Yellow tang bacterial infection

Falconer298 · May 19, 2021

I had my yellow tang in QT with cupramine, 0.5 checked with Hanna for about a week and it developed what looks like a bacterial infection. Wasn’t eating and was being really spooky. Pulled it out of copper, did a fresh water dip and placed in new tank to dose kanaplex and 24hrs later looked great and ate like a hog. Did 3 doses of kanaplex 2 days apart per the instructions. Pictures are 24 hrs apart.

Now that I’m hopefully done with the kanaplex do I need to remove it with carbon or do a big water change before going back to copper treatment? It’s in a 20g tank for QT.

Jay Hemdal · May 19, 2021

Kanaplex won’t really work that fast, I wonder if the erythemia you saw (common in YTs) was a reaction to something in the copper tank? I use coppersafe on YT and never had an issue, but IMO Cupramine is a bit trickier- never use a reducing agent like prime or amquel when using it, as that makes it more toxic. Interesting to see if it returns when you put it back in copper.
Oh, and ammonia can cause that in YT as well.
Jay

Falconer298 · May 19, 2021

Thanks Jay,

We will see what happens when I bring the copper up again. Do I need to do anything to clear the water of the kanaplex before adding copper?

JustinMN18 · Jul 15, 2021

Falconer298 said:
Thanks Jay,

We will see what happens when I bring the copper up again. Do I need to do anything to clear the water of the kanaplex before adding copper?

I legit hope you read this ASAP lol. How did this work out for you? My yellow tang in my DT started acting weird. Swimming weird, hiding under a rock in the shade constantly, and wouldn't eat anything except if a little bit of nori or chaeto flew right by it, then MAYBE it would eat.

I noticed a little bit of red on him. I have him in QT right now, copper being used in case it's something like ich or velvet.

Really curious how this turned out for you, or if you believe it was something other than bacterial.

Jay Hemdal · Jul 16, 2021

JustinMN18 said:
I legit hope you read this ASAP lol. How did this work out for you? My yellow tang in my DT started acting weird. Swimming weird, hiding under a rock in the shade constantly, and wouldn't eat anything except if a little bit of nori or chaeto flew right by it, then MAYBE it would eat.

I noticed a little bit of red on him. I have him in QT right now, copper being used in case it's something like ich or velvet.

Really curious how this turned out for you, or if you believe it was something other than bacterial.

Your fish may have different issues. If you want, you could start your own thread. Here is a link to some hints and tips on how to do that:

Some Helpful Hints When Posting or Responding to Threads in the Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis Section

Aquarium Fish Disease Problem Solving Determining the best course of action for a problem with your aquarium can be a difficult task. Even advanced aquarists will often need to seek the help of others for complicated or unique issues. Our intent here on Reef 2 Reef is to offer expert advice...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

Falconer298 · Jul 21, 2021

Jay Hemdal said:
Kanaplex won’t really work that fast, I wonder if the erythemia you saw (common in YTs) was a reaction to something in the copper tank? I use coppersafe on YT and never had an issue, but IMO Cupramine is a bit trickier- never use a reducing agent like prime or amquel when using it, as that makes it more toxic. Interesting to see if it returns when you put it back in copper.
Oh, and ammonia can cause that in YT as well.

Jay Hemdal said:

Kanaplex won’t really work that fast, I wonder if the erythemia you saw (common in YTs) was a reaction to something in the copper tank? I use coppersafe on YT and never had an issue, but IMO Cupramine is a bit trickier- never use a reducing agent like prime or amquel when using it, as that makes it more toxic. Interesting to see if it returns when you put it back in copper.
Oh, and ammonia can cause that in YT as well.
Jay

Click to expand...

Well a little update on this yellow tang. I set up another 20 gal. QT tank after the redness cleared up and just fed him for awhile, ate great, great color and activity. Got the coppersafe up to full dose over a few days and made it to day 14 and the patchy red spots around his tail started to show up again. Thought maybe we could power through it and by day 16 it was really red, like half the fish. Had another fresh tank ready to go so transferred the fish to a fresh tank with no copper after acclimating and trying to rinse it of any water from the previous tank as best I could. After a week was still looking bad, started furan-2, ran it for 4 doses, no improvement. Couple water changes and tried Kanaplex, after second dose there is slight improvement, fish still eating but not like a hog like it was, just discovered a light sort of fuzz on the sides of the fish can hardly see it so a picture won’t help much. Not sure what to do next?