Help Needed -Anemone Sting

Kevin Padgett

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My Gigantea got a hold of my Black Tang when the lights went out Friday. It happened almost 36 hours ago. My Black Tang is/was a healthy 5 inch fish. I pulled him out of the display and put him in a hospital tank. He has been swimming up right in the same place. He had laboring breathing yesterday but that has calmed down now. His wound does not seem to be swollen. He has not eaten anything in 2 days. As you can see in the picture. He got it pretty good on the back side!

Anyone have experience with this. Obviously I know carpets love to eat fish and my BT will not be in the same tank ever again! I really need this fish to live! He is my favorite!

Any help appreciated!
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OrionN

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If he have not died in 36 hrs, he will be fine unless the wound get infected. When mine got significantly stung by my anemone, if they died, they died within 24 hrs, usually that night. Your tang has very good prognosis. I think he will be fine. Good luck with him.
How big is your tank?
Are you selling the anemone?
BTW, he will be much wiser now and will have very healthy respect for the carpet anemone.
 
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Kevin Padgett

Kevin Padgett

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If he have not died in 36 hrs, he will be fine unless the wound get infected. When mine got significantly stung by my anemone, if they died, they died within 24 hrs, usually that night. Your tang has very good prognosis. I think he will be fine. Good luck with him.
How big is your tank?
Are you selling the anemone?
BTW, he will be much wiser now and will have very healthy respect for the carpet anemone.

Thank you for the reply! That makes me feel better. I hope he starts eating tomorrow! Once I see him eat I will feel like he is on the other side of it! I am not selling the Gig. The Gig has his own 40 Breeder With the pair of Frostbites. I am setting up a 120 for my mixed Reef. That is where the fish will be going.
 
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Kevin Padgett

Kevin Padgett

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Tried to feed again this morning. Still not eating but he was swimming around more. Looks like stung area is scabbing over with a white film. Damaged fins are falling off. Hopefully all of this is good signs!
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Cell

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White film may be bacterial? May want to consider antibiotics, but I'm not a fish disease expert by any means.
 
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Kevin Padgett

Kevin Padgett

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White film may be bacterial? May want to consider antibiotics, but I'm not a fish disease expert by any means.
Hope it isn’t. I’m keeping an eye on it. Will use medicine if it starts to look worse. To this point the wound has better and his activity has been improving.
 
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Kevin Padgett

Kevin Padgett

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Daily update: Day 3 - Still not eating. I have Nori on a clip, offered pellets, flake, and frozen. That is the not so good news. Good news is he is getting his personality back. I put my hand in the tank and he actually tried to bat me with his tail. He is swimming more and exploring a little. No labored breathing. As you can see in the pictures it looks to me that all damaged fins and scales have fallen off. The white scab looks to be bulbing up and peeling off as well.

Has anyone else had a fish with a white scab that looked like this?
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Jay Hemdal

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Wow - I have NEVER seen anything like that, not in 50+ years! Dead/damaged tissue is fed upon by bacteria (and in FW tanks, by Saprolegnea fungus) but I've never seen it build up a white plaque like that. These "saprophytes" perform an important function, cleaning out the wound of dead tissue. Trouble is, they sometimes don't know when to stop, and keep going right into healthy tissue and the wound becomes infected.

To be honest though, I wouldn't treat this - as others have said, the fish is going to pull through or not and killing off the bacteria could result in some other species coming along to feed on the tissue.

Jay
 

vetteguy53081

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Maybe Melafix, but more important than Melafix is that your water quality is optimal. Dont worry about fish not eating right now. Focus more on it healing as Jay indicated as this type of damage can go either way.
My fear is chance of secondary bacterial infection and hopefully the healing shows improvent the next 24-48 hours.
 
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Kevin Padgett

Kevin Padgett

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Wow - I have NEVER seen anything like that, not in 50+ years! Dead/damaged tissue is fed upon by bacteria (and in FW tanks, by Saprolegnea fungus) but I've never seen it build up a white plaque like that. These "saprophytes" perform an important function, cleaning out the wound of dead tissue. Trouble is, they sometimes don't know when to stop, and keep going right into healthy tissue and the wound becomes infected.

To be honest though, I wouldn't treat this - as others have said, the fish is going to pull through or not and killing off the bacteria could result in some other species coming along to feed on the tissue.

Jay
Thanks Jay. I will continue to update daily! I hope things continue to improve and this turns into a successful case study for everyone. Please advise if you see anything in the future that needs improving.
 

ScubaFish802

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It appears to hve lost a significant amount of the lower fin as the photos in this post progress. Is this a sign of infection? Or that area was so damaged it took the rest with it?
 
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