Yellow Mimic Tang not eating for 2 days, looks extremely weak

[Crown]

My Yellow Mimic tang has been in my tank for 2 months. The past few days it has not been eating. Now it looks extremely weak. I also saw the cleaner shrimp cleaning the inside of its mouth.

no new additions to the tank other than a few corals. It has a small amount of ich and I have been feeding it Metro + focus in a variety of foods. The ich is mostly gone for now (was planning to quarantine + copper if it got worse)

Tank parameters are stable except for a slight increase in salinity (36.1) which is now taken care of (back to 35)

any ideas on how to save it?

 

[Uncle99]

If your saying your fish had a little ick, you can only stop this parasite with Copper, Hyposalinity or TTM in QT, and a fallow DT for 70 ish days, less if you increase temp, then I think it drops to 45.

 

[vetteguy53081]

My Yellow Mimic tang has been in my tank for 2 months. The past few days it has not been eating. Now it looks extremely weak. I also saw the cleaner shrimp cleaning the inside of its mouth.

no new additions to the tank other than a few corals. It has a small amount of ich and I have been feeding it Metro + focus in a variety of foods. The ich is mostly gone for now (was planning to quarantine + copper if it got worse)

Tank parameters are stable except for a slight increase in salinity (36.1) which is now taken care of (back to 35)

any ideas on how to save it?

salinity likely no impact. Hard to tell anything from video as fish is porpousing with head downward.
How is the breathing rate (normal, labored?)
What are you feeding it?
Any unusual behavior such as shaking its head or yawning ?
Sudden darting through the tank ?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

My Yellow Mimic tang has been in my tank for 2 months. The past few days it has not been eating. Now it looks extremely weak. I also saw the cleaner shrimp cleaning the inside of its mouth.

no new additions to the tank other than a few corals. It has a small amount of ich and I have been feeding it Metro + focus in a variety of foods. The ich is mostly gone for now (was planning to quarantine + copper if it got worse)

Tank parameters are stable except for a slight increase in salinity (36.1) which is now taken care of (back to 35)

any ideas on how to save it?

It does look pretty thin. I can't see how fast it is breathing for sure, but it doesn't look too fast. I'm afraid there isn't much that can be done for a thin fish that stops feeding....no way to get more calories into it. The cleaner shrimp may have been working at some parasites, but again, with the fish not eating, getting rid of the parasites won't help....sorry!

The sailfin looks like it has decent doby mass. What other fish are in the tank, any of them showing symptoms of anything?

Jay

 

[mehaffydr]

What about something like Live Black worms to try and entice it to eat?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

What about something like Live Black worms to try and entice it to eat?

If you are going to try that route, I would suggest giving it a 5 minute FW dip. It may not survive, but if there are flukes, that may buy you some time. My guess is though that the fish just has lost too much energy to revcover. What happens is that a starving fish uses its liver for energy. The liver then gets damaged and cannot be repaired. I can't say for sure if your fish is at that point, but it is close.

Jay

 

[Crown]

If your saying your fish had a little ick, you can only stop this parasite with Copper, Hyposalinity or TTM in QT, and a fallow DT for 70 ish days, less if you increase temp, then I think it drops to 45.

I understand to completely eradicate ich it would take a 76 day qt. However I was planning to use that as a last resort. All the other fish seem to be very healthy and fighting off the ich with the metro.

If you are going to try that route, I would suggest giving it a 5 minute FW dip. It may not survive, but if there are flukes, that may buy you some time. My guess is though that the fish just has lost too much energy to revcover. What happens is that a starving fish uses its liver for energy. The liver then gets damaged and cannot be repaired. I can't say for sure if your fish is at that point, but it is close.

Jay

Thanks for the advice. What is a 5 minute FW dip? Put it in freshwater for 5 minutes (rodi water)?

salinity likely no impact. Hard to tell anything from video as fish is porpousing with head downward.
How is the breathing rate (normal, labored?)
What are you feeding it?
Any unusual behavior such as shaking its head or yawning ?
Sudden darting through the tank ?

no other unusual behavior. Just weakened swimming, cleaner shrimp cleanings it’s mouth and no appetite.

It does look pretty thin. I can't see how fast it is breathing for sure, but it doesn't look too fast. I'm afraid there isn't much that can be done for a thin fish that stops feeding....no way to get more calories into it. The cleaner shrimp may have been working at some parasites, but again, with the fish not eating, getting rid of the parasites won't help....sorry!

The sailfin looks like it has decent doby mass. What other fish are in the tank, any of them showing symptoms of anything?

Jay

The breathing is normal as far as I can tell. There’s a sailfin, clowns, and a pink pseudo.

What about something like Live Black worms to try and entice it to eat?

I didn’t think to try live black worms since it’s an herbivore. Are they known to go after black worms?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I understand to completely eradicate ich it would take a 76 day qt. However I was planning to use that as a last resort. All the other fish seem to be very healthy and fighting off the ich with the metro.


Thanks for the advice. What is a 5 minute FW dip? Put it in freshwater for 5 minutes (rodi water)?



no other unusual behavior. Just weakened swimming, cleaner shrimp cleanings it’s mouth and no appetite.



The breathing is normal as far as I can tell. There’s a sailfin, clowns, and a pink pseudo.


I didn’t think to try live black worms since it’s an herbivore. Are they known to go after black worms?

Live brine is an option. take Jay's advice on FW dip as if gill flukes, while not a cure may help

 

[Crown]

Thanks for everyone’s advice. Unfortunately the tang died a few hours later. Is there any way

to determine if this was caused by possible parasites or flukes before I dispose of it? I have attached a photo below of the tang.

 

[mehaffydr]

Sorry about the loss. I would watch the other fish very close for signs of infection