What's wrong with this yellow tang?

[dkeller22]

I have a yellow tang in QT. He's been in there since June 3rd and is eating well, swims normally and seems generally ok other than not liking the QT tank. His tankmate is a powder brown that seems perfectly fine and they get along for the most part.

I picked both of them up from my LFS as part of their weekly shipment so he neither was in the LFS tanks. I did notice some waste in the shipping bag of the yellow tang, but a quick test didn't show ammonia so I assume the water was treated. The wholesaler is Quality Marine.

Since the day the yellow tang arrived I haven't liked his respiration rate or the color of his gill slits. I've had yellow tangs in the past and have seen lots of them and their gill slits are not as noticeable as this guys are. I'm ready to reduce the copper in the QT tank since it's been almost a month. They have been at 2.3 (Copper Power checked with Hanna) for the entire time and neither is showing any signs of Ich, Velvet, or Flukes. No flashing and no head shaking.

My question for @Jay Hemdal is what should I do next? Is this possible a bacterial infection of some sort of could it just be genetic. I have Maryacin, Prazi Pro, and a bunch of other stuff on hand.

I'd rather not move either of them to the DT without solving all of the issues first. I tried to get a video of the yellow tang so hopefully this link will work. If it doesn't I'll try another method, but amazon will take a couple of hours to chew on the video.

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[dkeller22]

I forgot to mention the salinity in the QT tank is 1.021

 

[dkeller22]

Here’s the Amazon link.

David shared 1 video with you

www.amazon.com

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yes, it is breathing WAY too fast. That can be a sign of gill disease - but we can rule out protozoans because of the copper. That leaves bacterial or flukes (minus a few other rarer issues). First thing though - you need to rule out carbon dioxide/low oxygen as a potential cause; does the tank have good aeration (not just circulation?) If not, drop an airstone in and see if that helps. If not, then I would reduce the copper and dose with Prazipro (you must have good aeration for this!). Finally, if that fails, you would consider antibiotics.

Jay

 

[dkeller22]

The tank has an air stone and a HOB skimmer that’s mostly for Gas exchange. I’ll drop the copper over the next couple of days and see what praxis pro does.
Thanks.

 

[dkeller22]

I got the copper down and after about 48 hours in Prazipro the tangs respiration has slowed by about half. Should I do a couple of water changes over the weekend and do a second dose or do something else? The fish eats, swims and acts pretty normal,(other not really liking the QT environment. The powder brown that's in there with him isn't showing any signs of disease.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I got the copper down and after about 48 hours in Prazipro the tangs respiration has slowed by about half. Should I do a couple of water changes over the weekend and do a second dose or do something else? The fish eats, swims and acts pretty normal,(other not really liking the QT environment. The powder brown that's in there with him isn't showing any signs of disease.

IMO - you should do a second Prazipro treatment after 7 to 10 days. Some flukes lay eggs, and Prazi does not affect the eggs, you need to let them hatch out, then kill them before they get old enough to lay another batch of eggs. In some cases, I've had to do 3 treatments, each a week apart. Remember to run good aeration with prazi


jay

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

I see this time and time again here on r2r. A national.largr forum.

"I bought this perfectly good healthy specimen and qt him and treat him immediately with medicine and this and that."
Lol. Why?
Qt yes. Hospital treat. No.
Stressful for a fish imo.

Since when is this the proper way to treat a newly purchased live animal?

-d

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I see this time and time again here on r2r. A national.largr forum.

"I bought this perfectly good healthy specimen and qt him and treat him immediately with medicine and this and that."
Lol. Why?
Qt yes. Hospital treat. No.
Stressful for a fish imo.

Since when is this the proper way to treat a newly purchased live animal?

I strongly disagree: prophylactic quarantine is a standard process for all public aquariums, most dealers, and should be de rigor for all home aquarists. There is no downside when done properly.

Jay

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Yes when done properly. I don't think most ppl can. Public aquariums yes.
Most dealers run copper fish only prior to your purchase.
My opinion.
D

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yes when done properly. I don't think most ppl can. Public aquariums yes.
Most dealers run copper fish only prior to your purchase.
My opinion.
D

Take a look at the sticky in the fish disease section, I’ve posted my standard preventative quarantine process.
Jay

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Will do!

 

[dkeller22]

This fish was never in the LFS tanks and what I’m trying to fix came with the fish. I QT everything so I don’t have problems in the display tank. Now after this evening’s feeding I’m going to retract my statement the his breathing is better. It may be at rest, but the activity of chasing food cashews rapid respiration . That doesn’t sound like flukes to me and since the powder brown is fine I’m at a loss. I respect @Jay Hemdal experience and I need too take another video of the fish in the morning.

 

[Tamberav]

Good on your for using QT. It sounds like he already had issues before the copper exposure anyways.

Ya fish die in QT but there are also numerous posts of fish dying in the display tank too and then taking their tank mates with them.

 

[dkeller22]

I’m trying to avoid problems in the DT and once they’re in the DT I’ll never get them out of a 6 foot 220 gallon reef tank.

Anyhow this morning the yellow tanks red blotches are back which usually resolves itself with water changes and I backed off doing them while running Prazipro. I took some videos of him eating a nori sheet. It’s tough to get good video because they’re really skidding with me pointing a phone at the other side off the glass.

hopefully this works. I’m off to change water.

David shared 0 photos with you

www.amazon.com

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I’m trying to avoid problems in the DT and once they’re in the DT I’ll never get them out of a 6 foot 220 gallon reef tank.

Anyhow this morning the yellow tanks red blotches are back which usually resolves itself with water changes and I backed off doing them while running Prazipro. I took some videos of him eating a nori sheet. It’s tough to get good video because they’re really skidding with me pointing a phone at the other side off the glass.

hopefully this works. I’m off to change water.

David shared 0 photos with you

www.amazon.com

Diving into this a bit deeper - the fish’s left operculum looks bad, but the right side seems normal. I can’t account for that. Do you know more about this fish’s history? It is too large to be a Biota tankraised YT, but Hawaii is closed down, I don’t know where else QM could have gotten this.
You got this straight from the shipment? Do you know how long the fish was in the bag total?
Jay

 

[dkeller22]

To the best of my knowledge my LFS guy has contacts with QM and that still have access to people with active licenses in Hawaii. It’s a you have to know people thing. From what I was told (I didn’t get the bar code because I grabbed them from the shipping boxes) both fish were in bags for 22 hours by the time I had them in QT. I’m have another video from a few minutes ago when I was feeding fish and after yesterday’s water change.

Am I just being overly paranoid or is ther really something that need to be dealt with?

David shared 0 photos with you

www.amazon.com

Diving into this a bit deeper - the fish’s left operculum looks bad, but the right side seems normal. I can’t account for that. Do you know more about this fish’s history? It is too large to be a Biota tankraised YT, but Hawaii is closed down, I don’t know where else QM could have gotten this.
You got this straight from the shipment? Do you know how long the fish was in the bag total?

David shared 0 photos with you

www.amazon.com

 

[dkeller22]

Here’s another question. Should I move the powder brown to the DT tank so I only have to deal with the yellow tang or is contagion something to worry about?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Here’s another question. Should I move the powder brown to the DT tank so I only have to deal with the yellow tang or is contagion something to worry about?

I had heard Hawaii was completely shut down. I think they maybe are getting a few out of the Marshall Islands.

IMO - the PBT and the YT are getting along so well, and since they are both exposed to whatever each fish has, I would leave them together, just to try and simplify things.

Is the YT getting some protein in its diet? It's eating nori like a champ, but they need some fats and protein as well. This isn't the core issue, but that looks like roasted sushi nori. I don't like to feed that out, as the roasting process destroys vitamin C and possibly other nutrients. Air-dried nori is best.

Sorry I can't pinpoint the breathing issue for you!

Jay

 

[dkeller22]

Is the YT getting some protein in its diet? It's eating nori like a champ, but they need some fats and protein as well. This isn't the core issue, but that looks like roasted sushi nori. I don't like to feed that out, as the roasting process destroys vitamin C and possibly other nutrients. Air-dried nori is best.

The Nori is actually Sea Veggies by Two Little Fishes and they get frozen food with Mysis mixed in.

Other than the YT's breathing seeming off both of them seem to be doing well and it's pushing 5 weeks so I'll do the second dose of Prazipro and slowly change their water out with DT water afterwards. Assuming nothing else changes I'll move them to the DT. If nothing else the water quality is much better in the DT system.

Thanks for the help and the patience.

Dave