New naso tang on side breathing heavy

[Miami Reef]

My shipment of fish came from Saltwaterfish.com

All the tangs looked healthy except for the naso tang. He was kinda laying on the bag on his side. I matched the salinity of the tank to the bag (1.021) and temp acclimated them in a bucket with some tank water poured every so often for about 10 minutes I believe. The naso is on his side breathing for the entire time, occasionally swimming, but not looking perfect like the other fish.

There was poop floating around in the bucket, so I poured some prime in case for ammonia.

I then transferred them to the qt tank. They all look good but the naso is on his side breathing heavy. I called them and I have 15 day warranty, but I want to save him. I added prime to the qt as well in case of ammonia. I also added a bubbler to increase the oxygen in addition to my filters that pour water to the tank the gives bubbles.

Is there hope to save him?

 

[ngoodermuth]

alprazo's "salvage protocol"
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...azo's-"salvage-protocol".213599/&share_type=t

A Methylene Blue bath would be a suitable last-ditch effort, if he could possibly have ammonia poisoning from shipping.

 

[Miami Reef]

Is there any chance he can heal on his own if there is no ammonia in the tank from now on?

 

[LAReefer4Life]

Yes it is possible. It all depends on how bad off he is. On your end try and reduce stress factors such as dark room and making sure current livestock leaves him alone. Any additional stress will surely make it worse. Keep water conditions pristine

 

[Lissa1987]

I thought my blonde naso was going to die on multiple occasions...woke up every morning expecting him to be dead...He was tough though and ended up fat and happy!

 

[Lissa1987]

Here is a link to my struggles with him https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/blonde-naso.390206/#post-6134563

 

[Mjrenz]

There is a chance that he could recover but a methelyne blue bath would probably help him. Also, you aren't running copper in the QT are you? Combining copper and prime is toxic

 

[Miami Reef]

There is no copper in the tank. That’s why I used prime.

I’m not home right now, but I’m going to ask someone to check on him for me. It’s been 6 hours since I’ve seen him.

 

[Miami Reef]

He is still laying down, but they said he was “playing” and then he went back to his spot.

The link for the methelyne blue bath isn’t working. Can you try sending me a different link of instructions?

 

[Mjrenz]

He is still laying down, but they said he was “playing” and then he went back to his spot.

The link for the methelyne blue bath isn’t working. Can you try sending me a different link of instructions?

I'm glad you knew about copper and prime, a lot of people don't. Here is a link for methelyne blue
https://humble.fish/methylene-blue/

 

[Sailfinguy21]

If he was like this from the bag and has no signs of parasites, adding chemicals will only make things worse.. specially methelyne blue which can rob the fish of oxygen. If i were you, id make sure the water has no ammonia, keep the air stone going and wait it out. Thats just me, heh as a 50/50 chance, ive seen some fish fight off diseases they should have died from, fish laying on their sides half dead and they came back like champs, but i have also seen fish lay on their side and be dead overnight.


What i have observed in my 20 years of keeping fresh and salt water.. Its turning the lights off makes things worse for fish that are really sick.. I know ill catch flak from some people, but what i do is ill turn the tank light off but the keep light in the room on, i dunno why but pitch black for a fish thats half dead only kills them when they sleep.. ever notice when you have a cold and you sleep and wake up you feel 10x worse because you cant get the snot and stuff out of your chest ? Im just saying this is all ive observed..

So yea, dont use meds, dont disturb him hell probly come back in a day or two. Also be-careful with prime, prime in salt water robs the oxygen from the tank. So if you have no ammonia, there is no need to use that stuff

 

[Mjrenz]

If he was like this from the bag and has no signs of parasites, adding chemicals will only make things worse.. specially methelyne blue which can rob the fish of oxygen. If i were you, id make sure the water has no ammonia, keep the air stone going and wait it out. Thats just me, heh as a 50/50 chance, ive seen some fish fight off diseases they should have died from, fish laying on their sides half dead and they came back like champs, but i have also seen fish lay on their side and be dead overnight.


What i have observed in my 20 years of keeping fresh and salt water.. Its turning the lights off makes things worse for fish that are really sick.. I know ill catch flak from some people, but what i do is ill turn the tank light off but the keep light in the room on, i dunno why but pitch black for a fish thats half dead only kills them when they sleep.. ever notice when you have a cold and you sleep and wake up you feel 10x worse because you cant get the snot and stuff out of your chest ? Im just saying this is all ive observed..

So yea, dont use meds, dont disturb him hell probly come back in a day or two. Also be-careful with prime, prime in salt water robs the oxygen from the tank. So if you have no ammonia, there is no need to use that stuff

I would very much recommend the use of methelyne blue, it will kill a biofilter when used in a qt but actually promotes the transfer of oxygen across the gills, a 30 minute bath in a separate bucket is the preferred method of treatment. I saved a blue hippo tang that was suffocating of horrific gill damage from flukes by doing several baths and then ended up using it for 10 days in qt because she was so bad off.

 

[Miami Reef]

Update. I’m home now. The naso tang is swimming now! He is still breathing heavy and is kinda moving his hard-as if it’s difficult for him to stay afloat, but he is trying which is a good sign. I’ll update tomorrow how he does when I feed the tank for the first time. Hopefully he’ll survive and maybe even eat!

I’m going to skip the chemicals for now.

My next problem: I had a tiny watchman goby with the 6 tangs, but now I don’t see him. I removed all the plastic pvc pipes from the tank, and he isn’t there. I checked the floors, and filters, and he isn’t there either. It’s like he disappeared.

I don’t have a lid: could he have jumped? Maybe the other tangs ate him??? Really confused.

 

[Mjrenz]

Anything is possible, I'd keep looking

 

[Sailfinguy21]

Watchman goby live under rocks, if you have rocks hes most likely under one of them. I do suggest you get a top. Gobies tend to jump.

 

[ngoodermuth]

Do you have any pets who could have snatched him off the floor? They do jump when stressed.

It’s a QT? Do you have a HOB filter? One of my wrasse decided to give me a heart-attack when he took up residence in mine... instead of the nice PVC hideouts I provided [emoji23]

 

[ngoodermuth]

For the tang.. it sounds like an injury, or maybe just stress. Perhaps a shipping mishap... hopefully he continues to improve.

I know this has already been brought up, but just to double check...are you sure the supplier doesn’t use copper in *their* systems, that it could have been in the bag the fish was shipped in without your knowing?

 

[Miami Reef]

No pets besides for the aquatic ones. I’m pretty sure saltwaterfish.com does not use copper. Even if they did, the naso looked like that while in the bag, and wouldn’t all the fish have similar reactions as well.

I checked the HOB before posting

 

[ngoodermuth]

Even if they did, the naso looked like that while in the bag, and wouldn’t all the fish have similar reactions as well.

I checked the HOB before posting

Likely yes, unless they came from different systems. My LFS has a “middle row” that they lower salinity or treat with copper during bad outbreaks. So fish in that system could have copper, where the other two rows do not.

But, I do think shipping stress or injury are the most probable cause here.

 

[Miami Reef]

Updates

Naso tang looks great! He’s swimming and breathing normally.

And the goby reappeared the morning after! I have no idea how because I lifted all the pipes and he wasn’t there.