HELP Please, purple tang popeye??

[rodmoo2000]

our purple tang that we have had for years has suddenly developed popeye, we tested the water and had high nitrate levels, so we did a 25% water change. he is acting almost normally, but now it seems that he is unable to eat. he appears to have an appetite, and goes after food but it almost seems that his mouth is paralyzed. he is unable to pick up the food and eat it. we have soaked the food in garlic for him also, but he has always ate that before, so i do not believe that is the problem. we are attempting to get a pic. any help would be greatly appreciated, and soon please i am very worried about him.

 

[rodmoo2000]

a few more things i forgot to mention.... it is a 90 gallon tank and contains a pair of clowns and a blue hippo tang that seem to be unaffected.
nitrates 25 ( i know we are trying to get it down)- this is a continuous problem for us and has never seemed to affect the tank before
ph 8.2
salinity 1.024
ammonia 0
nitrites- do not know, going out to get another test kit
we have a large amount of live rock and a 2-3 inch sand bed, and many corals nothing new added in the past 5-6 months except for one hard coral.
a few more things about him, around his eye is also turning white, and it is only one eye that is affected. he is 3-4 inches long, and he is 2-3 years old. ( based on when he was purchased)

 

[scubadoo]

Pop-Eye is casued by injury, disease or poor water quality. You have indentified high nitrates so that could be your problem...although the fish not eating leads me to think it is disease.
Both the Blue Hippo and Purple require 6 feet of swimming space unless they are very samll. Stress from cramped quarters can also bring on disease. You may need to remove the animal and treat with meds..
If it is enviornmental then monitor all your parameters and get them within acceptable limits. The animal may improve once the enviornmental conditions improve. You need to check the nitrites.
His eye could have been injured by the Blue Hippo as your system is too small for these animals.....so they could be fighting.. Even if you do not witness it...it can still happen...even after the lights go out.
JMO

 

[rodmoo2000]

thanks for your input, but these fish have been in the same tank for a year, would they start having problems now? we upgraded our tank to a larger size as they continue to grow, and i know we still will need to go bigger...
i think we could get him through the eye problem if there was a solution to the eating problem, i cant find anything about this. can anyone add anything?

 

[beth]

Do you have a QT? It may come down to needing to treat the fish with Maracyn Two for SW fish.
Why do you have high nitrates?? Tangs have little tolerance for envirnonments that have high nitrates. Any signs of HLLE?

 

[rodmoo2000]

no the fish otherwise look great.
we have been trying to bring the nitrates down since we bought the tank 2 years ago. we bought it as a complete package ( and have not lost anything since) and kind of inherited the nitrates. we have read and reread many forums and such about nitrates but nothing helps. we have tried all of the solutions to solve the problem. they have maintained consistent, but high since we have had the tank. this is the first problem besides that we have encountered.
we are going to qt the tang and attempt to treat with antibiotics, do you think this will also help the eating problem? he ate good yesterday, but cannot seem to do so today. he is able to find the food and attempts to eat it but can not get it in his mouth.
thank you for replying

 

[tthemadd1]

What type of system are you running for filtering purposes?
Is there a sump?
Do you use any carbon?
I guess there needs to be more information as to why you have this nitrate problem. I know you have some big fish and they have a lot of waste but you might need to look into some new ideas to help alleviate the stress of nitrates..
Give some more info and maybe we call all put some ideas together about bringing down those nitrates without water changes.
Themadd1

 

[rodmoo2000]

well beth i answered no to your question about HLLE, but maybe i was wrong. it does look similar to some of your pictures around his eye, (we are busy attempting to get pictures) it occured at the exact same time as the eye,so i only associated it with that, so i am not sure. on the side without the eye, he has no signs at all. he is unsuccesfully attempting to eat seaweed, wothout any luck.

 

[rodmoo2000]

we have a wet/dry filter and a protein skimmer(berlin turbo skimmer), the filter is in the sump. we also have a calcium reactor. we do not use carbon for the tank.

 

[rodmoo2000]

i tried to add pictures...not sure if i did it right :notsure:

 

[rodmoo2000]

one of his good side and one of his bad side

 

[scubadoo]

yes...tangs can and will start fighting even though they have been together for some time. The area above the eye appears to me to be the beginning of HLLE disease. It usally starts above the eyes and spreads to the lateral line.
Causes of HLLE are stray voltage, poor water quality, poor diet. Diet is usally the way to reverse it...but I think you have other issues with this animal. I am not certain but I do not think the HLLE and Popeye are related....but both can be brought on my poor water quality. Also, the Blue Hippo may have sensed the Purple was weak and did act aggressive towards it causing an eye injury ...just a possibility.
Not knowing how big these animals are...the nitrates could be caused by using tap water, overfeeding, overcrowding and/or a heavy bio-load. Also, high nitrates are sometimes caused by bio-balls and wet/dry filtration. Try remvoing the bioballs and cleaning them in your saltwater next time you do a water change. IMO...they should be cleaned once a year or so to remove wastes. But it must be done in saltwater so the bacteria remains alive.
Try adding a refugium with some macroalgae...this is the natural way to improve filtration and bring nitrates and phosphates down.

 

[rodmoo2000]

thanks for your reply, i think i could get him through the popeye and HLLE, if i can just get him to eat.

 

[beth]

Yes that is HLLE, as well as popeye. I'm afraid that high nitrate tank will doom this fish. Are you running carbon, cainter filter, UGF, wet/dry? Do you have crushed coral for substrate?? The tank itself is the problem, and now we need to find the solution.
If you can get a QT up you can treat the fish with Maracyn Two for SW fish. But, be warned that in an uncycled QT treating with antibiotics can have disasterous results.

 

[rodmoo2000]

he is still alive and his eye is looking a little better now. he is able to move it and it has gone down as well. he is in a quarantine tank and i am treating him with maracyn-two for sw fish. do i treat for 5 days like the box says or is there a better way to do the treatment? also after the treatment is over, how long should i quaratine him before moving him back to the bigger tank? thanks for all responses.