Sick Tang Confusion, Please Help!

[rocher]

My husband and I have been running a tank for 6+ years now, but are new to the disease aspect of this hobby. I am also new to this message board, so I hope this goes through ok. Our Sailfin tang has been sick for a while now, but I haven't been able to pin down the disease. For the last month she has been turning sheet white quite regularily and is always been cleaned by my shrimp. Then about a week ago she developed light brown irregular spots all over her body, which I noticed were the same markings posted by gear*guru under subject "Im not sure what this is!" posted 4/3/2006. Now the spots have mostly cleared up, but last night I noticed that a dark brown spot has developed on her mouth. I will attach a pic, but it doesnt do the spot justice- up close it looks very raw. I should mention that she is in day 2 hypo right now because my Purple tang has ich. My hopital tank is 55 gallons and contains 2 tank raised clowns, 2 black clowns, a blue chromis, a wrasse (not sure what kind) and the two tangs. Other than these changes in appearance she seems to be ok. She eats well and is always swimming. All other tank mates also appear to be ok. Has anyone seen this before? Should I keep her in hypo? Any suggestions? Thanks for the help.

 

[beth]

How long have you hhad this fish? Has the fish been exposed to corals? What is it eating and how often, type of tank and water readings?
Welcome to Saltwaterfish.com!

 

[rocher]

Hi Beth, Thank you for replying. We have had this fish for about 2 months. We do have corals in the main tank - 2 brains, 1 leather finger, 1 hammer coral, 1 candy cane, pulsating xenias (spell?) and an anenome. We have a variety of foods, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, brill, ocean planktoon, New Life Spectrum Optimum Salt H2O flakes, and purple and green seaweed sea veggies. I try to rotate these foods so they get a variety. Usually I feed them 1 to 2 times per day, but since they have been sick I have been feeding 3 times per day with garlic (fresh garlic when I can, garlic guard when I'm on the run). The main tank is 150 gallon, dual overflow, with 1" return on each side, 45 gallon sump...not sure what else, is that what you mean? Water readings as follows:
Quarantine Tank:
Temp: 79 F
Salinity: 1.009
Nitrate: 5 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Ammonia: 0.1
PH: 7.9
Main Tank:
Temp: 80 F
Salinity: 1.024
Nitrate: 10 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Ammonia: 0.1
PH: 8.5
I think that is everything. If there is any other info I can give you to help me figure this out let me know. Thanks again, I don't want to loose her!!

 

[nycbob]

my sailfin has the same problem. his nose would hv brown spot all over in the morning. but by noontime, it'd get bk to normal. my sailfin did suffer frm ick not too long ago. as long as he is eating, i figure i should just leave him alone. is urs eating or acting ok?

 

[beth]

Why do you have ammonia? This could definitely be a part of the problem.

 

[rocher]

thank you for your comments. I re-checked my ammonia and it is fine. My husband usually does the water checks so I'm a bit of a novice in this area. The good news is that the spot on my sailfins nose looks to be improving. She is eating well and very active, so I am just going to keep her in Hypo and hope for the best. Thanks again!

 

[beth]

Those dark spot may just be a pigmentation reaction due the corals you have.

 

[sepulatian]

Have you checked ot Beth's FAQ called "Diseased Fish"? She has pictures of Hyper-Melaninization. Look and see if that is what your fish has. She has pics of several diseases on there. BTW Welcome to the boards

Please feel free to post any and all questions that you may have

 

[brenden]

My Sailfin is having the exact same problem has yours. I have had mine for about 3.5 months and this just started to occur about a week ago. Brown nose on the mouth, and the color of the fish is going more white. I searched every where online and found nothing. Its eating normal and swimming normally so I am just going to leave it and watch it closely. I just lost a Vlamingii Tang to Ich / Velvet it shared more symptons of Velvet than Ich so I am still unsure. I am glad I am not the only one with this issue with the Sailfin. Lets just hope its nothing serious.
Ill keep you updated on mine.

 

[brenden]

Just to give you an update on my Sailfin. I placed it in the QT and preformed Hypo on it for 2 weeks. It looks way better now, its color has came back, and the brown spot on the mouth / face has died down alot. How is yours?

 

[beth]

Did your tang have ich? Hyposalinity is basically an ich-only treatment, although it can additionally be used temporarily to reduce physical stress.

 

[rocher]

My Sailfin no longer has the brown spot on her nose - although it isn't 100% back to normal, it looks a bit pink and tender. She is still turning very pale, but the brown spots on her body have NOT returned since she has been in hypo. Now I have a new symptom. She looks like she has developed black ich. Is this even possible while in hypo? Im confused. I began hypo because my purple tang had a bad case of the white ich. All the ich fell off about a week and a half ago and she seems to be doing very well, but my Sailfin continues to show signs of illness. Is hypo effective for black ich? Is it possible that she developed black ich while in hypo for almost 2 weeks already? I will attach a picture, I hope you will be able to see the spots. Please have a look and let me know if this is in fact black ich, or something else. Im beginning to think she is a hypochondriac....