Gem Tang with aggressive fin rot

[WarEaglesReef]

I’ve got a gem tang that overnight took an incredible nosedive. Normal fins when I went to sleep, and when I woke up yesterday she looked like this with severely receding dorsal fin and signs of it on her anal fin and an interesting spot of what looks like loose skin on the center of her body. All other fish show no signs of disease. Nothing new added to the tank in the last 2 years, so I am not concerned with something new being introduced to the tank.

Here is pic of her right after I got her into the hospital tank yesterday morning:

I got her moved into a hospital tank, and started Kanaplex immediately yesterday as I suspected some aggressive bacterial fin rot. Here she is last night, where it looked like the recession had pretty much slowed to a halt:

It has been around 24 hours with the first dose, but as you can see from the photo below taken this morning the recession in the fins is continuing to spread across the anal fin and a bit on her caudal fin now. Not sure what treatment to add or switch to. Would appreciate any advice and help!

She’s still occasionally picking at nori and ate a couple bites of frozen food yesterday so I am glad the appetite is still there, but she is declining rapidly and I’d like to do all I can to save her!

 

[smitten with ocean life]

im guessing that you ruled out aggression? @Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081

 

[helmsreef]

Looks more like aggression to me. What other fish are in your system with him?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’ve got a gem tang that overnight took an incredible nosedive. Normal fins when I went to sleep, and when I woke up yesterday she looked like this with severely receding dorsal fin and signs of it on her anal fin and an interesting spot of what looks like loose skin on the center of her body. All other fish show no signs of disease. Nothing new added to the tank in the last 2 years, so I am not concerned with something new being introduced to the tank.

Here is pic of her right after I got her into the hospital tank yesterday morning:

I got her moved into a hospital tank, and started Kanaplex immediately yesterday as I suspected some aggressive bacterial fin rot. Here she is last night, where it looked like the recession had pretty much slowed to a halt:

It has been around 24 hours with the first dose, but as you can see from the photo below taken this morning the recession in the fins is continuing to spread across the anal fin and a bit on her caudal fin now. Not sure what treatment to add or switch to. Would appreciate any advice and help!

She’s still occasionally picking at nori and ate a couple bites of frozen food yesterday so I am glad the appetite is still there, but she is declining rapidly and I’d like to do all I can to save her!

This LOOKS MORE LIKE AGGRESSION THAN FIN ROT and rot wouldnt progress this quickly. What other fish in with it? Are you treating tank with anything?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I’ve got a gem tang that overnight took an incredible nosedive. Normal fins when I went to sleep, and when I woke up yesterday she looked like this with severely receding dorsal fin and signs of it on her anal fin and an interesting spot of what looks like loose skin on the center of her body. All other fish show no signs of disease. Nothing new added to the tank in the last 2 years, so I am not concerned with something new being introduced to the tank.

Here is pic of her right after I got her into the hospital tank yesterday morning:

I got her moved into a hospital tank, and started Kanaplex immediately yesterday as I suspected some aggressive bacterial fin rot. Here she is last night, where it looked like the recession had pretty much slowed to a halt:

It has been around 24 hours with the first dose, but as you can see from the photo below taken this morning the recession in the fins is continuing to spread across the anal fin and a bit on her caudal fin now. Not sure what treatment to add or switch to. Would appreciate any advice and help!

She’s still occasionally picking at nori and ate a couple bites of frozen food yesterday so I am glad the appetite is still there, but she is declining rapidly and I’d like to do all I can to save her!

While this probably involves a severe bacterial infection, it must have begun with some tankmate aggression.

What other fish were in with it?

I’d continue the kanaplex for the standard 3 treatments, 48 hours about. Monitor the ammonia level during the treatment.

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Thanks for all of the helpful comments. She passed about an hour ago. There had been a dominance change among the tangs a few weeks ago, but my office chair sits right next to the tank and I watch them 8+ hours a day and had not seen anything I would consider to be concerning aggression. The 4 of them have all gotten along incredibly well for 5+ years at this point.

She had become more shy approaching food, but all of them allowed her to eat without showing aggression towards her. There was no chasing or swiping at each other. I spent some time watching from afar with lights out at night too once I saw there was a new pecking order. If it was severe aggression something truly changed overnight.

I wish I could’ve done more for her. Very heartbroken.
Again thank you all for the help.

 

[helmsreef]

Sorry to hear she did not make it. Unfortunately I have seen in the past that everything can be fine up until one point and then all hell breaks loose. And that's really all it takes. They will attack without impunity until the deal is done.