tl;dr - two zebrasoma tangs breathing very heavy and not eating much if at all, wrasses flashing here-and-there 2 months after TTM, and a bacteria bloom that won't go away. Long post, trying to give as much info as possible here.
I just recently setup a brand new 180 gallon tank (dry billy rock, special grade sand, cycled with turbostart 900 and bottled ammonium chloride which fully cycled the tank in under a week), was all very exciting and nearly ready for fish when I noticed crypto (ich) in the 125g that was holding on to all my fish and coral. I did a very cautious TTM for two sets of fish (round 1 was 2 clowns 3 tangs and a long nose hawk, round 2 was 5 halichoeres and 2 macropharyngodon wrasses, TTM procedure essentially followed @Humblefish's guide to the T), after which the fish were added to the 180g (so, the tangs+clowns+hawk, then the wrasses 2 weeks later) and came out ecstatic - ich was gone, no signs of disease, fish were doing great. All of these fish had been with me for at least 2 months in the 125 (which I used as a pseudo observation/qt tank prepping for the 180) and showed no other signs of disease that I know of.
The second batch of fish completed the TTM around the first week of December. Some time in December, the tank developed a bacteria bloom. I thought I'd ride it out for a few days or a week (wet skimmed a bit, ran carbon, etc), and the tank was going through all sorts of new tank ugliness (diatoms, green algae, etc), but as of today the (what I assume is a) bacteria bloom is as cloudy as it was ~2 months ago.
I took a vacation a few weeks ago, leading up to which all fish seemed to be doing fine. After coming back (had a family member I trust feed mysis daily while I was gone), I noticed my yellow tang out less than normal and soon after noticed beginning of HLLE (pitting on the head/face) on my desjardini tang. I also noticed both fish breathing rapidly, refusing food for the most part (the desjardini will pick at LRS and nori, the yellow I'm not sure I've seen eat in at least a week), mostly hiding, and breathing heavy. I also saw some of my wrasses flashing, and I'd been meaning to treat with prazipro, so I started that immediately (say, first dose 1/25, second dose 1/30) and took off the skimmer cup.
In the ~week since, I've noticed reduced flashing in the wrasses (though it has not subsided), perhaps slight uptick in appetite in the desjardini tang (she will try to go after food and will still pick at the nori, which is now selcon-soaked nori to help rehab from HLLE assuming she lives), but overall little change. I have a blue hippo tang that looks as healthy as ever, eats great, and cruises around picking at stuff all day. The two zebrasoma tangs are still breathing very heavy (est 200+ breaths per minute), have their mouths open most of the time (such that the desjardini almost inhales food rather than biting it), and I'm just at a loss for what to focus on right now.
I don't really have a great way to move these fish to any sort of hospital tank, if I could even catch them which is pretty much out of the question. The tank has corals and most are doing well. I've tested ammonia/nitrite/nitrate very consistently and none are detectable on both API and red sea kits (chaeto growing well). I have been doing 30g water changes (system is 200g so that's 15%) every other week, and I'm planning 60g for Saturday. So, in order of preference I'd like to address the tangs since they seem most dire, address the flashing in other fish (no new fish added since TTM, I think velvet would have killed a fish by now and no signs of brook that I know of), and then take ideas for how to nuke this bacterial bloom.
Help!
I just recently setup a brand new 180 gallon tank (dry billy rock, special grade sand, cycled with turbostart 900 and bottled ammonium chloride which fully cycled the tank in under a week), was all very exciting and nearly ready for fish when I noticed crypto (ich) in the 125g that was holding on to all my fish and coral. I did a very cautious TTM for two sets of fish (round 1 was 2 clowns 3 tangs and a long nose hawk, round 2 was 5 halichoeres and 2 macropharyngodon wrasses, TTM procedure essentially followed @Humblefish's guide to the T), after which the fish were added to the 180g (so, the tangs+clowns+hawk, then the wrasses 2 weeks later) and came out ecstatic - ich was gone, no signs of disease, fish were doing great. All of these fish had been with me for at least 2 months in the 125 (which I used as a pseudo observation/qt tank prepping for the 180) and showed no other signs of disease that I know of.
The second batch of fish completed the TTM around the first week of December. Some time in December, the tank developed a bacteria bloom. I thought I'd ride it out for a few days or a week (wet skimmed a bit, ran carbon, etc), and the tank was going through all sorts of new tank ugliness (diatoms, green algae, etc), but as of today the (what I assume is a) bacteria bloom is as cloudy as it was ~2 months ago.
I took a vacation a few weeks ago, leading up to which all fish seemed to be doing fine. After coming back (had a family member I trust feed mysis daily while I was gone), I noticed my yellow tang out less than normal and soon after noticed beginning of HLLE (pitting on the head/face) on my desjardini tang. I also noticed both fish breathing rapidly, refusing food for the most part (the desjardini will pick at LRS and nori, the yellow I'm not sure I've seen eat in at least a week), mostly hiding, and breathing heavy. I also saw some of my wrasses flashing, and I'd been meaning to treat with prazipro, so I started that immediately (say, first dose 1/25, second dose 1/30) and took off the skimmer cup.
In the ~week since, I've noticed reduced flashing in the wrasses (though it has not subsided), perhaps slight uptick in appetite in the desjardini tang (she will try to go after food and will still pick at the nori, which is now selcon-soaked nori to help rehab from HLLE assuming she lives), but overall little change. I have a blue hippo tang that looks as healthy as ever, eats great, and cruises around picking at stuff all day. The two zebrasoma tangs are still breathing very heavy (est 200+ breaths per minute), have their mouths open most of the time (such that the desjardini almost inhales food rather than biting it), and I'm just at a loss for what to focus on right now.
I don't really have a great way to move these fish to any sort of hospital tank, if I could even catch them which is pretty much out of the question. The tank has corals and most are doing well. I've tested ammonia/nitrite/nitrate very consistently and none are detectable on both API and red sea kits (chaeto growing well). I have been doing 30g water changes (system is 200g so that's 15%) every other week, and I'm planning 60g for Saturday. So, in order of preference I'd like to address the tangs since they seem most dire, address the flashing in other fish (no new fish added since TTM, I think velvet would have killed a fish by now and no signs of brook that I know of), and then take ideas for how to nuke this bacterial bloom.
Help!
