Need help .. tang is not doing too well

[arch85]

Hello all,

Need your help.. we've a powder brown tang who does not seem to be doing too well. He was perfectly fine for the first 4-5 weeks, but suddenly started not doing too well.

He used to eat like a pig, but for the last 2 days, he hasn't even pecked at his food. In hopes to help him, I did a HUGE water change day before yesterday; got him a couple of different types of macro algae from a LFS in addition to his nori, but nothing seems to help. I noticed his skin was starting to flake, so I added the API Stress Coat + in there; I think the skin looks ok now but he his coloration is very off -- giant black splotches on his sides. Also bubbles seem to be attached to his side.. I'm not sure if this is a combination of the API Stress Coat stuff and the air bubbles from the filter getting stuck in there or what.

I should mention that this whole time he has been in a QT tank; it's not a huge tank, but I figured it should be good enough for QT.

Here's a video if this helps...

[video=youtube;6mlfbCh66Wg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mlfbCh66Wg[/video]

Looking forward to your help!

Thanks

 

[TheEngineer]

How long has it been in QT? What are the params in the QT? How big of a water change did you actually do?

 

[arch85]

It's been in the QT for about 5 weeks now; all params are normal (sorry, don't have the exact numbers) -- Salinity is at around 1.017 (he was in hypo -- letting the salinity rise slowly with evaporation).

I did about 60% water change.

 

[TheEngineer]

He was in hypo at what level? How long in hypo before you had it? How fast has your salinity been coming up?

That's a really large water change, typically keep them to 15-20%. 50% when you have a major problem. I would say increase the water level so you aren't producing so many bubbles and the fish has a chance to chill. It doesn't look like he has anywhere to hide either from the video. My guess is that the fish is extremely stressed out from the QT.

 

[arch85]

Ah ok.

We do have a pot in there that the tang goes to at night. I probably should have captured it in the video.

For the hypo, we ended it almost a couple of weeks ago; so from 1.009 to 1.017 in approx. 2 weeks...

Initially we had our clowns in the bigger QT tank (because we got them first), we moved them to the DT last weekend; would recommend we give the tang a fresh water dip and move him to the bigger tank? Or would that be too stressful?

 

[TheEngineer]

I'd put some large PVC fittings in there rather than just that pot. Don't do anything else to stress the fish out. Add water to the tank at your current salinity to get the level up so you aren't making bubbles and continue bringing the salinity up slowly. The rate you are at is fine.

Typically you shouldn't add any medications/additives/etc to a tank if you don't know what you are treating. It can make the problem worse.

Out of curiosity, how big is the tank this fish is going in?

 

[swissgaurd]

i think hes being stressed by the air bubbles
fine airbublles can irritate the fish
id work on the bubble situation

vic

 

[arch85]

I'd put some large PVC fittings in there rather than just that pot. Don't do anything else to stress the fish out. Add water to the tank at your current salinity to get the level up so you aren't making bubbles and continue bringing the salinity up slowly. The rate you are at is fine.

Typically you shouldn't add any medications/additives/etc to a tank if you don't know what you are treating. It can make the problem worse.

Out of curiosity, how big is the tank this fish is going in?

hm ... I thought adding the API Stress Coat was fine, since it's not really any chemicals (not to my knowledge anyway). But I guess I'll stop with that.

our DT is a 92 gallon corner tank.

I'll work on the bubble situation soon as I get home ... thanks a ton for your help!

 

[hermesfansf]

i don't think air bubble does matter in this case. My black tang is also in QT that has strong flow at the moment. I would try Prazipro first. I don't think API Stress Coat kills bacteria or parasite.

 

[arch85]

i don't think air bubble does matter in this case. My black tang is also in QT that has strong flow at the moment. I would try Prazipro first. I don't think API Stress Coat kills bacteria or parasite.

Thanks, I bought and added Prazipro as per your advice last night. His colors have def. improved (whether it's because of stress coat or prazipro or with time .. who knows ..), but he's still breathing very heavy, and not eating at all.

I'm really really hoping for some miracle because he's my favorite fish

He still has bubbles attached to his side -- any idea what they are or the cause? Seeing the bubbles makes me wonder if it's some sort of bacterial infection … any thoughts?