Not sure whats wrong with this yellow tang (How do I treat with prazi pro?)

carlson · Aug 12, 2017

Hey everyone! Thanks to anyone who replies to this thread. I have a yellow tang that I've had for about 2 months now. A few weeks ago I decided he has some type of internal parasites so i treated my entire 75 gallon dt rocks and all (he's the only fish in the tank atm) with metroplex and praziquantel pro. He actually got better. He stopped breathing so heavy. Unfortunately I think I was just putting a temporary bandaid on him. Now he's getting bad again, breathing heavy, and this time a white line is starting to show on his side. He is no longer interested in sea weed (he eats sea weed and new life spectrum marine pellets every day normally) and he's breathing heavy again. Because I killed all of my hard corals last time I medicated the whole system, this time I have set up a 10 gallon tank with a filter and pvs. I hate taking him out of the tank, but because Ive learned that its life or death, I will do it. I ordered more prazi pro and it will be here monday. Any tips of thoughts?

carlson · Aug 12, 2017

He was doing so well, considering he was bleached when I got him and he was his normal color a week ago [emoji35] [emoji36]

aykwm · Aug 12, 2017

It looks that it has developed HLLE , its usually from malnutrition and stress. Since you mentioned that he no longer eats probably thats why he developed HLLE (the white line) just provide good diet and vitamin enriched food and it should go away. Prazi is known to supress the apetite of fish.
Regarding the internal parasites, how did you diagnose it? Do you see white stringy poop?

Heavy breathing is not a symptom of internal parasite, instead its either external parasite or lack of oxygen in tank (medications especially prazi deplete the oxygen in tank) or ammonia build up. Do you have enough circulation in tank to allow for oxygen exchange? Also what is the ammonia level in the tank.

The tang is not showing the vibrant yellow its known for, it looks stressed, check for stress factor in the tank.

Best of luck

carlson · Aug 12, 2017

Yes I have seen string white poop, I can't imagine it being from malnutrition, he only stopped eating over a day ago and before that he ate seaweed almost every day or new life spectrum pellets. I have a protein skimmer in my sump, there should be plenty of oxygen, as for ammonia, I dont test for it but my goniapora and other corals are doing fine like always so I would like to think I don't have any. Any other ideas?

carlson · Aug 12, 2017

I just tried to feed him and he's still interested in the nls pellets just not much, he only ate one

prsnlty · Aug 12, 2017

Here are some really helpful links.

Fish disease index & Pictorial
https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/285708/

Fish treatment guidelines with chart
https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/283450/

How to set up QT
https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/189815/

ngoodermuth · Aug 12, 2017

White stringy poop, not eating, and breathing heavy indicate an advanced case of intestinal parasites. You need to dose the hospital tank with metroplex to try to get him eating again, and then feed him food soaked in metroplex/focus for at least 10 days, maybe longer. Try to feed at least twice a day, as exclusively as possible. It's one scoop of metroplex to one scoop of focus to one tablespoon on food.

The HLLE is most likely a result of the parasites robbing the fish of nutrients.

I prefer dosing the tank with metroplex as it's a little easier on the fish, but if all you have is prazi use that per the directions on the bottle. It's very important you get him eating again so you can feed the metro- medicated food.

carlson · Aug 12, 2017

ngoodermuth said:
White stringy poop, not eating, and breathing heavy indicate an advanced case of intestinal parasites. You need to dose the hospital tank with metroplex to try to get him eating again, and then feed him food soaked in metroplex/focus for at least 10 days, maybe longer. Try to feed at least twice a day, as exclusively as possible. It's one scoop of metroplex to one scoop of focus to one tablespoon on food.

The HLLE is most likely a result of the parasites robbing the fish of nutrients.

I prefer dosing the tank with metroplex as it's a little easier on the fish, but if all you have is prazi use that per the directions on the bottle. It's very important you get him eating again so you can feed the metro- medicated food.

Thanks for your reply it's very helpful as this is an extremely frustrating time for me. Luckily, this afternoon I got my tang to eat around 8 pellets which is wierd because he normally prefers seaweed but this time he only liked the nls pellets. The last time he had this when I fed him metro plex it didn't really help until I used prazi pro and then he showed noticeable improvements. Personally I hate the idea if having to catch him and put him in qt, it just seems cruel, but at the same time I feel like the rocks and sand will soak up the medicine and make it not effective enough to kill the parasites. ( not to mention killing all my coral) Do you think I should qt him? What would you do in this situation.

carlson · Aug 12, 2017

I can get metroplex from the lfs again Monday if the prazi pro won't handle it. Honestly I want to think that it's flukes, because my clown fish recently died from the same thing my tang has now, and when I took the clown fish out to give it a metroplex bath, there were these brown circular things left in the bowl afterwards.

ngoodermuth · Aug 12, 2017

carlson said:
Thanks for your reply it's very helpful as this is an extremely frustrating time for me. Luckily, this afternoon I got my tang to eat around 8 pellets which is wierd because he normally prefers seaweed but this time he only liked the nls pellets. The last time he had this when I fed him metro plex it didn't really help until I used prazi pro and then he showed noticeable improvements. Personally I hate the idea if having to catch him and put him in qt, it just seems cruel, but at the same time I feel like the rocks and sand will soak up the medicine and make it not effective enough to kill the parasites. ( not to mention killing all my coral) Do you think I should qt him? What would you do in this situation.

If you think the praziquantel is helping, I would try feeding him API general cure instead. It has metronidazole and praziquantel. You can feed in the same ratio, or double it up for a severe infection. 2 scoops of GC for 2 scoops of focus for 1 tablespoon food.

You can feed the food in a reef as long as you use focus to bind it. It's not a bad idea to run carbon just in case. And feed small amounts at a time in low flow so it's almost entirely eaten by the fish.

If he's eating the nls pellets you can soak them. Just add a few drops of tank water to help mix it.

ngoodermuth · Aug 12, 2017

You really need to get the medicine to his gut, where the parasites are. Dosing the water helps more with surface parasites, like flukes, but not always enough for the internal ones.

carlson · Aug 12, 2017

Wow I wish I new that using focus could save coral the last time I used it [emoji40] rn I feed my fish pellet by pellet until he's full to make sure he eats it all, maybe I can find general cure at my pet store tomorrow, thanks again for your help, hopefully he'll be okay until Monday

ngoodermuth · Aug 12, 2017

carlson said:
I can get metroplex from the lfs again Monday if the prazi pro won't handle it. Honestly I want to think that it's flukes, because my clown fish recently died from the same thing my tang has now, and when I took the clown fish out to give it a metroplex bath, there were these brown circular things left in the bowl afterwards.

To check for flukes, you should give him a 5 minute fresh water dip. BUT, in this case I feel like I should warn you if he is already in serious trouble this could be risky. The only time fish die in a fw dip is when they are pretty far gone beforehand.

Freshwater Dip

https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/Freshwater-Dip.248898/

carlson · Aug 13, 2017

I'm not sure how but he's doing better today! The only thing I changed was last night I adjusted my skimmer a tad bit to pull out a little less dry skimmate. This morning I noticed the white line was less noticeable and I fed him and he ate better than yesterday. Now I'm feeding him again and he's eating even better. I don't want to jinx it but if he's doing even better tomorrow I might not do anything.

ngoodermuth · Aug 13, 2017

If you have been seeing white stringy poop, I would at least feed the medicated food to finish off the worms. Feed at least 10 days, maybe longer if the symptom (stringy poop) persists.

4FordFamily · Aug 14, 2017

ngoodermuth said:
If you have been seeing white stringy poop, I would at least feed the medicated food to finish off the worms. Feed at least 10 days, maybe longer if the symptom (stringy poop) persists.

X2 on this and metro/focus feedings for at least ten days for internal parasites, which it sounds like you have, op.

Good luck, keep us posted!

carlson · Aug 15, 2017

He's doing even better and eating more normal. It's wierd that he likes the nls pellets more than seaweed now because he used to love seaweed the most. Im waiting on the metro and focus to come in the mail just to be safe.

carlson · Aug 15, 2017

carlson · Oct 3, 2017

I'm not sure if any of yall are still following this thread or will see this, but here's an update. My tang is still alive (barely). The main problem I'm having is he doesn't like the seaweed after it's been soaking in the metro and focus. He has BARELY been eating, and he looks van acts very weak. I hoped that my dosing the whole tank with metro, I might be able to slow down his problem, and maybe he would get an appetite back. He swims around with his mouth always open, but it seems like he might not be breathing quite as heavy as he was before. I just gave him some fresh seaweed and he actually took interest in it and gave a few pecks at it. Am I doing everything I can? Any other ideas? I thought about putting garlic on the seaweed but he might not like it. My main goal is to get him back to eating pellets and then once he'll eat those soaked in metro I think he'll bounce back fast.