Please help identify Disease my Achilles Tang has

[Jay Hemdal]

Sometimes when fish get frightened or stressed they change their color temporarly.
For this fish the dark color changes to some sort of grey. I took a picture when i saw him like that.

+1 on this picture looking more like how Achilles show ich.

I forgot to ask - is the Achilles posturing for the cleaner wrasse more than usual, or more than other fish?

Jay

 

[friendlyguy]

Good morning!
Well since i only have had the fish for a week, hard to tell. But I'd say: Its possible that he is a vip customer
Lets see how he looks today. Sunrise just began.
Kind regards and THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP!

 

[friendlyguy]

Morning Gents!
I've watched the Achilles Tang very closely yesterday: The mucus (or what so ever) on its skin didnt get worse, i think (so some extent its a wish) its getting better already.
What gives my mind some peace: The fish is acting very natural and not sick at all.
Hes grazing on Algea and picking the rocks all day.
He is eating dried food as well as frozen food and i was able to feed him "enriched" food as well. (Soaked dry food in https://hw-wiegandt.de/en/product/hw-multivit/ "HW MultiVit")
I also continued the treatment with Voogle, today is the last day of their recommended 5 day treatment.
That isn't a cure to treat Ich, its about getting the immune system of the fish in the tank up and reducing stress. In particular it impedes cortisol production. This should make the lysosomes better at "attacking" pathogens.
More on that:

Voogle: the new way - Easy-Life

Voogle: the new way to help sick fish in tropical aquariums. Suitable for marine and fresh water aquariums. Explanation of the method.

www.easylifeaquarium.co.uk

IF its really Ich... I have to be honest: No idea how i could qt all fish and treat them.
My understanding of proper treatment is:
- Get all fish out and treat them with copper
- Leave the entire system without any fish for 8 weeks.

My thoughts are:
- Its no help to catch the single fish and qt / treat it and then put it back into the tank because its probably getting re-infected.
- Heck, i dont have another giant tank to qt ~45 fish.
- My main system is probably going to crash if i stop feeding and remove all fish for 8 weeks. Well, maybe not crash entirely but: all the beneficial bacteria would starve and reduce in population and i am at least looking at major fluctuations when it comes to Po4, NH3, No2, No3... I've got some sensitive coral species in there i dont wanna loose.
At the same time it gives unwanted organisms "room" to grow.

So, currently i think i probably follow the route of Ich management rather than treatment.

 

[feelingfishy]

My bicolor fox face has a similar ailment. He sloshes off a thick layer of mucus every single night for the last year. I have noticed no signs of anything detrimental as far as brook, ick, velvet. I have done almost all I could do to prevent such diseases and it seems to have worked. Maybe these fish need to be in larger groups to prevent stress. I know many fish watch each other in the wild for signs of distress to avoid larger predators , so maybe this has something to do with it ( just a theory ). I have very few fish in my 330 reef too, 4 to be exact. So in summary I think some fish just produce a thick mucus layer for complicated reasons, but as is with my case it’s been nothing to worry about.

Good Luck fellow reefer

 

[friendlyguy]

Thank you for sharing and the good wishes!

 

[friendlyguy]

Good Morning!
Today i found something in an acro, that looks like the skin of my Achilles...
Is it possible he shed his skin? Sadly i couldn't take a brief look at him because i had to leave for work.
From what i can tell from yesterday: The behavior still looks very natural. He eats all sorts of food i provide and establishes habits.
During day he is at the left side of the tank grazing and chilling his life, in the evening he moves to the right side of the tank (thats where i put in food first) and then stays there until early sunrise.
I finished the 5 day treatment with Voogle but i still provide vitamine enriched food every evening.
Guys, let me tell you: this is a lesson about QT for me.
I watched several Videos and read articles how to do it right.
To me: it feels like you guys in the US are way ahead of us reefers in europe when it comes to Quarantine Protocols / doing Quarantine.
I found very valuable videos (for example the 80/20 Video from BRS) about QT Protocols, but: We can't get the medications you have in the US.
For example: PraziPro or Copper Power. You simply can't buy them.

However: i wish to establish a proper quarantine protocol for new fish. We have all the gear we could possibly need that: Except the medication.

Any advice?
Ah, before i forget: Take a look at the picture i shot with my mobile.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I've never seen an Achilles shed a big piece of skin mucus like that, but if it is doing that, it isn't normal and is a response to whatever disease is going on. Some scorpionfish routinely shed their skin mucus and that looks a lot like this does.

Jay

 

[feelingfishy]

My foxface shed mucus like that when there was a lot of particulates that stuck to him in the water column. Do you have a lot of mechanical filtration? Or do you stir the sand bed often? If so this could be one explanation as to why there is stuff attached to it.

 

[helmsreef]

My bicolor fox face has a similar ailment. He sloshes off a thick layer of mucus every single night for the last year. I have noticed no signs of anything detrimental as far as brook, ick, velvet. I have done almost all I could do to prevent such diseases and it seems to have worked. Maybe these fish need to be in larger groups to prevent stress. I know many fish watch each other in the wild for signs of distress to avoid larger predators , so maybe this has something to do with it ( just a theory ). I have very few fish in my 330 reef too, 4 to be exact. So in summary I think some fish just produce a thick mucus layer for complicated reasons, but as is with my case it’s been nothing to worry about.

Good Luck fellow reefer

This is a normal attribute of rabbit fish. My one spot as well as my gold spot rabbit will periodically shed their mucus layer

 

[feelingfishy]

This is a normal attribute of rabbit fish. My one spot as well as my gold spot rabbit will periodically shed their mucus layer

I considered this also, but with i have read many statements saying it was not everyday. My rabbit fish sheds everyday! It’s always around the same time as well about 3 hours before the lights go off.

 

[helmsreef]

I considered this also, but with i have read many statements saying it was not everyday. My rabbit fish sheds everyday! It’s always around the same time as well about 3 hours before the lights go off.

Do you have a good amount of flow in the tank? This will determine how often they do it.

 

[feelingfishy]

Yes, 300 gallon 3 wav‘s a jump gyre 4k and the cor 20 pump. I am considering adding even more though as the corals are growing out quite fast.

Now back to the issue at hand though. I only have 4 fish atm, Bicolor Foxface, Midas Blenny, Royal Gramma, and Biota Dragonet which I added first to avoid diseases. Also, I did qt the other fish and have seen no issues with them except the Foxface shedding every night for the past year. He eats normally acts completely normal and overall seems very happy.