Sick Fish... First one in Four Years

[elfloyd]

Out of town for a week and I come home to a purple tang with blotches over his body.

History… Previous tank (90 gallon) running for over four years.
No new fish in three years.
Last fish added was the purple tang three years ago.
About four weeks ago I transferred everything into a new 180 gallon tank.
Week one of the transfer I had some salinity and temperature swings… all stable the past three weeks.
I have never seen ich in my tank.
I run UV (40w at 200 gph)

Fish acts fine… eating well, swimming all over the tank… no scraping the bottom or rocks. (but I have only been home about two hours.)

Anyone know what I am dealing with here? Guess I've never really seen ich and this doesn't look like pictures I have seen... perhaps velvet?

I go back out of town Sunday morning.

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[rdnelson]

Not an expert but I would bet ick or maybe brook. It would make more sense. It could hav always be present but the stress of a new tank may have lower red the immune system enough to let it grab hold. Good luck. Hope you find the solution.


ARC....so nerdy our President breaks bones while bowling.

 

[ralph atl]

That is weird......

I am no fish ill sick expert at all....I would feed metro/focus asap just as a pre-empt & I would call that Jeremy, at Sea and get whatever it takes......Albeit not perfect, he will get your fish in the right direction as long as it's not a wrasse, lol.......

 

[mcphock]

I'm not sure what that is either, but if worse comes to worse, drop a line to the smart folks at wet web media.

 

[ralph atl]

it's not ICK, i believe....

 

[wannabeeareefkeeper]

If it isn't related to stress of the recent move to a newer and bigger environment: has the diet recently been changed? Was there nutrients available in the older well established tank that are not currently available in the newer, bigger tank?

Has the food you had been giving in the older tank changed; i.e. new and improved formula, etc.? Has you lighting schedule changed recently or since you moved the fish to the bigger tank? Most likely, all the fish would be affected by a recent lighting change though. [Just my 1/2 cent].

I do hope signs of improvement are displayed very soon.


Wannabee

 

[jennm]

Could it be mechanical injury? Doesn't look like ich - or Brook... but hard to say from the pictures.

Eating and otherwise behaving normally?

It would be weird for a pathogen to be dormant for that long. Impossible, perhaps...

When you upgraded, any new rock? (Long shot there... but hey...)

I'd see what he looks like in 24 hours, try for some better pictures, and go from there. It's possible it got roughed up in a new hidey hole or something.

Fish that have been in captivity for a long time, usually fare better than new acquisitions even if they do get sick. At least, in my experience.

Jenn

 

[elfloyd]

I did add a new food... New Life Spectrum There +A.
Yes... eating and behaving normally.
I did add new rock... When I started the first tank I had too much rock. After a few month I took out some (originally Marco Rock), left it sitting outside for over a year, then stored it in the garage (in a box, no chemicals in the garage). I added it back with the new tank build.
I'll try for a better picture today when I give Nori.

Thanks for the input...

Larry

 

[jennm]

If you added dry/dead rock then that's not likely a problem. Where I was going was if you'd added rock that had potentially come from a tank that may have had a pathogen.

Feed well, keep an eye - if it gets worse, it will be cause for concern. Fish can scrape themselves accidentally, they usually heal up unless they get a bacterial infection, but that usually looks more "red".

Jenn

 

[brandonmason]

I've seen these markings on my fish before when I moved. I noticed the fish bumping into torch coral and other corals which I honestly believe is what caused but could be wrong. It cleared up and never seen it again.

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[elfloyd]

Here are additional pictures. He's still acting normal... these were taken while he was eating pellet off the sand bed.

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[ralph atl]

I'm sorry, my only guesses is that it's getting stung by something in your tank!

Obviously, fungus, bacteria, virus are next....

Rubbing infection?

Edit: Looks like an infection to me....

 

[jennm]

Is that a Naso I see in one of the pictures?

Any chance that they are suddenly not getting along? Those marks could be from a "fencing match" - both tangs have scalpels but Nasos tend to have bigger ones. From the posturing of that Naso he might have been trying to poke as you took the picture.

Notice them swimming side by side and doing the booty shake a bit lately?

It could be he got himself stuck and roughed up (if he's not sparring with the Naso). Wounds look clean - I'd keep an eye for a day or two. If you see it worsening or getting red, then it's time to QT and administer antibiotics - or at the very least, spike the food with antibiotics.

Fish have the ability to heal very quickly so you should know in a day or so if it's getting better or worse.

Jenn

 

[elfloyd]

No Naso... that's a Powder Brown. The only aggression I see if from a smaller longnose butterflyfish that opens his dorsal fins and points them toward the purple tang. Here's a list of the fish I have... the purple is the largest in the tank.

3 - Firefish
1 - Powder Brown Tang
1 - Royal Gamma
1 - Flame Angel
1 - Six Line Wrasse
1 - Citron Goby
2 - Clownfish
1 - Longnose Butterflyfish

I have two GTBA and a couple mushrooms. Moved all other coral to my daughters house, so no significant corals to sting.

 

[jennm]

I was close but no cigar on that other tang. OK so the Powder Brown is usually not as aggressive as a Naso, but it has scalpels too. I've seen wounds like that from tangs fighting, but usually it's just one or two "holes" and that's it. Just thinking 'out loud' here...

Heh I've seen butterflies do that - splay their fins to look bigger and badder. That's usually just for show, I doubt he's been sticking it to the purple - especially since the purple has scalpels too.

Back to the roughed itself up against rocks theory.

It's plausible that the anemone stung it too, but stings I've seen didn't quite look like that.

Jenn

 

[elfloyd]

Thanks Jenn. I am leaving town in the morning on business, so not much I can do at this point. They are well feed, low lighting, and little activity in my office for the next week... so the stress level should be low too.

I'll give everyone a followup later.

- Larry

 

[jennm]

Hope he heals up - he's a beautiful specimen.

 

[silver surfer]

Body flukes? Might be infections from the open sores. May want to treat with prozi pro. If so, need to take inverts out.

 

[elfloyd]

Interesting development this morning. Last night my better half told be the Purple Tang and Longnose Butterflyfish were fighting... the Purple seemed to be the aggressor. This morning the Longnose is dead. Tank mates for over three years.

 

[jennm]

Wow... that's an unexpected plot twist. I'm sorry for your loss. Any odd symptoms on the butterfly?