Please help w Powder Blue Tang

[VanCityReef]

My powder blue tang is 3 years old and has been healthy and happy up until a couple weeks ago. He started acting odd and I noticed he had what looked like small white strings coming off of his head. I freshwater dipped him and it seemed to have work for the time being.

Fast forward a few more weeks and he has not eaten for the last week. Taking a closer look at him today he only has one of those stringy things coming off his eyeballs and the tips of his pectoral fins are a bit cloudy. He’s gilling quite quickly and his gills are inflamed. When I peek through the glass at his gills they look like they’re redder than usual. All other fish in the tank are happy/healthy and show no similar symptoms.

I’m planning on FW dipping him again but wondering if there’s any better solutions? I have access to praziquantel (in powder form) and copper. I don’t have a large enough QT for him I think the biggest one I have is ~30G but I’d rather keep him in the DT for now as it has UV and is decently established.

Any questions / advice is welcome.

It’s really hard to get pictures of his gills but attached are some pics of his eye.

 

[Reef Wizard]

#fishmedic They will need a picture under white lighting and tank Parameters can help

 

[Jay Hemdal]

My powder blue tang is 3 years old and has been healthy and happy up until a couple weeks ago. He started acting odd and I noticed he had what looked like small white strings coming off of his head. I freshwater dipped him and it seemed to have work for the time being.

Fast forward a few more weeks and he has not eaten for the last week. Taking a closer look at him today he only has one of those stringy things coming off his eyeballs and the tips of his pectoral fins are a bit cloudy. He’s gilling quite quickly and his gills are inflamed. When I peek through the glass at his gills they look like they’re redder than usual. All other fish in the tank are happy/healthy and show no similar symptoms.

I’m planning on FW dipping him again but wondering if there’s any better solutions? I have access to praziquantel (in powder form) and copper. I don’t have a large enough QT for him I think the biggest one I have is ~30G but I’d rather keep him in the DT for now as it has UV and is decently established.

Any questions / advice is welcome.

It’s really hard to get pictures of his gills but attached are some pics of his eye.

Can you get pictures/video under white lights? That helps us see more clearly.
Have you added any new fish or invertebrates in the past 3 months?

Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

Before FW dip which can stress fish and any treatment, please as requested post a couple of pic, even video under white lighting for clear assessment

 

[VanCityReef]

Can you get pictures/video under white lights? That helps us see more clearly.
Have you added any new fish or invertebrates in the past 3 months?

Jay

Will post pics under white lights first thing tomorrow morning. Thank you @Jay Hemdal youve saved one of my fish before and am happy you’re seeing this .

No new fish or inverts in last 3 months. However, I had all my fish in two separate tanks for a bit and put them back into the big one about 3 months ago. Long story short — my tank leaked and while I was replacing it I had the fish in temp tanks.

 

[VanCityReef]

Before FW dip which can stress fish and any treatment, please as requested post a couple of pic, even video under white lighting for clear assessment

Thank you! Will do

 

[VanCityReef]

#fishmedic They will need a picture under white lighting and tank Parameters can help

Thank you! I’m on it

 

[VanCityReef]

@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081 here is a Dropbox link to a bunch of footage I took of the PBT under white lights (lmk if you have any issues accessing it). Super hard to actually get what it looks like on camera. One pic I circled in red you can kind of see in his right eye it looks like something is planted on it and sticking out, but I’ll let you be the judges. You’ll also notice the tips of his pectoral fins are a bit cloudy and in the video you can see how quickly he is gilling. Wasn’t quite able to take a good pic of the inside of his gills tho. Please lmk your thoughts. He’s spending a lot of time in front of one of the power heads (he’s doing this in one of the videos). Please lmk if you want me to go back and take more pics and any angles you suggest.

Thank you very much for your time and help in advance! Really appreciate you guys and this forum.

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

 

[Jay Hemdal]

@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081 here is a Dropbox link to a bunch of footage I took of the PBT under white lights (lmk if you have any issues accessing it). Super hard to actually get what it looks like on camera. One pic I circled in red you can kind of see in his right eye it looks like something is planted on it and sticking out, but I’ll let you be the judges. You’ll also notice the tips of his pectoral fins are a bit cloudy and in the video you can see how quickly he is gilling. Wasn’t quite able to take a good pic of the inside of his gills tho. Please lmk your thoughts. He’s spending a lot of time in front of one of the power heads (he’s doing this in one of the videos). Please lmk if you want me to go back and take more pics and any angles you suggest.

Thank you very much for your time and help in advance! Really appreciate you guys and this forum.

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

I couldn't get the dropbox link to work, but the directly posted video shows the PBT breathing too fast, and a quick glimpse in the background shows the foxface also breathing too fast.

The treatment course going forward is a tough call. Rapid breathing can be a result of low dissolved oxygen, so add a strong airstone to the tank to see if that helps. If you have a protein skimmer, that should suffice. Other causes of rapid breathing include: other water quality issues, Amyloodinium (velvet), bacterial gill disease or gill flukes. There isn't any easy way to narrow it down from there though.

Given the length of time here, I would be inclined to rule out velvet - that kills fish pretty quickly. That leaves gill flukes as the most easily treatable issue. A FW dip will buy some time, but not cure the issue. Praziquantel works against flukes, but does not always eradicate them 100%.

Jay

 

[VanCityReef]

I couldn't get the dropbox link to work, but the directly posted video shows the PBT breathing too fast, and a quick glimpse in the background shows the foxface also breathing too fast.

The treatment course going forward is a tough call. Rapid breathing can be a result of low dissolved oxygen, so add a strong airstone to the tank to see if that helps. If you have a protein skimmer, that should suffice. Other causes of rapid breathing include: other water quality issues, Amyloodinium (velvet), bacterial gill disease or gill flukes. There isn't any easy way to narrow it down from there though.

Given the length of time here, I would be inclined to rule out velvet - that kills fish pretty quickly. That leaves gill flukes as the most easily treatable issue. A FW dip will buy some time, but not cure the issue. Praziquantel works against flukes, but does not always eradicate them 100%.

Jay

Thank you for your quick response. I’ll attach a link again at the bottom here. Lmk if that one works better. I sent it to a friend and it worked for them.

Re the foxface, it’s not usually gilling that fast, it tends to get quite nervous when someone is close to the tank. It’s a skittish one. According to my GHL redox is 265mV and I do have a protein skimmer that is active 24/7. I am more than happy to drop an air stone in if need be!

I do have some powdered praziquantel. Can I dose the tank directly with that? Does it have any affect on coral? Do you have any suggested dosage etc?

Thanks again very much for your time!

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thank you for your quick response. I’ll attach a link again at the bottom here. Lmk if that one works better. I sent it to a friend and it worked for them.

Re the foxface, it’s not usually gilling that fast, it tends to get quite nervous when someone is close to the tank. It’s a skittish one. According to my GHL redox is 265mV and I do have a protein skimmer that is active 24/7. I am more than happy to drop an air stone in if need be!

I do have some powdered praziquantel. Can I dose the tank directly with that? Does it have any affect on coral? Do you have any suggested dosage etc?

Thanks again very much for your time!

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

These open. I dont see signs of parasitical issues however some lymphocystis on tail and possible early signs of HLLE which both are associated with poor water quality and diet. Poor water quality can be as simple as elevated ammonia and/or nitrate. Diet- the fish for a PBT is slightly thin. Some foods to consider are:
LRS herbivore diet
Formula 2 flake and frozen
TDO Pellets
small plankton
Hikari Marine cuisine
Ocean nutrition veggie diet
spirulina brine shrimp
mysis shrimp
Prime reef
Nori seaweed basted with garlic extract

Add selcon vitamins to foods occasionally

 

[VanCityReef]

Unfortunately the PBT has died. I was preparing the FW dip and while I was pH matching the water I looked up and saw him upside down at the bottom of the tank. I pulled him out and he still had a weak heartbeat. I tried to swish him back and forth in the water for a bit. Heartbeat still was slow and weak. I scooped a bucket of tank water and threw in an air stone. Kept swishing him back and forth in the bucket for another 10 mins and nothing. Can’t feel his little heartbeat anymore.

Really sad about this guy, had him for 3 years and enjoyed visiting w him every day. I hope whatever killed him isn’t going to infect the other fish.

Any tips on whether I should treat the tank with anything preventative or do anything?

Thanks again for everyone’s time and help.

RIP Rupert

 

[vetteguy53081]

Unfortunately the PBT has died. I was preparing the FW dip and while I was pH matching the water I looked up and saw him upside down at the bottom of the tank. I pulled him out and he still had a weak heartbeat. I tried to swish him back and forth in the water for a bit. Heartbeat still was slow and weak. I scooped a bucket of tank water and threw in an air stone. Kept swishing him back and forth in the bucket for another 10 mins and nothing. Can’t feel his little heartbeat anymore.

Really sad about this guy, had him for 3 years and enjoyed visiting w him every day. I hope whatever killed him isn’t going to infect the other fish.

Any tips on whether I should treat the tank with anything preventative or do anything?

Thanks again for everyone’s time and help.

RIP Rupert

Oh no. . . Sorry to hear

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Unfortunately the PBT has died. I was preparing the FW dip and while I was pH matching the water I looked up and saw him upside down at the bottom of the tank. I pulled him out and he still had a weak heartbeat. I tried to swish him back and forth in the water for a bit. Heartbeat still was slow and weak. I scooped a bucket of tank water and threw in an air stone. Kept swishing him back and forth in the bucket for another 10 mins and nothing. Can’t feel his little heartbeat anymore.

Really sad about this guy, had him for 3 years and enjoyed visiting w him every day. I hope whatever killed him isn’t going to infect the other fish.

Any tips on whether I should treat the tank with anything preventative or do anything?

Thanks again for everyone’s time and help.

RIP Rupert

Sorry to hear. I was able to open this video, and the only symptom of note was that rapid breathing. The tank has good circulation, but do you have bubbles breaking the surface tension of the water? You need to have that at some point to create proper gas exchange.

It could have been gill flukes, but the fish looked really good to have been at end stage with a gill fluke infestation.

Jay

 

[drdwl]

For your future reference : have learned through 50 yrs of fishkeeping. There is a real necessity to aerate, by disturbing the surface to aid in gas exchange. Especially in instances of disease and any fast breathing situations, just add extra air stones in one corner before putting in any medication/additives to avoid any plummeting of the oxygen level necessary for survival. Freshwater dips are very stressful and shouldn't be done on fish that are lying or upside down (will be too weak to survive).