Coral Beauty w/ White Lips

[t.mehoves]

I do not recall seeing anything wrong with him yesterday. Just noticed him with white lips. Was swimming around mostly on one side of 75g. Turned gyres off to see if he eats and he swam to other side and plopped down. At least I can get a picture here. As I’m typing he is now back on other side where he normally hangs out. Had the fish for 3 days now. Just moved purple tang that was in the tank to my 125g (only fish atm there) as I feared maybe he was bullying. There’s also a foxface, lawnmower blend, goby, fire shrimp, pistol shrimp, hybrid clownfish,

 

[t.mehoves]

Found him upside down under intake and upon netting he does seem to go upright when he wants to but not swimming so well. Moved to quarantine tank

 

[Jekyl]

Stolen from Humblefish:

"Looks like a bacterial infection.

I recommend combining Furan-2 + Seachem Sulfaplex (or API Triple Sulfa) in a QT. The sulfa drugs seem to do better for treating mouth infections"

 

[t.mehoves]

Stolen from Humblefish:

"Looks like a bacterial infection.

I recommend combining Furan-2 + Seachem Sulfaplex (or API Triple Sulfa) in a QT. The sulfa drugs seem to do better for treating mouth infections"

Yeah that’s what I saw along with a few other older posts. Was searching before posting but didn’t like the outcome of any of those threads, think they all died

Local Fish Store is an hour away and currently at work, stopped at home to get something to eat. He tanked fast, maybe I stressed him out more grabbing purple tang out. He was active and I had to shoo him away from the net a few times. As soon as I killed the gyres to see if he would eat, he did what I said in OP.

He’s now on side in QT, heavy breathing. I have ton of rock and 3 emerald crabs in QT right now so not practical. Have a feeling crabs are going to get hungry here in a minute.

This is my current meds on hand. Any of these work?

 

[MnFish1]

If it is a bacterial infection. kanamycin would work. I'm assuming you didn't use any copper/prazipro? The fact that his behavior is so off, and as you said going down hill quickly may suggest another illness. is the breathing ok? Any other symptoms? If I'm recalling correctly - Coral beauties have not been doing well. @Jay Hemdal? Any medication will do better in a hospital tank.

 

[t.mehoves]

I dosed kanaplex, but as I was dosing I noticed a motion that looked like seizing? He bopped around and is now dead.

The 3 crabs was in my sight the whole time, was going to dose and then move them. One found him in the time I walked away, but he was already dead at this point. Picture is probably worthless now that crab had a few minutes to feast.

 

[t.mehoves]

No copper, prazipro was used just prior to his introduction but not with him in tank. Had already done a water change and added Purigen/carbon to remove.

Also, I dosed Prazipro as it’s supposed to be so mild that can use for in case. I thought maybe tang had flukes the way his adhd is, fighting the current and zipping all over. Nothing changed after 2 doses (every 8 days) so didn’t bother with 3rd.

If it is a bacterial infection. kanamycin would work. I'm assuming you didn't use any copper/prazipro? The fact that his behavior is so off, and as you said going down hill quickly may suggest another illness. is the breathing ok? Any other symptoms? If I'm recalling correctly - Coral beauties have not been doing well. @Jay Hemdal? Any medication will do better in a hospital tank.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I dosed kanaplex, but as I was dosing I noticed a motion that looked like seizing? He bopped around and is now dead.

The 3 crabs was in my sight the whole time, was going to dose and then move them. One found him in the time I walked away, but he was already dead at this point. Picture is probably worthless now that crab had a few minutes to feast.

Sorry to see but I believe this was impact injury opposed to bacterial

 

[t.mehoves]

Sorry to see but I believe this was impact injury opposed to bacterial

That was my first thought, I kind of shrugged off the white lips and thought purple tang lip locked. Took forever to catch the tang waiting patiently for him to swim in front of my large net. That’s when I noticed his white lips. Starting searching for that thinking surely it had to be a fight, but was finding similar threads about fungal. Should have moved prior to introduction as planned I suppose.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

That was my first thought, I kind of shrugged off the white lips and thought purple tang lip locked. Took forever to catch the tang waiting patiently for him to swim in front of my large net. That’s when I noticed his white lips. Starting searching for that thinking surely it had to be a fight, but was finding similar threads about fungal. Should have moved prior to introduction as planned I suppose.

Just to add to this: coral beauties are very often collected with cyanide, and often have a high mortality rate, even without other issues. I do agree that this sort of "white lip" issue is usually caused by trauma during shipping/handling. If it were a bacterial infection, it would have taken a few days to develop, and the fish would have stopped eating, but then not have died from the infection for some time after that....

 

[Roatan Reef]

My Coral Beauty also had a spat of the white lips for about 2 weeks,,I was worried he was sick or something, but after the 2 weeks, he's just fine....normal lips now. He never showed any signs of illness.

I think he injured himself, as he loves to protect the caves in the rock work and will not let anyone except the Royal Gramma catch a spot to sleep in.

I think he just injured himself temporarily. He's 100% good now.