Can anyone ID this?

[Humblefish]

I received the Rally yesterday so I figured I would try a bath. While the tang was out I got the best picture I could. Most of the spots are still hard to see, but they are visible in the black.

Keep giving him Rally baths every few days, while simultaneously treating with antibiotics in QT.

 

[zed102]

Thanks Humble, will do. Have you guys seen blue tangs scratching as a symptom of this type of infection? That is one of the primary symptoms he is still displaying in addition to the bumps.

 

[Humblefish]

Thanks Humble, will do. Have you guys seen blue tangs scratching as a symptom of this type of infection? That is one of the primary symptoms he is still displaying in addition to the bumps.

@Brew12 claims his Hippo Tang scratches for no apparent reason. It might be because they are always jamming themselves into tight spots to sleep at night. I've had triggers do that and then scratch. My theory is they are irritating their skin by rubbing up against rock.

 

[Brew12]

Yup, my Hippo has his favorite itching rock. Doesn't do it as often but he still does do it.

 

[zed102]

So after doing more reading I decided to give the fish a methylene blue bath today. I did this for 45 mins. To my surprise this appears to have been the most effective treatment thus far for removing the visible symptoms. The tang is still scratching, but has lost many of the bumps he had on his sides. Do you think this would be more effective dosed in the qt tank?

 

[Humblefish]

Do you think this would be more effective dosed in the qt tank?

No, I would dose antibiotics instead. MB is a great "healing agent", but I wouldn't count on it to aid the immune system to rid the body of harmful bacteria.

 

[zed102]

Ok. The anti biopics are still in the water. I was just shocked how well the MB "cleaned" the fish.

 

[Humblefish]

Although, NFG powder does combine two antibiotics (Nitrofurazone, Sulfathiazole Sodium) with MB.

So I can only assume it would be safe to use MB in conjunction with other antibiotics (such as Kanaplex) as well.

 

[zed102]

That is interesting. Do you find the NFG more effective than Furan-2? From your link on MB it looks like their are only a few anti-biotics to stay away from.

Contraindications

*Do NOT use with Tetracycline or Erythromycin
*Do NOT use in an aquarium system without an established healthy bio filter, and even then use with caution.
*Wait 30 minutes to add after use of any Redox Reducing water conditioner, which is most any including SeaChem Prime, Kordon Novaqua, Kordon Amquel, Jungle Start Right, API Stress Coat, etc., as these can partially remove MB.
*Do NOT use in the presence of Marine Aquarium Anemones, Corals, or Cephlapods (Octopus, etc).

 

[Humblefish]

Do you find the NFG more effective than Furan-2?

Initial testing yielded positive results, but I haven't experimented with it long enough to form a solid opinion yet.

 

[zed102]

I only had a small packet of MB from some old safety stop, so I ordered a bottle. It should be here on Sunday. When I get it in I will explore this further. That will start day 10 of the antibiotics.

 

[zed102]

Since completing the MB bath I have not seen any signs of this returning. Today, after 11 days in antibiotics, I have move the fish to a new QT to observe.

 

[zed102]

Some good news. As of today these guys still look good. After moving them out of the antibiotics I also put them through TTM just to make sure I covered all my basis. Now the bad news is that I took some of the QT water out of the original tank and put it into my QT with a moorish idol and it quickly picked up spots even though it was in water with coppersafe at over 2.0 ppm. Since copper has not had an effect on this I removed it and switched over to CP just to test an additional med. Unfortunately after 12 days in CP it also appears ineffective. In addition to whatever this is the MI also has started showing signs of lymphocystis. Since the MI is still eating very well my plan right now is to continue the cp treatment for 30 days and then observe again to see what happens. If he degrades I will pursue TTM again to see if that was the effective treatment.

 

[Humblefish]

Post photos of the MI showing these spots. Something tells me its not a parasite.

 

[zed102]

I am still struggling to take good pictures, but here are two that show some of the bumps the first shows a cluster of bumps on his "forehead" and the other shows some spots on his body and fins. Some of the spots are defanitely lymph.

 

[Humblefish]

I believe it's all Lympho. Sometimes it spreads onto the body.

 

[zed102]

Would you recommend finishing off the cp treatment and then observing?

 

[melypr1985]

Would you recommend finishing off the cp treatment and then observing?

Yes.

 

[zed102]

Well sadly, the MI died today. Not sure exactly what happened as he was still aggressively eating nori off the clip this morning when I fed him and when I got home he was already gone.

Fortunately though the hippo and clown are still doing well in their observation tank so I think at this point I am going to assume it is not a parasite and get them into the big tank.

 

[Humblefish]

Sorry for your loss. MI can be very difficult to keep, it sometimes comes down to just finding "the right one" IME. I had one live 5+ years eating nothing but live blackworms and only lost him due to an extended power loss from Hurricane Katrina; whereas another which ate everything (even pellets) died a few days after being bullied by a Blue Angel. He just went into a corner, sulked and never would resume eating *even after I took the Blue Angel out*.