My conspic needs help!! (pics included)

ryanuy · Jul 24, 2011

My friend from HK was able to buy a conspic angel for me at a really good price. It was totally fine according to him when he got it and it was even nipping on the pellets the shop fed it. But when it arrived in my QT last night, there were these weird red blotches throughout only one side of its body.

Im not sure but i suspect it may have been mishandled during transport since the blotches are only on one side? Would that be a fair assumption or do you think its bacterial?

I attached some pics so you can take a look. Sorry for the quality though, i just used my iphone camera and its a bit blurry but you can still see the marks and the bumps.

Have you seen anything like it? If so, how do i treat it? Its in my 50g QT tank now. The salinity of the LFS was at 1.017 so i followed it for my tank as well.

Ian · Jul 24, 2011

am I wrong or does it look really thin?

ryanuy · Jul 25, 2011

Actually, its not really thin. Its quite fat even though it isnt eating yet. Aside from the red bumps, its totally healthy i would say.

Ian · Jul 25, 2011

send a message to this guy, he should be able to help...

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/members/roktsintst.html

roktsintst · Jul 25, 2011

so is it red "bumps" or streaks?

My conspic had red streaks on it which was a bacterial infection. I treated with maracyn 2 and it got better. My conspic was doing fantastic, then one day it was just hiding and not eating. once i started the treatment he was back to his old self. He is still doing great today!

the other thing is water quality. because of the poor filtration in QT systems, it is imperative to keep water quality very high. No ammonia or nitrite! Lowering the sg allows the fish to breath easier which you coudl do easily to give the fish some relief.

Antoehr thing long term is water temp for conspics. no higher than 75F! i run my tank between 72 and 75...

So, looking at the pics again, it looks bacterial but im no vet. If it were mine i would treat w/ maracyn2 and have water quality perfect....

keep us updated on how it does.

Good luck, your gonna need it!

ryanuy · Jul 25, 2011

Actually it looks like bumps that formed a streak? Kind of like a connect the dots kind of thing. Im treating with furan2 right now which is for bacterial infections as well just like maracyn 2.

If it doesnt improve in a few days, ill be doing a big water change and switching to maracyn 2. How many days until your conspic recovered? Were the streaks on one side or both?

The salinity now is at 1.017 and ill be lowering it further to 1.015 tomorrow.

roktsintst · Jul 25, 2011

Ok great.

Mine had it on both sides and I could tell it was getting better in 2 or 3 days...

ryanuy · Jul 25, 2011

Were the red streaks sort of bumpy or inflamed looking as well? You can actually see in the pic I posted that the parts that are red are also a little bit swollen.

What were you feeding the conspic to get him to start eating? Mine has been with me since yesterday and i tried feeding it mysis with selcon this morning and i tried nori as well and so far hes still on hunger strike.

Thanks so much for all the advice!

roktsintst · Jul 25, 2011

the red did not protrude on my conspic.

When he arrived he ate everything right away. I would try everything you can think of. black worms, mysis, nori, flakes, soak the food in garlic. but if he is looking lethargic then it probably wont do much good. You just need to keep the water quality up and keep the meds at the right dose...

I kinda get the feelingyou got a good deal because the fish wasn't looking like it was going to make it for the previous owner. I woudl never buy a fish that didn't eat.....

ryanuy · Jul 25, 2011

roktsintst said:
the red did not protrude on my conspic.

When he arrived he ate everything right away. I would try everything you can think of. black worms, mysis, nori, flakes, soak the food in garlic. but if he is looking lethargic then it probably wont do much good. You just need to keep the water quality up and keep the meds at the right dose...

I kinda get the feelingyou got a good deal because the fish wasn't looking like it was going to make it for the previous owner. I woudl never buy a fish that didn't eat.....

The red marks are starting to fade after like a day and half of using furan2. He ate a little bit of mysis yesterday and is starting to peck on the glass and the PVC pipes i have him in there with. Yep, water quality is good and im lowering the salinity slowly till i can get him in the theraputic range for hyposalinity. My friend asked the LFS to feed it when it was there and he was sort of pecking and sort of showing interest on the pellets but not really eating them and theyre quite hard to find this part of the world(im from the Philippines) so i asked him to get it for me. haha

In your reef where you keep your conspic, is it reef safe around zoas? My 160g DT where i plan to keep it is mostly SPS with some zoas and LPS. I dont really care if he wants to eat the LPS but i would really much rather keep my zoas.

roktsintst · Jul 25, 2011

that is good news! just keep it stable and keep offering him a few pieces of mysis every hour!

i dont keep any zoas or LPS in the display. I keep them in my frag tank otherwise they would be angel food...

ryanuy · Jul 26, 2011

Just an update! The conspic is feeding well already on mysis soaked in selcon and the red bruises are already starting to fade and go away. Looks like its getting better already!