Tomini Tang with Red Face

[Rconner15]

Hi all,
Unfortunately, I have what appears to be another sick fish. My tomini tang has a red face, stopped eating, and is swimming in a back and forth jerky motion. His breathing also seems to be slightly elevated. Ammonia and nitrite show test 0 ppm and nitrate at 10-20 ppm.

Any ideas what it could be? Maybe fill flukes because of the elevated breathing?

 

[drawman]

Yeah I don't like the way he looks. I guess I would do a FW dip to look for flukes. Then if none are found I would be concerned about a possible parasite and concomitant bacterial infection.

 

[4FordFamily]

Oh wow that's a very advanced infection.

Source kanaplex, metroplex, and furan 2 and treat concurrently in a qt.

Gosh I would start yesterday, by the looks of it

#reefsquad

 

[jeff williams]

+1 looks like bacteria

 

[Rconner15]

Oh wow that's a very advanced infection.

Source kanaplex, metroplex, and furan 2 and treat concurrently in a qt.

Gosh I would start yesterday, by the looks of it

#reefsquad

Should I freshwater dip as suggested by drawman first? Also, don't have furan 2. Is it absolutely necessary? What will it treat?

 

[4FordFamily]

Should I freshwater dip as suggested by drawman first? Also, don't have furan 2. Is it absolutely necessary? What will it treat?

It's just to broaden the range and increase your chances of successfully combating the infection I'm not an infection expert, I'll let someone else chime in. For now, I'd get it in to a qt with antibiotics asap.

 

[Fishfinder]

Start with what you have ASAP. Bad bacterial infection. Try to get furan or even NFG. But get anything started

 

[melypr1985]

I don't think I would chance the FW dip at this point (that's saying something because I'm a huge advocate of the FW dip). Follow 4ford's advice. My only addition would be an acriflavin dip before he goes into the QT with the antibiotics. 90 minute dip with SG and temp matched to the DT and QT. Aerate before and during the dip. Then into Qt with the meds.... treat with those for a minimum of 10 days with plenty of extra O2 added to the tank.

 

[Rconner15]

I don't think I would chance the FW dip at this point (that's saying something because I'm a huge advocate of the FW dip). Follow 4ford's advice. My only addition would be an acriflavin dip before he goes into the QT with the antibiotics. 90 minute dip with SG and temp matched to the DT and QT. Aerate before and during the dip. Then into Qt with the meds.... treat with those for a minimum of 10 days with plenty of extra O2 added to the tank.

I used metro and kanaplex as those were the only things I had on hand. Unfortunately he didn't make it through the night .

Any thoughts on what may have caused the infection? This fish had been in quarantine for 2 weeks now. He had only exhibited odd behavior for one night. Is there something wrong with my water quality that would cause such an aggressive infection?

Do I need to leave my quarantine tank fallow for any period of time before adding another fish?

Thank you all for the replies. Regardless of how it turned out, I'm always impressed with how many and how quickly people are willing to offer their advice on this forum.

 

[drawman]

I used metro and kanaplex as those were the only things I had on hand. Unfortunately he didn't make it through the night .

Any thoughts on what may have caused the infection? This fish had been in quarantine for 2 weeks now. He had only exhibited odd behavior for one night. Is there something wrong with my water quality that would cause such an aggressive infection?

Do I need to leave my quarantine tank fallow for any period of time before adding another fish?

Thank you all for the replies. Regardless of how it turned out, I'm always impressed with how many and how quickly people are willing to offer their advice on this forum.

First off sorry for your loss. That infection looked pretty bad so I'm not sure that there was a whole lot you could do.

Parasites (flukes, ich, velvet, etc) could the catalyst for the infection and you would want to treat those accordingly if you ever saw any signs. Also something simple like an abrasion/cut could have done it. Certainly cleaner water is less likely to promote an infection so you will want to keep water quality high.

I think it is a good rule to break down quarantine and clean/disinfect after every fish. It helps to get any extra crud out of the tank and there are reports of bacteria that colonize over time that can actually metabolize medications.

 

[Humblefish]

Unfortunately, gram negative bacterial infections are becoming more & more common on wild caught fish. Typically, the fish picks up the infection somewhere along the way (collector or wholesale facility), but the immune system is able to keep it at bay so the fish doesn't show symptoms right away. As the fish keeps getting shipped from place to place (stressed), and oftentimes won't eat in a new environment, the immune system starts to become lowered. Then one day the harmful bacteria afflicting the fish are able to overcome it's immune system and you start to see symptoms. Unfortunately, by then it is usually too late because the bacteria have had weeks to gain a foothold.

Prophylactic use of antibiotics in QT is controversial because IMO they can:

1. Be harsh on the fish
2. Suppress appetite
3. Be slow acting (10-14 days is minimal exposure time)
4. Decrease available oxygen in the water

A better way to guard against bacterial infections is to give any new fish a bath using an antiseptic (acriflavine) or healing agent (Methylene Blue) or use this medication: http://store.nationalfishpharm.com/NFP-products-Nitrofuracin-Green-59584.Item.html

The bath should be done in a bucket or trough (if treating several fish) before the fish ever enters QT. Use clean saltwater which matches the bag water perfectly (salinity & temperature, and also pH for those who like to cover all the bases.) The QT should match as well, so the fish can be transferred following the bath without delay!

^^ The above may or may not be enough to ward off a potential bacterial infection, so always have antibiotics ready to dose at the first signs in QT: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/antibiotics.283711/

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

I used metro and kanaplex as those were the only things I had on hand. Unfortunately he didn't make it through the night .

Any thoughts on what may have caused the infection? This fish had been in quarantine for 2 weeks now. He had only exhibited odd behavior for one night. Is there something wrong with my water quality that would cause such an aggressive infection?

Do I need to leave my quarantine tank fallow for any period of time before adding another fish?

Thank you all for the replies. Regardless of how it turned out, I'm always impressed with how many and how quickly people are willing to offer their advice on this forum.

Here's my two cents: Bristletooth Tangs need to eat to stay healthy. By the time they reach your home, it's likely that they haven't eaten for at least 2 weeks already and are in a weakened state.
Since they primarily eat by rasping off surfaces, the QT environment is especially rough on them. There are those that subscribe to doing long QT on every fish irregardless of what it is. I don't believe in that approach. I think that the QT should be tailored to the individual fish in a way that will increase it's chances for survival. For a Bristletooth Tang my goal would be to get them in a established reef with grazing opportunity as soon as possible. I would either go one of two ways: QT kept at 1.025 only as observation, freshwater dip with methylene blue, then 1-2 weeks of observation, then into tank if no signs of infection or illness.
Or, I'd just do the freshwater dip w/methylene blue and put them in a Coppersafe copper treatment for 2-3 weeks then put them in the tank. You could put a stronger light kept on for 12 hours daily over your QT to grow algae for grazers if you really want to do a 30-60 day QT. On your Nitrates, Nitrate test kits are notoriously inaccurate (Nyos has been tested to be better but still is off). So it's hard to say what the actual nitrates were but in a QT environment, it's a good practice to keep water quality as high as possible with adequate filtration, limited feeding and regular partial water changes.

 

[Humblefish]

Since they primarily eat by rasping off surfaces, the QT environment is especially rough on them. There are those that subscribe to doing long QT on every fish irregardless of what it is. I don't believe in that approach. I think that the QT should be tailored to the individual fish in a way that will increase it's chances for survival.

One can tailor their QT to look just like their DT, so long as another (bare-bottom) QT is on standby in case the need to treat for a disease arises.

Dropping a weakened, malnourished fish into a DT full of healthy, aggressive fish will be rougher on them than the QT IMO.

 

[4FordFamily]

One can tailor their QT to look just like their DT, so long as another (bare-bottom) QT is on standby in case the need to treat for a disease arises.

Dropping a weakened, malnourished fish into a DT full of healthy, aggressive fish will be rougher on them than the QT IMO.

I agree

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

One can tailor their QT to look just like their DT, so long as another (bare-bottom) QT is on standby in case the need to treat for a disease arises.

Dropping a weakened, malnourished fish into a DT full of healthy, aggressive fish will be rougher on them than the QT IMO.

Then the choice is either continued starvation or getting bullied? I agree you have a point, but that may not always be the case either. Many variables to consider.

 

[4FordFamily]

That fish was gone when I first saw the photo, I am sorry for your loss I wanted to be wrong

 

[Humblefish]

Then the choice is either continued starvation or getting bullied? I agree you have a point, but that may not always be the case either. Many variables to consider.

I get that Bristletooths are natural grazers. Which is why it would be a good idea to rubberband some nori or shove some food into a small rock for them. QTing need not always be stringent; you can be innovative for each & every fish.

 

[melypr1985]

For a Bristletooth Tang my goal would be to get them in a established reef with grazing opportunity as soon as possible. I would either go one of two ways: QT kept at 1.025 only as observation, freshwater dip with methylene blue, then 1-2 weeks of observation, then into tank if no signs of infection or illness.

I just want to share my experience with this. I've never had an issue with bristletooth's eating from a nori clip or at least some nori rubberbanded to a pvc pipe or small rock. If they don't start eating then there is usually something else going on with them like a disease or parasite. That's just my experience with about 150 bristletooth tangs being treated in copper in a barebottom, clean QT setting. I've had more trouble with naso's than bristletooth's.

Every QT is different and everybody has their own methods of getting it done. There is no ONE way or the highway. I'm glad your way has worked for you

 

[4FordFamily]

For what it's worth, I've also had more trouble with naso than bristletooth. Neither were really a struggle but I don't believe naso are as hardy (initially) as people think. Once established, I find them quite hardy -- but also the first to succumb to very bad water conditions or velvet when they strike --- or very high stress.

Sort of off-topic, sorry!

 

[Kyl]

One can tailor their QT to look just like their DT, so long as another (bare-bottom) QT is on standby in case the need to treat for a disease arises.

Dropping a weakened, malnourished fish into a DT full of healthy, aggressive fish will be rougher on them than the QT IMO.

And if it is carrying crypto or any other communal surprises, now your entire tank does too :|