Quick question about naso tang weight loss

[KYnewbee42103]

I have had a male blonde naso tang for 2 yrs who has been a bulletproof fish, even beat ich twice! He has started growing streamers eats like a pig!

Lately I can see his ribs starting to make a little shadow on his sides. And noticed a little belly pinching if I don’t feed him constantly. I have never seen his ribs before as he stays very fat and healthy gets nori soaked in garlic and selcon every other day with his buddy a purple tang.

Could he have an internal parasite? is it growing pains puberty lol? He still eats like crazy always hungry as a hostage! I just bought seachem metroplex and focus just in case.

Should I go ahead and do a course of anti-parasite medicated food. My hesitation is he is in a very very deep mixed reef tank and it’s got lps and sps corals and he’s impossible to catch!

would this treatment mixed into food hurt my corals? I have a very efficient filtration system and have a maintenance guy who helps me with weekly RODI 10% water changes and sock changes.

 

[Greg P]

I'm by no means a fish parasite expert. Does sound like an internal parasite/worm. What does the fish's poop look like?

Metro won't hurt your reef if dosed correctly. If you're worried about your corals etc consider running some carbon while running the dosing schedule.
Use the focus and try to ensure the naso gets the bulk of the feeding.
I've had success doing so with the circulation turned off.

@Jay Hemdal

 

[KYnewbee42103]

I'm by no means a fish parasite expert. Does sound like an internal parasite/worm. What does the fish's poop look like?

Metro won't hurt your reef if dosed correctly. If you're worried about your corals etc consider running some carbon while running the dosing schedule.
Use the focus and try to ensure the naso gets the bulk of the feeding.
I've had success doing so with the circulation turned off.

@Jay Hemdal

Thanks for the advice!

Have not seen his usual cattle sized logs lately… but I travel a lot so I’ll try and pay more attention. Man that’s good to know about the meds. I will try a five-10 day course of medicine and mix some nori flakes in with the frozen so i make sure he and his buddies who are veggie lovers get it.

I’ll drop a bag of carbon in and dial back my NOPOX doser so I don’t drop the phosphate and nitrates too low my bounce mushrooms and a few other softies hate zero levels!

im sure if one has it they all do? Some of my tangs run after each others poo and eat a bite or two before they figure out it’s not apple butter! Lol!
so chances are the others haven’t dropped as much weight as they are half his size?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I have had a male blonde naso tang for 2 yrs who has been a bulletproof fish, even beat ich twice! He has started growing streamers eats like a pig!

Lately I can see his ribs starting to make a little shadow on his sides. And noticed a little belly pinching if I don’t feed him constantly. I have never seen his ribs before as he stays very fat and healthy gets nori soaked in garlic and selcon every other day with his buddy a purple tang.

Could he have an internal parasite? is it growing pains puberty lol? He still eats like crazy always hungry as a hostage! I just bought seachem metroplex and focus just in case.

Should I go ahead and do a course of anti-parasite medicated food. My hesitation is he is in a very very deep mixed reef tank and it’s got lps and sps corals and he’s impossible to catch!

would this treatment mixed into food hurt my corals? I have a very efficient filtration system and have a maintenance guy who helps me with weekly RODI 10% water changes and sock changes.

It is highly unlikely that a two year captive tang will suddenly show with worm parasites. It could be internal protozoans, but that is fairly rare to see as well.

Skip the metro in focus - it cannot work unless you calculate the proper dose. You need to mix up the food so that it contains 5000 ppm metronidazole per quantity of food. You'll need a gram scale for that.

Can you post a picture and short video of the fish?
Are you certain you are feeding enough?

Jay Hemdal

 

[KYnewbee42103]

I’ll try and get a video posted soon as I’m traveling

 

[KYnewbee42103]

It is highly unlikely that a two year captive tang will suddenly show with worm parasites. It could be internal protozoans, but that is fairly rare to see as well.

Skip the metro in focus - it cannot work unless you calculate the proper dose. You need to mix up the food so that it contains 5000 ppm metronidazole per quantity of food. You'll need a gram scale for that.

Can you post a picture and short video of the fish?
Are you certain you are feeding enough?

Jay Hemdal

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I’m stepping up the feedings. I’m sorry for the latency in my response been traveling & I live in a town in KY that just got devastated by the tornadoes. I haven’t had wifi or internet in a few days lucky I had battery backup on my tank!

Here’s a quick video of the fish in question. I run a Pentair UV sterilization unit on my tank also if that matters? I did instruct my fish sitter to start that cycle of metroplex and focus before reading your reply. he the Nasso is on day 5 of that and starting to plump back up, not sure if that did it or the fact I’ve upped his daily feedings? Thank you in advance.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

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I’m stepping up the feedings. I’m sorry for the latency in my response been traveling & I live in a town in KY that just got devastated by the tornadoes. I haven’t had wifi or internet in a few days lucky I had battery backup on my tank!

Here’s a quick video of the fish in question. I run a Pentair UV sterilization unit on my tank also if that matters? I did instruct my fish sitter to start that cycle of metroplex and focus before reading your reply. he the Nasso is on day 5 of that and starting to plump back up, not sure if that did it or the fact I’ve upped his daily feedings? Thank you in advance.

The naso has good body mass, even a bit portly. I think just upping the feedings should help. Many fish live with parasites in the wild, they just eat enough to compensate with a higher caloric intake.

Jay

 

[KYnewbee42103]

The naso has good body mass, even a bit portly. I think just upping the feedings should help. Many fish live with parasites in the wild, they just eat enough to compensate with a higher caloric intake.

Jay

Thank you Jay!

I’ve just never seen his ribs before so I got a little stressed out. He’s acting fine maybe I’m just being an overprotective parent lol!