Sick fish

[Poseidon]

I realized this fish were shitty and I paid accordingly but what kinda of disease do they have??? And what can I do to treat. Yellow tang didn't make it. The magnificent fox face looks ok except his tail. And the flame tip looks the best but has a white patch on his side.
Any ideas?
Thanks

 

[Duke]

hopefully you didn't add those fish in with other heathly fish..

 

[yveterinarian]

Hi Brandon:

Looks like there were a few poor water quality conditions in their last home.  I'm not sure if the same medications work for fish as for seahorses but it looks bacterial so I would get them into a hospital tank and dose with either Triple Sulfa or Furan 2.  It is a ten day treatment either way so they need to be separate from any of your other fish.  You don't want this to spread.  The instructions on the packages are for 10 gallon tanks and you must do a 50% water change on the tank every day.
Is your clown also sick?  Are these in a quarantine tank already or your DT?  I'm treating a sick seahorse I aqcuired at the moment (she has tail rot) and I've been advised to use both antibiotics at the same time.
Hope this helps

 

[Poseidon]

Well I didn't have a choice last night, but I pulled out the blue and the yellow obviously this morning but the foxface and the flame tip are in my 55 with all my other fish. But the don't look half bad.
I had that huge pink monti in a tote over night with a heater and a power head. The heater decided to malfunction and cooked the monti. So that's a loss. I'm beginning to think I bit off more than I could chew....
Any help on the fish though?

 

[Poseidon]

And no the clowns are fine

 

[yveterinarian]

Do you have any individual 10 gallons you can get them into? Or a tank that is 10 gallons per sick fish?  This would help you with the dosing of the medication.  ie if you have 20 gallons you would need 2 packages of medication per day for dosing, 30 gallons - 3 packages etc.  Also, with 50% water changes each day, you don't want a large tank.  The tank should be bare bottom with a pump to move the water around and an airline or two, or three to keep up the O2 and the pH.  Sand and rock tend to absorb some of the medication and make it less effective for the fish.  I also don't know the effect on any snails, shrimp corals, etc that seem to be in the tank you have them in at the moment.

 

[reeffreak]

Yikes disaster strikes !!! No offense but you bought all these sick fish and brought them home ? Without being ready for them? Adding them with the rest of your fish could be a HUGE disaster.

 

[Poseidon]

Ya I got the sick fish in a 20g tank now, about half full. Where do I get this med?
I didn't know they were sick until I got there... Then I offered him less obviously. I had everything planned out just wasn't ready to deal with sick fish.

 

[yveterinarian]

Furan 2 and Triple Sulfa are available at fish stores but you may have to call around to see which ones have it in stock.  Either one should work for you. For 20 gallons, you will need 2 boxes to get you through 10 days of treatment.  It is approx $9 per box.  I got mine at MOPS (mail order pet supplies in Hamilton) but I'm sure that you should find some closer to you.  Use the full course of the treatment so it doesn't come back stronger than before.  You probably won't see immediate results because there is tissue damage that must regrow but after treatment, keep them in quarantine (separate tank from all others) for at least 4-6 weeks to make sure nothing else crops up before you put them with the other fish. 

Here are the directions for use that I got directly from Seahorse.org.
Furan 2 has directions for use with live food or not, whichever way is easiest for you.

FURAN-2 (oral) Dosage and Preparation Instructions for a 10g/38L Hospital Tank
Active Ingredient: Nitrofurazone and Furazolidone
Indication: bacterial infection
Feed adult brine shrimp gut-loaded with the medication to the Seahorse 2x per day for 10 days.
• Add 1/4 to 1/2 packet of Furan-2 to one gallon of water and mix thoroughly.
• Place the amount of adult brine shrimp needed for one feeding into the mixture. Leave them in the
mixture for at least 2hrs.
• Remove the adult brine shrimp from the mixture and add them to the hospital tank.
• Observe the Seahorse to be certain it is eating the adult brine shrimp.

FURAN-2 (immersion) Dosage and Preparation Instructions for a 10g/38L Hospital Tank
Active Ingredient: Nitrofurazone and Furazolidone
Indication: bacterial infection
Disregard package info concerning water changes and duration of treatment. Dose medication daily for
10 days.
Replace the medication in ratio to the amount of water changed daily as needed to control ammonia.
This product is best administered by feeding it to adult live brine shrimp, then in turn, feeding those
animals to the Seahorse. If this is not an option, it may be administered as follows.
DAY 1 of Treatment
• Thoroughly mix one packet of Furan-2 with about 1 cup of marine water.
• Pour the mixture into a high-flow area of the hospital tank.
DAYS 2 – 10 of Treatment
• Perform a 50% water change.
• Thoroughly mix one packet of Furan-2 with about 1 cup of marine water.
• Pour the mixture into a high-flow area of the hospital tank.



TRIPLE SULFATE (Sulfa/Sulpha) Dosage and Preparation Instructions for a 10g/38L Hospital Tank
Active Ingredient: Sodium Sulfathiazole, Sodium Sulfamethazine, and Sodium Sulfacetamide
Indication: bacterial infection
Brand Names: Triple Sulfa, Triple Sulpha, Trisulfa
Dose per package instructions for 10 days. (Normally ~380mg per day for 10 days). Disregard package
info concerning water changes.
Replace the medication in ratio to the amount of water changed daily as needed to control ammonia.
DAY 1 of Treatment
• Thoroughly mix the medication with about 1 cup of marine water.
• Pour the mixture into a high-flow area of the hospital tank.
DAYS 2 – 10 of Treatment
• Perform a 50% water change.
• Thoroughly mix the medication with about 1 cup of marine water.
• Pour the mixture into a high-flow area of the hospital tank.

 

[Duke]

if its a disease you cant consider that clown or that naso tang healthy now since you added sick fish to that tank.

 

[reeffreak]

If you dont have the room to keep them all in quarantine I will offer them a place they can make a full recovery if you dont feel up to it

 

[Poseidon]

thanks alot reeffreak!
i have the foxface and the flame tip tang in a 20g quartine now... they dont look bad atal, with the expection of the foxfaces tail, see pic, and a pale spot on the side of the flame tip. this only med i have now is cupramine... can i use that?

 

[yveterinarian]

Hi Brandon
I forgot to say I am also adding a little Prime daily to control Ammonia, Nitriates and Nitrates.

I don't know anything about Cupramine so I don't know the answer to that.  Hopefully, the Reef fish experts will chime in to say.

 

[Poseidon]

thanks ! yes i have a bit of prime too so if i can find the treat ments you recommended ill do that.

 

[yveterinarian]

Good luck and keep us posted

 

[pulpfiction1]

do i understand this correctly?your new 150 tank you picked up a couple of days ago?i assume you moved everything from the 180 into it as well?was there a cycle?i find it difficult to accept that this tank is ready for new additions let alone some sick ones at that.i hope whats alive pull through

 

[Poseidon]

no no.. ive sold most of the stuff from my 180...
the 150g is still outside on the deck waiting to be cleaned...
i have my frag setup and thats were most of the fish and corals are. I pulled the two sick ones that are still alive (the flame tip and the foxface and have them in a 20g QT.

Aside from my loses i think things are ok now...
but im not sure what to medicate these 2 sick fish with. i have a power head in there now...
the only meds i have on me are cupramine... Ill go to LFS tmrw and see what they have to offer

 

[pulpfiction1]

ahhhhhh  sorry if i jumped the gun there Brandon,i assumed this was the new setup

 

[Duke]

i think that is a copper treatment, so it would be affective against things like ich or velvet possibly, and parasites only i believe. What your look for is an antibiotic since that tang and foxface both look to suffer from fin rot and lateral erosion or hlle i think its called. Again i have no experience in treating fish, just going from what I've read online. I do know that since you've had all your fish in with those fish it might be a good idea to to keep everything quarantined or possibly treat them all, not sure which is better or safer of those options tho. What im not getting is how you lost so many fish in such a short trip? its a shame, was everything already dying or something?

 

[Poseidon]

Well no they were in the totes for 8 hrs. We had to take the tank out before we could take apart the stand. And the stand took forever to take apart.
The tangs were sick before.
And Phil.... Can I buy some more of that bacterial cycle stuff off you? It worked wonders Before.