Watanabei sick - PLEASE help

[Bartanto]

He was fine and eating yesterday and last night, didn’t eat this am, now very lethargic on bottom. Complete 180° behavioral change in 12 hrs. I think I see one white dot on his side, right on a black stripe. All other fish a-ok. Only thing added to tank (last week) was inspected and dipped coral from major online retailer. I have an empty QT setup - DO I MOVE HIM ASAP? DO I START COPPER? I’ve got everything, just haven’t done it before.

78°
1.026 sg
pH: 8.2
25W UV @ 400gph 24/7 (anti-parasite flow and every drop of water hitting DT is treated)
N: 3 P: .01 Alk: 8 Cal: 400 Mag: 1400

Feed:
- Reef Jerky 5x daily mixed w/ TDO and Hikari pellets
- 1/2 cube frozen mysis or SF Bay Marine daily
- dry mysis soaked in Selcon or vitamins every 3rd day

TIA

 

[Sophie"s mom]

You will need either @Jay Hemdal or @vetteguy53081 in on this

 

[Bartanto]

Video (not sure if it will post)

 

[Bartanto]

 

[Bartanto]

Bump

 

[Jay Hemdal]

He was fine and eating yesterday and last night, didn’t eat this am, now very lethargic on bottom. Complete 180° behavioral change in 12 hrs. I think I see one white dot on his side, right on a black stripe. All other fish a-ok. Only thing added to tank (last week) was inspected and dipped coral from major online retailer. I have an empty QT setup - DO I MOVE HIM ASAP? DO I START COPPER? I’ve got everything, just haven’t done it before.

78°
1.026 sg
pH: 8.2
25W UV @ 400gph 24/7 (anti-parasite flow and every drop of water hitting DT is treated)
N: 3 P: .01 Alk: 8 Cal: 400 Mag: 1400

Feed:
- Reef Jerky 5x daily mixed w/ TDO and Hikari pellets
- 1/2 cube frozen mysis or SF Bay Marine daily
- dry mysis soaked in Selcon or vitamins every 3rd day

TIA

The fish is a bit thin, lethargic and breathing a bit hard. I think the spot is inconsequential. These symptoms are pretty general, they don’t point to any specific disease, but the sudden onset means it is serious.

How long have you had this fish?

 

[Bartanto]

Thank you very much for responding. A month and a half. It’s worse by the hour - is now in corner nearly upside down. Moving him to quarantine immediately. Agree on inconsequential white spot - but it’s new.

Do you agree with moving to QT, monitoring without medication?

Thanks again.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thank you very much for responding. A month and a half. It’s worse by the hour - is now in corner nearly upside down. Moving him to quarantine immediately. Agree on inconsequential white spot - but it’s new.

Do you agree with moving to QT, monitoring without medication?

Thanks again.

Sorry - I just woke up and saw your post from last night....

Sometimes, moving a sick fish to a fresh tank buys you a little time, but this fish is going downhill so fast, I think you need to act right away. Trouble is, it is not clear as to what treatment to use. People often resort to doing a 5 minute freshwater dip, but that is stressful, and it is done not because it always works, but because it is easy to do....

My first treatment would be coppersafe, but I'll say that copper takes up to 3 days to start to work, and this fish is going downhill fast....

Watanabe angels are prone to issues when first purchased, but the vast majority of those involve the swim bladder and I don't see that here. Many fish are still collected with cyanide, and that causes huge mortality, but this species usually comes from Fiji and is caught in nets.

 

[Bartanto]

Sorry - I just woke up and saw your post from last night....

Sometimes, moving a sick fish to a fresh tank buys you a little time, but this fish is going downhill so fast, I think you need to act right away. Trouble is, it is not clear as to what treatment to use. People often resort to doing a 5 minute freshwater dip, but that is stressful, and it is done not because it always works, but because it is easy to do....

My first treatment would be coppersafe, but I'll say that copper takes up to 3 days to start to work, and this fish is going downhill fast....

Watanabe angels are prone to issues when first purchased, but the vast majority of those involve the swim bladder and I don't see that here. Many fish are still collected with cyanide, and that causes huge mortality, but this species usually comes from Fiji and is caught in nets.

was expired by mid-afternoon.

Sorry - I just woke up and saw your post from last night....

Sometimes, moving a sick fish to a fresh tank buys you a little time, but this fish is going downhill so fast, I think you need to act right away. Trouble is, it is not clear as to what treatment to use. People often resort to doing a 5 minute freshwater dip, but that is stressful, and it is done not because it always works, but because it is easy to do....

My first treatment would be coppersafe, but I'll say that copper takes up to 3 days to start to work, and this fish is going downhill fast....

Watanabe angels are prone to issues when first purchased, but the vast majority of those involve the swim bladder and I don't see that here. Many fish are still collected with cyanide, and that causes huge mortality, but this species usually comes from Fiji and is caught in nets.

Fish was expired by afternoon. I was aware of collection issues with the species but was less concerned here specifically as this fish pair came from Marine Collectors, went through their QT and were monitored a month+ after that before my acquisition. My acclimation was easy and there was zero inkling of issue until yesterday am. I ran a battery of every test I have and nothing remotely out of the ordinary last night. I’m at a complete loss on this one.

I greatly appreciate your responses, thank you.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Fish was expired by afternoon. I was aware of collection issues with the species but was less concerned here specifically as this fish pair came from Marine Collectors, went through their QT and were monitored a month+ after that before my acquisition. My acclimation was easy and there was zero inkling of issue until yesterday am. I ran a battery of every test I have and nothing remotely out of the ordinary last night. I’m at a complete loss on this one.

I greatly appreciate your responses, thank you.

aww so sorry to read this. This aspect of the hobby can be heart breaking for sure.

 

[Bartanto]

Appreciate it. Huge bummer. The speed and lack of any discernible causation is unsettling at a minimum.

aww so sorry to read this. This aspect of the hobby can be heart breaking for sure.

aww so sorry to read this. This aspect of the hobby can be heart breaking for sure.