Blue tang laying on side rapidly breathily no signs of infection

[jackson6969]

thanks for your cooperation much appreciated. i only just switched from a hob to canister 1 day ago and suprisingly the tang was acting perfectly fine before switching with no signs of any of this. the water is in a good range at salt 1:023 ammonia 0 nitrate 10 nitrite 0 and ph 8.3. i beleive that nuisance algae is seawedd i fed earlier and has not been eaten. would u recommend me switching back to the hob filter then?

 

[vetteguy53081]

These blue tangs often will lay down sideways when they feel threatened. Do not be alarmed by this at all.
But as others have said there is for sure something bothering the fish. @vetteguy53081 said that he noticed mucus cones on the fish and I see this as well. I am firmly confident that the tang has white spot.

Yes you can do a 5min freshwater bath but this will not kill any trophonts as they are under the skin and protected from the fresh water but it will provide some short term relief but damaging any parasites which are exposed to the fresh water. But you really have to get a QT tank ready with coppersafe or copperpower at 2.25ppm ( use hanna high range checker to measure this ) you will add roughly 0.33ml per 1litre of the solution to the water to reach just above 2.25ppm. This will be your long term method to dealing with this parasite. What other fish do you have with it ? The other fish would have been exposed to the parasite and would also need treatment but there are fish which are not able to tolerate even the smallest levels of copper so please list your fish. Depending on your fish list there may also be a completely different way to deal with the white spot so this list is urgent.

Your QT tank can be a small tub or glass tank with a heater, and a airstone or two with a simple hang on back skimmer. It does not have to be complex at all.

I do not recommend FW dip which is temporary relief for flukes and will further stress out a fish

 

[vetteguy53081]

i dont have a sump i use a canister filter there was a little bit of agiation now i turned the wavmaker on max and its a lot better but that still does explain the slight white spots appearing on the body

This unit will be inadequate to sustain tank/fish long term as its a mechanical filter and you want to have mechanical , biological and chemical to manage proper water quality. The canister will polish water and trap particles via the cartridge.
Chemical is what traps and breaks down chemical compounds such as feces and uneaten food often accomplished with use of carbon and GFO as examples
Biological is what utilizes the natural process of biological filtration such as use of ceramic nuggets, bio blocks, and microscopic bacteria surfaces as examples. Best it to add or use a hang on refugium such as Reef octopus or AquaMaxx unit and even add a hang on skimmer such as ice cap K1- or K2 100

 

[vetteguy53081]

i dont have a sump i use a canister filter there was a little bit of agiation now i turned the wavmaker on max and its a lot better but that still does explain the slight white spots appearing on the body

For your country, you dont have coppersafe but can use Seachem cupramine at .45 OR copperpower

 

[jackson6969]

in the canister filter i run bio balls and ceramic rings and was using carbon but the blue tang seemed in worse condition when using. would it be easier to ask my lfs it he can treat the tang as my hospital tank is still in the mail.

 

[Duane family]

in the canister filter i run bio balls and ceramic rings and was using carbon but the blue tang seemed in worse condition when using. would it be easier to ask my lfs it he can treat the tang as my hospital tank is still in the mail.

If you have only had the fish for a week this is way to soon to tell if he preferred with carbon or without. This type of data would be gained over a significantly longer term to be accurate.
I think you are over thinking many aspects. In general throwing a bunch of stuff that the LFS sells ends up in false hope.

I don't know about letting the fish be cared for by the LFS, if you really trust them perhaps but I would not advise this route. If your stuff will arrive this week then you are fine. If next week then perhaps some other intervention is required.

 

[jackson6969]

If you have only had the fish for a week this is way to soon to tell if he preferred with carbon or without. This type of data would be gained over a significantly longer term to be accurate.
I think you are over thinking many aspects. In general throwing a bunch of stuff that the LFS sells ends up in false hope.

I don't know about letting the fish be cared for by the LFS, if you really trust them perhaps but I would not advise this route. If your stuff will arrive this week then you are fine. If next week then perhaps some other intervention is required.

Yeah unfortunately in rural aus Amazon delivery takes a week if not longer so it won’t be here until next Monday. I know the it’s personally and he has helped me a lot in setting up the tank. If not letting him take care of it and no quarantine for not what else could I do?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

thanks for your cooperation much appreciated. i only just switched from a hob to canister 1 day ago and suprisingly the tang was acting perfectly fine before switching with no signs of any of this. the water is in a good range at salt 1:023 ammonia 0 nitrate 10 nitrite 0 and ph 8.3. i beleive that nuisance algae is seawedd i fed earlier and has not been eaten. would u recommend me switching back to the hob filter then?

I still think this is a low dissolved oxygen, or high carbon dioxide issue, having to do with the changing of the filter. In looking at the recent video, the fish all look good, they are just breathing too fast. Did you add a strong air stone to the tank? It needs to have bubbles rising from the bottom of the tank to the top, and really roil the surface.

 

[Duane family]

I still think this is a low dissolved oxygen, or high carbon dioxide issue, having to do with the changing of the filter. In looking at the recent video, the fish all look good, they are just breathing too fast. Did you add a strong air stone to the tank? It needs to have bubbles rising from the bottom of the tank to the top, and really roil the surface.

You could be spot on, this could be the stressor. But would you not think that the fish would have died if this was the issue and nothing was done to increase the oxygen levels ?

I agree, in the latest video the situation looks very different to the first video.

 

[jackson6969]

You could be spot on, this could be the stressor. But would you not think that the fish would have died if this was the issue and nothing was done to increase the oxygen levels ?

I agree, in the latest video the situation looks very different to the first video.

Difference between the first and second I removed the carbon from the canister and I have ran an air stone all day and recently turned it off because I though it was white spot but will turn back on now

 

[Jay Hemdal]

You could be spot on, this could be the stressor. But would you not think that the fish would have died if this was the issue and nothing was done to increase the oxygen levels ?

I agree, in the latest video the situation looks very different to the first video.

Not always - not if the dissolved oxygen is just low enough to cause rapid breathing. I once went to a dinner party and the person proudly showed me their tank. All of the fish were breathing a mile a minute, but they thought the fish looked great! We added an air stone, and by the end of dinner, the fish were fine!

Adding an air stone will also help if the rapid breathing has some other cause, at least give us some time to explore other causes...

 

[jackson6969]

Not always - not if the dissolved oxygen is just low enough to cause rapid breathing. I once went to a dinner party and the person proudly showed me their tank. All of the fish were breathing a mile a minute, but they thought the fish looked great! We added an air stone, and by the end of dinner, the fish were fine!

Adding an air stone will also help if the rapid breathing has some other cause, at least give us some time to explore other causes...

Cheers guys there’s lots of surface agitation for now I’ll leave the air stone in while I sleep and check in when I wake up. Thanks again everyone!

 

[Duane family]

Difference between the first and second I removed the carbon from the canister and I have ran an air stone all day and recently turned it off because I though it was white spot but will turn back on now

Ok well thats a positive sign.
I think you need to hold onto the fish don't change anything and when you have your QT kit together treat them yourself. Learn about the process and you will be prepared for the next QT requirement. All fish that come from any source should go through the standard QT process of being treated with copper and then in most cases prazipro after that. There should never be a case of a quarantined fish coming from a LFS that we must do ourselves, even a fish from a friend.

QT them all.