Kole tang having a week long fight with himself.

[AdamW0611]

So I've had a Kole tang for about 2 weeks. The first day he was in the tank he was calm, pecking at rocks swimming slow, enjoying life... Late that night I'm guessing he saw his reflection and has just been darting around the tank from corner to corner looking at the glass going nuts and darting back, then hiding in the rocks. He didn't eat for about a week, so I bought every herbaviore food my LFS had and finally found out he loves red algae with garlic.... So long story, but he's lost about all his color I assume from poor eating and stress, I don't think he's sick, but does this picture look as bad to others who have had tangs as it does to me? The first pic is 2 weeks ago when I brought him home, the 2nd is tonight.

 

[Peach02]

I've seen my mandarin fish and wrasse trying to intimidate their reflection but never chasing it from one side of the tank to the other, definately following along

 

[reef lover]

Can we get a better pic to rule out diseases or infection?
Tape paper to the sides so he cant see his reflection....you can remove them later on once he acclimates to life in a glass box.

 

[AdamW0611]

He definitely looks worse this morning, didn't notice or his tail didn't look bad last night.

 

[Thaxxx]

Goto the disease section. Let them see your pictures. I had that same tang 3 months ago with the exact same symptoms. The ick showed up shortly after those symptoms. I QT him in copper power for 21 days to be safe. I try to avoid meds. if possible. Then big water change and treated with Parazpro, 2 applications. He's great now. Growing fast.

 

[AdamW0611]

Goto the disease section. Let them see your pictures. I had that same tang 3 months ago with the exact same symptoms. The ick showed up shortly after those symptoms. I QT him in copper power for 21 days to be safe. I try to avoid mess if possible. Then big water change and treated with Parazpro, 2 applications. He's great now. Growing fast.

Thanks, after seeing him this morning I was thinking of moving this to illness and him to a hospital tank

 

[Thaxxx]

Might want to give him a freshwater dip for 5 mins. before you put in QT, it looks like he may have flukes.

 

[reef lover]

I lean toward an infection.
@4FordFamily
@Brew12

 

[AdamW0611]

I lean toward an infection.
@4FordFamily
@Brew12

I took the pics to my LFS today, they said the same and recommended some antibiotic stuff for him. Hopefully he improves soon.

 

[Brew12]

Agree with an infection. The root cause may have been him running into stuff but it looks like it has become infected. You also can't rule out a parasite that has lead to an infection based on the 2 week timeline.

 

[4FordFamily]

I agree that you’re dealing with an infection. Nitrofuracin Green is my weapon of choice for 14 days but if you cannot locate it quickly use Kanaplex, metroplex, and furan 2 for 10-14 days in QT.