please help- rare tang

[matty29]

Hello from England, I am in need of some urgent help please.

I have a 6' long x 3' wide x 2' deep reef with a mix of 60/30/10 sps/lps/softies.
parameters- nitrate 5ppm
nitrite -0
ph 8
temp - 26
alk - 9 dkh

4 weeks ago I bought this acanthurus guttatus from my lfs where i work part-time and all was well for a few days then, what I thought was ick started to appear, (fish was quarantined for at least a month) In the last 2 weeks I noticed some small skin lesions on one side of the fish, the fish was feeding from hand and by far the most greedy of my 3 tangs. In the last week it got worse so I dipped the fish in seachems paraguard, There was an improvement for 3-4 days then it started to come back, as I'm writing this its getting worse FAST, I mean I can see its flesh being 'eaten' by the hour (see pic). 6 hour agos the fish was still eating fine but has lost its appetite in the last few hours. All my other fish are fine. Where the skin has been 'eaten' you can see redness althiugh the pic does not show it too well, Im pretty sure Im going to lose this fish. I've attatched a pic of the other 'good' side of the fish too.

Thanks in advance

Matt
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[DrChristianTroy]

If it is parasitic i should advise you to add a doctor wrasse in your tank(i know that they tell many sudden death stories about them but Labroides dimidiatus adapt well in captivity...i know this is a crime but we need them in our tanks)
On the other side it look to me like ammonia burn ,mucosa is lost due to ammonia's tyrosine nitration and oxidation process.....
I cant tell more but i wish you good luck

[zemuron114]

woah... I would QT fast in some meds. I do not think a cleaner will help at all on this. They are for parasites, and this looks to me like a burn.

Put in QT again with tons of air and circulation. Ask the LFS which meds they recommend (im bad with meds...)

good luck.. very beautiful tang! I havn't seen those in a while and i live in Hawaii!!!!

[matty29]

Thanks for replying, I have a cleaner wrasse which I've had for more than a year now, it has been giving more attention to the tang than any other fish but I am wondering if he's doing more harm than good.

As for ammonia burn, would this affect one fish only? and what would cause it?

I also have a convict tang, yellow tang, - scotts, pink margin and laboutei fairy wrasse, and a few small gobies etc.

Thanks

[swimboy123]

Damn, that tang looks bad. How's he doing now?

[stykthyn]

I will add him to my prayer list, that looks awful

[Gundo5000]

Maybe try mela-fix or a freshwater dip or two

Is he still eating?

[NexDog]

1 dip in ParaGuard is not going to cure that. I use ParaGuard and think it's a great solution and can probably fix this fish but you need to be dipping daily and dipping for a few hours at a time. Keep an eye on the fish and if it looks stressed then pull it out the dip.

Also dose Paraguard in QT tank every day too and do water changes every 2 days. But start that right now and hopefully you can save it.

[woodywoo]

I think it could be A BAD fungal infection. I would think of it in the same way in humans. Fungi Can peel off skin and cause a thick tissue build up. The more I look at it the more I it is fungi. You could go to your local Vet's office and ask for a anti-fungal that desolves in water. Make sure you turn your skimmer off if you do. If not the skimmer will pull the meds out.

Good Luck
Aaron

[ACBlinky]

The only thing I can think of is Costia necatrix, it's a flagellate that destroys the fish's skin. He looks badly infected with something, I feel awful for you. I hope you can save him, good luck

[COreefer]

I would think about a formalin bath...looks to be some awful Brook.

[Steven Pro]

Originally posted by COreefer
I would think about a formalin bath...looks to be some awful Brook.

I agree. One dip per day, every other day, for a total of three dips would be my first response.

[Psionicdragon]

I think it looks like a bacteria infection...but try the formalin dip first to see how it goes.

[matty29]

Hi all, just a quick sad update, the tang didn't make it through the night. Thanks for your support and well wishes. I'm still unsure of the cause, it is strange to only affect one side of the fish as it did. This was by far my favourite fish and really wish I had taken more action sooner as Nexdog said... I really saw an improvement after the 1hr paraguard dip and was hoping it was enough, but with hindsight I should have dipped every day. I sent a copy to Robert Fenner and had my reply today and he couldn't identify it either although he advised a formalin dip which again is something that I regret not doing. It is difficult to find a balance between treating a fish and stressing it too much or waiting to see if a fish is strong enough to fight for itself. I guess this only comes with experience? This is my first fish loss to disease in 3 years reefkeeping and I am sorry it had to a fish like this.

Thanks again

Matt

[ACBlinky]

So sorry you lost him, that's really too bad. I've never seen anything like that, where one side of the fish looks picture perfect and the other looks severely infected/injured, definitely a very unusual situation. There's probably not much you could have done, because it was so hard to ID and therefore to treat. Try not to beat yourself up.

[Steven Pro]

Originally posted by matty29
it is strange to only affect one side of the fish as it did.

Wow, that is wierd. I didn't notice that comment when I first read through the thread. I thought the two photos were before and after images.