New Copperband damaged fin

[PointerReefs]

Hey R2R,

Looking for some advice on what this might be and how to potentially treat it. So the story is I’ve gotten this copperband from my LFS, wasn’t quite eating but I’ve managed to get it to eat frozen now using clams and weaning it off of them onto what I feed the rest of my fish (LRS reef frenzy, Mysis, Brine)
There was a little bullying from my yellow tang for the first day but after that everyone has been on good terms. Worked all day yesterday then lights came on just 15 minutes ago this morning and I checked on the copperband to find this with his fins and body.. not sure what it might be. As I haven’t had to deal with any illnesses in my reef tank yet. Any input would be greatly appreciated still shows signs of wanting to eat. Roams tank freely.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hey R2R,

Looking for some advice on what this might be and how to potentially treat it. So the story is I’ve gotten this copperband from my LFS, wasn’t quite eating but I’ve managed to get it to eat frozen now using clams and weaning it off of them onto what I feed the rest of my fish (LRS reef frenzy, Mysis, Brine)
There was a little bullying from my yellow tang for the first day but after that everyone has been on good terms. Worked all day yesterday then lights came on just 15 minutes ago this morning and I checked on the copperband to find this with his fins and body.. not sure what it might be. As I haven’t had to deal with any illnesses in my reef tank yet. Any input would be greatly appreciated still shows signs of wanting to eat. Roams tank freely.

That is a really severe bacterial infection stemming from some previous injury to its fin.

This will be difficult to treat. You need to move the fish to a well established quarantine tank and dose that with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic such as kanaplex or neoplex.

There is a *slight* chance that if the aggression stops, that the fin will erode back to the body and the infection will stop there. If it continues into the fish's body, death will likely result.

 

[PointerReefs]

Hey R2R,

Looking for some advice on what this might be and how to potentially treat it. So the story is I’ve gotten this copperband from my LFS, wasn’t quite eating but I’ve managed to get it to eat frozen now using clams and weaning it off of them onto what I feed the rest of my fish (LRS reef frenzy, Mysis, Brine)
There was a little bullying from my yellow tang for the first day but after that everyone has been on good terms. Worked all day yesterday then lights came on just 15 minutes ago this morning and I checked on the copperband to find this with his fins and body.. not sure what it might be. As I haven’t had to deal with any illnesses in my reef tank yet. Any input would be greatly appreciated still shows signs of wanting to eat. Roams tank freely.

That is a really severe bacterial infection stemming from some previous injury to its fin.

This will be difficult to treat. You need to move the fish to a well established quarantine tank and dose that with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic such as kanaplex or neoplex.

There is a *slight* chance that if the aggression stops, that the fin will erode back to the body and the infection will stop there. If it continues into the fish's body, death will likely result.

Alright. I’ll get going on that. I assume it got some damage from the tang chasing it initially starting from there. I’ll place in QT and locate something to treat it today. Thank you!

 

[PointerReefs]

Hey R2R,

Looking for some advice on what this might be and how to potentially treat it. So the story is I’ve gotten this copperband from my LFS, wasn’t quite eating but I’ve managed to get it to eat frozen now using clams and weaning it off of them onto what I feed the rest of my fish (LRS reef frenzy, Mysis, Brine)
There was a little bullying from my yellow tang for the first day but after that everyone has been on good terms. Worked all day yesterday then lights came on just 15 minutes ago this morning and I checked on the copperband to find this with his fins and body.. not sure what it might be. As I haven’t had to deal with any illnesses in my reef tank yet. Any input would be greatly appreciated still shows signs of wanting to eat. Roams tank freely.

That is a really severe bacterial infection stemming from some previous injury to its fin.

This will be difficult to treat. You need to move the fish to a well established quarantine tank and dose that with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic such as kanaplex or neoplex.

There is a *slight* chance that if the aggression stops, that the fin will erode back to the body and the infection will stop there. If it continues into the fish's body, death will likely result.

Could copper be effective ? I have that on hand.

 

[PointerReefs]

Nvm guess copper is no good.. gotta wait a few hours for LFS to open up..

 

[PointerReefs]

Picked up this from LFS, contains Minocycline. Going to follow the instructions for the 6 day treatment, should be enough for 2 cycles in my 15 gallon I’m setting up right now for QT. If needed. Says no water changes needed until day 6 but I will monitor ammonia anyways.. probably should have gotten ammonia remover also..

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Picked up this from LFS, contains Minocycline. Going to follow the instructions for the 6 day treatment, should be enough for 2 cycles in my 15 gallon I’m setting up right now for QT. If needed. Says no water changes needed until day 6 but I will monitor ammonia anyways.. probably should have gotten ammonia remover also..

Ugh - despite what the label may say, all “cycline” antibiotics are inactivated by calcium in seawater, so should only be used in freshwater.

 

[Baylott224]

Its has a flame angel right on the box.lol

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Its has a flame angel right on the box.lol

Yeah - aquarium medication manufacturers are not known to be product experts. They are just packaging companies.

There is some talk that you can overcome the inactivation rate by raising the dose, but I’ve never seen a formula for doing that, seems risky to me.

Ask AI about “using tetracyclines in marine aquariums” - that will fully explain why they don’t work.

 

[PointerReefs]

Its has a flame angel right on the box.lol

dang, of course I’d get the wrong one. Thought about grabbing neoplex also.i’ll grab some.. since the minocycline is neutralized via calcium is it safe to just add the Neoplex into the same water?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Yes - you can double the antibiotics. Just don’t use copper with Neoplex.

 

[PointerReefs]

Yes - you can double the antibiotics. Just don’t use copper with Neoplex.

Sounds good. Got neoplex coming overnight from Amazon. Will dose it tomorrow. Hopefully the minocycline is atleast worth a little bit in there.. or the clean saltwater and “stress free” environment.

 

[PointerReefs]

(Water is cloudy from the Maracyn 2)

Just applied first dosage of KanaPlex, also grabbed NeoPlex… not looking better today but hopeful this makes a difference following instructions.. looking to see if there’s any additional treatments I could do.. considered removing the fish and gently applying a diluted Lugol’s solution to the wound in an attempt to stop the progression.. not sure if that may do more harm than good

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

(Water is cloudy from the Maracyn 2)

Just applied first dosage of KanaPlex, also grabbed NeoPlex… not looking better today but hopeful this makes a difference following instructions.. looking to see if there’s any additional treatments I could do.. considered removing the fish and gently applying a diluted Lugol’s solution to the wound in an attempt to stop the progression.. not sure if that may do more harm than good

No - lugol’s is too corrosive and there is a chance that too much of it will get back into the tank when you return the fish.

It may be too late for antibiotics, but they are the best course of action here.

 

[PointerReefs]

(Water is cloudy from the Maracyn 2)

Just applied first dosage of KanaPlex, also grabbed NeoPlex… not looking better today but hopeful this makes a difference following instructions.. looking to see if there’s any additional treatments I could do.. considered removing the fish and gently applying a diluted Lugol’s solution to the wound in an attempt to stop the progression.. not sure if that may do more harm than good

No - lugol’s is too corrosive and there is a chance that too much of it will get back into the tank when you return the fish.

It may be too late for antibiotics, but they are the best course of action here.

Yeah. Hoping for a miracle I suppose.

 

[exnisstech]

Wishing you luck. I lost my pair of CBBs a month apart after being in for 24 months female and 14 months male. Fine one day gone the next mystery deaths.

 

[PointerReefs]

Wishing you luck. I lost my pair if CBBs a month apart after being in for 24 months female and 14 months male. Fine one day gone the next mystery deaths.

Thanks man. That really sucks. I wish I could have acted sooner, but I didn’t see the tank the day prior and maybe not much the day before that either and then when I checked up on it was like my fish had gone through hell already. Saddening too cause I was able to get it to accept frozen foods

 

[exnisstech]

Stuff happens and bad stuff usually happens fast. All we can do is learn from it. I have a CBB in observation now that's been in over two months because I'm not sure I want to risk putting him in the tank I originally planned on. Observation is basically a 40g reef tank so I may just leave him in there for a while and maybe try for another pair and move them into the large tank together.

This was my pair. Probably one of the hardest losses I've had because I put so much into getting them both eating and trained to compete for food then getting the female to accept the male because she was already in the DT

 

[PointerReefs]

Stuff happens and bad stuff usually happens fast. All we can do is learn from it. I have a CBB in observation now that's been in over two months because I'm not sure I want to risk putting him in the tank I originally planned on. Observation is basically a 40g reef tank so I may just leave him in there for a while and maybe try for another pair and move them into the large tank together.

This was my pair. Probably one of the hardest losses I've had because I put so much into getting them both eating and trained to compete for food then getting the female to accept the male because she was already in the DT

The CBB didn’t make it past the night :(..if anything it’s a learning experience for me.. that’s a beautiful CBB pair. I hope the one in your observation tank works out well for you. I’d still love to get a CBB seeing as I was becoming successful in getting it to eat foods and recognize my AF4 tubes as the source, but I’m unsure about wether or not my Yellow Tang will make an issue of it.. feels like if I did it again I’d need to remove the tang then add it back in later potentially.. mine was a bit aggressive the first day but then left the CBB alone, sort of how it was with any other fish I’d added in after it but they all ended up getting along before after that first day of “hazing”

 

[exnisstech]

Sorry for the loss. The fish looked healthy other than the damage so I'd say you did a good job getting it to eat which is often the hardest part. It may be tough getting the yellow to accept one. In my large tank I have 9 tangs, 4 yellows and none even paid attention to the CBBs but having multiple yellows they hang out ina group most if the time. I'm glad I have four because my 5 yo convict has decided he isn't fond if yellow so he has four to pick on and they have the tank mapped out to get away without damage. If I had a single yellow I have no doubt the convict would kill it. Fish can act a lot different when they get to be a few years old. My convict used to be the most peaceful of them all and now he's a butt head.
An a acclimation box can be helpful. If placing the new fish in doesn't work sometimes placing the aggressor in or even removing it to the sump can help temporarily. But sometimes it just won't work. I had to use an acclimation box when I added my male CBB. I tried without it first and the female CBB pinned the male in a corner and I had to remove him. Another 30 days in observation to heal and I placed him in the tank using an acclimation box. After 9 days I took the lid off and the female swam in, introduced herself and escorted the male out of the box and they were together from then on.