Baby yellow tang with gaping red gills on one side

[Miami Reef]

One side of the fish looks normal but the other side looks like the fish was stabbed with a knife. It’s a bright red color and really noticeable in person. The photos make it look more brown.

Tang is eating and only one side has this.

 

[Miami Reef]

You can see the difference in both sides of the fish

 

[JGT]

Pics?

You can see the difference in both sides of the fish

 

[Miami Reef]

Pics?

It’s up in the original post. I had to edit because the forum put the pictures in the wrong order.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

One side of the fish looks normal but the other side looks like the fish was stabbed with a knife. It’s a bright red color and really noticeable in person. The photos make it look more brown.

Tang is eating and only one side has this.

This is one of the captive raised YTs. Has it had this since you got it? Gill cover deformities are really common in captive raised fish. If this developed after you got the fish, then that isn’t it. However, that isn’t a symptom of any specific disease, and might be a bacterial infection that is eroding the operculum.
Jay

 

[Miami Reef]

This is one of the captive raised YTs. Has it had this since you got it? Gill cover deformities are really common in captive raised fish. If this developed after you got the fish, then that isn’t it. However, that isn’t a symptom of any specific disease, and might be a bacterial infection that is eroding the operculum.
Jay

He came like this. Do you think the tang will live a normal life?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I can’t really say - it depends on how well it can ventilate it’s gill on that side. I’ve never kept a captive raised YT, but I have had cichlids live fine with this deformity.
Jay

 

[brandon429]

Jay I have a question for you, hope this will help my new cycling friends based on your approximations


When folks build reefs and input fish from multiple sources without any preps at all, literally just adding them into the tank after acclimation, what % of the time does that turn out bad/fish losses say within the next 6-8 mos


would you for example expect fish losses in 80% of these arrangments, or less/more? I know it can't be pinpointed, but the rate of help posts per day in this forum suggests some form of predictability in skipping preps found in stickies here.


For example, when we turn out 15 more cycled reefs today across the forums, is it accurate if I tell my cycled new tank owners (just itching for those first two clowns) that their risk of zero disease prep + losses in the next six months is low, medium, high? Ive been telling them they're high, incredibly high risk, from skipping disease preps even if things seem normal in a two month old reef.

If i need to back that down to low risk in order to be accurate then I'll do just that. It seems that to skip the disease preps found in the links at the top, the stickies, and to not factor the first ten pages of posts here is literally asking for future fish loss, fast.

 

[Miami Reef]

Can I ask what makes fish die after 6-8 months? Is it because parasites reproduce to much larger populations in a small concentrated tank?

I don’t understand why they aren’t dying right now.

 

[brandon429]

Bc this tank is two months old, maladies are warming up barely.


consider the posts that come up daily here for disease help

study some patterns in them/ age of tank let me know if you feel there’s a very high incidence of all kinds of disease from skipping fallow and quarantine preps


I could be wrong in that assumption but it seems at least a decent starting point for tracking % likely outcomes

At what age was your reef when you noticed fish disease issues

team curious on appearance timing for general fish maladies based on tank age, thanks for your response.

www.reef2reef.com

if we started a poll of the #1 fish we could buy most likely to introduce cryptocarion into a reef Id be curious to know what species they’d select most

 

[brandon429]

* I would not expect your system to have latent disease issues merely by changing out the rocks for new rocks, hope that helps on clarifying risk sources. I can only see an issue if new fish have been added from non qt sources. Adding fish that come from quarantining / pre treating sources into your existing tank doesn’t seem to be much of a risk. Any new fish added after your new start would be the top risk it seems your unique large tank setup.

 

[Miami Reef]

if we started a poll of the #1 fish we could buy most likely to introduce cryptocarion into a reef Id be curious to know what species they’d select most

I have a question for you. Is ich the main parasite that you are afraid of? Is that the reason you quarantine? Because if I’m not mistaken, ich is not the parasite that kills fish; it’s velvet.

It’s already proven that healthy fish can fight ich. I think the main reason why fish perish is because they are in tanks. The parasites reproduce and grow to extreme population density and the fish can’t swim anywhere else.

That’s why I’m working with what I know to manage ich the best that I can. I’m feeding high quality varied food many many times a day. I recently used measurements to find out my tank size, and it came out to 250 gallons, which wasn’t as big as I thought it was.

Anyway, it only helps my case because I have an 80 watt UV sterilizer plumbed inside the display tank (most effective because in sump the same water gets turned over). My UV sterilizer is rated for 600 gallon tanks. It’s massive and I have it running 600 gal per hour. This decreases population of ich tremendously.

I did further research and learned that ich is 25 microns big. I went out and got 5 micron filter socks to use in my tank 24/7. This will also strain ich that passes the overflow and into the sump, which also greatly diminishes population size.

Do my fish show signs of ich? Yes. They do.

Why didn’t I just quarantine? Because it’s not reasonable for me. I can’t possibly quarantine everything that goes in my tank. Corals, inverts for 76 days?? Fish goes in copper for 1 month at a time?? Heck, I even get natural sea water changes. It’s just not realistic because people who quarantine can also get ich.

I know of this man who used to own a fish store. He currently has a tank with only tangs that he recently set up. He told me not one died.

People who quarantine are in the minority. I’m sure tangs wouldn’t be as popular if they all died from ich. There has to be a way to manage ich without quarantine.

Now, the reason I’m adding all my fish at a rapid pace is because I also learned that ich will eventually die out after a few years from inbreeding…as long as you don’t add any fish or sources of ich. That’s my goal.

I know what I’m doing is risky and unconventional, but I’m doing the most I can.

 

[brandon429]

all the rage lately is people buy only from sources that quarantine for them

if you count merely the first 13 threads on this forum about 8 or 9 have disease from new tanks, roughly 66% just by that rough sample. new tanks always have the highest incidence of disease here, whatever disease or parasite is at hand. the clowns alone seem to be associated with other diseases beyond ich for example, i read about brook and velvet as strong associations for those. its all a ratio and numbers game. UV is awesome, but since its not part of any of the stickies here we cant roll with that as a proven method, and certainly not well enough to recommend that to anyone as disease-affecting. its merely something the grapevine said.

 

[Miami Reef]

I’ll be sure to update you in 8 months. I can’t say whether I guarantee success or not, but I can say that I tried my best with ich management.

 

[Miami Reef]

You know what? I’m going to quarantine. It’s too much money to risk down the drain. Catch my newest thread.

 

[brandon429]

hey catching those fish out of three hundred

how in the world man do you do that/one of the larger tanks ive seen on here

your swap you did alone to redo the arches, sand work, by gosh you are not hesitant to deep access that swimming pool and handle it like a nano reef. rare rare

 

[Miami Reef]

My aquascape is minimal. I’ll just call the water change truck to drain the tank to the bottom so I can pick the fish up from the sand?

What? Should I just leave the tank as it is? Grrrrr. What do I do??

 

[Miami Reef]

I’m sorry. I hate that I am so indecisive. I want my fish to be healthy and live long. I really thought I could manage ich. I have some ich and the fish are really eating well. I have good husbandry. What is missing? I’m trying my best!

 

[brandon429]

no actions yet, now comes the research phase on quarantining.


you have to read over which fish are pre treated for what potential malady, i dont keep fish so its never been an issue for me. Minimum two days reading about the forum + see if any active quarantine coaches for large tanks will post a guide

some will need precise hyposalinity; the tank must be ran fallow for three months w no fish in order for the system to work. go 45 days fallow if you feel that update is warranted, part of the two day readup

 

[Miami Reef]

Forget it. I’m a mess. I need to clear my head.

Brandon, you got me worried now!