Frequent bacterial issues

[Kooma]

Hey all,

A little back story. During QT my sailing developed a pretty heavy bacterial infection. All other fish went through QT fine and the tang was treated with kanaplex baths. He cleared up and has been clear for about 3 months.

Mid last month I had my hippo tang develop an infection and swelling, he went through 7 days of kanaplex in a QT and went back to the display. He has been doing great.

We went away for the weekend and coming back last night I noticed my sailfin has the black patches again that look the same as the previous bacterial issue.

I treat the bacteria issues outside the display, and am not exactly sure why I’m getting repeated issues.

I’m debating if I need to treat the display.

Any ideas?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey all,

A little back story. During QT my sailing developed a pretty heavy bacterial infection. All other fish went through QT fine and the tang was treated with kanaplex baths. He cleared up and has been clear for about 3 months.

Mid last month I had my hippo tang develop an infection and swelling, he went through 7 days of kanaplex in a QT and went back to the display. He has been doing great.

We went away for the weekend and coming back last night I noticed my sailfin has the black patches again that look the same as the previous bacterial issue.

I treat the bacteria issues outside the display, and am not exactly sure why I’m getting repeated issues.

I’m debating if I need to treat the display.

Any ideas?

Please post clear pics under white light intensity of the fish in question to best assess what it may have going on. If bacterial, have you monitored water quality?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hey all,

A little back story. During QT my sailing developed a pretty heavy bacterial infection. All other fish went through QT fine and the tang was treated with kanaplex baths. He cleared up and has been clear for about 3 months.

Mid last month I had my hippo tang develop an infection and swelling, he went through 7 days of kanaplex in a QT and went back to the display. He has been doing great.

We went away for the weekend and coming back last night I noticed my sailfin has the black patches again that look the same as the previous bacterial issue.

I treat the bacteria issues outside the display, and am not exactly sure why I’m getting repeated issues.

I’m debating if I need to treat the display.

Any ideas?

I would not treat your display with antibiotics - that usually ends poorly.

I agree, can you post current pictures/videos?

 

[Kooma]

Please post clear pics under white light intensity of the fish in question to best assess what it may have going on. If bacterial, have you monitored water quality?

Not as closely as I should. Anything that would indicate and cause higher infection rates? Nitrate?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Not as closely as I should. Anything that would indicate and cause higher infection rates? Nitrate?

Nitrate…. Ammonia and excess detritus/waste

 

[W31Olds]

Are you running a UV? They kill Bacteria in the Water Column. Once your fish are sick it probably won't help but might prevent them from getting sick in the future.

 

[Malcontent]

Freshwater anecdote but a few months ago I started using a sludge remover bacteria product. Some parts of my AIO filter are highly inaccessible and have almost certainly accumulated a lot of sludge/biofilm. In the past, this has caused repetitive bacterial infections when accumulating unnoticed in the filter until discovered and cleaned.

Water clarity has improved noticeably and the incidence of bacterial issues has dropped significantly.

I'm sure there are saltwater versions of these products. Everyone and their dog seems to be selling them.

 

[Kooma]

Nitrate…. Ammonia and excess detritus/waste

Im bad for testing so I did some tonight, and it’s not great.

Nitrates are around 40-50
Phosphates is 1.42
Temp is 76f
Ammonia shows nothing.

I’ll work on some water changes, just did a 15% on Saturday. I guess it may be time for a roller mat to help keep the tank cleaner.

Any other suggestions? I had the opposite problem when I had all my coral. My hammer and mushrooms and nem all look happy.

Zero algae growth on the rocks.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Im bad for testing so I did some tonight, and it’s not great.

Nitrates are around 40-50
Phosphates is 1.42
Temp is 76f
Ammonia shows nothing.

I’ll work on some water changes, just did a 15% on Saturday. I guess it may be time for a roller mat to help keep the tank cleaner.

Any other suggestions? I had the opposite problem when I had all my coral. My hammer and mushrooms and nem all look happy.

Zero algae growth on the rocks.

As suspected but glad you tested. Do 3 gallon water changes daily for 14 days and add chemiPure Blue to the sump. Regulate feeding and assure filters are clean and running at optimum

 

[Kooma]

System is roughly 250gallons. Is 3 gallon daily enough?

I’ll try and find chemise blue.

GFO too?

 

[Kooma]

As suspected but glad you tested. Do 3 gallon water changes daily for 14 days and add chemiPure Blue to the sump. Regulate feeding and assure filters are clean and running at optimum

Had a look at the chemise blue but it’s going to run me nearly $140 to treat it once. I’d rather buy a reefmat 1200 with some of that $.

Does chemise treate nitrates or just p04 and dissolved organics?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Had a look at the chemise blue but it’s going to run me nearly $140 to treat it once. I’d rather buy a reefmat 1200 with some of that $.

Does chemise treate nitrates or just p04 and dissolved organics?

Chemipure Blue doesn’t help with nitrates or phosphates. Chemipure Elite has ferric oxide in it so helps with phosphorus.

That said, your water quality readings are not bad enough to cause active disease in fish. The main tropical marine fish system at the public aquarium where I was curator had virtually the same readings with no issues at all.

 

[Kooma]

Chemipure Blue doesn’t help with nitrates or phosphates. Chemipure Elite has ferric oxide in it so helps with phosphorus.

That said, your water quality readings are not bad enough to cause active disease in fish. The main tropical marine fish system at the public aquarium where I was curator had virtually the same readings with no issues at all.

That’s good to hear. I’m going to try and get some Cheeto and start a fuge on this system to help.

The tang doesn’t seem to be getting much worse som in watching, feeding nori and adding garlic, and monitoring. If it progresses I’ll pull him for a week of kanaplex and a week of observation.

 

[Kooma]

Been monitoring him and noticed a few spots on high right fin, and the body spots seems to be growing. I’m preparing a QT to place him in and will be dosing kanaplex every two days with a water change on opposite schedule. Dose day 1, nothing day 2, WC and dose day 3, nothing day 4, WC and dose day 5, nothing day 6…etc.

At least the one having these problems only has one eye, catching him is very easy.

I’ve added gfo and purigen in bags to the display.