White Tail Bristletooth Diagnosis

[Reef_Ninjas]

What's up guys. I have a white tail for about a month now that seems to be showing signs of heavy breathing, constantly opening and closing his mouth. I learned that I might not of have the tank oxygenated well due to having too much water which I corrected and seemed to help a little.

Symptoms that I'm seeing is a small surface area on the fish on the top fin on his right side (when facing the camera, left side with his back to camera) in addition to the heavy breathing. He is eating none stop nori, mysis, and TDO pellets. Today, I caught him flashing into the sand 3 times back to back scratching that area and then once on a rock. He constantly goes by my fire red shrimp for a cleaning. One time even swimming on his side and the shrimp jumped on him and started cleaning.

The interesting thing to me is the white bumps on his side are really only visible under blue lights. I have a link to a youtube video under whites and you can barely see it. I have two clowns and a royal in this tank who are all also eating and has no markings what so ever. One of the clowns did start the rapid mouth movements but seemed to stop when I corrected water levels.

Things I have tried so far include a fresh water dip where I saw no Flukes in the water. I also dosed the tank with Prazi about a week ago and did not help the symptoms. As I'm typing this he is currently flashing against the glass.

This has been taking place since I removed him from QT to add to my 25 gal waterbox peninsula for better observation. I used safety stop and all the fish before placing in this tank and they were all in the same QT tank (clown and royal were in copper power 2.5 for 2 months while the tang only 2 weeks).



Please view the link and notice his breathing and also wait until the very end when he starts to turn away you can see the white spots near the very top of his dorsal fin near the very back.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Unfortunately there is a lot of reflection from glass and light somewhat dim to tell clearly. Best lighting is under white lighting.
I vaguely saw sots which may be bump or scratching.
Heavy breathing can be from:
Stress
elevated ammonia levels
High salinity
high temperature
Gill flukes

Please provide clearer pics and darken room to minimize tank reflection

 

[Reef_Ninjas]

Unfortunately there is a lot of reflection from glass and light somewhat dim to tell clearly. Best lighting is under white lighting.
I vaguely saw sots which may be bump or scratching.
Heavy breathing can be from:
Stress
elevated ammonia levels
High salinity
high temperature
Gill flukes

Please provide clearer pics and darken room to minimize tank reflection

Let me know what you think about these.

 

[Reef_Ninjas]

This is probably the best video i got so far.

 

[vetteguy53081]

This is probably the best video i got so far.

Looks normal to me- active and picking around tank. I see a couple of dots which could be sand grains. Keep an eye on them and see if in the morning dots are gone, same or have increased. Assure also ammonia-temp-salinity have not increased

 

[Reef_Ninjas]

Looks normal to me- active and picking around tank. I see a couple of dots which could be sand grains. Keep an eye on them and see if in the morning dots are gone, same or have increased. Assure also ammonia-temp-salinity have not increased

He's had that same white patch for 2 weeks now so I'll assume there's nothing there and move forward. I have a 130 that I've been dying to put fish in. I completed cycle in November and my first batch of fish had brook and wiped the tank minus the clowns and royal. Tank has been fallow for 100 days now but I'm so afraid to add these guys and have to start all over.

 

[vetteguy53081]

He's had that same white patch for 2 weeks now so I'll assume there's nothing there and move forward. I have a 130 that I've been dying to put fish in. I completed cycle in November and my first batch of fish had brook and wiped the tank minus the clowns and royal. Tank has been fallow for 100 days now but I'm so afraid to add these guys and have to start all over.

If there is a white patch, Im not seeing it in video. A white patch signals Bacterial issue but try a video in evening where fish may be more visible. Still pics may help more as in video fish is moving a lot

 

[Jay Hemdal]

What's up guys. I have a white tail for about a month now that seems to be showing signs of heavy breathing, constantly opening and closing his mouth. I learned that I might not of have the tank oxygenated well due to having too much water which I corrected and seemed to help a little.

Symptoms that I'm seeing is a small surface area on the fish on the top fin on his right side (when facing the camera, left side with his back to camera) in addition to the heavy breathing. He is eating none stop nori, mysis, and TDO pellets. Today, I caught him flashing into the sand 3 times back to back scratching that area and then once on a rock. He constantly goes by my fire red shrimp for a cleaning. One time even swimming on his side and the shrimp jumped on him and started cleaning.

The interesting thing to me is the white bumps on his side are really only visible under blue lights. I have a link to a youtube video under whites and you can barely see it. I have two clowns and a royal in this tank who are all also eating and has no markings what so ever. One of the clowns did start the rapid mouth movements but seemed to stop when I corrected water levels.

Things I have tried so far include a fresh water dip where I saw no Flukes in the water. I also dosed the tank with Prazi about a week ago and did not help the symptoms. As I'm typing this he is currently flashing against the glass.

This has been taking place since I removed him from QT to add to my 25 gal waterbox peninsula for better observation. I used safety stop and all the fish before placing in this tank and they were all in the same QT tank (clown and royal were in copper power 2.5 for 2 months while the tang only 2 weeks).



Please view the link and notice his breathing and also wait until the very end when he starts to turn away you can see the white spots near the very top of his dorsal fin near the very back.

Only one species of fluke will be visible in dips unless you use a microscope, gill flukes are too small to see. Did the fish improve a day or so after the dip? If so, then the dip probably removed some flukes. If it didn't improve at all, then it probably isn't flukes.

You can treat your tank with Prazipro to deal with possible gill flukes; remove the carbon filtration and keep the skimmer running, but don't collect the skimmate. Add an air stone to the tank and dose it with prazipro. After 8 days, do a 25% water change and dose it again.

Jay

 

[Reef_Ninjas]

Only one species of fluke will be visible in dips unless you use a microscope, gill flukes are too small to see. Did the fish improve a day or so after the dip? If so, then the dip probably removed some flukes. If it didn't improve at all, then it probably isn't flukes.

You can treat your tank with Prazipro to deal with possible gill flukes; remove the carbon filtration and keep the skimmer running, but don't collect the skimmate. Add an air stone to the tank and dose it with prazipro. After 8 days, do a 25% water change and dose it again.

Jay

Thanks jay. I did a prazi dose last Saturday but the fish has been acting the same the whole time. Like I said, I think I'm just shell shocked. he's eating fine and my LFS had him for almost 2 months before I got him.

If there is a white patch, Im not seeing it in video. A white patch signals Bacterial issue but try a video in evening where fish may be more visible. Still pics may help more as in video fish is moving a lot

Lets say it's bacterial. What should i treat him with?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks jay. I did a prazi dose last Saturday but the fish has been acting the same the whole time. Like I said, I think I'm just shell shocked. he's eating fine and my LFS had him for almost 2 months before I got him.

Lets say it's bacterial. What should i treat him with?

Sweachem Kanaplex but as mentioned, needs to be pinpointed as treating unnecessarily rarely helps with issues. A good point made by Jay- Prazi would not hurts as it is often used as part of quarantine protocol

 

[Reef_Ninjas]

Alright guys I’m back with more photos. So it’s now been 3 weeks and the spots are still there. They haven’t spread but they and bigger so to say. You still can only see it under blue light which is crazy to me but here is what I’m working

with now. I have move the fish back to QT.

 

[Reef_Ninjas]

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Are you still seeing the rapid breathing? I couldn’t see that in the video. I can see the spot still, but it is pretty stable, by virtue of not having gotten more severe over the past three weeks or so.
Jay

 

[Reef_Ninjas]

Not so much on the rapid breathing. Seems to breath normal and eat normal. Has stay in hiding a little more. Guess I’m going to try kanaplex.

 

[Lavey29]

Oh just extreme stress ultimately resulting in death due to a tang in a 25g tank (15g with rocks). These guy are just not made for nano tanks unfortunately.

 

[Reef_Ninjas]

Oh just extreme stress ultimately resulting in death due to a tang in a 25g tank (15g with rocks). These guy are just not made for nano tanks unfortunately.

He’s in a QT and obeservation tank. My main display is more than big enough. He’s been this way since I got him.

 

[Lavey29]

He’s in a QT and obeservation tank. My main display is more than big enough. He’s been this way since I got him.

What size is that?

 

[Reef_Ninjas]

Are you still seeing the rapid breathing? I couldn’t see that in the video. I can see the spot still, but it is pretty stable, by virtue of not having gotten more severe over the past three weeks or so.
Jay

Well with great news I’m happy to say the “trifecta” treatment worked without the Furan2. According to sachem's website, it was a fungal infection. I put kanoplex and metro just for caution. After the third and final kanoplex does all the white bumps/scaring is completely gone! Heavy breathing stopped and he’s not as shy.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Well with great news I’m happy to say the “trifecta” treatment worked without the Furan2. According to sachem's website, it was a fungal infection. I put kanoplex and metro just for caution. After the third and final kanoplex does all the white bumps/scaring is completely gone! Heavy breathing stopped and he’s not as shy.

Good to hear! I can tell you it wasn't a fungal infection. External fungal infections are very rare in marine fish, I've only seen two confirmed cases over the years, and those look brownish, and they eat down into the tissue. I suspect this was bacterial.

Jay