Tangs fins just melt away

[mushy coral]

Have a small Orange shoulder tang that having its fin disappear day by day. Started on its left fin first and today i notice the right fin which was fine yesterday now got a big chunk ripped off. Its tank mate is only a bigger sailfin tang and I added them together, have not seen any aggression between these two since then. They both eat well i feed them pellets and nori and some brineshrimp occasionnally. Thought could be fin rots but its tail and others fin are fine the sailfin tang also fine. Before i do have an anthias in tank and it does bullied the OS thou, could this make the OS got some infection? There also a chance that the sailfin might secretly nip on the OS tang at night when im not watching. What should i do in this case? Should i put the OS in an acclimation box to see if the sailfin is bullying the OS behind my back? Or should i take the OS out and treat it with somekind of antibiotics?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Have a small Orange shoulder tang that having its fin disappear day by day. Started on its left fin first and today i notice the right fin which was fine yesterday now got a big chunk ripped off. Its tank mate is only a bigger sailfin tang and I added them together, have not seen any aggression between these two since then. They both eat well i feed them pellets and nori and some brineshrimp occasionnally. Thought could be fin rots but its tail and others fin are fine the sailfin tang also fine. Before i do have an anthias in tank and it does bullied the OS thou, could this make the OS got some infection? There also a chance that the sailfin might secretly nip on the OS tang at night when im not watching. What should i do in this case? Should i put the OS in an acclimation box to see if the sailfin is bullying the OS behind my back? Or should i take the OS out and treat it with somekind of antibiotics?

The pics aren’t really clear enough, but
With the sudden appearance of the damage to the right fin that you noticed, only tankmate aggression matches up as a cause.

Fish aggression often does not happen when you are watching. Also, seeing it happen when it is over in a flash and happening just once a day or so is close to impossible - but you can see the residual damage.

I’d put a tank divider in to see if that stops it. Severe damage can become infected, requiring the fish to be moved to a hospital tank for treatment.

 

[mushy coral]

The pics aren’t really clear enough, but
With the sudden appearance of the damage to the right fin that you noticed, only tankmate aggression matches up as a cause.

Fish aggression often does not happen when you are watching. Also, seeing it happen when it is over in a flash and happening just once a day or so is close to impossible - but you can see the residual damage.

I’d put a tank divider in to see if that stops it. Severe damage can become infected, requiring the fish to be moved to a hospital tank for treatment

Thank a lot! I will seperate them asap. Will the fins fullt heal in future if the fish eat well and get no infection? And if it does get infection how should I treat it?

 

[mushy coral]

O

The pics aren’t really clear enough, but
With the sudden appearance of the damage to the right fin that you noticed, only tankmate aggression matches up as a cause.

Fish aggression often does not happen when you are watching. Also, seeing it happen when it is over in a flash and happening just once a day or so is close to impossible - but you can see the residual damage.

I’d put a tank divider in to see if that stops it. Severe damage can become infected, requiring the fish to be moved to a hospital tank for treatment.

And i also notice that the OS does scratch itself onto the sandbed. Is this cause the fins to tore away?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank a lot! I will seperate them asap. Will the fins fullt heal in future if the fish eat well and get no infection? And if it does get infection how should I treat it?

Yes - once separated, the damage will stop. If the fins continue to erode, then that means they got infected. Treatment would need to be done in a hospital tank using a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic like Neoplex.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

O

And i also notice that the OS does scratch itself onto the sandbed. Is this cause the fins to tore away?

No - fish rarely self damage. However, the scratching can be a sign of flukes.

 

[mushy coral]

No - fish rarely self damage. However, the scratching can be a sign of flukes.

So wrap up I am going to seperate it and check on it daily to see if its heal or not. If not then i should take it to a qt tank and treat with Neoplex (are there any other alternate for Neoplex) . Can i also do a 5min fresh water bath to get rid of the fluke when transfer to qt tank or acclimation box?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I too see aggression damage. will heal on its own as long as its not further damaged by likely a tank mate

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

So wrap up I am going to seperate it and check on it daily to see if its heal or not. If not then i should take it to a qt tank and treat with Neoplex (are there any other alternate for Neoplex) . Can i also do a 5min fresh water bath to get rid of the fluke when transfer to qt tank or acclimation box?

A FW dip to transfer to the QT would buy you some time, but you’ll need to treat both tanks with praziquantel. I’d skip that added stress.

I would not use an acclimation box - too confining.

 

[mushy coral]

A FW dip to transfer to the QT would buy you some time, but you’ll need to treat both tanks with praziquantel. I’d skip that added stress.

I would not use an acclimation box - too confining.

So no more Neoplex—just the praziquantel dose directly into the DT and QT tanks? What’s the correct dosage and treatment procedure? I’m a bit confused since I’m not very familiar with fish diseases.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

A FW dip to transfer to the QT would buy you some time, but you’ll need to treat both tanks with praziquantel. I’d skip that added stress.

So no more Neoplex—just the praziquantel dose directly into the DT and QT tanks? What’s the correct dosage and treatment procedure? I’m a bit confused since I’m not very familiar with fish diseases.

There are two issues in play: the fin damage and the scratching.

Separating the fish and seeing if the fin damage stops will confirm that it is aggression and not infected. If the fin damage worsens during the separation, that points to a bacterial infection requiring antibiotics.

The scratching is most likely flukes. All fish will need to be treated with praziquantel. Here is a post that outlines the method for that:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dosing-praziquantel-pzq.1105700/

 

[mushy coral]

Thank so much for the clairification!

 

[mushy coral]

There are two issues in play: the fin damage and the scratching.

Separating the fish and seeing if the fin damage stops will confirm that it is aggression and not infected. If the fin damage worsens during the separation, that points to a bacterial infection requiring antibiotics.

The catching is most likely flukes. All fish will need to be treated with praziquantel. Here is a post that outlines the method for that:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dosing-praziquantel-pzq.1105700/[/URL

So in the past 2 days i saw that the OS did not show any more injuries on his fins os i guess it was the sailfin all the time. The problem is the OS seem to appear these wound kind of like skin got peeled away. It first appear at the small area above the head and now it start to appears on the side of the fish belly, only on the left side of this fish, the rightside is fine. The left eye also feels like it getting a bit bigger. The fish still eat and swim normal. Could it be HLLE or it some kind of infection? Im gonna have the selcon delivered to me today but the neoplex have to wait few more days

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

So in the past 2 days i saw that the OS did not show any more injuries on his fins os i guess it was the sailfin all the time. The problem is the OS seem to appear these wound kind of like skin got peeled away. It first appear at the small area above the head and now it start to appears on the side of the fish belly, only on the left side of this fish, the rightside is fine. The left eye also feels like it getting a bit bigger. The fish still eat and swim normal. Could it be HLLE or it some kind of infection? Im gonna have the selcon delivered to me today but the neoplex have to wait few more days

That isn't HLLE. Selcon doesn't help with infections - it only helps prevent issues in fish that were previously malnourished.

 

[mushy coral]

That isn't HLLE. Selcon doesn't help with infections - it only helps prevent issues in fish that were previously malnourished.

Finally got my Neoplex but its not like what I imagined. The medicine is dry and compact into a solid rock with yellow brown color. Am i got scammed or the long shipping time caused this?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Finally got my Neoplex but its not like what I imagined. The medicine is dry and compact into a solid rock with yellow brown color. Am i got scammed or the long shipping time caused this?

That issue has been reported before. The product should not be used. I suspect that it has to do with storage in hot and humid conditions - you are in Vietnam and the other case was from a person in India:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/will-this-seachem-antibiotic-still-work.1072562/

 

[mushy coral]

That issue has been reported before. The product should not be used. I suspect that it has to do with storage in hot and humid conditions - you are in Vietnam and the other case was from a person in India:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/will-this-seachem-antibiotic-still-work.1072562/

Is there any other medication i can use instead of neoplex? This is the last one that they have here and unfortunately its unusable

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Is there any other medication i can use instead of neoplex? This is the last one that they have here and unfortunately its unusable

Many broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotics would work. Kanamycin, Enrofloxacin, etc. Avoid the tetracyclines as they do not work well in seawater.

 

[mushy coral]

Many broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotics would work. Kanamycin, Enrofloxacin, etc. Avoid the tetracyclines as they do not work well in seawater.

I will try to find those, in the mean time can i take the fish out an give it a methylene bath? Will this help it when wait for other medicine?

 

[Paul B]

That tank looks very new. When did you start it?