Beth, Terry B

[chevytrks]

Since you seemed to have forgotten about my other post begging for help
i will update you on my panther groupers condition
he is about to die
it looks like something is eating his skin away
I have asked for some help for 3 days and noone can help me
knowing you guys would be the best help I could find I have chosen only to keep my water at optimum levels awaiting your help. All the locals im talking to say copper, and I know you dont like it.
If I do not get some idea of what to do he will be euthanised very soon
my favorite fish and i cannot stand to see him like this

 

[beth]

I was hoping Terry would address this, as I can only guess at this point.
It could be a host of various bacterial infections [my guess for what it is worth]. How can you treat this in your main tank??? Any medications you put in your main tank will adversely effect your tank and perhaps even your other fish. I see no reason at all to indicate the use of copper.
In the absense of Terry's input, you will have to make the call here whether to medicate your main tank, risking your whole system, or, just letting this 1 fish pass on [if its imposible to place him in a hospital].
If euthanasia is the route you take, know that there are some situations where there really is no viable cure, and this might be one of them.
What is the pH in your water?
I've stickied this in hopes that Terry will see it.

 

[chevytrks]

its 8.3 atm
it had fallen to 8.0 for a few days
I have a 20 gallon long i just resealed, it is not up and running but i can fill it and heat it if i have to
i also have an eclipse 2 i can get up and running fast
but its a bit small for a 5 inch fish
only med i have on hand atm is greenex
ill do what you tell me

 

[chevytrks]

since i posted this , i have 20 gallons of saltwater mixing and heating for whatever reason you suggest
i already have 5 gallons premixed, but not heated atm

 

[beth]

Use water from your MAIN tank to fill the hospital. 100%. That will give you a bit more bacteria. Also, overnite start seeding a couple of your eclipse filters in your main tank, then in the morning place one of them in the eclipse ready to go. Throw in a couple of cups of sand from your main tank in to the hospital. Also, I think eclipse systems need more water circulation than what the built in filter provides. A PH or maybe one of fluval's underwater filters would be good additions.
If Terry doesn't answer tonite then get to the LFS and get maracyn two for SW fish. You will need to double dose for the duration of treatment which is a week. I would get supplied with salt, if you need it, as you will be dealing with an uncycled tank and need to do major water changes daily.
Once you have the tank up and ready, and the med, you can move the fish over, but not til then. Better to make big changes during the day, else you could loose the fish for sure. Sick fish tend to die at nite [during the lights out] so you don't want to add more stess by moving him at nite.

 

[beth]

Is he eating still at all? If not, have you tried target feeding him with a turkey baster? If the fish is eating, while at the LFS, see if they have any medicated foods there. They are usually flaked.

 

[chevytrks]

no he is not eating, the way he looks i may not have to do any of this tomorrow, he may die this nite
the eclipse is a 2 gallon
i will float the bio wheel and the pad in the main tank tonite

 

[beth]

2 gal, too small...go with the 20 gal and whatever filter you have for it. Place filter pads, or whatever you use for the 20 in your main tank for seeding.

 

[chevytrks]

i would have to rig the eclipse 2 filter to it somehow
i got the 20 resealed it to make a fuge for this same tank
i do have some powerheqds for flow and heater to keep it at temp

 

[chevytrks]

while i was up here my wife yelled
one of my large red hermits got him
he gone
i do need help with other issues
something must be going on in this tank
my bamboo shark seems to be breathing hard now too
do sharks and eeels get effected by the same bacterias?

 

[chevytrks]

my yellow tang seems fine
my blue ribbon eel is acting sluggish, he has not eaten last 2 feedings, but it took me 7 weeks to get him to eat
and then the shark
last week my volitan just up and died, and he was eating and doing normal business

 

[chevytrks]

i figured the volitan must have had a heart attack or something
but the peculiarity of the other fish are making me wonder whats going on
i can remove the crabs and hypo the sho tank if i need too
total tank contens atm are:
bamboo cat shark
blue ribbon eel
snowflake moray
yellow tang
porcupine puffer
2 large red hermits

 

[chevytrks]

What size is large Terry? 50 gallon?
i usually change 20 gallons 2-3 weeks or so
also wanted you to know the test kits are the LFS
im sure they turn over quite a bit
i have water that has been aged about a week, ill buy an air pump and airate overnight before i change the water tomorrow
This tank is 125 gallon

 

[beth]

You can not hypo sharks. You can only hypo boney fish.

 

[chevytrks]

thanks Beth
what size change should i do tomorrow morning?
40 gallons? 50?

 

[ryebread]

I would say that large means at least 20%......maybe a little more. I would probably do about a 45g change in the 125.
Remember that you need to use well circulated, aerated water. I would not mix up some water and do a change the next day. Let the water mature a little bit........maybe a week or so.
Sorry to hear about the Grouper.........good luck in the future.

 

[chevytrks]

thanks RyeBread
he was a fish with quite a personality

 

[beth]

I sure would have liked to get an ID on that problem. Aside from the deterioated side, he looked pretty good. By chance did you feed him live foods, like feeder fish or something?
Since you don't know what might be going on with your tank, you can do as much as a 50% water change. Clean filters, PH's etc. Really make sure that you have got water movement in your tank. I know you think you do, but you may not.
I resently had a cyano outbreak and really couldn't see why I would as I thought I had good water movement everywhere. Well, just by changing the PH's around in my tank a bit, it was amazing how much better circualtion I got.

 

[chevytrks]

thanks beth
i will change them up
im sure i have no dead spots but i will rethink my placement
everyone else appears fine
i add ghost shrimp bi weekly

 

[beth]

Not so much "dead spots" but just better circualtion. Especially for aggessive tanks.