Regal tang with dark lesion

Feet4Fish · Oct 9, 2020

Not an emergency! Can’t get stupid tag to go away! Would appreciate input in thoughts of the origin of this lesion. This is a 10” regal that I have had for about 3 years. Just noticed lesions yesterday. Would appreciate insight of @Jay Hemdal !

Jay Hemdal · Oct 9, 2020

Whoa! That showed up in 24 hours? I’d call it an emergency. Looks like two lesions; a deeper one beneath the pectoral fin and then that shallow but larger one further back. The color just seems unfamiliar to me, I’m at a loss to say what that is. The one under the pectoral could be an injury, but the plaque-like one, I have no idea. Is the fish breathing normally and eating?
Jay

Feet4Fish · Oct 9, 2020

Jay Hemdal said:
Whoa! That showed up in 24 hours? I’d call it an emergency. Looks like two lesions; a deeper one beneath the pectoral fin and then that shallow but larger one further back. The color just seems unfamiliar to me, I’m at a loss to say what that is. The one under the pectoral could be an injury, but the plaque-like one, I have no idea. Is the fish breathing normally and eating?
Jay

Yes breathing normally and eating fine. Can’t guarantee it started yesterday but it hasn’t been long and regardless. He down typical blue tang stuff and has two rocks that he wedges himself in between.

vetteguy53081 · Oct 9, 2020

Agree. . . one looks like injury and the other - gross tissue loss. I would cleanse it with a freshwater dip and then begin with Melafix which will help with any potential infection as I would fear and gram negative or positive infection.
Most bacteria that cause disease in marine fish are gram-negative. Ones most commonly associated with these infections are of the genus Pseudomonas and Vibrio.
The good news with your fish actively swimming and eating is healthy fish have a strong, natural resistance to bacteria and can usually fight it off on their own as long as water quality is good. I believe you already add garlic extract to your foods- Do So .
If this continues, i would use and prefer to use a product by Mardel Labs known as Maracyn 2 which is mincycline hydrochlor based and is a gram-negative bacteria treatment, as well as sufficiently absorbed through the skin to treat internal infections. Many bacterias in saltwater are naturally resistant to specific drugs so using the proper type of antibiotic is of the utmost importance especially in your case.

Jay Hemdal · Oct 10, 2020

How does the lesion look today? Is it spreading?
Jay

Feet4Fish · Oct 10, 2020

Updated pics. Doesn’t seem like a plaque now but rather and ulcer

vetteguy53081 · Oct 10, 2020

Feet4Fish said:
Updated pics. Doesn’t seem like a plaque now but rather and ulcer

have you treated fish with anything ?

JGT · Oct 10, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
have you treated fish with anything ?

Feet4Fish said:
Updated pics. Doesn’t seem like a plaque now but rather and ulcer

Maybe just me, but does anyone find the coloration on the face and the front of the dorsal fin off?

Feet4Fish said:
Updated pics. Doesn’t seem like a plaque now but rather and ulcer

Does anyone think the coloration on the face and front of dorsal fin is also off?

vetteguy53081 · Oct 10, 2020

JGT said:
Maybe just me, but does anyone find the coloration on the face and the front of the dorsal fin off?

Does anyone think the coloration on the face and front of dorsal fin is also off?

yes- and im thinking vitamin deficiency

Feet4Fish · Oct 10, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
have you treated fish with anything ?

Haven’t been able to catch him to get him in hospital tank as of yet. So today I put a big ole dose of Brightwell’s Fish Remedy to possible have a little benefit without any harm until I am successful in getting him. Catching fish in big tanks is a royal PIA!

Feet4Fish · Oct 10, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
yes- and im thinking vitamin deficiency

That discoloration has just recently appeared as well. He is a great eater as eats all food that go into the tank. Eats Nori pretty well, NLS pellets, TDO pellets and PE pellets. Also eats frozen. The pellets are soaked in selcon and angel elixir.

Feet4Fish · Oct 10, 2020

Also he is still actively swimming, eating and does not have labored breathing.

btackerman · Oct 10, 2020

It looks almost like a burn of some type to me has something happened with a piece of equipment.

Feet4Fish · Oct 11, 2020

I misspoke ... I dosed the tank with Brightwell’s Fish Recover M

Feet4Fish · Oct 11, 2020

btackerman said:
It looks almost like a burn of some type to me has something happened with a piece of equipment.

To my knowledge nothing has happened. Only equipment in the tank are four power heads.

Jay Hemdal · Oct 11, 2020

Yes - the coloration on the head is called "epithelial thinning". It is pretty common in hepatus tangs,. It sometimes develops into classic head and lateral line erosion, but not always. Lots of speculation as to what causes this in blue tangs, but stress is one factor, diet probably another. for HLLE, the one known factor is carbon use.

So - the cap on the plaque seems to have fallen off? That is very interesting. I was I had that fish in hand as a skin scrape would be interesting. I doubt that it is from an injury or "heater burn". I'm leaning towards bacterial, as fungal lesions are very rare in marine fish.

Since it is in your DT, sounds like your treatment is the only course of action - although I don't hold much (any) stock in reef safe medications, since the pathogens they purport to eliminate are sturdier than corals - how can they selective kill them without harming coral? At best, they are considered tonics. What happens is: the fish dies and the aquarist shrugs and thinks, "oh, I must not have caught it in time". Or the fish lives and the aquarist thinks, "great it worked!". Trouble is, some localized bacterial issues with fish resolve on their own, so the fish could have recovered without the "reef safe" medication.

Jay

Feet4Fish · Oct 11, 2020

Jay Hemdal said:
Yes - the coloration on the head is called "epithelial thinning". It is pretty common in hepatus tangs,. It sometimes develops into classic head and lateral line erosion, but not always. Lots of speculation as to what causes this in blue tangs, but stress is one factor, diet probably another. for HLLE, the one known factor is carbon use.

So - the cap on the plaque seems to have fallen off? That is very interesting. I was I had that fish in hand as a skin scrape would be interesting. I doubt that it is from an injury or "heater burn". I'm leaning towards bacterial, as fungal lesions are very rare in marine fish.

Since it is in your DT, sounds like your treatment is the only course of action - although I don't hold much (any) stock in reef safe medications, since the pathogens they purport to eliminate are sturdier than corals - how can they selective kill them without harming coral? At best, they are considered tonics. What happens is: the fish dies and the aquarist shrugs and thinks, "oh, I must not have caught it in time". Or the fish lives and the aquarist thinks, "great it worked!". Trouble is, some localized bacterial issues with fish resolve on their own, so the fish could have recovered without the "reef safe" medication.

Jay

Thanks Jay! I am still trying to get him out of the tank and isolate him. Have a decent array of antibiotics on hand. Would there be any benefit to feeding antibiotic-impregnated food?

Jay Hemdal · Oct 11, 2020

Medicated foods would be great, EXCEPT they are almost always done incorrectly. Yesterday, R2R posted an article I wrote on the topic. It is a PDF download on the right side of this page: