damaged sailfin?

[king kole]

i haven't had any previous experience with tangs but after researching decided on a red sea sailfin. he took to the tank great but i noticed after a few encounters with a large tri anthias [neither backed down but it was brief] some slits in the fins. they are small but both fins have them. is this from the fighting or just normal? also will this stress the tang making him a candidate for ich? please let me know if you experience this. thanks for your input

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by King Kole
http:///forum/post/2534382
i haven't had any previous experience with tangs but after researching decided on a red sea sailfin. he took to the tank great but i noticed after a few encounters with a large tri anthias [neither backed down but it was brief] some slits in the fins. they are small but both fins have them. is this from the fighting or just normal? also will this stress the tang making him a candidate for ich? please let me know if you experience this. thanks for your input
If you didn't QT the tang, then yes, it is a candidate for ich. Basically, there is a very good chance it could bring ich into your tank and any stress could make it more susceptible to an outbreak if some stage of the parasite is present. If this is the case, all your fish are now exposed and would need to be treated. See the sticky at the top of the Disease and Treatment section put together by Beth and it will explain ich and how to treat for it (basically, you'll need a QT setup).
As for the sailfin, as long as their not too bad, if you feed vitamin soaked food, it should heal. Try Selcon, VitaChem, Vitamin-C, Amino and Omega 3/6, or Zoecon and that should help.

 

[rbu1]

I have a fairly large sailfin about 8-10 inches. He is definetly the bully of the tank. He messes with every fish in the tank. No fin damage on any of the fish but bully never the less. If you keep your water parameters good and your fish healthy (good food) the fins will repair themselves.

 

[king kole]

thanks for your info! he was in QT for 17 days no probs. is the fin damage resulting from anthias fighting? do the fins get segmented any other way? is it normal for this algae eater to eat only the brine shrimp at feeding, since spirulina is ignored. i alternate green and purple algae clip and that works o.k. but very little grazing. i know algae is crucial to ward off disease so is 4 monthold live rock [mostly gulf rock and fiji] not contain enough for it to feed on?

 

[brianbeme80]

Hello,
My Salfin Tang had very similar slits in his fins, except I didn't see how they were caused. I noticed them the second day I had him (they were not there the day I got him), and the slits were gone the very next day! Completely healed. He is also the bully of my tank. Since then, he has been in my tank for about a month and a half and has been perfectly fine.

 

[candycane]

It is very rare if a sailfin brings ick into a tank. Similar to yellow tangs, they are one of the more hardy tangs for a reason. They rarely get parasites.

 

[king kole]

i'm glad to hear that, its one of the reasons i chose the desjardini red sea, its very helpful to read your responses! thanks again

as for the ick i thought that all tangs carry a dormant type because of the lack of mucous on the scales and that extreme stress bad diet etc. could cause the autoinocous ? [self hosting] disease to erupt?

 

[stdreb27]

With good params fins will heal. Mine will rumble a little with tank mates but they usually clear up in a couple days. imo 17 days isn't really enough time for a proper qt since the life cycle is 3 weeks. And I am a fan of hypoing all my fish, just as a safeguard. I haven't had an outbreak yet doing this.

 

[candycane]

Originally Posted by King Kole
http:///forum/post/2535007
i'm glad to hear that, its one of the reasons i chose the desjardini red sea, its very helpful to read your responses! thanks again

as for the ick i thought that all tangs carry a dormant type because of the lack of mucous on the scales and that extreme stress bad diet etc. could cause the autoinocous ? [self hosting] disease to erupt?
Slime coat, stress coat, mucous, etc. ALL tangs have this. There is a reason that when someone, anyone, reads the 4000 books out there on fish, LOL, it states their hardiness in captivity. All creatures are similar. Kind of like dog breeds. Some breeds are known to GET certain diseases, right? Well with tangs they are very similar. It has NOTHING to do with the kind of fish, that is just a name. However, it is harder for a Desjardini to get diseases then it is for an Orange Shoulder (WOW!!! The difference in those two). Ick doesn't attack a fish because it is from the Indo-Pacific or because it's name is Powder Blue. It does it because of the weaker immune system. Region has nothing to do with it either.
Ick is actually kind of gross. They form these caves inside the fish and if allowed to grow big enough, they will eventually burrow a hole and then fall off in to the sand bed. Just nasty.

 

[king kole]

O.K.
here we go... you say All tangs are similar yet the red sea desjardini[actually dejardini tangs can come from the red sea or the maldives thats the only reason i make the area distinction] and the yellow are very different than the say naso, orange shoulder or the powder blue in their ability to fend off ick. If thats the case, and i think your right, why?`could it be as suggested by so called "experts" the Zebrasoma phylum has a better mucous/slime coat covering than others? I'm sorry i just realised this thread has evolved into Disease board stuff not approriate here.

 

[stdreb27]

Originally Posted by King Kole
http:///forum/post/2535905
O.K.
here we go... you say All tangs are similar yet the red sea desjardini[actually dejardini tangs can come from the red sea or the maldives thats the only reason i make the area distinction] and the yellow are very different than the say naso, orange shoulder or the powder blue in their ability to fend off ick. If thats the case, and i think your right, why?`could it be as suggested by so called "experts" the Zebrasoma phylum has a better mucous/slime coat covering than others? I'm sorry i just realised this thread has evolved into Disease board stuff not approriate here.
As long as it is fish related they don't really care. This has been an interesting thread. some stuff I've never considered before.

 

[king kole]

the parasite in it's four different stages in a natural environment is present all the time, i think. in the looking for a host [theront] stage does the mucousal covering act as a deterant because the ich can,t get at the flesh? if thats so then the tangs having the least are more suseptible. this is only thinking out loud i'm not sure.