SICK YELLOW TANG, PLEASE HELP!

Amber Vassallo

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my husbands been maintaining the tank and doing everything he's always done and nothing new has been added to the tank. noticed a few weeks ago he was starting to get sick and thought he had a bacterial infection. started to think he got better because his appetite came back (he wasn't eating at all) and was staying in the back of the tank. he would keep swimming up to our cleaner wrasse constantly wanting him to clean him and which that is still happening. but he has gotten worse in the past week and his gills are super red and he's breathing super heavy! aslo he's gotten really skinny. not sure if his gills are maybe deteriorating but they look super red and almost swollen like. also there's a piece of skin or something hanging from the opening of his gills you can see in the picture. somebody please help! what's wrong with him and what do i need to treat him. btw this is my husband's set up he's the one that is into this but he's not sure what's wrong and hasn't really tried figuring out. somebody help me, i've tried looking it up but there's a few things i'm thinking it may be.

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Fish Think Pink

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my husbands been maintaining the tank and doing everything he's always done and nothing new has been added to the tank. noticed a few weeks ago he was starting to get sick and thought he had a bacterial infection. started to think he got better because his appetite came back (he wasn't eating at all) and was staying in the back of the tank. he would keep swimming up to our cleaner wrasse constantly wanting him to clean him and which that is still happening. but he has gotten worse in the past week and his gills are super red and he's breathing super heavy! aslo he's gotten really skinny. not sure if his gills are maybe deteriorating but they look super red and almost swollen like. also there's a piece of skin or something hanging from the opening of his gills you can see in the picture. somebody please help! what's wrong with him and what do i need to treat him. btw this is my husband's set up he's the one that is into this but he's not sure what's wrong and hasn't really tried figuring out. somebody help me, i've tried looking it up but there's a few things i'm thinking it may be.

20210506_183412.jpg 20210506_183403.jpg 20210506_183355.jpg 20210506_183347.jpg 20210506_183345.jpg 20210506_183344.jpg 20210506_183131.jpg
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Fish Think Pink

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Can you add an airstone just to help with oxygen? Asking because you said about breathing heavy. Reefsquad will give you better treatment advice than I can. Fingers crossed your yellow tang pulls thru. I love mine!!
 
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Amber Vassallo

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Can you add an airstone just to help with oxygen? Asking because you said about breathing heavy. Reefsquad will give you better treatment advice than I can. Fingers crossed your yellow tang pulls thru. I love mine!!
thanks for the well wishes, breaks my heart to see him like this. it's my husband's hobby but we're married so their basically fish to and we've had them for a while now. they all have are extremely social and sweet fish i've really grown to care for them. we've got quite a few different fish in the tank.
my husband said the oxygen in the tank is completely fine and all the other fish are breathing good we don't think that'll really help him because we believe the heavy breathing is obviously coming from whatever's wrong with him and the only thing that's probably gonna help that is removing him from the tank and treating him with medicine. just gotta figure out what the issue is. it's definitely something going on and you can see his gills are super red and his airway is enlarged and staying pretty open near the gills. he is eating again and he's not hiding but you can tell he's suffering
 

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thanks for the well wishes, breaks my heart to see him like this. it's my husband's hobby but we're married so their basically fish to and we've had them for a while now. they all have are extremely social and sweet fish i've really grown to care for them. we've got quite a few different fish in the tank.
my husband said the oxygen in the tank is completely fine and all the other fish are breathing good we don't think that'll really help him because we believe the heavy breathing is obviously coming from whatever's wrong with him and the only thing that's probably gonna help that is removing him from the tank and treating him with medicine. just gotta figure out what the issue is. it's definitely something going on and you can see his gills are super red and his airway is enlarged and staying pretty open near the gills. he is eating again and he's not hiding but you can tell he's suffering
Do you have a QT setup to become hospital tank (HT)? I use a petco kit 5gallon glass with added heater. That's worked for my purposes including when my medium yellow tang had to 'vacation' there (or die) while my display tank was treated for bryopsis.

Glad he is eating again, that is always a good sign.

Agree that air is likely fine in tank and for rest of fish.... In human hospitals, they give extra oxygen to those that are sick and need it - its why I suggested airstone - maybe it would help your yellow tang or maybe he's not breathing heavy any more.
 

Uncle99

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How long in the tank?
What are your water parameters?
How many months stable?

I would rule out any water chemistry issues first cause that’s easy to fix.
 
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Amber Vassallo

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Do you have a QT setup to become hospital tank (HT)? I use a petco kit 5gallon glass with added heater. That's worked for my purposes including when my medium yellow tang had to 'vacation' there (or die) while my display tank was treated for bryopsis.

Glad he is eating again, that is always a good sign.

Agree that air is likely fine in tank and for rest of fish.... In human hospitals, they give extra oxygen to those that are sick and need it - its why I suggested airstone - maybe it would help your yellow tang or maybe he's not breathing heavy any more.
he hasn't set up yet but he has everything. just tryna figure out whats going on and what medicine we need to get and then he'll set everything up. we've got an extra tank and everything needed to get it running. and he's breathing super heavy still, it's been this way for over a week! wanna figure this out before it's to late. he seems to be suffering!
 
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Amber Vassallo

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How long in the tank?
What are your water parameters?
How many months stable?

I would rule out any water chemistry issues first cause that’s easy to fix.
2 years and husband said all the water parameters are fine. been stable for years. definitely not the water chemistry that's causing this.
 

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2 years and husband said all the water parameters are fine. been stable for years. definitely not the water chemistry that's causing this.
@Uncle99 her yellow tang looks nearly same as the yellow tang in this bacterial post: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bacterial-infections.191511/

@Amber Vassallo Yellow tangs can be to reef system what canaries are to coal mines. If something has been drifting off, then possibly stress from that is what has made yellow tang susceptible before other fish within your tank. This is why @Uncle99 is justified to ask about your water parameters. Have you retested? Has your salinity measurement device been recently calibrated? You likely want to rule out everything, because the only constant is change, so even if nothing has changed, something changed... else fish would not be sick. Right?
 
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SteveMM62Reef

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My Yellow Tang got stressed like that when a Primer was used on the floor for a tile job. I saved him the first time by using outside air in my skimmer and an air stone in my overflow. They used the Primer again and I was out of the house. He died. Were there any Aerosols or chemicals used in your home?
 

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Tamberav

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A methylene blue bath can help until a diagnosis is found.

Have you ever seen another fish bothering him? It looks like he has a scalpel wound on his side and tattered fins. I do see a powder blue which can be very aggressive sometimes. Perhaps someone beat him up and an infection has set in.
 
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Amber Vassallo

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A methylene blue bath can help until a diagnosis is found.

Have you ever seen another fish bothering him? It looks like he has a scalpel wound on his side and tattered fins. I do see a powder blue which can be very aggressive sometimes. Perhaps someone beat him up and an infection has set in.
yeah my husband has methylene so i'll talk to him about the blue bath. appreciate it. and no none of the fish have been bothering him and surprisingly my powder blue is one of the friendliest in the tank. lol
and yes i seen that, that actually just popped up like yesterday and also those other 2 white spots on the other side of him. whatever this is is causing the fins to deteriorate and he's breathing really heavy. where he breathes near his gills its gaping and you can see inside of there.
 
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Amber Vassallo

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@Uncle99 her yellow tang looks nearly same as the yellow tang in this bacterial post: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bacterial-infections.191511/

@Amber Vassallo Yellow tangs can be to reef system what canaries are to coal mines. If something has been drifting off, then possibly stress from that is what has made yellow tang susceptible before other fish within your tank. This is why @Uncle99 is justified to ask about your water parameters. Have you retested? Has your salinity measurement device been recently calibrated? You likely want to rule out everything, because the only constant is change, so even if nothing has changed, something changed... else fish would not be sick. Right?
idk this is my husbands tank i'm just tryna see
@Uncle99 her yellow tang looks nearly same as the yellow tang in this bacterial post: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bacterial-infections.191511/

@Amber Vassallo Yellow tangs can be to reef system what canaries are to coal mines. If something has been drifting off, then possibly stress from that is what has made yellow tang susceptible before other fish within your tank. This is why @Uncle99 is justified to ask about your water parameters. Have you retested? Has your salinity measurement device been recently calibrated? You likely want to rule out everything, because the only constant is change, so even if nothing has changed, something changed... else fish would not be sick. Right?

Maybe his fine and others fine are different.
But as you said, rule that one out.
Just wanted to rule out the easy things, water quality has such an impact, and IMM, the statement all water parameters are fine would not help me, help them.

The values of parameters in systems with exceptional water chemistry would be known at all times by the aquarist.
salinity .26
magnesium 1300
alkalinity 9
 
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Amber Vassallo

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Just wanted to rule out the easy things, water quality has such an impact, and IMM, the statement all water parameters are fine would not help me, help them.

The values of parameters in systems with exceptional water chemistry would be known at all times by the aquarist.
i don't think my tang looks like anything like that one and that's looks like it's a mimic tang to me. only thing is the fins.
 

Tamberav

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After the blue bath I would probably treat with antibiotics in a QT tank or in baths.

 

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