Yellow eye kole tang gone wrong

[maxone]

Hey everyone i had bought a good fat looking kole tang from my lfs and while in my qt tank he started to look worse and worse couldnt figure out what was wrong maybe someone on here can help me figure out what caused his death to prevent future deaths. He was perfectly healthy (color was awsome looked fat and was eating in the store when i bought him). My theory is he stressed himself to death. My first mistake which i regret was the qt environment. He was in a 20 long with a sailfin tang foxface and a pair of bangai cardinals. There was mo agression amoungst any of the fish. Every one was wating but the kole tang from day one in qt they were in copper around 1.3 for 5 days then i dis a 50 % water change so im assuming it went down to less than 1 ppm since i didnt put anymore copper in. They were in copper for a total of 2 weeks i added them all to my main display which is a 5ft long 100 gallon tank with a couple of other fish ( small 2in blue hippo, 3 in orange shoulder tang, blue stripped dart fish, pink streaked wrasse about 2.5 in, 3 in two spot bristle tooth tang, and a black leopard wrasse)
He wasnt doing well at all so i moved him back into the qt no copper just kanaplex. He seemed to do better and later died after about a week. I will post pictures and more info to help better diagnosis the tang.

 

[maxone]

 

[maxone]

The pic of the white spots in the black bucket is something that came off of him in a 5 min fresh water dip recommended to me by my lfs looking back that probably stressed him way too much.

 

[maxone]

Its been about a week almost since his death all the other fish that were in the qt with him are doing fine still my sailfin and foxface i was kind of concerned about because they had some discoloration on their fins the fox face still has it but it cleared up on the sailfin tang i can post pics of those if it would help

 

[PPBlimpy]

I would assume stress. That's a lot for a 20G long tank, even if they are all juveniles. Did you have any hides?

 

[maxone]

Yeah about 5 3 in pvc elbows and 2 3 in pvc tees and 1 2 in pvc tee

 

[vetteguy53081]

The pic of the white spots in the black bucket is something that came off of him in a 5 min fresh water dip recommended to me by my lfs looking back that probably stressed him way too much.

If a disease was present, 1.5ppm will have allowed the disease to take hold of the fish as coppersafe starts to work at 2.0 with recommended 2.25ppm level for treatment. Without a video of fish alive other than inside bag, it will be hard to confirm cause
Did you acclimate fish to tank and if so, how and how long?

 

[maxone]

Two different heaters in an inkbird aqueon 60 gallon hang on the back filter with filter floss aswell

 

[maxone]

If a disease was present, 1.5ppm will have allowed the disease to take hold of the fish as coppersafe starts to work at 2.0 with recommended 2.25ppm level for treatment. Without a video of fish alive other than inside bag, it will be hard to confirm cause
Did you acclimate fish to tank and if so, how and how long?

I acclimated him by floating the bag while i prepped my small bucket and dripped acclimated for 10 min 3-4 drops per sec

 

[Louis Z]

The 20gal stressful with that many fish . Tangs need larger qt tanks 40, gal breeder or 55 gal long are good alternatives. 75 gal for larger specimens . They don’t have to be new tanks , get them off marketplace . I have gotten away from pvc pipes and started using the plant baskets used for holding pond plants I suspend them sideways I can sort of see thru them and they are black, that tends to be more cave like rather than the stark white pvc. Some of my new arrivals won’t go thru the pipes . I also have bought limestone bricks that I clean and scrub to use as supports for unfinished limestone tile . I create shelf like caves with overhangs . fish can choose to be above , near or under the tile . I add some sacrificial live rock that has been sitting in my display tank setup . I also have airline sponges in my sump also . Ready and seeded when I need them . Afterwards they get disinfected dried and rinsed before they go back in the sump rotation . Same with the limestone brick and tile . The live rock gets rinsed in freshwater and hydrogen peroxide spray . Afterwards I put it in a separate 10gal tank. I try not to start off with copper . Chloroquine phosphate has been my first line of defense . But you need a vet to prescribe . Some fish don’t do well in copper at an extended time . But don’t overdose on chloroquine. Watch ammonia . Don’t let it build up . Any amount is not good .

The tang had skin discoloration. A sign that something was amiss . Was it parasites? I don’t know but something was attacking the skin and the mucous layer may have been missing in patches .

I try not to leave the fish in FW a that long. Mine are like 45sec to a minute and a half .

 

[vetteguy53081]

I acclimated him by floating the bag while i prepped my small bucket and dripped acclimated for 10 min 3-4 drops per sec

The acclimation was not enough. 10 mins allow ammonia to build up in the bag although I dont see this as an acclimation issue and I dont recommend Chloroquine which is costly, not easy to acquire and must be used precisely. Best is coppersafe or Hyposalinity when disease is present or preventative

 

[MnFish1]

Hey everyone i had bought a good fat looking kole tang from my lfs and while in my qt tank he started to look worse and worse couldnt figure out what was wrong maybe someone on here can help me figure out what caused his death to prevent future deaths.

Thanks for the trust

He was perfectly healthy (color was awsome looked fat and was eating in the store when i bought him). My theory is he stressed himself to death.

Extremely unlikely. On the reef - fish are always under stress (But lets go on to the tank/etc you used)

My first mistake which i regret was the qt environment. He was in a 20 long with a sailfin tang foxface and a pair of bangai cardinals. There was mo agression amoungst any of the fish.

Without a constant video monitor its extremely difficult to see aggression

Every one was wating but the kole tang from day one in qt they were in copper around 1.3 for 5 days then i dis a 50 % water change so im assuming it went down to less than 1 ppm since i didnt put anymore copper in.

Where did this recipe come from?

They were in copper for a total of 2 weeks i added them all to my main display which is a 5ft long 100 gallon tank with a couple of other fish ( small 2in blue hippo, 3 in orange shoulder tang, blue stripped dart fish, pink streaked wrasse about 2.5 in, 3 in two spot bristle tooth tang, and a black leopard wrasse)

Whether your tank is 8 or 2 feet long. the quarantine protocol you used is suboptimal

He wasnt doing well at all so i moved him back into the qt no copper just kanaplex. He seemed to do better and later died after about a week. I will post pictures and more info to help better diagnosis the tang.

You probably should have followed a prescribed QT protocol - which you didnt'. Kanaplex did not play a role here

 

[Jay Hemdal]

If the tang was doing well for more than a day or so and then went downhill, this was NOT due to an issue with acclimation - that would have shown up immediately.

The picture of you dip water isn't very clear, but those do look like Neobenedenia flukes. Copper won't treat those. It is probably that your tank is infected now.

If you see symptoms in the other fish over the next few weeks, you'll need to treat for that. Here is a post I made about using praziquantel to treat that:

Dosing Praziquantel (PZQ)

Using Praziquantel (PZQ) to treat flukes Overview In the early 1990’s, a researcher at the New York Aquarium published a paper on using Praziquantel (PZQ) to help control flukes, a parasitic flatworm. Also known as monogenean trematodes, these fish parasites can cause significant mortality in...

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