Rescued a purple tang need advice

[Kershaw]

hey every one. I just picked up a purple tang from a friend that has been in a neglected tank. It has not had a water change in 1 year and no skimmer just live rock and a hang on filter. He is fat and active but has white on face around eyes. And his tail fin has some small chunks missing. Just want to know what I can do to help him recover. He has been in tank for an our now and already out and about and dose not hide when I walk up to it. Any advice would help thanks

 

[Blue Lip]

Pictures? Offer it sea weed. Best thing you can do in my opinion is feed him/her a nutritional diet.

 

[Reef kid]

I hope he is in either a quarantine or the only fish in the tank, if he is sick with ick or velvet, which is what the white sounds like upon first hearing it. He could kill all the fish in your tank. If you get him healthy though that will be an awsome fish so good luck!

 

[melypr1985]

We need a picture to be sure, but it sounds to me like it could be the either just malnutrition or HLLE. Let's hope for malnutrition since that's pretty easy to fix.

 

[Reef kid]

Hadn't considered line disease, if that's the case I think you would be pretty good. Just feed him a lot like @melypr1985 said. I don't know if this is true with purple tangs, but carbon can cause an issue. I didn't believe this at first but the guy who runs the aquarium at our zoo told me they still have scars on some blue hippos that got pretty sick until they moved the carbon 10 years ago.

 

[Kershaw]

i will post pictures when I can. He has been out and eating but a bit shy if I get too close It dose not look like Ich I have had that in past tanks. An no it is not in a qt tank. If I could have one I would.

 

[Kershaw]

I'm pretty sure it's hlle line or malnutrition. It was in a small tank with two other large tangs. There was a tank crash and these fish where "temporarly rehomed" that lasted too long. I was told he was fighting with a yellow tang

 

[Reef kid]

Poor guy must've had a rough life. Sounds like he got beat up pretty bad, I hope you can get him back to health!

 

[Kershaw]

That's the plan. I'll post pictures and keep progress up to date. Right now he is eating seaweed. I'm trying to stay away from tank to let him settle in

 

[Reef kid]

We have a Lfs who has a bunch of sick tangs with hlle and line and who knows what. It bothers me so bad that I just want to set up a 37 gal as a quarantine and offer them ten dollars for one or two just to try and save them. I hate seeing fish go through that.

 

[Kershaw]

Here are few. Best I can get with out adding stress

 

[melypr1985]

I can't see much with the blues on. I do see the ratty tail though. For now focus on nutrition.... he looks like he's not skinny so that's a plus. Tomorrow when the white lights are on try to get a picture..... as close and clear as possible.

 

[Kershaw]

Anoher

 

[Kershaw]

Yea I think he will be better tomorrow as far as posing for picture.

 

[melypr1985]

I can see a little more of what your talking about. the lighter patches above the eyes. It does seem like HLLE.... I do look forward to pictures tomorrow though.

 

[Triggreef]

One thing you can try is selcon dropped onto nori prior to feeding the nori. Let it soak into the nori but be careful with it, you don't want to fowl your water. Your corals and other life will also benefit.

If you have access to live black worms, that is the healthiest thing you can feed any fish. The make up of blackworms is closest to live fish than anything else you can feed. Just ask @Paul B

Also it's a time consuming process to have a fish come back from that. It may be a solid year before those spots go away, but it can if you keep up with it and feed it proper nutrition.

 

[Triggreef]

Also see my live black worm thread for an easy effective way to keep them.

 

[Kershaw]

Well the white has just about faded and the lines look dark almost like a scare. I will call around tomorrow for black worms. There about 6 lfs in my area. So I will try and find some of not I will see if I can order some. I use silcon on my food about every other day. I will start putting it on my nori.

 

[hybridazn]

Def keep up good water quality and feed plenty of quality foods. It should rebound. The scarring around the eyes might not ever completely heal, but it will heal up some for sure.

Best of luck!

 

[Kershaw]

Thanks. He seems to have great personality already. Really surprised how much he is out right now.