I desperately need HELP!!

[parkercandleco]

I have a blue hippo tang that i have had since lord.. about 6 months now. she is beautiful.. but ive been noticing as of late that she has been scratching herself against the rocks.. she doesnt have ich thank the lord.. but she does have skin discoloration. the other day it look like she had a something imbedded under her skin but she scratched herself and a few mintures later it was gone. ?? any suggestions..
also i have a emperor juvenile angel and im not sure if this specimen has fin rot.. im pretty sure its not because its only the bottom fins and the left fin that only has just the ends nibbled off or are deteriorating.. its not the back and upper fins.. the MAIN fins i guess you would say..
should i treat my water with melafix for a week and see if it makes them better.
lol and the very last question.. my orange linkia star has been sitting still for a while and one of the legs is just falling off for some reason.. do they do this on there own once in a while??? or is it another thing i should be worried about?
thanks for your help!

 

[beth]

Can you post pictures? What kind of tank do you have and what are the water readings?

 

[parkercandleco]

ok well it is almost impossible to get pictures of the tang. she is so darn fidgety all the time.. and the white discolored spot i had mentioned in the earlier post is now gone. so im not sure if she is just scratching or what is going on.
and for some reason photobuket isnt letting me log in.. go figure..
i can upload the pics onto my myspace salty fish book and i will send the link to them if thats ok..
i wasnt able to get a pic of my starfish because he has disapeared for the time being.. but if he comes out again i will post it
Water parameter readings are
Ammonia-0
Nitrites-0
those are actually the only 2 tests i have.. but last time i took my water to my local lfs my ph lever was 8.4.. so everything is pretty good.. my fish are eating the right things

 

[parkercandleco]

well instead of posting my myspace page i will just wait awhile for photobucket to work for me.. im sure its just a small glitch or something.. but does anyone have any suggestions on what it may be?? my tang and my star?

 

[beth]

You can upload pics directly here from your pc. Hit the reply as you if you are going to post, then click the GO ADVANCED button on the right below the typing area. From there, go to Manage Attachments. Your pics must not exceed 500x500 pix, which you can adjust using PAINT in your Windows software.

 

[parkercandleco]

alright so here is the picture of my tang.. its kinda difficult to see but the 2 darker spots towards the bottom are what i am concerneed about.. those have came about from her scratching up against the rocks so violently.. she does it everyday.. im not sure if its a territorial thing or whats going on.. but there will be white discoloration.. and then it will go away and everything will return to normal.. its odd. very very odd.and then the pics of my angel i am of course concerned about the fins.. is it fin rot or just other fish nibbling at the fins?? i do have 3 yellow tailed damsels.. but they dont seem to bother the butterfly.. but yet im not always sonstantly watching either.. so i hope these pics helpp. there the best i could do

 

[sepulatian]

Those are bites on the angel. Damsels are sneaky beasts. Most people on these boards have experience with them. They sneak attack for awhile, then one day you catch them in the act. The real issue is trying to remove them. They are hard to catch. On the tang, they almost look like puncture wounds. They seem to stick out around the spot in the middle. Am I right or is it just the picture? Remove the damsels. They are already causing a problem and will cause more with time. If your fish are healthy then they will recover easily. Be sure that the water quality is optimal and feed nutritious foods dosed with vitamins.

 

[parkercandleco]

well dam.. ya i didnt think it was fin rot because it was just a certain few fins.. but you know i was just being cautious..
i always keep my water parameters up to the prime.. i am very careful with my tank because i have invested so much time and money in it..
yes it does stick out.. but i wasnt sure if it was from my tang scratching her body on the rocks all of the time or if it was from other fish picking on her.. she is the most dominate one in the tank so that is hard to believe that those little boogers would get around to her..
i will take out the damsels today and trade them for something less agressive.. lol
thanks

 

[renogaw]

if you want to get rid of that tag saying who resized your pics, google windows resizer
good luck getting the damsels out!

 

[stevechouinard]

I put 20 dollars that its the damsels causing all of the problems... Get them out I have ones that picked on my lionfish, even the lion was afraid to go near them
Got rid of them now all is well

 

[parkercandleco]

so i took the damsels out today.. lol andboy was that a chore the first one surrendered but after that i had to put a towel in my tank to seperate it into 2 halves because i have a 125 gallon and then i had to move all of my 100 pounds of live rock to one side. lol o man was it fun..
so now i will see if my fish get better. i sure do hope so.. im sure its not a parasite ienfection.. my tank is pretty darn healthy..
thanks everyone..
the damsels are gone and taken back for someone else to deal wit them

 

[sepulatian]

I hope that they get better. Keep us posted!

 

[parkercandleco]

ok well the damsels have only been out for a day and already my fish look much happier.. my hippo is swimming around freely where as if the damsels were still in she would be hiding inside her rock..
i would have never of thought those little damsels could cause so much stress on my bigger fish.. amazinz..
also as a result i havnt seen my hippo scratch her body.. im still not sure why if she was getting picked on my the damsels she would be scratching her body.. but.. you know.. we werent meant to know everything..
thanks everyone!!

 

[sepulatian]

I am glad that she is doing so much better. Many people underestimate damsels because of their size. Keep an eye on your hippo. The flashing may have just been from stress though.

 

[kornele23]

Are you sure thats an emperor angelfish?? Looks exactly like mine (semi-circle of lines) and mine is a koran angelfish. They look very similar, but the emperor and koran have a few distinct marks. I see a koran when I see your picture. Sometimes they are just so close its hard to tell.
sorry I know thats off topic. Probably the least of your worries

 

[i love fish]

I happen to agree, I have an emperor angel and i've had a koran angel they do look very similar.
Anyway, keep an eye on your hippo coz i had a similar thing on my gold rim tang and it somehow developed into oodinium, i think if she keeps flashing you should start treating. ALSO watch the hippo carefully in the EARLY MORNING coz i noticed with my tang that those dark spots/marks showed up very clearly in the morning right as the fish wakes up and slowly fade away throughout the day.

 

[parkercandleco]

well i am starting to think its NOT an emperor.. i usually order my fish on swtf.com and this time i decided to go to my lfs.. they told me it was an emporer.. but i have noticed that the emporer has more circular lines than mine.. so your probably right..
Owell i think all angels are beautiful.. i guess i will see when it matures...
but i have started treating my tank with melafix.. i will do it for a week as stated.. and if the flashing doesnt stop.. i guess iw ill have to take it step further.