Yellow Tang very sick. Please help!

[mmfhasj]

Age of the fish (unknown??), yellows can go 25 years(average is 15), that worn down is not overnight .....wow rip to to our friend....

I think around 9?

 

[mmfhasj]

Just wondering can you provide us some background information regarding the fish? Was it a new addition or? I think this information will be beneficial for others who might face this issue down the road.

I think I had him for about 9 years. He was always in excellent health and ate well. Seemed like he was a good weight as well. There were two or three occasions recently that he had the red rash on his side, but turning the heat up and stress coat cleared it up. He also went through an extremely stressful time recently. The 90 gallon that he lived in exploded. I was home and able to rescue him by having him and the surviving fish stay in the sump while I set up the emergency 10 gallon. He lived through a severe nitrite spike while in the 10 gallon. All I really did was add aeration and treated the water with stability. I rebuilt the 90 and he has been living happily in there for about two months until about 2-3 weeks ago I noticed he was sick. It started out as what I think was “black ich.” It seemed to improve with Metroplex. But it didn’t fully go away and continued to get worse for the past few days until I found him today after I got off of work looking like the picture I showed.

 

[mmfhasj]

I think I had him for about 9 years. He was always in excellent health and ate well. Seemed like he was a good weight as well. There were two or three occasions recently that he had the red rash on his side, but turning the heat up and stress coat cleared it up. He also went through an extremely stressful time recently. The 90 gallon that he lived in exploded. I was home and able to rescue him by having him and the surviving fish stay in the sump while I set up the emergency 10 gallon. He lived through a severe nitrite spike while in the 10 gallon. All I really did was add aeration and treated the water with stability. I rebuilt the 90 and he has been living happily in there for about two months until about 2-3 weeks ago I noticed he was sick. It started out as what I think was “black ich.” It seemed to improve with Metroplex. But it didn’t fully go away and continued to get worse for the past few days until I found him today after I got off of work looking like the picture I showed.

He truly did like bubbles.

 

[Celestion]

After that information, I'd say natural causes .....took place

 

[ReefEngineer]

I think I had him for about 9 years. He was always in excellent health and ate well. Seemed like he was a good weight as well. There were two or three occasions recently that he had the red rash on his side, but turning the heat up and stress coat cleared it up. He also went through an extremely stressful time recently. The 90 gallon that he lived in exploded. I was home and able to rescue him by having him and the surviving fish stay in the sump while I set up the emergency 10 gallon. He lived through a severe nitrite spike while in the 10 gallon. All I really did was add aeration and treated the water with stability. I rebuilt the 90 and he has been living happily in there for about two months until about 2-3 weeks ago I noticed he was sick. It started out as what I think was “black ich.” It seemed to improve with Metroplex. But it didn’t fully go away and continued to get worse for the past few days until I found him today after I got off of work looking like the picture I showed.

Oh that is sad to hear you really worked hard to get him into a new home and settled in.

 

[ReefEngineer]

Oh that is sad to hear you really worked hard to get him into a new home and settled in.

Also thank you for sharing the information with us.

 

[mmfhasj]

Oh that is sad to hear you really worked hard to get him into a new home and settled in.

I really did. Thank you for recognizing that. My 90 gallon exploding was hard on all of us. I lost 4 out of 7 that day. My Tang today makes 5 total out of the original group in that 90.

 

[mmfhasj]

After that information, I'd say natural causes .....took place

Thank you for saying that. But I’m not sure what you mean. Can you say more? He died almost immediately after I got him out of the dip and back in his tank.

 

[mmfhasj]

Also thank you for sharing the information with us.

You’re welcome

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I tried a freshwater dip just now. It was flukes. But I’m pretty sure my tang didn’t survive. I think it was too far gone

Sorry - I just woke up.

Yes, if you saw dead flukes in the dip, it was Neobenedenia. Your other fish may also be infected.

Here is a post on dosing praziquantel for flukes:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dosing-praziquantel-pzq.1105700/

 

[W31Olds]

MM, sorry for your loss. That fish went through a lot over the years. FW dips are stressful on very sick fish. They work but the stress of catching the fish along with the parasites dropping off all at once can cause hypoxia during the recovery phase.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank you for saying that. But I’m not sure what you mean. Can you say more? He died almost immediately after I got him out of the dip and back in his tank.

Fish with severe flukes will die after a FW dip when all the flukes drop off. Think of those flukes as little corks - when they fall off, if there were too many of them, the fish bleeds out. Of course, leaving the flukes in place will eventually be fatal as well, so early treatment is the key.

 

[MnFish1]

The question for me is what are you doing about the rest of your fish? It seems like you should be treating for flukes - in a QT tank - but you can also do it if absolutely necessary in a display tank (with prazipro). As far as your tang - sorry to hear - to me it looked like severe fluke + bacterial infection + HLLE. The fish, though has been sick for a while - given how thin he was. IMHO, the key for you is preventing further deaths/problems.

 

[mmfhasj]

Sorry - I just woke up.

Yes, if you saw dead flukes in the dip, it was Neobenedenia. Your other fish may also be infected.

Here is a post on dosing praziquantel for flukes:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dosing-praziquantel-pzq.1105700/

Thank you

 

[mmfhasj]

MM, sorry for your loss. That fish went through a lot over the years. FW dips are stressful on very sick fish. They work but the stress of catching the fish along with the parasites dropping off all at once can cause hypoxia during the recovery phase.

Can they recover from hypoxia? Should I have waited longer for him to “wake up.”

 

[mmfhasj]

Fish with severe flukes will die after a FW dip when all the flukes drop off. Think of those flukes as little corks - when they fall off, if there were too many of them, the fish bleeds out. Of course, leaving the flukes in place will eventually be fatal as well, so early treatment is the key.

I see. Yes. Thank you for the information. I didn’t immediately treat for flukes because it wasn’t presenting with symptoms for flukes. He had what I thought was black ich. But I will definitely be treating the rest of the fish. My tank is fish only with very minimal media in the sump. I might as well just treat the display tank. I don’t want to cause further stress.

 

[mmfhasj]

The question for me is what are you doing about the rest of your fish? It seems like you should be treating for flukes - in a QT tank - but you can also do it if absolutely necessary in a display tank (with prazipro). As far as your tang - sorry to hear - to me it looked like severe fluke + bacterial infection + HLLE. The fish, though has been sick for a while - given how thin he was. IMHO, the key for you is preventing further deaths/problems.

I didn’t immediately treat for flukes because it wasn’t presenting with symptoms for flukes. He had what I thought was black ich. And it quickly turned into a backterial infection and HLLE, like you said. I think it was the flukes the whole time causing the additional infections and keeping me blind to what really was happening. Which really sucks. He was such a fighter. I miss him so much.
But I will definitely be treating the rest of the fish. My tank is fish only with very minimal media in the sump. I might as well just treat the display tank. I don’t want to cause further stress. Thank you for the input.
I’m buying the prazipo right now.

 

[W31Olds]

mm, when a fish is very sick and is given a FW dip because of suspected Flukes a couple of factors come into play. Blood loss as Jay H. indicated. How fast is the fish breathing (gill Flukes). How exhausted the fish is from being caught from the dip and how strong the flow is to create water movement over the gills after. Age of the fish also is a factor with a dip being harder on small young fish.

 

[mmfhasj]

mm, when a fish is very sick and is given a FW dip because of suspected Flukes a couple of factors come into play. Blood loss as Jay H. indicated. How fast is the fish breathing (gill Flukes). How exhausted the fish is from being caught from the dip and how strong the flow is to create water movement over the gills after. Age of the fish also is a factor with a dip being harder on small young fish.

Thank you for the information. I considered all of this as I was actually wanting a dip to be the last resort. I determined that he was likely being eaten alive by the time I figured out what was going on with him. He likely wouldn’t have recovered on his own anyway. I had a ton of aeration in both the display tank and the dip. Also, he was 9 and sick but not in bad shape just a couple of days ago. He declined fast. He was always so healthy and able to recover from things without much help from me. His fast decline was definitely unexpected.

 

[MnFish1]

Age of the fish (unknown??), yellows can go 25 years(average is 15), that worn down is not overnight .....wow rip to to our friend....

Yellow tangs in the wild can live to be 40 years. Only saying for a matter of interest - the rings on the scales can be counted. To @mmfhasj update us as to how your other fish are doing.