Still don't know what I'm fighting...

[citymouse]

Some have read my other threads and cries for help...so to sum it up..it's like the never ending story.

I have 2 Tangs, yellow (med) and Kole (small) in a 20g QT (upgrading this week to 40b) We're going on 6 months now. First they had Flukes, discovered a few weeks in, treated and cured. Then I was watching some some spots which turned out were nothing more than coloration that disappears as they grow (all gone now). I was ready to move them and the yellow tang was looking very thin all of the sudden, I started feeding more and treating with cupramine, he started fattening up again. (BTW it's always the been the yellow showing symptoms and never the Kole, except the Kole had the coloration thing). I've making sure they have seaweed and feeding frozen every once in a while, of course the extra feeding boosted the nitrates again, but in the middle of copper treating I didn't want to do a water change, it's not that high, just not as low as It was!
Just when I think the Yellow is looking better, his fin looks like there's a bite taken out of it, which has since spread a little. I had just added a powerhead right before starting copper, so I thought maybe he nicked in there...but when it spread I figured that's not likely.

NOW, he's looking thin again! I've been feeding them the same, plenty of seaweed and occasional frozen, they're both eating, the Kole is thriving as he always has.

Copper treatment is done as of yesterday. What now?
I don't know what is going on with this fish, could stress cause this?

I'm setting up a 40 breeder to move them both into, since I never anticipated this long in QT and they weren't very big when I got them, I figured the 20g would be fine and a short stay. They're moving (hopefully some day) in a 215.
It will be probably several days before I get the 40 up and running, I will have everything I need over the next few days. I'm really hoping the bigger tank helps the yellow lower his stress and maybe that's it's only issue?

Should I antibiotic treat? or something else? There is no visible sign of parasites, I did FW dip before copper and they were both clear. The only thing I see are the thinning of the yellow and now his fins..which up until 3 weeks ago were beautiful and perfect! Maybe once int he bigger tank just watch them again?

Side question: what can I put in there for hiding spots? They need something, they're so freaking out every time anyone walks by, I have the 20g covered on 3 sides to make them a little less freaked by people. I want some salt water safe options, I do have some terracotta pots for fish and other things, just want to know what materials are safe vs not safe. There's the stupid fake plant currently in there too. lol

 

[The Reefing Scotsman]

When you say you treated and cured the flukes, you used praziquantel presumably?

If I were you I would set up the new tank and give both fish a fenbendazole bath on the way to the new tank.

Once they are there feed them twice daily with food laced with General Cure and Seachem Focus for a period of 2-3 weeks.

Is there any chance the Kole is aggressive to the Yellow?

You must get some hiding places in the QT. Use PVC pipes and elbows etc for this.

 

[citymouse]

When you say you treated and cured the flukes, you used praziquantel presumably?

If I were you I would set up the new tank and give both fish a fenbendazole bath on the way to the new tank.

Once they are there feed them twice daily with food laced with General Cure and Seachem Focus for a period of 2-3 weeks.

Is there any chance the Kole is aggressive to the Yellow?

You must get some hiding places in the QT. Use PVC pipes and elbows etc for this.

Thanks!
Yes I used prazipro to successfully treat flukes, I treated twice, a few weeks apart. They were clean in
their FW dip. Actually, the Kole never showed symptoms and nothing came off him in the first dip.
The Kole is about 1/4 of the size of the yellow, I've never seen him being aggressive, he swims all around, sometimes hanging along side the yellow and hides in the small pvc pit that's in there, it's 1", that's how small he is.
I have a fake plant and 2 one inch pvc pipes right now, the yellow is too big for PVC, but loves hiding behind the plant, I wanted to give him another option.

 

[citymouse]

When you say you treated and cured the flukes, you used praziquantel presumably?

If I were you I would set up the new tank and give both fish a fenbendazole bath on the way to the new tank.

Once they are there feed them twice daily with food laced with General Cure and Seachem Focus for a period of 2-3 weeks.

Is there any chance the Kole is aggressive to the Yellow?

You must get some hiding places in the QT. Use PVC pipes and elbows etc for this.

What is a Fenbendazole bath and how would I do this while moving them? All I'm finding is info about mixing it with their food for 3 days.

 

[The Reefing Scotsman]

Thanks!
Yes I used prazipro to successfully treat flukes, I treated twice, a few weeks apart. They were clean in
their FW dip. Actually, the Kole never showed symptoms and nothing came off him in the first dip.
The Kole is about 1/4 of the size of the yellow, I've never seen him being aggressive, he swims all around, sometimes hanging along side the yellow and hides in the small pvc pit that's in there, it's 1", that's how small he is.
I have a fake plant and 2 one inch pvc pipes right now, the yellow is too big for PVC, but loves hiding behind the plant, I wanted to give him another option.

You should re-treat the fish one week after the first treatment when combating flukes. If you leave it too long then there could be another generation in your tank as eggs waiting to hatch out. You have to time it so you kill one lot of adults followed by the next generation, but before they can lay eggs of their own. You say above that you treated a few weeks apart so this is a possibility. It is also possible to miss the signs of flukes in a FW dip. Your YT is still showing synptoms of a possible fluke infection.

Fenbendazole is an alternative and powerful Fluke treatment. Since you are moving the fish to a clean tank I think it would be wise to treat them on the way. You carry this out in a large container filled with new salt water with a heater and an airstone. 25mg fenbendazole per litre for 12 hours.

This bath treatment has the added bonus of potentially helping with the possible internal parasite problem, as fenbendazole is effective against nematode worms.

After they have moved to the new QT feed the fish food medicated with General Cure and Focus.

For hiding places I would get some bigger diameter pvc pipe or pipe fittings ordered.

 

[sfin52]

you say the tang is thin gets fat goes to thin again. I wonder if you are dealing with internal parasites

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

What is a Fenbendazole bath and how would I do this while moving them? All I'm finding is info about mixing it with their food for 3 days.

You can get Thomas Labs fenbendazole I’m Amazon. 125mg per gallon for a 12 hour bath. Typically one and done. I did mine in a bucket.

 

[citymouse]

you say the tang is thin gets fat goes to thin again. I wonder if you are dealing with internal parasites

That's what I was wondering too. I don't get why this fish has never ending issues. He was fine after the 2 treatments for Flukes. I treated once after a FW dip that showed obvious flukes, FW dipped after to show they were gone. Then treated a second time when the fish was flashing and I thought it may have come back, so I treated then FW dipped both fish and they were clear. Then all was good for a few months, I was just cautiously keeping them in the QT, they were fine, no flashing, never had stringy poop, eating all the time. I was about to move them over to the DT when I noticed the yellow was thin, that's when I decided to copper treat, his fins got bad during this decision, literally the day before I noticed what looked like someone took a bite...although I know that's not the case. During the copper treatment his fin got worse. But he was fattening up again, I also thought I might have been underfeeding because Tang eat all the time, I might have not been offering enough so I upped my feeding during this same time. After the copper, he looked thin again, almost overnight, and I am in the room with the QT literally the majority of my day, so I'm watching them a ton! I'm looking at them right now, lol.

I didn't see the rest of the above replies, i didn't get email notifications, so when I checked back for an answer prior, they weren't there....then I got busy with work...etc etc. life happened! I feel owning a SW tank means not having anything else to do! lol I have kids, a job, a garden to tend, and more tanks than I ever intended..this is why I don't have corals in my tanks, I can't imagine how I could ever keep them alive.
As of yesterday I put them in the bigger tank. I have General Cure and didn't know how to treat their food with it, which is what brought me back here and saw all of these other comments!

So... I have GC packets, they say to add one per 10g in the tank. How do I instead treat the food? Or should I just add it to the water? I felt like treating the food would be more effective if this is an internal parasite. Although, other than the weight loss, this fish has no other symptoms at all. The little Kole is still as normal as can be, it's like he's immune to everything that's been going on!