Help diagnose my fish disease

Scap4Luna · Feb 20, 2026

Happened pretty quickly

EagleEye121 · Feb 20, 2026

Can you elaborate on what we are looking at / for?

W31Olds · Feb 20, 2026

We need some background info about your fish. Any behavior changes. Also, can you post a video?

Scap4Luna · Feb 20, 2026

Still has appetite. Overnight started getting this fading on his skin in a matter of 2 days covers most of his body! You can see it on his back half.

Scap4Luna · Feb 20, 2026

Also on his face!

Scap4Luna · Feb 20, 2026

Does it look like velvet of brooklynella?

W31Olds · Feb 20, 2026

How long have you had him and has there been any additions to your DT?

Scap4Luna · Feb 20, 2026

I've had him for about 2 weeks. Unfortunately added a clown fish that was sitting in a tank in the store for what they tell me was atleast 6 months! Both are in a separate tank from main display for observation no meds! Trying now to figure out plan of action !

Scap4Luna · Feb 20, 2026

But judging on how fast it happened it may be to late! They have been together for 2 weeks

Scap4Luna · Feb 21, 2026

Joj · Feb 21, 2026

IME, had same identical thing with my emperor awhile back. He was in over 1.5 month of copper with other fishes and he is the only one with faded colors/missing scales/patchy skin identical to yours. I dose 3 rounds of prazipro and his faded colors/missing scales/patchy skin resolved itself. He never flashed or anything that suggested flukes, but seems like it was flukes that caused that look to him.

Scap4Luna · Feb 21, 2026

Joj said:
IME, had same identical thing with my emperor awhile back. He was in over 1.5 month of copper with other fishes and he is the only one with faded colors/missing scales/patchy skin identical to yours. I dose 3 rounds of prazipro and his faded colors/missing scales/patchy skin resolved itself. He never flashed or anything that suggested flukes, but seems like it was flukes that caused that look to him.

Thank you!

W31Olds · Feb 21, 2026

I can't view your Video, but I have seen this condition on Emperors before. I have one in my DT about the same as yours that's about a year old and he will get a couple of these discolored faded areas all the time, however they are very small areas that fade after he settles down. These are stress responses to something that's bothering him. I your case he is sick and the most likely cause is probably Flukes. See if you can repost the video while I Tag the other Medics.
@Jay Hemdal
@vetteguy53081

Marine Betta · Feb 21, 2026

Scap4Luna said:
Happened pretty quickly

Is this a cycled qt tank? I would check the ammonia levels with a Seachem badge to rule that out. Emperors can be pretty tricky to diagnose. They get stress spots for a lot of different reasons. I see some cloudiness on his pectoral fins, and some of the fins look slightly frayed. Another common early symptom is yawning. Angels seem to be fluke magnets, and I almost always have to treat. To be certain, perform a fresh water dip, and you’ll see them fall off within a couple minutes. Do not use copper and prazipro at the same time. You can remove the copper with carbon, cuprisorb, or a polyfilter. Increase aeration in the tank with an air stone. Brook and velvet usually kill very quickly, and I would think he would be in a lot worse shape at this point if it were either of those. If the clown in question is the one that swam by in the video, he looks fine to me from the brief moment I saw him.

@Jay Hemdal and @vetteguy53081 may have other insights. They’re the experts. In the future, I would post something like this in the fish disease and treatment sub forum, and they’ll see something like this a lot faster.

Scap4Luna · Feb 21, 2026

Fresh water dip for how long! He us rubbing up against rock and kinda has a tick! So the copper or prazi won't help?

Scap4Luna · Feb 21, 2026

Marine Betta said:
Is this a cycled qt tank? I would check the ammonia levels with a Seachem badge to rule that out. Emperors can be pretty tricky to diagnose. They get stress spots for a lot of different reasons. I see some cloudiness on his pectoral fins, and some of the fins look slightly frayed. Another common early symptom is yawning. Angels seem to be fluke magnets, and I almost always have to treat. To be certain, perform a fresh water dip, and you’ll see them fall off within a couple minutes. Do not use copper and prazipro at the same time. You can remove the copper with carbon, cuprisorb, or a polyfilter. Increase aeration in the tank with an air stone. Brook and velvet usually kill very quickly, and I would think he would be in a lot worse shape at this point if it were either of those. If the clown in question is the one that swam by in the video, he looks fine to me from the brief moment I saw him.

@Jay Hemdal and @vetteguy53081 may have other insights. They’re the experts. In the future, I would post something like this in the fish disease and treatment sub forum, and they’ll see something like this a lot faster.

Plus once I fresh water dip and they fall off what happens when I put him back into same qt? Won't it come back

Marine Betta · Feb 21, 2026

Scap4Luna said:
Fresh water dip for how long! He us rubbing up against rock and kinda has a tick! So the copper or prazi won't help?

That sounds like flukes to me. I would dip for about 5 minutes at most but monitor him for signs of excessive stress. Do the dip in translucent or black container in fresh water that matches the tank’s pH and temp. If it’s flukes they’ll fall off, and it will look like grains of rice are all over the container. Keep him moving gently and/or aerate the water with an air stone. This will also help dislodge any flukes. Prazipro will kill flukes which are parasitic flatworms, but it won’t kill ich. Copper is effective against protozoans like ich, but it won’t do anything against flukes. Anytime you add medication to a tank, it reduces dissolved oxygen levels in the water. Copper and prazipro together would drastically reduce oxygen levels in your tank, and a lot of medications will react with each other. I always add an airstone when I treat with prazipro. Flukes also attack the gills, so the extra oxygen in the water will help the fish too. It’s always a good idea to check which medications can be used together before using them.

Marine Betta · Feb 21, 2026

Scap4Luna said:
Marine Betta said:

Is this a cycled qt tank? I would check the ammonia levels with a Seachem badge to rule that out. Emperors can be pretty tricky to diagnose. They get stress spots for a lot of different reasons. I see some cloudiness on his pectoral fins, and some of the fins look slightly frayed. Another common early symptom is yawning. Angels seem to be fluke magnets, and I almost always have to treat. To be certain, perform a fresh water dip, and you’ll see them fall off within a couple minutes. Do not use copper and prazipro at the same time. You can remove the copper with carbon, cuprisorb, or a polyfilter. Increase aeration in the tank with an air stone. Brook and velvet usually kill very quickly, and I would think he would be in a lot worse shape at this point if it were either of those. If the clown in question is the one that swam by in the video, he looks fine to me from the brief moment I saw him.

@Jay Hemdal and @vetteguy53081 may have other insights. They’re the experts. In the future, I would post something like this in the fish disease and treatment sub forum, and they’ll see something like this a lot faster.

Click to expand...

Plus once I fresh water dip and they fall off what happens when I put him back into same qt? Won't it come back

Yes, the freshwater dip will provide temporary relief for the fish, but you will need to follow up with prazipro. A fw will also help positively identify if there are flukes on the fish. Prazipro is normally very effective and will kill the flukes quickly. It looks like your qt is a bare bottom which is good because the flukes won’t be able to hide in the sand. Prazipro will only kill the adults and not their eggs. I do not believe there is a way to kill the eggs, so you may have to do another round of prazipro.