Fish disease in Tangs and Clowns

[DHouse]

I love me some Tangs and Clowns but has anyone besides myself noticed that they are not as hardy as they used to be? I have been keeping marine fish for more than 20 years and I can honestly say that I have had a minimal number of cases of ich, velvet, swim bladder or any other diseases in any of my tanks in the past and I never quarantined or dipped my fish or coral. Recently (past couple of years or so), I have noticed that more and more of the fish that I get from my local LFS (I have known the owners for a long time and know how and where they get their fish supply) are developing more and more diseases. It seems in my tank, that if a fish makes it past the first month or so of being in general population, it usually survives. I test my water regularly and do water changes when needed. My parameters are within range to house corals in all of my tanks. I currently have an extra large Hippo, Purple and Clown Tang, along with numerous Clowns, an extra large Queen Angel, a Red Coris Wrasse (juvenile), a Red Coris Wrasse (adult), two male and a one female Melanarus Wrasse, a Carpenter Flasher Wrasse and a number of gobbies among other fish and coral in three different display tanks. I used to bring fish home, acclimate them, and put them in my tank(s). No quarantining or dipping. The last year or so, I have purchased two Naso Tangs (both large), a Desjardini Tang (large), several of the hybrid Clowns and all have developed ich or velvet and one developed swim bladder disease. I have since set up a quarantine tank, I dip both fish and coral and they still seem to be getting sick after putting them in the display. Not all of them, but mainly the Tangs and the Clowns (Tangs with ich and Clowns with velvet). Have any of you long time fish keepers noticed this change? What do you think could be causing this or am I just noticing this more and more due to the price of fish sky rocketing and it is denting my wallet more and more? Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[southeastfishaddict]

I’ve been going through the same issues with my fish. I also didn’t or do I quarantine. The LFS owner tells me that it’s a complexed thing to do and that it adds a lot of stress to the fish. He said that he gets his fish from a good source and rarely had problems. So far I lost about twenty fish in the past month. A few tangs (clown, convict, powder blue & a regal). I currently have a scopa that isn’t doing well, a blue & a pink tail trigger that are also sick with a bad case of velvet or ich. It’s very frustrating. I’m going to stop for a while and just stay with what I have in the tank for now. I started dozing the tank with polyplab yesterday, but the way things are I don’t think it will do much.

I think that most fish stores have ich in their tanks and the employees use the same accessories to clean them or nets to pull fish out when they sell them. That may be one of the reasons why there is so many contaminations. It’s like a domino effect.

 

[Idech]

I started dozing the tank with polyplab yesterday, but the way things are I don’t think it will do much.

Polyp Lab only works when ich is just starting. In your case it’s too advanced, it won’t help.

You should set up a hospital tank and treat your fish. Then, go fallow for as long as necessary (check with #ree#reefmedic decide what you’re going to do going forward when adding new fish.

Not quarantining doesn’t mean just throw the fish in the tank and hope for the best. Make sure to research disease and stress management if you want to go that way.

 

[southeastfishaddict]

Polyp Lab only works when ich is just starting. In your case it’s too advanced, it won’t help.

You should set up a hospital tank and treat your fish. Then, go fallow for as long as necessary (check with #ree#reefmedic decide what you’re going to do going forward when adding new fish.

Not quarantining doesn’t mean just throw the fish in the tank and hope for the best. Make sure to research disease and stress management if you want to go that way.

Thanks for your feedback Idech, but I have a large tank (145 gallons) with another 145lbs of rock and the fish move super fast, so it would be impossible to catch them and put them in a quarantine tank to treat them.

 

[Idech]

Thanks for your feedback Idech, but I have a large tank (145 gallons) with another 145lbs of rock and the fish move super fast, so it would be impossible to catch them and put them in a quarantine tank to treat them.

Yeah, I know, it’s a pain to move all the rocks to get to the fish. Do it if you can, if not just don’t add anymore.

Do you have a UV ? If you set it at the right speed, it will help control disease.

 

[blecki]

It seems in my tank, that if a fish makes it past the first month or so of being in general population, it usually survives.

This has always kind of been how it works in the 30 years I've had tanks both fresh and salt.

Generally fall in 3 categories:
* Never eats in QT
* Gets sick in QT
* Makes it to the tank and lives for years.

Once they make it to the tank the biggest danger is aggression but that is almost always obvious very quickly (Not always though - lost a gorgeous angel to my sailfin being an ******* before I figured out who the bully was. Never actually attacked, just kept him hiding until he starved to death.)
IME less fish 'mysteriously drop dead' after being established in the tank than before. In my freshwater tank disease is a thing of the past even coming from big chain stores. 100% of losses there over the past five years or so I can attribute to old age.
The days of reef fish keeling over for no apparent reason ended with the widescale banning of cyanide fishing. Of course it still sometimes happens the same way you or I could drop dead from a brain aneurism at any moment, but it's rarer. Maybe I'm just better at not making the stupid mistakes that kill fish quickly?

What do you think could be causing this or am I just noticing this more and more due to the price of fish sky rocketing and it is denting my wallet more and more?

It's 100% this. When you lose a fish in QT to velvet your thoughts should be 'whew, dodged a bullet!' but I get you there, often instead what I feel is a stabbing pain in my wallet.