Tang has dark spots all over its body

Administrator

Thanks, drvet2002.

So you treat your fish with praziquantel in hospital tanks or temporary dip tanks rather than dosing your display tank with it? Is it possible that PraziPro has different properties than the medication you use that allow it to be safely used directly in a display tank? All of the experiences with PraziPro that I've read about during my research have corroborated that PraziPro is safe to put directly into to a reef tank in the amounts prescribed (1 teaspoon of the liquid per 20 gallons) with no adverse effects to fish, inverts or coral, but only worm like creatures.

Because of the nature of the life cycle of Tang Turbellarian Disease, it seems to me that it would only make sense that PraziPro go directly into the tank because to use it only for a dip would have no effect on the worms in the display tank's substrate, larvae in the display tank's water, etc. If it were used in this way, it would seem likely that a fish that spent time in water containing PraziPro would only contract the parasite again if returned to an infected tank.

As for repeating freshwater dips too soon leading to a worsening of the condition, it seemed a reasonable thing to do when I found the tang looking much worse this morning. If you guys think I should hold off on performing a freshwater dip again despite how bad he gets then I won't do it again and just hope the PraziPro begins to do its thing.

The PraziPro directions say you can retreat as necessary, but no more than once every three days. Elsewhere in the directions they instruct to do as large a water change as possible before beginning treatment. Do you think a similar water change is meant to be done before the tank is retreated?

Administrator

This morning many of the dark spots, which I understand are caused by hemorrhaging on account of the larvae feeding, have little white spots on them, which I presume are the larvae themselves. When I found the same yesterday morning I performed a freshwater dip that appeared to get rid of the little white spots, although of course the dark spots did not go away.

Should I abstain from performing another freshwater dip even though it appeared to get rid of the small white spots yesterday?

kitten_penang

sorry to hear it's not doing well.i wish you the best of luck.

Administrator

Thank you, kitten_penang.

I had planned to dose the tank with PraziPro again today as it's been three days, but since I turned on the aquarium light this morning the tang has spent most of its time hovering almost vertically with it's face facing the top of the tank, its gills moving as if it were breathing heavily. I figured it's best to hold off on adding additional medication for the time being and risking making the situation worse.

I also noticed a strange lump on him that was not there yesterday. It's circled in red in the picture below. There is a similar lump on his other side. Does anyone have any ideas on what this lump may be or what may have caused it?

tangLump.jpg

aunt kymmie

I'm not saying this is what it is but my Discus had that same type of lump (symmetrical on both sides of the body). He had stopped eating a day or two before the "lump" showed up. Turns out he was constipated. I know this isn't the case here but thought I'd mention it.

Administrator

Thanks, Kym. My tang hasn't eaten in a day or two so I wonder if it's that? Did the constipation resolve itself or did you have to treat your fish for it?

Administrator

Just an update, since yesterday evening my tang has been laying on its side at the bottom of the tank and getting up and swimming sporadically. I expected to wake up and find him dead this morning, but he was alive and has been doing the same thing all day today.

I noticed this strange looking creature floating in the water which I fished out with a net. Could this be an adult paravortex, or is this something else that may have been in the live rock that the PraziPro probably killed? It appears to have a number of legs, so it doesn't look like a worm which is the type of thing that PraziPro is supposed to kill.

floater.jpg

Administrator

The tang died during the night and I removed it from the aquarium this morning. Thank you to those of you that provided me with advice about his condition, treatment, etc.

I'll be performing a 50% water change within the next few days, dosing the tank with PraziPro again to ensure the parasite has been eradicated, and will perform another 50% water change a week or so after that.

onefish2fish

the picture above, although hard to tell looks like a pod? amphipod/copepod shell even, which if thats what it is, theyre great to have and there is no worries. since the picture is hard to see, look up both pictures of amphipod and copepod and see if it fits.

IMO, which ofcourse is only my opinion mixed with a guess, i would say the tang looked hungry rather then constipated. in the front and back of the "bump" the stomach appears collapsed, and thin.
50% water changes are kind of large in a saltwater tank. this is prob. the largest you can go but unless the temp and pH are on ( the salinity with a refractometer should be accurate ) these large changes can be shocking live stock. maybe remove your 50%, replace 25%, wait a half hour - hour or so and replace the rest of the 25% ?
just a thought, anything that happens fast in this hobby.. well you know the end result.
i know exactly what its like, and im sorry about your loss. hopefully with the experience gained this can be fixed, or even better avoided in the future.

Administrator

Yeah, you're probably right that it was a pod of some kind. When I found it I really hoped that it was something bad and the fact that it was dead meant that the PraziPro was working. Now I'm hoping that if it had been alive the PraziPro was not what killed it.

It looked like a bump to me, but that's entirely possible since it only ate nori for a few days out of the couple of weeks we had it.

I usually add a little Seachem Marine Buffer to every other bucket of water I pour in the tank. I could certainly wait a half hour or so midway through the water change if that would make it less stressful for my fish, though. For what it's worth, they've never looked visibly stressed after a large water change.

Oh yeah, I've learned this pretty well by now. It's been some lesson.

Thanks Jon. Again, I appreciate the help that you and others provided even if in the end it was too late for my tang.