Something is wrong with my tangs eye. Please help!

[Perpetual Novice]

I have no idea what to make if this. I tried to take a photo but I couldn’t get anything usable so I took a video.

here is the video.
I have no idea what happened or what to do about it. The fish was added just over a week ago and there has been no signs of aggression in the tank whatsoever.

 

[DLHDesign]

May have been due to scraping on a rock or something else in the tank.

Can't make it out in the video, but do you notice any damage to the eye itself? Doesn't seem to be bothering the fish much - seems more spooked by you taking the video than anything with the wound.

Short of any noticeable signs of further damage, the thing to look out for is bacterial infection in or around a wound. The first step there is to prevent any infection - clean water, nutritious food, and vitamin supplements (Selcon or the like) will all help the fish to heal quickly. There are anti-bacterial medications, but using them can often cause more harm than good until there is obvious signs of problems, so I would suggest avoiding that for now. Not a bad idea to pick up some Ruby Reef Rally if you don't already have some as this is a good general treatment for these situations (as a dip).

Keep an eye out (ha!) for aggression. Even if there wasn't any before, the Kole may be more nervous in the tank than would be usual, which could bring out opportunistic aggression. Have a plan for capture and separation (QT tank, sump, etc.) just in case.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Look like injury. Should heal if fed quality diet. Is it eating?

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Looks like it scraped against a rock and peeled back the outer protective layer of its right eye. Most likely from getting spooked.

As long as the damage is not too severe, it should heal up on it's own, but there is a chance it will lose sight in that eye. Just make sure your water parameters are in check and hopefully the fish is eating well. If so it'll likely be just fine.

 

[Perpetual Novice]

the tang is very healthy. my tank has ich and every new addition gets a bit of it at first. my strain of ich seems pretty benign and the tang just finished losing the first wave without breaking a sweat. it eats like a madman and gets along with everyone. i will try to get a better photo later. this literally just showed up. I have been paying close attention to the tang since arrival and this thing wasn't there just a few hours ago. It has the same yellow color as the skin around its eye. it honestly looks like a layer of its eye was torn off as cringy as that sounds. but i can't discern whether anything is wrong with the rest of the eye if something did tear off. do eyes heal?

 

[Perpetual Novice]

Looks like it scraped against a rock and peeled back the outer protective layer of its right eye. Most likely from getting spooked.

As long as the damage is not too severe, it should heal up on it's own, but there is a chance it will lose sight in that eye. Just make sure your water parameters are in check and hopefully the fish is eating well. If so it'll likely be just fine.

ahhh. well, that confirms my fears. but also puts me at ease knowing it can heal.

 

[Perpetual Novice]

it is being fed spiralina brine with vitachem and sometimes nori. it also eats a fair amount of algae off the rocks as expected.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

the tang is very healthy. my tank has ich and every new addition gets a bit of it at first. my strain of ich seems pretty benign and the tang just finished losing the first wave without breaking a sweat. it eats like a madman and gets along with everyone.

There is no benign strain of ich. IT's the fish's immune system overcoming the parasite. If possible, you should setup a temporary tank and pull all your fish out and leave the display tank and sump (if equipped) fallow for at least 72 days to starve out and kill off the Ich parasites. While in the temp tank you can treat with copper or use the tank transfer method if you have room for two temporary tanks.

 

[Perpetual Novice]

There is no benign strain of ich. IT's the fish's immune system overcoming the parasite. If possible, you should setup a temporary tank and pull all your fish out and leave the display tank and sump (if equipped) fallow for at least 72 days to starve out and kill off the Ich parasites. While in the temp tank you can treat with copper or use the tank transfer method if you have room for two temporary tanks.

well, not benign of course. none are but some are more vicious than others I think.

Either way, there aren't that many fish in the tank and none have visible symptoms beyond the first week or two of being introduced. there is also a baby hippo tang happily living in the tank while I wait for it to grow enough for my large display. I did Fallow for my other tank and decided it wasn't worth the effort at the end of the day.

Obviously the ich is still in this smaller tank forever unless I take action, but I haven't had an outbreak yet and I'm ready to take appropriate action to quarantine fish if I think the parasite is overwhelming them.