Please help - Naso Tang

[Tim Plow]

have a Naso Tang that is my favorite fish (6-8 inches). He is usually always out and very active, especially when I feed. This morning I had a fairy wrasse that I have had for about 2 weeks die. I had him in qt for about 1 week then moved it up to my main display because he was looking fine (I know I should have left him in there for longer). Today at lunch, I noticed my fairy wrasse was upside down, and it later died.

Now, my Naso Tang is looking very bad. His color is not right and he won't come out of his hiding spot. He recently came out for a sec or two, but he was swimming kinda sideways. My other fish (2 clowns, blue tang, yellow tang, 5 chromis, hawkfish) are all doing fine.

There are a couple of things that happened. Last night it got really cold and my tank got colder than usual (usually it stays between 78 - 80 °F, but last night got to about 75). Also, my salinity got up to about 1.027 (normally keep it around 1.025).

Any ideas on what is happening. I really don't want this fish to die. My guess to what is happening is either the fairy wrasse brought in a disease, it got too cold, or my salinity was too high, but I don't understand why all my other fish are doing fine.

[jokeloma]

I hate to hear that. I am very sorry I can't help. Have you posted in the fish forum. Maybe someone there can help you.

[jjmcat]

The stomach looks a little bloated.Have you tried a fresh water dip yet?Also do me a favor and check your water params. The temp swing could have done it but not likely.I have salinity swings every so often and I have never had a problem.

[jprince58]

I don't think your temp and salinity swings were significant enough to have caused that sort of problem. What are the other parameters?

[Tim Plow]

Well, my Naso Tang lived through the night, but he has yet to eat in two days. I noticed him tonight crapping out white stringy stuff. I'm not sure if that is a good or bad sign.

Today, my yellow tang is also acting funny and he will not eat either. I did about a 10 gallon water change to see if that helps. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and hope they both pull through.

My smaller hippo tang seems to be doing great along with the clowns, flame hawk, and 5 chromis. I wish I could medicate my tank, but it is just too big and would cost a fortune.

[jokeloma]

any update

[Tim Plow]

Well, Naso has still not died. He has not eaten for 3-4 days, and I notice he is starting to slim down considerably. I think he must have an internal bacterial infection because he looks pretty good from the outside. His colors are good and there are no signs of body fungus or ich. He is just always hiding and not eating.

I really don't know what to do except see if he can eventually kick it. My yellow tang was also acting funny and not eating, but yesterday and today he is eating a little bit of brine shrimp. My hippo tang, flame hawk, clowns, and chromis are all acting fine.

I do have a qt tank, but I don't think I could catch him, and I was thinking this may stress him out and cause more harm than good. If anyone has any ideas or has dealt with this before, I would really appreciate any comments. Are there any reef safe medications?

Here is a picture of him today.

[jokeloma]

Have you tried any garlic additive with his dinner. I have heard it will help them eat.

[jjmcat]

As far as medications go I think there is permafix? I know its the safer version of melafix.I know you also can roll your nori like a cigar and soak it in selco or garlic.

[Tim Plow]

Can I just buy garlic from the grocery store and use it? Are there any special instructions or dosage amounts? What is the best way to try to get Naso to eat since he won't touch seaweed, brine shrimp, etc?

[jjmcat]

I got mine in bulk from sams.Let whatever your going to feed the tang soak in the juice from the garlic.

[jokeloma]

I would check with the local shops one of them is bound to have some selcon. I have never used store bought garlic but I am sure it would work just like Jarrod said.

[jjmcat]

Used the fresh garlic since 04 with no problems.

[woodycb]

I had the same problem with a kole tang I had. I dosed pimafix and melafix together, its all i had left to do. It worked great, and since I could not catch him I had to treat the whole tank, which was a good thing because my watchman goby ended up looking the same way. I even under dosed than what the directions called for. They started looking better and eating better after 3 to 4 days.

[Tim Plow]

Thanks to everyone for all the advice.

Well, I tried my luck with garlic soaking, and Naso still wanted nothing to do with frozen, flake food, or seaweed. He is going on 5 days now without eating and he is really starting to slim down. I also noticed he had a much higher rate of breathing so tonight I decided to try to catch him and place him in my qt tank. After a few tries, I sucessfully netted him and placed him in the 20 gallon. I bought some Metronidazole by Seachem and dosed it tonight so hopefully I will start seeing signs of improvement.

Has anyone else had any experience with the "pimafix and melafix" as described above? Is it reefsafe?

Here are a few pics that I took of some fish and coral.

[jjmcat]

Try feeding just the garlic by itself.Nice pics BTW

[guido_kp]

white stringy poop usually = internal parasites of some sort.

[Tim Plow]

Well, Naso ended up dieing yesterday after about six days of not eating. I tried garlic, medication, and finally a fresh water dip. I guess sometimes you just can't beat those infections. Thanks again for everyone's comments. This was my first experience with a sick fish so I learned some things. From now on, I will qt my new fish for more than a week, and won't rely on my eye anymore.

[mskohl]

I'm sorry for your loss. We've all made the QT mistake and some of us don't learn quite so quickly (me!).

It looks like something has been chewing on your hippo's tail fin. Was that the naso's work?

Looks like you've got some nice corals there.

[SoonerReefer]

Tim

So sorry about the loss of your fish. We just never know in this hobby and it is tough sometimes. Tank looks great. Keep up posted.


Happy Reefing

Lori

[jjmcat]

I know how it feels to lose such an animal.I felt like crud when I lost my clown tang.