Yellow tang disintegrating?

TheShepherdTrio · Aug 19, 2021

We recently pulled our yellow tang out of a coppersafe treated quarantine tank and put him in our 210 gallon tank. The tang has been in the tank for a couple days and looks like this. He also is not eating. Any ideas what this is and how to treat it?

We currently have these medications on hand but can get anything that is recommended:
Kanaplex
Metroplex
Neoplex
Prazipro
Paraguard

Thanks for any help!!

renzema · Aug 19, 2021

Is there by chance other tangs or fish in the tank that are aggressive towards the new addition?

it almost looks like nip damage from another fish.

For example, one of my wrasses hated my powder brown and would nip it’s fins until they figured it out. Looked similar.

I do know yellow tangs can show HLLE in the fins but this seems to quick.

TheShepherdTrio · Aug 19, 2021

renzema said:
Is there by chance other tangs or fish in the tank that are aggressive towards the new addition?

it almost looks like nip damage from another fish.

For example, one of my wrasses hated my powder brown and would nip it’s fins until they figured it out. Looked similar.

There is a small powder brown but haven’t seen any aggressive behavior from them. Also haven’t seen any others nip at him.

renzema · Aug 19, 2021

Check when they are going to sleep. I’ve seen fish fight over sleeping spots but not show any aggression during the day.

personally as long as it’s eating and active I would just keep a close eye on it I would also make sure to feed vitamins/nori/quality food.

TheShepherdTrio · Aug 19, 2021

renzema said:
Check when they are going to sleep. I’ve seen fish fight over sleeping spots but not show any aggression during the day.

personally as long as it’s eating and active I would just keep a close eye on it I would also make sure to feed vitamins/nori/quality food.

He’s not eating. We’ve tried many things to get him to eat and he refuses everything. We’ve done nori, various types of sea veggies, different frozen cubes, frozen seaweed cubes, pellets, flakes, etc. We’ve also soaked things in garlic and vitamins and still won’t touch anything.

We’ve monitored things quite well and haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary with the other fish. We’ve watched the fish at all hours of the night and none of them are picking on each other. The yellow tang is the largest one in the tank.

The only other fish in the tank are 2 clowns, a powder brown, and a juvenile emporer angel

Tamberav · Aug 19, 2021

Perhaps something bacterial eating his fins away. Did he eat in QT?

I really like NFG for treating bacterial stuff.

renzema · Aug 19, 2021

If it was eating in QT, I would pull it and back into QT for observation.

Could be flukes but I don’t think so. Freshwater dip before qt would help.

if fin rot continues, you could do an hour bath in Ruby Reef Ralley and then Sulfaplex or Triple Sulfa works for fin rot.

Jay Hemdal · Aug 20, 2021

That does look like a secondary bacterial infection from some initial damage (either from another fish, or getting banged up during a move). Antibiotics would be the next thing to consider - a constant bath with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic. Flukes are also possible, as mentioned. A FW dip would help screen for those.

Jay

TheShepherdTrio · Aug 20, 2021

Tamberav said:
Perhaps something bacterial eating his fins away. Did he eat in QT?

I really like NFG for treating bacterial stuff.

What is NFG? He ate minimally in QT but we thought it might’ve been stress related from the copper treatment.

Jay Hemdal said:
That does look like a secondary bacterial infection from some initial damage (either from another fish, or getting banged up during a move). Antibiotics would be the next thing to consider - a constant bath with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic. Flukes are also possible, as mentioned. A FW dip would help screen for those.

Jay

For a bath, what would you recommend? Would you do a bath and a freshwater dip?

Sleeping Giant · Aug 20, 2021

Looks like the tang has ICH on it's fins. Might want to put it back in qt.

Jay Hemdal · Aug 20, 2021

Sleeping Giant said:
Looks like the tang has ICH on it's fins. Might want to put it back in qt.

That doesn't appear to be ich - too large and deep-seated. Mostly likely inflammation from an injury and on-going bacterial infection.

Jay

Tamberav · Aug 20, 2021

DogMom09 said:
What is NFG? He ate minimally in QT but we thought it might’ve been stress related from the copper treatment.

For a bath, what would you recommend? Would you do a bath and a freshwater dip?

Nitrofuracin Green. I use it as a bath. Should be instructions around here somewhere on how to do that.

Antibiotics are becoming hard to come by. Furan 2 is a good broad spectrum antibiotic but seems to have disappeared.

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TheShepherdTrio · Aug 24, 2021

Just thought I’d give an update. We decided to try the paraguard dosed in the tank. Within one day of treatment he began looking slightly better but he still didn’t have much of an appetite. After day 3, his appetite spiked and he’s been eating pretty well ever since. He’s fins are beginning to look significantly better and his color is becoming more vibrant too.