Purple Tang coming around...what do I do next?!

tgrick · Feb 12, 2018

I pulled my purple tang out of the hospital tank on day 25. He was being treated for velvet using CP as were many other fish. My issue was that he stopped eating on day 12 or so of treatment and he developed a small lump around his stomach area. Now the good news...

As mentioned, I took him out on day 25 and put him in a clean tank with no meds. I waited 2 days to see if he would start eating. He did not. I tried live brine and nothing. In desperation and with nothing to lose I started treatment with antibiotics...Kanaplex, Metroplex and Furan II. It's referred to as "Trifecta" around these forums.

Well...the little devil started eating again...like a pig! My current routine is I dose everything on the 1st day...do nothing the next day. Then on day 3 do a 50% water change and dose all again. I did not want to dose every 24 hours and I wanted to see how he would react.

Do you guys have any advice to do this differently? How long should I be treating him? It's working and I never want to do this again...it's a lot of work and worry. Any advice is helpful and as always thank you!

Highgrade · Feb 12, 2018

Sounds like it could be appetite suppression from the Meds. If there is a lump he may have had a blockage. You can try Epsom salt in your QT to help relieve any blockage. Make sure he's getting plenty of nori. Too much meaty foods could back him up.

tgrick · Feb 12, 2018

He started eating after I put him on "Trifecta." My main question is how long should I treat him? Again, he was not eating...zero. Today Monday is day 5 or antibiotics. I treated him Thursday with Trifecta and then again Saturday with it. So this is the 3rd dosage. The instructions say max 3...do I stop? Do I do this until day 10 and treat every other day like I have been doing? I just don't know what is best.

Thank you for any and all help.

Big G · Feb 12, 2018

Usually not a good idea to stop using antibiotics before completing normal treatment, which is 10-14 days. Sometimes bad things happen when you let some "bug" get back up to take another whack at your fish. Sounds like your treatment is working. If it were my fish I'd give it at least 10 full days.

tgrick · Feb 12, 2018

I agree 100% with not stopping too soon. My reason for asking is that Kanaplex says 3 treatments as an example. Metroplex says keep going! So what to do? It's certainly working as he is eating everything I put in there so I would hate to stop too soon and risk the infection coming back.

Big G · Feb 12, 2018

Perhaps Humblefish's wisdom will help. Here's his take on antibiotics. Notice where I underlined:

Antibiotics: Treats bacterial infections, which are oftentimes “secondary” to preexisting parasitic infestations.

How To Treat - Follow the directions on the label of whatever product you are using. Always use a broad spectrum antibiotic medication i.e. one that treats both gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial diseases (very important). Examples of this include Furan-2, Kanamycin aka Seachem Kanaplex, Nitrofuracin Green Powder, Triple Sulfa Powder or a combination of using both Erythromycin & Minocycline. The latter can be accomplished (albeit expensively) by using freshwater Maracyn 1 & 2 and then doubling the dosage for saltwater use. When battling a particularly nasty bacterial infection, combining Furan-2, Kanaplex and metronidazole (ex. Seachem MetroPlex) can be very effective (and safe). Props to “hedgedrew” for enlightening me of this.

Normally you have to do 4 doses to complete a full course of treatment. The instructions may say to dose every 24 hours, and perform water changes at certain intervals. In my experience, you often have to do 2 full courses of treatment (or 8 doses total) before a fish will show signs of improvement (antibiotics are notoriously slow acting with fish). If a fish shows no signs of improvement after the second full course, then it’s time to try a completely different medication. Just like with humans, sometimes a certain fish will respond better to a different antibiotic. You can run activated carbon at any time when you wish to end treatment.

Pros - One of the few medications that can safely be mixed with others. You can use antibiotics in conjunction with just about everything.

Cons/Side Effects - Appetite suppression, depletes the water of oxygen (so provide additional gas exchange).

tgrick · Feb 12, 2018

Big G,

That's exactly the info I need. THANK YOU! I will continue this for a while. I've been working really hard and SLOWLY to keep this tang alive. It's a great deal of effort and time when one has sick fish and not eating is just the worst. This is what he looked like BEFORE antibiotics. The small lump seems to be gone now.