Young Blue Tang needs help!

[Saltyhawaii]

I have a juvenile Blue Tang who could probably fit in my palm, 2-3”

I bought her from Petco and added her to my tank, she seemed really healthy and was happily acclimating with other fish. After a month I left on a trip for 2 weeks, during which my partner and a friend who has experience with salt water tanks were feeding the fish in the tank.

When I got back I was immediately concerned, all the other fish were fine but she had some pitting around her face and some color fading. She was also hiding a lot. From reading threads here and other places I’ve deduced the pitting was a sign of HLLE.

I knew she was eating well so I focused on getting my water parameters right and getting her to eat a ton of Nori. The tank had not been cleaned regularly while I was gone, so getting the tank and the water clean helped immensely.

After consistent water changes and getting the water parameters under control the HLLE seems to have stopped advancing or at least slowed. She is only mildly interested in Nori and prefers flakes or pellets.


She has become a lot more active but her color is light, and recently she started scratching on rocks or other corals.

I am thinking I should test her for flukes with fresh water dip. Any suggestions, food supplements, treatments for what I can do would be incredibly helpful!

Let me say that this tank is my first foray into salt water tank keeping. I have 5 fish, (blue tang, tomato clown, Picasso clown, fire fish goby, royal gramma) 2 shrimp and one hermit crab. It is a 56 Gallon tank with a sump built into the back.

I have set up a second (35 gal) to give the fish more space until the other larger tank (160 gal) for the tang is cycled.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

I would get a quarantine tank set up with an airstone and PVC pipe to hide in. Can you take some more pictures in white lighting? What are your water parameters? It may be brooklynella but not sure. It looks pretty diffuse with mucus? Flukes would be white dots. #jayhamdel

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[Sharkbait19]

The hlle is the most noticeable thing, which is being controlled. Flukes or a bacterial infection are possible, though I’m not seeing anything super obvious other than the washed out colors.
Frankly, buying from petco (or really anywhere) without quarantine is a recipe for disaster, so it would be a good idea to qt the fish and treat it.
P.S. You may want to rehome one of the clowns, different species vary greatly in aggression, so a mix would likely not end well.

 

[Saltyhawaii]

The hlle is the most noticeable thing, which is being controlled. Flukes or a bacterial infection are possible, though I’m not seeing anything super obvious other than the washed out colors.
Frankly, buying from petco (or really anywhere) without quarantine is a recipe for disaster, so it would be a good idea to qt the fish and treat it.
P.S. You may want to rehome one of the clowns, different species vary greatly in aggression, so a mix would likely not end well.

I hate to say it was a total rookie mistake to not QT first.

I didn’t want to move her right away and stress her out without figuring out what was going on. I have a QT tank set up now.

I have set up a second tank the (35g) to separate the clowns and potentially get them a buddy of their specific clown species.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a juvenile Blue Tang who could probably fit in my palm, 2-3”

I bought her from Petco and added her to my tank, she seemed really healthy and was happily acclimating with other fish. After a month I left on a trip for 2 weeks, during which my partner and a friend who has experience with salt water tanks were feeding the fish in the tank.

When I got back I was immediately concerned, all the other fish were fine but she had some pitting around her face and some color fading. She was also hiding a lot. From reading threads here and other places I’ve deduced the pitting was a sign of HLLE.

I knew she was eating well so I focused on getting my water parameters right and getting her to eat a ton of Nori. The tank had not been cleaned regularly while I was gone, so getting the tank and the water clean helped immensely.

After consistent water changes and getting the water parameters under control the HLLE seems to have stopped advancing or at least slowed. She is only mildly interested in Nori and prefers flakes or pellets.


She has become a lot more active but her color is light, and recently she started scratching on rocks or other corals.

I am thinking I should test her for flukes with fresh water dip. Any suggestions, food supplements, treatments for what I can do would be incredibly helpful!

Let me say that this tank is my first foray into salt water tank keeping. I have 5 fish, (blue tang, tomato clown, Picasso clown, fire fish goby, royal gramma) 2 shrimp and one hermit crab. It is a 56 Gallon tank with a sump built into the back.

I have set up a second (35 gal) to give the fish more space until the other larger tank (160 gal) for the tang is cycled.

No frets. . . This is based generally on vitamin deficiency and prro water quality ( likely at Petco ) . Basically, maintain Good water quality and diet and although face wont totally heal over, ity will improve. Some foods to feed are :
-Spirulina brine shrimp
- LRS Herbivore diet
- mysis shrimp
- small plankton
- Nori seaweed basted with garlic extract
- Hikari Marine cuisine
- Formula 2 flake and frozen
- Hikari veggie marine

Add selcon vitamins to the foods 2-3X per week and on alternating days, garlic extract for stamina and immunity health

 

[Jay Hemdal]

A FW dip will only show one type of fluke (Neobenedenia) unless you use a microscope as the other species are too small to see.
Are any of the fish scratching/flashing?
Jay

 

[Saltyhawaii]

A FW dip will only show one type of fluke (Neobenedenia) unless you use a microscope as the other species are too small to see.
Are any of the fish scratching/flashing?
Jay

Only the tang is scratching, no others. I only see her do it once in a while, maybe her condition has me hyper aware and a little scratching is okay?

 

[Saltyhawaii]

No frets. . . This is based generally on vitamin deficiency and prro water quality ( likely at Petco ) . Basically, maintain Good water quality and diet and although face wont totally heal over, ity will improve. Some foods to feed are :
-Spirulina brine shrimp
- LRS Herbivore diet
- mysis shrimp
- small plankton
- Nori seaweed basted with garlic extract
- Hikari Marine cuisine
- Formula 2 flake and frozen
- Hikari veggie marine

Add selcon vitamins to the foods 2-3X per week and on alternating days, garlic extract for stamina and immunity health

I have been feeding these foods:

Hikari Seaweed extreme
Sf Bay frozen:
Marine cuisine
Omega brine shrimp
Emerald Entree
Plankton
New Life Spectrum Thera +A
Red and green Nori sheets with garlic extract

I rotate these throughout the week. Unfortunately rarely see her go for the Nori sheets, even with the garlic. The Hikari pellets and frozen foods are a favorite.

I’ll grab the vitamins and a few of the foods you suggested. Thank you so much!

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have been feeding these foods:

Hikari Seaweed extreme
Sf Bay frozen:
Marine cuisine
Omega brine shrimp
Emerald Entree
Plankton
New Life Spectrum Thera +A
Red and green Nori sheets with garlic extract

I rotate these throughout the week. Unfortunately rarely see her go for the Nori sheets, even with the garlic. The Hikari pellets and frozen foods are a favorite.

I’ll grab the vitamins and a few of the foods you suggested. Thank you so much!

R
These fish not big on nori

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Only the tang is scratching, no others. I only see her do it once in a while, maybe her condition has me hyper aware and a little scratching is okay?

When people, dogs, etc. scratch it is usually due to minor skin irritation. With fish, it is due to something major. The only case where minor flashing is ok is when a bit of detritus lands on a fish's skin and the scratch to remove it. It is the scratching multiple times per day that indicate the presence of parasites. If you watch the fish for 30 minutes and see it scratch say three times, and the tank doesn't have a lot of particles in the water, then I would be worried.

jay