sick coral beauty

[reese]

I have a coral beauty that, for the past week, has had what looked like an injured fin-it was shredded up a bit and looked a little white where it meets her body. It does not seem to be healing and I now noticed her tail has the same thing-its shredded and has a white patch on it. I thought it was a bacterial infection. Because I didnt want to tear up my reef to try to catch her, I just began treating the whole tank w/maracyn. (for 3 days) Bad idea-I now know-I have .25 ammonia in the tank due to the antibiotics killing the good stuff. I put nitromax in tonight to help and did a 1/4 water change earlier-so far, no change. She is eating like a pig and is active, although she baby's her fin and doesn't use it. Possible fungal infection? Any chance of her healing on her own? Last resort, I take the reef apart to catch her and put her in my qt. The only change I noticed in my tank was about a week and a half ago, due to the weather, my temp jumped from 79 to 84 degrees. water is at .023/0 nitrites, and .25 ammonia. My ph is down to 7.7 from about 8.2. Any info would be great-Thanks

 

[beth]

NEVER put medications of any kind in a reef tank? How are your inverts doing? Do a larger water change.
You have to set up a Qurantine Tank for sick fish. Take a look at the FAQ Thread at the top of this forum, and read the long posts on QT.

 

[reese]

Everything is fine-and I do have a qt tank, I just cant catch her. I tried again today and all I did was make a mess. I was hoping Id wear her out but it didnt work. Any suggestions on that? I was planning to move my tank in about a week so I will have to take it apart and I can get her out then. Hopefully she'll be ok till then. I have a different antibiotic I picked up today-w/3 different meds in it for bacterial and fungal infections. Im ready to treat as soon as I can get her out.

 

[beth]

Can you up the move date for the tank? What antibiotics do plan to use?

 

[reese]

Unfortunately, I cant move it for about another week. I am having a stand built for me that isnt done yet. But that doesn't matter now-my husband and I " tag teamed"-each with a big net. We did catch her and we both ended up soaked in the process. Her eye is now clouded over but she is still active and eating. I was at work yesterday when I posted my last message and couldnt remember the name of the med-it's furan-2. I also did another water change last night along with adding a big piece of new live rock and the ammonia is gone-everyone is fine. Hopefully this med does the trick. Still not sure what she has.

 

[beth]

Netting fish usually cause eye infections.
Better to use Maracyn Two for SW fish as an antibiotic. Also, just before the redose of any antibiotic, do a water change.