Sick Kole Tang

[pale-rider12]

Hi everyone,

 

I have a sick Kole Tang and was wondering if anyone can shed some light on this for me. This is the first time I have had any of my fish get sick in my 2 years in the hobby so other than put him in quarantine (I have done this) I don't know what to do. 

 

I have attached a photo so that you can see what he looks like right now and maybe identify the problem. I apologize for the quality of the photo but it was very hard to get a crisp image because of how he was swimming.

 

Thanks,

 

pale-rider12

[pale-rider12]

Sorry the photo didn't attach to my original post. I think it is attached now.

 

Thanks,

[Ben A]

It kinda looks like brook to me, but its not the clearest pic. I would recommend to start treating with Prazipro+Cupramine for a couple weeks. These two meds cover most things including ich, velvet, etc. I would then do a complete water change give it a couple days and then start treating with Paraguard. If someone else, who knows better than I says that it is definantly brook, I would start with paraguard first then move to the Cupramine+Prazipro. Paraguard can not be used with any other meds, and you have to be carefull what you use in conjuction with cupramine.

 

If you really wanted to, you could give him a Paraguard bath for an hour as per isntructions on bottle. After the bath you can put him back in QT and start the Cupramin+Prazipro for a couple weeks before moving onto the full paraguard treatment.

 

I would also recommend contacting Monkiboy and asking his opinion on what it might be and what you should do.

[gmerek2]

Did this happen overnight or when was onset of symptoms

[Rob A]

Also, is he eating? When they stop eating it's usually a bad sign, but on the other hand if they are still eating heartily then it's a good sign!

What about other behavior...is he rubbing against things (flashing)?

Edited April 9, 2014 by Rob A

[pale-rider12]

He is still eating mysis shrimp in moderation but wont mess with his seaweed in the veggie clip.

 

Before I got him pulled and put in to QT he was rubbing on the rock a good bit. I don't have anything in the QT he can really rub on although he still tries to rub up against the glass. 

 

I don't think it was an overnight thing. I noticed that he didn't look right last weekend and knew I needed to pull him. He would hide most of the time in my main tank anyway until feeding time so I usually don't get the chance to check him over very much. He always just darts out and grabs some food and then hides again. He caught my eye because he was out rubbing and swimming very erratically. That how I noticed in the first place.

[gmerek2]

Do you have copper in QT yet? I would guess regular marine ick. I'm not a huge fan of prazipro since it can make already bad ammonia issues worse and most fish Don't need it. Especially because most QT are not cycled and if they are prazi knocks out the good bacteria that eat the denitrifying bacteria. Watch ammonia levels I personally think they kill more often than the parasite

[gmerek2]

I messed that up. Oh well. Just watch ammonia. Lol but some kits malfunction with copper in the water. So do research

[pale-rider12]

Thanks for the advise.  

[Rob A]

I've done the hypo salinity thing with success for ich. If you have him in a tank by himself you can try that. You'd have to google it, I can't remember all the parameters but it takes 6 to 8 weeks and keeping the PH up at the proper level takes some work if the tank doesn't have any calcium based substrate. Water changes are a lot cheaper since you need less salt! 

[Sharkey18]

Because of how bad he looks I think you need to be pretty aggressive with treatment.  I would go with copper asap. If you just do hypo and it's not ick you will probably lose him.  since you have a hospital tank might as well treat w meds.