stuff by dosing the water

Do you have a second tank that could serve as a quarantine tank. I have never been successful with frozen medicated food as my fish have chosen to starve instead of eating it. I presume it was due to the taste. In a quarantine tank you can medicate the entire water volume and the fish would receive treatment though the gills and any swallowed water.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I have not, but i dont sit and watch for it. I assumed the full belly was bc of all the food it eats, its not weirdly swollen or anything but lumpy like i usually see in fish that eat alot

Tapeworms can cause emaciation but bloated bellies. Metro won’t help with that. Praziquantel or Fenbendazole will. However, oral dosing of fish medications must be done precisely - you can’t just mix some medication into the food and hope to get a proper dose. Metro is dosed at 1% in food, fed every 3 days for three treatments. Prazi is dosed at 50mg/ kg of fish weight in food every other day for three treatments.
You could try a whole tank prazi treatment, marine fish drink water and so can get the med that way.
That said, if this tang had tapeworms and none of the others did, that is surprising.
Many internal parasites can be managed be increasing the fish’s caloric intake.
Jay

 

[bushdoc]

Bony, marine fish are regulating their osmotic preassure by drinking sea waterconfounded-face:yak!) and secrete salt through the gills, so yes they will absorb medication from water.

 

[q.o.kingss]

Tapeworms can cause emaciation but bloated bellies. Metro won’t help with that. Praziquantel or Fenbendazole will. However, oral dosing of fish medications must be done precisely - you can’t just mix some medication into the food and hope to get a proper dose. Metro is dosed at 1% in food, fed every 3 days for three treatments. Prazi is dosed at 50mg/ kg of fish weight in food every other day for three treatments.
You could try a whole tank prazi treatment, marine fish drink water and so can get the med that way.
That said, if this tang had tapeworms and none of the others did, that is surprising.
Many internal parasites can be managed be increasing the fish’s caloric intake.
Jay

I already feed so heavily i dont think hed eat any more than he does. Nobody else is skinny, no abnormal poops that ive noticed. I have coppersafe running with them so i dont really want to dose anything else in the water unless its been proven safe to do so. I can try the Fenbendazole. But i dont really have a way to weigh a fish lol

 

[vetteguy53081]

I already feed so heavily i dont think hed eat any more than he does. Nobody else is skinny, no abnormal poops that ive noticed. I have coppersafe running with them so i dont really want to dose anything else in the water unless its been proven safe to do so. I can try the Fenbendazole. But i dont really have a way to weigh a fish lol

feeding heavilt should have helped but also questions. . . . what foods are you feeding ?

 

[q.o.kingss]

feeding heavilt should have helped but also questions. . . . what foods are you feeding ?

Pe mysis, nori with selcon, and ocean nutrition flakes with the highest protein. I do on occasion feed zucchini and spinach

 

[threebuoys]

I already feed so heavily i dont think hed eat any more than he does. Nobody else is skinny, no abnormal poops that ive noticed. I have coppersafe running with them so i dont really want to dose anything else in the water unless its been proven safe to do so. I can try the Fenbendazole. But i dont really have a way to weigh a fish lol

If you are interested, the following link shows how to estimate fish weight and how to mix oral meds/food.

Fish Weight Calculator / Medicated Fish Food Mix Calculator

If you follow threads on the Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis forum, you know that whenever oral medication is the recommended treatment, @Jay Hemdal cautions that achieving the proper dosage is critical to success. He often refers to his article Proper Dosing of Medicated Foods. That...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[vetteguy53081]

Pe mysis, nori with selcon, and ocean nutrition flakes with the highest protein. I do on occasion feed zucchini and spinach

Kind of what I suspected- Diet is inadequate.
Having 21 tangs, I feed as listed below. While you dont need to feed all these at once, you get the idea as to their requirements consisting of fats and aminos:
LRS herbivore diet
Formula 2 flake and frozen
TDO Pellets
small plankton
Hikari Marine cuisine
Ocean nutrition veggie diet
spirulina brine shrimp
mysis shrimp
Prime reef
Nori seaweed basted with garlic extract

Add selcon vitamins to foods occasionally

Typically in the freezer:

 

[bushdoc]

I know that disease of one of your fish is a worrying to you, but most of internal parasites, cannot spread to other fish in a fish tank as they need another intermediete host to reproduce. I hope your Tang will be on the way to recovery, especially with help of so many fish medics here!

 

[q.o.kingss]

Kind of what I suspected- Diet is inadequate.
Having 21 tangs, I feed as listed below. While you dont need to feed all these at once, you get the idea as to their requirements consisting of fats and aminos:
LRS herbivore diet
Formula 2 flake and frozen
TDO Pellets
small plankton
Hikari Marine cuisine
Ocean nutrition veggie diet
spirulina brine shrimp
mysis shrimp
Prime reef
Nori seaweed basted with garlic extract

Add selcon vitamins to foods occasionally

Typically in the freezer:

Not gonna lie, with as much food as i go through im not buying all of that, nor do i have space in the freezer
I thought the selcon was supposed to cover most of the nutritional needs they dont get from a standard diet? I can add a couple more things but not that much. Which would u narrow it down to? This is the only fish out of 62 thats thin. Everyone else you can get a nice fillet off em