Purple tang turning white quickly

oceaninabox12345 · Dec 11, 2018

I also put this in the tank emergency section, as i wanted quick answers, but i now see i should have put it here. I apologize for that!
So, I fed my tank as usual, and my purple tang ate from my hand as usual. I then moved a couple things around in the tank, spot fed some corals, and then i look and she has turned spotchy and white. Its getting worse by the minute. She is acting normal, which is weird. Even her eyes are turning white.

HotRocks · Dec 11, 2018

Is the tank light on? Tangs without light or under stress discolor. Can you upload a pic?

oceaninabox12345 · Dec 11, 2018

HotRocks said:
Is the tank light on? Tangs without light or under stress discolor. Can you upload a pic?

Yep, lights are on. It wouldnt let me send pictures but now it is. Now my sailfin tang is turning white. Please help me

mich2599 · Dec 12, 2018

Is the tang still white?

Reefahholic · Dec 13, 2018

Do you have any Palythoa in the system?

oceaninabox12345 · Dec 13, 2018

@Reefahholic @mich2599 im truly heartbroken. I dosed with prazipro about a week ago as my hippo tang was very bloated, and i believed they had internal worms. As soon as i put the correct dosage in, i watched my sailfins stomach twitch.. almost vibrate. It was horrifying. Yesterday i watched my purple tang turn white, then the sailfin turned white, then i saw one of my clownfish laying on the ground, dead. A hole by his gills. Then later that day the sailfin was dead. A massive hole by his gills.
Now my purple and hippo tang are gone. I cant find them anywhere. I believed all my fish have worms, so i dosed prazi in my other tank.. to now watch my diamond goby dying and my black clownfish dying. Missing/dead fish in tank 1: Firefish, purple tang, firefish, sailfin tang, clarkii clownfish, hippo tang.
Missing/dying fish in tank two: black clownfish and diamond goby.
Other fish seem to be ok.. for now. Ive done massive water changes in each. Water tests good. Yes, i do have palys.

mich2599 · Dec 13, 2018

Sorry for your loss.....

Do you QT them before adding them to display? When and what was the last addition?

Pbh-reef · Dec 14, 2018

I’m so sorry that’s horrible.

Liron Mishal · Dec 14, 2018

Wow, sorry to hear that..
You said it was just about after you put your hand in the water.
Are you using some kind of hand lotion by any chance?

Reefahholic · Dec 14, 2018

Doesn’t sound like a parasite. Sounds more like a predator! Did you use live rock? It could possibly be from the Palythoa or a severe bacterial infection but after you said “immediate” that rules out bacterial infection and leaves my to think predators or Palythoa toxin.

Julian Sprung had a cluster of Palythoa that nuked his whole take and almost took out a frag system after he moved them. You may wanna watch the video below and see if you have the same symptoms:

oceaninabox12345 · Dec 14, 2018

@Reefahholic @Liron Mishal @Pbh-reef @mich2599
I do not qt, and the last addition was 7 months ago. I bought a tank from a guy and on the way down the stairs it broke so i had to move all the fish into this tank as a last ditch effort to save them. They all made that disaster. Nope, i didnt have anything on my hands at the time. Yes, i use live rock. But wouldnt it effect my corals if it was a paly? Everything coral wise seems very happy right now.

oceaninabox12345 · Dec 14, 2018

Update: the remaining fish are now dead or dying. A cardinalfish ive had since i was 9 years old, two black clowns(one is currently grey) and a mated pair of bangaii cardinals. I still need to find the bodies of the purple tang, and firefish.

oceaninabox12345 · Dec 14, 2018

Theres a pic of the dead fish. The hippo tangs body was floating, the sailfins has a massive hole by the gills. Also i picked up the old cardinal with a net, and there was a small pink worm as soon as i picked him up.

Reefahholic · Dec 14, 2018

It's hard to say...I think it's a combination of a few things.

Katrina71 · Dec 14, 2018

I'm sorry for your losses

AquaLifeStudio · Dec 15, 2018

When you dosed Prazipro, what was your additional source of oxygenation to counteract the depletion that takes place? Do you run a skimmer?

It would seem to me that when you dosed the prazipro it immediately had its desired effect but during the massive die off of the infestation, perhaps the worms caused some massive internal damage to your fish as well.

Rython · Dec 15, 2018

That white area is pretty bizarre looking, the distribution of affected area is really strange. And the holes you describe, I don't think i've ever encountered someone describe anything similar and i've read a LOT of posts on these and other forums. What a terrible mystery. So sorry for your losses.

oceaninabox12345 · Dec 19, 2018

Rython said:
That white area is pretty bizarre looking, the distribution of affected area is really strange. And the holes you describe, I don't think i've ever encountered someone describe anything similar and i've read a LOT of posts on these and other forums. What a terrible mystery. So sorry for your losses.

Its alright... the two clownfish pulled through and so did the cardinalfish. So i mean i saved the 11 dollar fish. Ugh. I guess ill slowly work back up. Thank you guys so much for all the help