This purple tang is a nightmare... just about ready to give up on it

[Jay Hemdal]

Today, it's missing part of said fin, like its deteriorating. I think it got hurt but I'm not sure. I moved in inside that "egg crate" for the first time just now to better observe the behavior. Girlfriend said it ate earlier but is showing severe signs of not eating. Not really interested in nori, or any food for that matter. Will eat pe mysis and flake food.

+1 on an updated picture showing the fin damage.

jay

 

[One Day Lsx]

@Jay Hemdal @Mibu

 

[One Day Lsx]

I'm more concerned about the pinched belly

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I don't think it is going to be happy in that container for very long, I'm worried that unlike plex cubicles, this could rub its snout raw. The fin damage seems mild, like something took a small nip out of it.

Jay

 

[Goaway]

Pinched belly, is the poop string like and white?
Also, it takes time for tangs to build up the body mass from being starved in pet stores. After feeding you'll see food lumps. I'm not sure how skinny your tang was when you got him.

+1Definitely take him out of crate.

 

[One Day Lsx]

I honestly haven't seen it poop yet. It's definitely an issue for sure, and it's been like this for almost a week... what else could cause it?

 

[One Day Lsx]

I was dosing the tank with metroplex and kanaplex. I guess I should have finished out the 10 days huh?

 

[One Day Lsx]

@Mibu @Jay Hemdal

 

[Goaway]

You might want to try and feed him metro plus and focus. Or general cure. You stop the treatment when poop looks normal.
And since the qt is bare, i'd imagine you could see poop somewhere.

 

[Goaway]

Treatment for internal parasites can take up to 3 weeks.

 

[One Day Lsx]

It barely eats. It's supposed to be grazing all day

 

[Goaway]

Can you get general cure and seachem focus?
If you have to feed him mysis to get treatment going, it will help him get his strength back. Grazing habits will kick in once internal worms are dealt with.
He's eating. You have a high chance here.

 

[One Day Lsx]

I can tomorrow. I have metroplex and kanaplex on hand with focus

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I can tomorrow. I have metroplex and kanaplex on hand with focus

Mixing medications with Focus is not nearly as easy nor as effective as many people think. Give my article a read:

Proper Dosing of Medicated Foods

Proper Dosing of Medicated Foods Jay Hemdal c. 2020 Oral medications are an excellent way to target internal diseases of fishes. Marine fish absorb aquarium water, so in certain cases, they “drink” enough medication from the water to effect a cure. However, freshwater fish actively export...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[Goaway]

So focus isn't needed to bind the meds to food?
I was sure that's all it was for. Otherwise, it's just garbage.
anyhow, jays recipe on gelatin food looks good. Maybe give it a try with the meds?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So focus isn't needed to bind the meds to food?
I was sure that's all it was for. Otherwise, it's just garbage.
anyhow, jays recipe on gelatin food looks good. Maybe give it a try with the meds?

No, Focus works as a binder, but the instructions are basically; add some focus to some food, add some medication and then feed some of that to your fish….the medication dose is totally uncontrolled. All but two fish medications are dosed as milligram of drug fed to kilogram of fish weight. The s also a really cool fish medication calculator in the stickies above, but it is complicated to use.
Jay

 

[Goaway]

You have a spot on article for fish food medication usage. I hope he reads and utilizes it. I don't know what meds would be best for him to use. The tang could have multiple kinds of parasites in his intestines .
Metronidazole and prazi would be my go to. Not sure how you feel about the tang in this case.

Edit: I am finally happy to see an article on meds to fish weight. I have never been able to find information on that. Thank you, that's a lot of research and work.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

You have a spot on article for fish food medication usage. I hope he reads and utilizes it. I don't know what meds would be best for him to use. The tang could have multiple kinds of parasites in his intestines .
Metronidazole and prazi would be my go to. Not sure how you feel about the tang in this case.

There is an old joke in public aquarium circles; How do you know that you have the oral metronidazole dose correct? Answer: The fish won't eat it (grin).

Metro is SO bitter, that when you hit the effective dose of 5000 ppm, the fish avoid it. If your fish are eating it, the dose is too low.

Prazi has a variety of oral doses. The one I use is 50 mg prazi per kilogram of fish body weight for three days.

Jay

 

[Goaway]

Hopefully some of this information will help him out.
So, feeding the tang prazi will be more helpful than the bitter metro.
Gl with the tang Lsx!

 

[One Day Lsx]

I'll start feeding pellets with only metro then. Problem is it doesn't usually eat when its feeding time but minutes sometimes hours later. Since the fish actually takes in some water, should I just dose the water column with metro? What about general cure? I have a prazi pro bath coming up in a few days. Should I give the purple tang one bath, then let it sit a day, then another bath? @Mibu @Jay Hemdal