Sailfin Tang - Lethargic and not eating

[mdbronco]

Hello,

I have a single fish (sailfin tang juvenile) that is housed in a 100 gallon tank currently, soon to be upgraded in size. Tank has been running for 4 months, and only inverts are his roommates for now. No other fish and have only had this fish for 2 weeks. At the LFS he was an extremely active eater and has been for me as well until today. I woke up to him swimming at the surface very slowly, listing side to side, and breathing very heavily. His dorsal fin is depressed, however nothing is visible on him (yet) and his coloring is still vibrant. He no longer stays in his "apartment" and just sort of floats around per the current. Super depressing....

I increased water agitation and that did seem to help slightly, but still no interest in eating. I've tried pellets, red seaweed strips, and frozen brine. I've also removed carbon just in case. Any thoughts?

Nitrite-0
Ammonia-0
pH- 8.2
salinity- 1.026
temperature- 78.5f (26 C)
Nitrate- 5
Alk - 8

 

[HotRocks]

He is likely to have an affliction of some parasitic sort.

How long ago did he stop eating?

I'm assuming you didn't QT based on the fact that he is already in the DT and you have had the fish only for a couple weeks.

It's possible he was being held in sub-therapeutic copper at the LFS. Enough to supress parasites, but not erradicate and now they are overwhelming him.

 

[Humblefish]

Is he trying to swim into the flow of one of your pumps? Any scratching, head twitching, flashing??

 

[mdbronco]

Thanks for the reply. I held him at LFS for about a month actually where he was on his own since my QT wasn't up and running yet (it now is).

He just stopped eating today basically. Had a few nibbles in the morning but that's it.

 

[mdbronco]

Is he trying to swim into the flow of one of your pumps? Any scratching, head twitching, flashing??

Not really. Just sort of drifting along slowly, and slowly letting the current push him around for the most part. Not struggling to swim, just not trying too hard.

 

[mdbronco]

I guess my next question would be, should I put him in quarantine and treat (without seeing any identifying markings to be 100% certain what I'd be treating), or keep in the DT and wait to see what transpires?

 

[mdbronco]

Well that was quick. Seemed fine last night at 10 pm, woke up at was "off" this morning, and dead now. No equipment or major changes and no markings on his body that I can point to. I guess I'll run fallow for a few months (again) and start over in QT. I really liked that fish...

 

[cancun]

Oh wow! I was following along! Sorry for your loss! Crazy how fast they can go down hill.....like fine and eatting one day, and dead the next! Drives me crazy when that happens!

 

[4FordFamily]

Did you test your ammonia?

 

[mdbronco]

Yes - ammonia was 0. I tested when I noticed him a bit off in the morning, did a small (3%) water change just to be safe anyways and retested in the afternoon (0) and all other params in-line. So who knows.

 

[mdbronco]

Here’s a picture if anyone is interested for future reference. The faded belly area is the same on both sides so I’m pretty sure it’s just decomposition.