Tomini Tang Sickness

[jschrecongost]

Hello,

My tomini tang has had marks on him for over a week now. Had to go away for a trip and it looks much worse. Have not been able to identify what it has. He is eating but is hiding a lot. He obviously looks more white than normal, had holes in the head, and appears to have a rust like circle around the eyes. Fearing velvet, but the signs and situations do not match very closely on the whole. I am also doubting HLLE. Had a Royal Gramma die a few days before we went away for a week and came back to two clownfish dead. They were too eaten by CUC to determine cause of death but Royal Gramma did not exhibit any velvet like symptoms. I have not added any fish in over a month, and the other fish including the newest additions look great and are eating well. Any help would be appreciated greatly!

Thanks,
Josh

 

[vetteguy53081]

Pics are very dark blue to confirm but may be velvet- just a hunch
Please post clear pics under white light

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hello,

My tomini tang has had marks on him for over a week now. Had to go away for a trip and it looks much worse. Have not been able to identify what it has. He is eating but is hiding a lot. He obviously looks more white than normal, had holes in the head, and appears to have a rust like circle around the eyes. Fearing velvet, but the signs and situations do not match very closely on the whole. I am also doubting HLLE. Had a Royal Gramma die a few days before we went away for a week and came back to two clownfish dead. They were too eaten by CUC to determine cause of death but Royal Gramma did not exhibit any velvet like symptoms. I have not added any fish in over a month, and the other fish including the newest additions look great and are eating well. Any help would be appreciated greatly!

Thanks,
Josh

A short video under white light might help as well.
Jay

 

[jschrecongost]

A short video under white light might help as well.
Jay

Here is a pic under white light. Moved him to a qt tank but don't think he'll make it much longer unfortunatey. Have both copper and bacterial medication coming in tomorrow if he makes it. Still hard for me to say velvet since he has had physical markings for about two weeks and is still alive. Doesn't have the distinctive marks either IMO. My best guess is bacterial but I am not sure. Thanks!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Here is a pic under white light. Moved him to a qt tank but don't think he'll make it much longer unfortunatey. Have both copper and bacterial medication coming in tomorrow if he makes it. Still hard for me to say velvet since he has had physical markings for about two weeks and is still alive. Doesn't have the distinctive marks either IMO. My best guess is bacterial but I am not sure. Thanks!

The fish's mouth is open in the picture - is it breathing rapidly (that's why a video helps).

The general tattered nature of the fish, plus its slightly cloudy eyes leads me to think it has flukes. Trouble is, if you do a FW dip to check for this AND the fish has a severe fluke infestation, when they all drop off the fish, it leaves hundreds of tiny holes in its skin, and the fish can bleed out. Still, if you haven't tried a FW dip, I would do so now.

Jay

 

[jschrecongost]

Thank you so much for your response! I will get a video of the fish this evening, which surprisingly was still active this morning, and I will do a FW dip. I would say he is breathing somewhat heavily, though he was not before I caught him and moved him to the QT tank, which, as a good sign, was still pretty hard to catch. I will let you know how it goes, and hopefully the fish can recover. I also have kanaplex and copper power coming in today, so I can begin treatment and hopefully attempt to cover all bases.

 

[jschrecongost]

Thanks so much for helping me out with this Jay! I did a freshwater dip on him and the tips of all of his fins appeared to have deteriorated. No visible flukes coming off. At this point thinking either bacterial or velvet. Added the first dose of kanaplex this evening, so if it is bacterial, hopefully it should provide relief. I am afraid he may be too far gone at this point but if there is any shot I can save him I want to.

Thanks,
Josh

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks so much for helping me out with this Jay! I did a freshwater dip on him and the tips of all of his fins appeared to have deteriorated. No visible flukes coming off. At this point thinking either bacterial or velvet. Added the first dose of kanaplex this evening, so if it is bacterial, hopefully it should provide relief. I am afraid he may be too far gone at this point but if there is any shot I can save him I want to.

Thanks,
Josh

That's what I was afraid of, the fish is also breathing fast. Are there any other fish in the tank that it was in? You lost the gramma and two clowns, anything else left? If so, how do they look? While I cannot rule out a severe fluke infestation here, it could be velvet. In the case of velvet though, no fish would remain unaffected.

Jay

 

[jschrecongost]

I still have three other fish in the tank. A melanaurus wrasse, who, surprisingly, appears unfazed by anything. He is eating and does not appear to be breathing heavily or acting abnormally. The starry blenny is eating and acting normally, though he/she appears to be breathing more heavily than normal for the past few days. Finally, the one spot fox face has been acting odd, though still eating. I have seen it resting on its side on the sandbed, and last night it was on the filter intake, so I caught it and moved it into the QT tank with the tang. It has still been eating though, and none of the fish have any noticeable markings out of the ordinary like the tang did and still does.

Thanks,
Josh

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I still have three other fish in the tank. A melanaurus wrasse, who, surprisingly, appears unfazed by anything. He is eating and does not appear to be breathing heavily or acting abnormally. The starry blenny is eating and acting normally, though he/she appears to be breathing more heavily than normal for the past few days. Finally, the one spot fox face has been acting odd, though still eating. I have seen it resting on its side on the sandbed, and last night it was on the filter intake, so I caught it and moved it into the QT tank with the tang. It has still been eating though, and none of the fish have any noticeable markings out of the ordinary like the tang did and still does.

Thanks,
Josh

That, in my mind, rules out Velvet - those fish would be just as affected by velvet, so at this point, they would have the same symptoms. Flukes on the other hand affect different fish in different ways - it is much more common to have a fluke problem only affect certain fish in a tank.

Remember - you will not see most flukes after a dip unless you examine the settled water with a microscope - only the large Capsalid flukes can be seen with the naked eye.

Jay

 

[jschrecongost]

I am glad that we can likely rule out velvet. What course of action would you recommend for the other three fish? Freshwater dips? Two week copper QT? I have heard conflicting reports on whether wrasses can handle copper.

Thanks,
Josh

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I am glad that we can likely rule out velvet. What course of action would you recommend for the other three fish? Freshwater dips? Two week copper QT? I have heard conflicting reports on whether wrasses can handle copper.

Thanks,
Josh

If it is flukes, then I would suggest Prazipro, 2x dosed 10 days apart. You need to increase aeration, stop carbon, and run any skimmers, but without collecting waste.

Jay

 

[jschrecongost]

Is Prazipro safe to run in the display tank or would you recommend in a QT tank? Obviously a QT tank would require a lower amount and would pose no risk to the corals, but display would likely be easier.

Thanks,
Josh

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Is Prazipro safe to run in the display tank or would you recommend in a QT tank? Obviously a QT tank would require a lower amount and would pose no risk to the corals, but display would likely be easier.

Thanks,
Josh

If you know the exact volume of your display (minus the displacement of the rocks) you can dose it in your display with very little risk to corals and other invertebrates.

Jay

 

[jschrecongost]

Thanks so much! Would you recommend a freshwater dip beforehand to get some of the flukes off or just go straight into prazipro?

Thanks,
Josh

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks so much! Would you recommend a freshwater dip beforehand to get some of the flukes off or just go straight into prazipro?

Thanks,
Josh

I would not do a FW dip. Reasoning is: I see too many fish beat to pieces trying to catch them out of a DT to do a dip, and that causes more harm than good.

Jay

 

[jschrecongost]

Thanks so much. Final question regarding the prazipro treatment. How long can flukes live in a tank without fish? I have seen conflicting reports online. I would just treat the display tank if the fish would simply get re-infected upon re-entry to the display tank from the QT if the flukes would live in there without them. I have heard anything from six days up to ten weeks.

Thanks,
Josh

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks so much. Final question regarding the prazipro treatment. How long can flukes live in a tank without fish? I have seen conflicting reports online. I would just treat the display tank if the fish would simply get re-infected upon re-entry to the display tank from the QT if the flukes would live in there without them. I have heard anything from six days up to ten weeks.

Thanks,
Josh

The flukes themselves cannot live without a fish host. The egg laying species can produce eggs that hatch out later on. I used to tell people 45 days. However, recently in checking the hatch time for eggs, combined with a few days that the larva have to find a host before dying, it looks like it could be as short as 14 days. 45 is safer though (grin).

Jay

 

[jschrecongost]

That being said, if you were in my situation, would you just treat the display tank, and if so, would you consider moving some of the more expensive corals into a temporary holding tank, or just keep them in the tank?

Thanks,
Josh

 

[Jay Hemdal]

That being said, if you were in my situation, would you just treat the display tank, and if so, would you consider moving some of the more expensive corals into a temporary holding tank, or just keep them in the tank?

Thanks,
Josh

I do not routinely treat Prazipro in tanks with corals, but many people here do and I’ve not heard of bad reactions. Lack of oxygen IS a problem though, so you need to add aeration. I’ve heard some vague rumors of prazi causing tridacna to stress out.
Jay