Forums / TEAM Marine Depot / Disease, Health and Wellness - by Kelly Jedlicki

clownfish with mouth stuck open

mitchellm — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:53:36 GMT

My clownfish has his mouth stuck open, is this lockjaw? what can I do? the area around his mouth is faded a little and it almost looks furry inside.

Our Puffer's hanging in...

Ohiosaltwaterfishlovers — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:06:12 GMT

Hello, we have been attempting to feed our porcupine puffer as we previously talked about. We are using some of my medical equipment that is available to me because I am a nurse.

We are tube feeding him at least once a day, preferably twice if we can. We have been using mostly brine, treated with vitachem and inserting the tube as far down his throat as we can. It appears that he is getting some and is alive and fairly active. He does seem to have somewhat of a "hunchback" at times, which appears to be a relatively new phenomenon. How can we tell if our efforts have helped? Will he all of a sudden want to eat whatever we put in the tank? We do have him in our hospital tank, which is cycled with a damsel and a clown. We just want to know what to expect? We have absolutely cut out the freeze dried brine, which I am afraid to give to any of our fish anymore!!!

Can we expect a major turnaround???

Clown has fin rot need medicine info

cr8signs — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:07:18 GMT

My clown that I have had since Sept of 07 has developed fin rot, due to a malfunction in my main pump, my tank became a nasty place for him to live. By the time I discovered the real problem to my tank issues, my maroon was showing signs of a whitish film on his fins, and cloudy eyes. He showed these signs for about a week in a half, the pump has now been fixed for 3 days, and I am doing 25-30% water changes, but his fins have now started to fray. He is eating and acting normal. He is in a main display tank that holds corals, shrimps, snails, crabs, anemones, etc.

They are getting worse by the minute. I have on hand Furan 2. Would like to know if I should use this, if clowns are sensitive to this, should I do a bath with it or QT him and put it in a tank like the directions say for 2-4 weeks. Is it possible to overdose this medicine?

Will this hurt the biological filter, will it hurt the live rock , will it hurt crabs, snails or corals?

Thanks for your help, I have never had to use medicine and this is very touchy area for me. I do not want to do more harm then good.

Puffer diet

REEF-DADDY — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:34:09 GMT

Hi,
4 days ago I picked up a nice fat 5" porcupine puffer. The only thing he'll eat is krill which I understand is far from optimal. I feed squid, silversides, mysis,brine, nori, pellets. All of which he will try but spit back out. I've not tried going a couple days without feeding him because he is so new to the tank I'd rather wait until he is better adjusted. My other concern is his teeth, I have little in the way of snails/crabs at the moment. I don't really have the need or desire for them other than for the puffer. I was thinking of picking up some lyanassa obsoleta since they are so cheap and going to be used for puffer food anyway. Do you think he'll eat these, or would he be better served by some small cerith/bluelegs? I realize the snails are from cooler water but longevity is not my concern here.

Golden Puffer, Beak Problem?

Hayes112 — Mon, 12 May 2008 10:09:08 GMT

I have a golden puffer in about the 9" range. He has always been very active and sociable and ate like a pig until about 3 weeks ago. He started getting less active and he was starting to eat less and less. I couldnt see any sighns of parsites on its body but I did notice a something wierd going on with the lower part of its beak. Its not broken or anything it almost looks more like a cavity, the rim of the beak on both sides has a browning to it and the part of the beak on the inside of its mouth looks like there is some type of fuzz on it. He hasnt anything now in maybe 8 days he acts hungry sometimes but when I go to feed him he refuses. If anyone has any thoughts on what to do please let me know.

Thanks again.

My new clowns in quarantine woke up sick, please help

angelfish addict — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:36:01 GMT

I got a pair or percular clowns yesterday who seemed perfectly healthy and acclimitized them for an hour, then put them into my quarantine tank (lights out 2 reduce stress), 4 hours later I fed them. Only the larger 1 ate, inspected them once more before i went to bed they looked fine still, no sign of disease, etc.

Got up in the morning found they both have about 5 spots on their body, also, the larger clown has a white outline of a mis shaped circle on 1 side of its head, and the smaller clown has a redish-brownish line/mark below it's bottom lip.

The larger clown is still eating, but the smaller clown is not interested in food. I noticed a white stool floating in the water (not a good sign-i know)

water parameters r fine, the quarantine tank is fully cycled, it's bare bottom, 5 gal.

Unfortunately i can't post pictures. The clowns r from the wild, not captive bred.

Please help ASAP, I don't want these clowns to die.

Porcupine Puffer possible Lockjaw. Please help

puffster — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 19:56:18 GMT

Hi all

I have a porcupine puffer (porky) that seems to have developed "lockjaw". The LFS that I bought him from had him for 6 months and feed him only Freeze dried Krill, they also recommended I do the same. He was about 5-6" when I bought him and I housed him in a 55 gallon for about 3 months. We became quite attached to him so decided to upgrade to a 110 gal aquarium (30gal sump) just so he would have room to swim. I have had him for a year now, fed 3-4 freeze dried Krill/day which I rotate every day with silversides, frozen krill, freezdried krill, repeat. I always dose his food with vita-chem before feeding.

In the past I have tried feeding him shrimp, crab, and clams from the grocery store but he always ignored it and would rather starve for the day. So I decided to just feed him the food stated above and since the LFS said the same I never thought twice. From all the reading I have been doing I realize it was not the best decision.

Starting yesterday he has not been able to eat any food (Krill or silversides) my water parameters are good: 0 nitrate, 0 nitrite, 0 ammonia, and 8.2ph. He does not appear to be sick and actively tries to eat, he lunges at the food but does not seem to open his mouth. I usually feed him with large chopsticks (yes chopsticks) and I do not think he has overgrown teeth since 2 days before he can fit his teeth around the 1/3" chopsticks (also if it was overgrown teeth I should be able to see teeth showing right?). Would there be a reason why he can not open his mouth to eat, is this the "lock jaw" I have been reading about?

Today I started dosing the aquarium with Vita-chem and Kents xtreme garlic. I am hoping the Vita-chem has enough vitamin b-12 that Kelly mentions in her article and I plan on continuing with the dosing. The tank also has 2 tangs, 3 damsels, 2 clowns, 2 peppermint shrimps, 1 skunk shrimp, 1 sea cucumber, and various corals. None of the other inhabitants show signs of stress or diseases. Please help me out, I really do not want force feed him (I have no clue how to do it) and I do not want him to starve to death. Should I does the water with something else? Should I call all the local Vets? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

starting my cycle?

nay,kid — Sun, 11 May 2008 18:44:17 GMT

Hey kelly I know this isn't a health question but your my aquarium guru. I started filling up my tank today and wondered how much ammonia to add to start my cycle. Right now I have all dry rock. I've got around 225 gallons give or take a little. I should be full and running by tomorrow night (woohoo). thanks

Porcupine Puffer with Cloudy Eyes Need help

edmlfc — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:45:02 GMT

Tank mates: Stars & Stripes puffer, 2-Green spotted puffer. 120 gallon 6' long (200 gallon in the works). No corals-FOWLR, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5, Ph 8.4, SG 1.021, temp 79. Equipment: 2-powerheads, 2-Hob filters, wet/dry, hob protein skimmer. I think the turn over is about 1950 gph. I figured it up a while back but can't remember exact. The tank has been set up for about 6 months. The porc and the S&S were added 2 weeks apart. The porc was in qt for about 4 weeks, the S&S was in qt about 8 weeks. The porc is the only one infected the other puffers have not shown any signs of cloudy eye. Size: Porcupine about 3", both GSP's about 3" and the Stars & Stripes is about 6". I apologize if there are any questions I did not answer. Here is what I have tried so far:

Updated verson short form:
I have a porcupine puffer that has developed cloudy eyes. I first noticed something wrong with her on March 16 th. I moved her from a 120 gallon to a hospital tank. I have been doing daily water changes of about 98%. Her ph is 8.4, amm. 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, sg 1.021, temp 76-77 degrees. This is what I have tried so far:
3/16/08-She does not look right something is wrong. Set up hospital and moved her in.
3/17/08-Her eyes don't look shiny anymore, they look dull and she is not swimming like normal. She's bumping into everything.
3/18/08-Her eyes are starting to cloud up, researching which meds to use and asking for help
3/19/08-Searched the local fish stores for any saltwater meds that would work could not find anything.
3/20/08-Her eyes are almost white now, got on line and ordered meds having them overnighted.
3/21/08-Furan-2 came in today. It was suggested by someone on the puffer forum. Started treatment today.
3/22/08-Took another suggestion and started a Hydrogen Peroxide (H202) dip using 7cc of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide (H202) in 1 liter of clean tank water for an 11 minute every night.
3/23/08- The H202 seems to be helping a bit, still doing the Furan-2 treatment. She is not getting any worse it seems to have slowed down.
3/26/08-Have been using Furan-2 & doing the H202 dips for 4 days now. I have seen a very small improvement.
3/27- The last time she ate was 3/14/08, I decided to start feed her with a syringe. I also ordered vitamins.
3/29/08- Received penicillin today. Started treatment with the penicillin and stopped treatment with furan-2.
3/30/08-One eye is starting to look better, the other eye no change.
3/31/08-After the H202 dip I noticed some blue back in her eyes. Looks like the white is starting to fade in one eye.
4/1/08-4/6/08-Continued treatment with penicillin and now feeding her vitamins with her food through a syringe. Also still doing the H202 dips every night with 98% water changes.
4/7/08-Package says do not use penicillin more than 10 days. I have discontinued the penicillin and I am now doing furan-2 dips. One gallon of water and 1 package furan-2, put her in a bucket for 1 hour with an air stone.
4/8/08-Again did the furan-2 bath (morning and evening) and the H202 dip.
4/9/08- Did the furan-2 bath this morning. Called a fish store that I really like and talked to someone there that said it may be caused by a tape worm and to try a freshwater dip for 5 minutes every other day. I did the first freshwater dip this evening. He said I should see results in a day or two. Or it could be a secondary bacteria infection.

Here is a picture of her eyes and a spot that I noticed on her back a few days after hey eye went cloudy. The spot started as a dark brown fuzzy spot (as dark brown as her stripe) and is slowly fading away. It now looks lighter like a copper color and it seems the fuzzy look is gone. At first I thought it might be velvet but I was told it was not. I think the spot on her back has something to do with her cloudy eyes but no one can confirm this. I will do what ever I need to do to make her better.

I have been feeding her through a syringe because she cannot see her food to eat it. I first puree her food add vitamins and 2 drops of garlic put it in the syringe, place her in a bowl of tank water, she grabs a hold of the syringe and trys to suck it dry. She is eating really well. After her feeding I place her back in the hospital tank and throw away the water in the bowl.

I also have seachem cupramine on hand that I have not tried yet.

Spontaneous Mass Death in my tank

alang_94526 — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:34:35 GMT

My tank which up until yesterday had been stable for months, suddenly had 4 fatalities.
I have a 135G tank which up until yesterday contained 7 fish, 1 lobster and 2 bubble tip anemones.
Out of nowhere, 4 fish woke up dead on the same day.
PH, Nitrate, Amonia, Nitrite, salinity are 8.2, 0, 0, 0, 1.022 respectively.
Food is a mix of Mysis shrimp, Bok Choy and fish flakes.

I've had the tank for over a year and have gradually added fish through a quarantine process. I have never had ick as a result, and none is present in the tank even now.

A few days ago, I noticed some of the fish apparently pecking lightly at my yellow tang. Apart from that nothing has changed.
I have good water flow, temp is 77C (held constant by a tank cooler).

I make my own water with a 50GPD Coralife RO system. I have never changed the cartridges in the year that I've had the tank.
I checked for possible Chlorine on the off-chance that it had somehow malfunctioned - none was found. I'm pretty confident about this since I checked my regular tap water and it tests positive for chlorine.

Is there any "typical infection" that can befall a tank that I can test for?

I'm at a total loss for what happened.

Alan

Marine Velvet

DRRT — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:26:58 GMT

I have a 50g tank with 2 toby puffers, a blue hippo tang and an achilles tang. The last fish to have been added was the achilles tang, but that was in Aug of last year. The only other things in there are as follows (with when added in parenthesis):
hermit crabs (been there a long time)
coral banded shrimp (added in Dec)
burrowing snails (Dec)
mushrooms (~1 month ago)
red kelp (couple days after the shrooms)
a couple pieces of live rock (~2 weeks ago, came from a live rock only tank)
There have been no significant changes to the tank other than an increase in lighting from ~110 watts to ~188 watts with the addition of my new light fixture (added about 2 1/2 weeks ago). Today I added a Koralia 2 to increase water movement and thus airation.

pH 8.2 NH3 ~0 NO2 ~0 NO3 ~20 Ca ~480 ppm <----a bit high, but its been like that for about 3 months now
salinity ~1.023

I feed the fish every day and change 10g every week, usually sundays. I do not use additives other than various vitamins for the fish (Zoe, Zoecon, Vitamin C) and phytoplankton for the tiny feather dusters and shrooms.

The tank has been set up for sometime around 2 1/2 years and was cycled the newbie way with damsels. I have had ich before and some other deaths due to unknown causes with no symptoms. But this is the first outbreak of disease in the tank in over a year. The last fish to have died in the tank was a lemonpeel angel due to my error - I didn't turn on the air pump, thereby drasticly lowering the pH.

Both of the tangs are showing the sprinkling of white characteristic of marine velvet. The blue tang started showing it exactly one week ago and the achilles showed the next day. The achilles commonly visits the shrimp and has been cleaned before. The blue tang is currently in a 10g quarentine tank due to it being only 4 in long and can be housed in the QT. I have not started any dosing other than strictly following the recommended dosage for Vitamin C and monitoring the pH. The achilles seems to be too large for my QT and is still in the main tank receiving no extra attention other than visits to the shrimp. I have not observed either of the fish showing the other common signs of velvet like scratching. The puffers are showing no signs of being infected with velvet, but I understand that that doesn't mean they don't have it.

The tang in the QT was placed in there yesterday, which is when I started dosing VC as listed on Kent's VC. After a week of recommended dosage, I will slowly double it by adding the rec dosage twice a day and monitor the pH as often as possible. As the blue tang "appears" to no longer have the disease, I am hoping the VC has already started to work as yesterday it also had cloudy eyes, which today it doesn't. Today, the achilles, which seemed to have been affected less from the velvet, would be a perfect specimen for a picture, as it is covered in the dusting. I took the rec dose of Kent's VC and halfed it for the 1st day of dosage (today).

What is the best way to treat the velvet in the QT and potentially the main tank (which houses the inverts)?
As a side note, where did this come from?

Thank you in advance and I am perfectly willing to provide any additionaly info needed.

Flukes maybe?

teco — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:06:36 GMT

I picked up a few purple firefish and PJ cardinals last week. Theyve been in QT and I think something is developing and could use an ID. All of the firefish seem to have developed just a single small white bump at this point but havent seen anything on the cardinals yet. I may need to order some meds so want a second opinion.

Sorry about the lousy picts

Powder blue tang

proangel2 — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 10:18:11 GMT

I have this powder blue two weeks and today i noticted two of three small white dots not close togeter or both sides of him could this be white spot and if it is is there any thing i can do to help while its in the early stage i have a naso tang in the same tank and he seems to be fine any help please

HURRICANE AUTOMATIC BATTERY AIR PUMPS

Sandtiger — Fri, 02 May 2008 11:09:29 GMT

I am considering a category 5 automatic battery air pump to protect my livestock against power outages that may occur when I am not around.

Is the company called Deep Blue??? I cannot find ANY information about them on google or other similar search engines. Please advise.

Thanks!

Sandtiger

Expert Advice Needed re: Very Emaciated Puffer

FishFan — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:11:49 GMT

This 5" Spiny Box Puffer (C. shopfi) was rescued from a fish store where it was kept for about two months. It is so severely emaciated that it is highly inverted on the bottom; the condition is so bad that we wonder how the fish could still have viscera at all. However, the fish is bright-eyed, interactive and eager takes food in to eat. This was not true a month ago when we visited the same store, which is why we felt this fish needed some individual TLC. The store did not treat the fish for internal parasites, which we feel certain is at least part of the problem.

The problem we see us that this fish is very eager to eat, but can't swallow, food is chewed and efforts to swallow are obvious, but very little seems to make it to his stomach. We've never seen a fish this starved look so alert, it has definitely not given up on life. Some sliminess may be coming from the fish's head mouth or gills, its hard to say where. This fish swims about attentively 100% of the time (so far) and gets excited when people approach his tank. He seems very relaxed considering he was moved yesterday. He takes food offered from our hands, bites fingers through the glass, and chases after ghost shrimp when he sees them.

Treatment so far: Prazipro per instructions on bottle (day 1 = yesterday).

Foods offered: Ghost Shrimp, feet pulled from live clams, (accepted but most comes back out)
Dried Krill and blood worms reconstituted with Gel Tek for parasites (refused)
Available foods not yet offered: Shrimp, squid, earthworms, frozen krill/misis shrimp/brine shrimp

Fish is in a 29 Gallon QT tank
Tank set up yesterday has:
-a single rock (hiding place - not used so for)
-magnum filter loaded with live rock
-18" air stone with a dual output dedicated air pump.

Any treatments or suggested strategies that could help us get some weight on this fish would be appreciated.
Is assisted (inject into mouth) feeding of a vitamin enriched and or medicated food slurry a reasonable option?
Thanks,
R&A

Sorry for the delay.....

Puffer Queen — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 10:35:11 GMT

I felt that I owed many of you an explanation as to my unusual delay in responding. The last 2 months have been very trying for me.

Ziggy, My almost 3 year old one eyed cat died from complications from routine anesthesia for sinus/dental xrays and an undiagnosed cardiomyopathy. I was present for his autopsy. That night I discovered that one of his brothers had an abnormally low heart rate and his other two brothers were on the lower range of normal. The next day his blood sibling Binx underwent further testing and was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. He is only functioning at 20% heart function - despite showing NO signs other than a slow heart rate. He is on multiple medications and supplements.

The other two brothers underwent testing and were found not to have the hereditary condition.

Binx "broke" his nose a month after his diagnosis - as I said he shows no signs of heart problems and only knows how to run at warp speed. It was a bloody mess since he is on aspirin but he is doing well.

Vincent my 11 year dog was diagnosed with fibrosarcoma of the hard palate, 10 days after Ziggy died. Treatment options are not good with this location.

One of my female epaulette sharks became egg bound and I was unable to correct the situation.

And just when I was getting a "grip".........Reagan my 6 year old beagle suffered a back injury which left her paralyzed in her lower extremities. She just had surgery Monday and came home yesterday afternoon. It is a wait and see on her prognosis.

As you can see - I have been under a lot of stress. I will check my forum as much as possible and I thank you for your patience and understanding.

Reagan and Ziggy.

I dont think hypo is working.

gigafish — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 10:57:45 GMT

I began administering hyposalinity on my main FO tank on Sunday, March 30th. Four days later, Wednesday April 2nd, my salinity had reached 1.009 measured with a refractometer. For the past 11 days since hypo was reached, I have noticed the cryptocaryon dissappear like expected but then come back (Unexpected). Granted, it has not come back in full force like it was the last time but it is there, and it seems to be feeding off of 4 of my 5 fish. So my question is, with hyposalinity being maintained, should the ich be coming back at all or should it be exploding in the free swimming stage the first time?

Need help diagnosing black spots on clownfish

dastratt — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:32:25 GMT

I have read about black ich and also about clownfish having tendency to get black spots from coral stings.

This clownfish developed black spots of various sizes and shapes, rather suddenly a few days ago. Some spots are elongated in shape.

The fish does not seem stressed and is behaving normally, perhaps a bit agitated.

I added a fish from a reliable internet source a few weeks ago, without QTing. Bad I know.

I am setting up a HT now but wonder if it is black ich. I question because the spots are different sizes and shapes.

Hope the image show up. Please help!

__________________
Alex

red spots on a raccoon butterfly

angler — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:05:42 GMT

hi 60 gallon tank, 405 canister filter, whisper 60 hang on filter, 25 lbs of lr. a 4 in maroon clown and a 3.5 in raccoon butterfly fish. tank is about four weeks old, ammonia 0 nitrite 0 ph 8.temperature is at 78f. a couple days ago i've noticed tiny red spots under one of it's side fins. i don't have a picture so im going to describe it as best as i can. the spot is almost white like it losing the yellow color, the scales seem like it's pointing outward, the scales also look like its swollen and tiny red dots. im very new at this please help, thank you.

Quarantine Tank QT nitrite control

Sandtiger — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 06:58:02 GMT

I am currently in the process of achieving hyposalinity in my QT to treat ich. I test the water daily, and perform water changes, but I am still battling nitrite levels of .50.

QT FACTS: 65 gallons, bare bottom, PVC hiding places.

Salinity: 30

Specific Gravity: 1.022

Ammonia= 0

pH=fluctuates between 7.8 and 8.2 but is being treated as necessary.

Nitrates= are around 30.

Nitrites= .50

Tempurature is 78F.

Filter: (2) Emperor 280s without carbon.

Medication: Paraguard directly added to QT according to directions.

Livestock: 1 small picasso trigger, 1 small blue chin trigger, 1 fingerprint puffer, 1 maroon clown, 1 small snowflake eel, 1 small banded eel.

I have tried amquel, and before I go out an buy more, is this a good way to treat the problem, or should I consider another product?

I have 210 gallon tank ready for them when the quarantine process is over.

Dog face puffer with long teeth not eating

Crustaceannut — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:13:39 GMT

I have a yellow dogface puffer (about 10") that hasnt been eating and his front teeth are overgrown any suggestions I have tried every type of food possible.

Weird Injury/Disease

Lukfox — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:02:21 GMT

I was referred here from another site for help. I don't know what's happening to my goldbar wrasse (Thalassoma hebraicum). I've had him for about one and a half months I would guess.

On the first of April I noticed a tiny nick on his face in the morning. I thought it was just a tiny nip from the harlequin tusk (tank's dominant fish), and I thought nothing of it. However, when I came home from school it had developed into much more than a nick. These pictures are from the April 1st. In six hours it went from barely noticeable to this. The left side of his nose has a sort of jigsaw cut. It looks like someone dug grooves into his face.

Then on April 2nd, it seemed to recede and there was a little swelling. Below is a picture from today. I'm not sure if it looks better or the same.

The grooves have been digging around the skin and I've seen two little chunks of flesh just float off.

Other things with him are a harlequin tusk, two yellow tangs, 1 purple tang, 1 Brazilian dragon moray, 1 miliaris moray, colt coral, mushrooms, tuxedo urchins, and a tigertail cucumber. The tank is 155 gallons.

Thank you for any help. I really want to know what I'm up against and what I should do. I just haven't heard of anything like this before.

Clarkii clown has one puffy white eye. What do i do?

yinz — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:19:25 GMT

Hello, I just noticed that my 2 yr old male clarkii clownfish has 1 white puffy eye. Not sure what to do about it. I've had these guys 4 two yrs. I never had to deal with any diseases and im clueless as to what to do to help it out, but i'm starting to read about diseases.

It is a mated pair and they lay eggs constantly and fed a good variety healthy diet. It is eating and looks healthy except the eye.

Any help would b greatly appreciated.

Thanks

problems with my yellow tang

rockey329 — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 09:30:07 GMT

my yellow tang has been acting strange for the last 2 days. He is swimming rather strangely by taking little stabbing jolts. I don't see any signs of disease or spots. I am concerned that something is happening. I am new to the sport and don't want to lose him. He was my first addition to the tank about a month and a half ago. I have a 90 gal take with about 80 pounds of live rock. The rock was in the tank for 2 months before adding livestock. I have 1)) hippo, 1) tomato clown, 1)coral beauty, and 1) pecular clown . No live coral or inverts yet.All my levels are fine in the tank but I do use tap water. I know I should be using RO Water but have not got a unit yet. any advise

cycling sponge filters

Linda C. — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:21:48 GMT

Kelly,

Can you please go into detail how you initially start up a tank for ammonia cycled air driven sponge filters? Also, could you describe how you keep the supply going?

Thanks again for your time

Linda

Protazoan Infection?

skatezen — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 06:59:34 GMT

Dr Frank Marini recommended that I post this here.

I was hoping you could help me positively identify this lesion seems going around my new dispar anthias. I've already lost 2 and the same symptoms are appearing on a third. I've only had the fish for a couple of days and they aren't very active, as anthias are known to be. Attached is a picture I took of the lesion on one of the deceased fish. At first i thought it was an infection possibly caused by decompressing with a needle because the lesion was on the same side, in same location, as the other deceased fish

. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to get a handle on this before it takes out any more of my fish. Also, what do you recommend for treatment?

Could you substitue Cold Fish Oil for Selcon?

nullcable — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 10:19:09 GMT

Hello,

I was at the health food section trying to find Beta Glucan and came across a row of 'high quality Cold Fish oil'. I think the description was something along the lines of alaskan large fish such as salmon, and another I can't remember. The label seemed very attractive, and reminded me of the main ingredient for Selcon. I've been using selcon alternating with Vibrance, Beta Glucan, Vita chem, and spirulina as enrichments.

The bottle of this fish oil was quite a bit less expensive than selcon. Would it provide similar benefits for less?

Thank you in advance for the input.

Help constructing a canister filter

rhannum — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:23:12 GMT

Hi,
I live in Evansville, IN. and am trying to construct a pot filters for some of my aquariums to increase the biological filter capacity and get some denitrifying bacteria going. Monty at Waters of the World told me I should ask the Puffer Queen. He told me she had a great way of making them out of empty cat litter tubs and since I have lots of cats and lots of those tubs around if I could find out how she did it, that would work out great. If I could please get the instructions I would really appreciate it.
Thanks,
Rachel

Panda vs. Golden Puffer

captain nemo — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:31:40 GMT

Hi Kelly,

I was hoping you could break a dealock that my wife and I are in over who will be our next puffer. As the subject box indicates, we are trying to choose between a Panda and Golden puffer. My wife wants the Panda while I want the Golden. Between the 2 how would rate them as far as personality, liveliness, boldness, hardiness, intelligence,etc. If it were up to you which one would you go for and why? Thanks!

Gary

Is this what happens when ich gets bad?

gigafish — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:32:56 GMT

I have had a severe and quick outbreak of ich in my tank. I noticed it on sunday and immediately began hypo on my entire tank. Tonight is the night that I reach 1.009 SG. Anyways, over the course of the past 3 days my fish have been getting really bad. Its sickening that they are going through this. I can see it on my purple tang the most because of his dark color and basically what has happened is the salt grain white speckles have swelled up over his entire body and some of them are developing a stringy white thing that is connected to the fishes body and the original white dot hangs off of that. These are making him look like he has bursting blisters all over his body. I am starting to question my initial diagnosis of ich because of this fact but I have never really seen ich get very bad. So my question is, does this sound like ich or another parasite that I am not familiar with?

Emperor Angel with problems

Dayonc — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 15:27:34 GMT

Hello,

I recently purchased an Emperor Angel. As I was acclimating her/him I noticed a bit of Ick. I have had the fish now for about week or so. The Ick seemed to go away by the next day. Following day seemed to have ick again but the spots were very thick. Following day seemed to go away. Next day spots came back (almost double), but the ick seemed to be much smaller in size. Yesterday Ick was almost gone again. Then today he/she seems to have opaque spots but no solid white spots, almost like scars were the ick was, but so many that it has me worried. Other than that she is eating and seems to be acting normal. Water parameters are perfect (0 ammonia, 0 nitites, 0 nitrates, etc..). I also have been trying to slowly bring the salinity level down to rid the ick. It is now around a 1.017. Can anyone help me identify what you think this fish could have right now? I will try to attach the best pictures.

Thanks in advance,

Dan

Managing Large Puffers and their beaks

salt_water_aquarist — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 19:41:30 GMT

I have two of the large breed Puffers (1 porcupine puffer ~ 6" long, and 1 guinea fowl puffer ~ 8" long) in my 500 gallon FOWLR tank (700#'s of live rock + 160 gallon sump with large skimmer). I added these guys within the last 6 months (after careful quarantine and ich treatment). They are bold, lively and entertaining. I recently re-read the Aquarium Fish Magazine article of June 2002 (pages 20 - 33) to see how my care habits align with the article. I believe my feeding habits (nutrition-wise) are good in that both are in perfect moderately plump shape with great coloration, and have been eating the scallop/shrimp/krill/smelt concoction that I make up (laced with Selcon, Zoe, Zoecon, and Garlic Guard) like pigs. I'm not so sure about my "beak management program" after reading the referenced article that mentions Master Aquarist "Puffer Queen's" technique of using a Dremel tool to file down their teeth after anesthetization with something called MS-222. Is this type of maintenance for aquarium puffer fish considered inevitable to prevent feeding disruption and a long life? Is there some other way besides this that I can manage puffer beaks ? I am not a veterinarian or ichthyologist, and therefore want to avoid this procedure if at all possible. I normally target feed these guys with a set of tongs in order to trick their greedy competitors (the other puffer, a broomtail wrasse, and a rectangular trigger) and have had no problems with everybody getting their fill. If hard-shell items like clams are the answer, I'm not sure target feeding hard-shell clams with tongs would work, since the puffer would not likely quickly break the shell and consume the clam before the competition would barge in. Do they tend to gnaw on the live rock naturally to file their beaks? Anything that you may suggest would be greatly appreciated.

My porc puffer got sucked into a maxijet.

gigafish — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:29:04 GMT

Yesterday my wife called me screaming that my puffer had been sucked into one of my powerheads. Apparently the strainer somehow fell off the maxijet and he just happened to swim by and boom! She thinks he might have only been stuck for about 5 minutes because she started hearing a weird noise that made her go in there and find him. A guy on reefcentral told me to post over here and talk to puffer queen about the damage. I was not able to Pm her due to the mailbox being full or something. I have read some other postings about this same issue but the reason I am posting what looks like an identical topic is because nobody's puffer has been described as taking the type of damage mine has. I am really worried about him even though I know there is nothing I can do, my own curiousity is just getting the best of me and I would like to know what everyone thinks. He got sucked into the maxijet right on his side. The maxijet was sucking on his right fin and gill. Its been 15 hours so far and his body is still swollen out past the width of his eye on that side and some of his spines are still sticking up. His right fin is not moving at all and I am afraid that it might never work again if he makes it through this. Because of side being so swollen it seems like he cant close his mouth. He wants to eat, but he cant chew so he is spitting the food back out. I am extremely worried about the damage that he might have sustained to his right gill since the suction hit it pretty hard. Its still red and swollen. So what does everybody think.

Here is a video of him 10 minutes after it happened.

Mimic Tang

Linda C. — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:20:00 GMT

Hi Kelly,

Just got home with my friends Mimic Eibli Tang. I set him in his own tank at my place. it's a 4' long 33 gallon tank with plastic plants, hob filter, airstones. water is around 1.019-1.020 at the moment.

I need your advice. This fish is important to my friend and I'm very nervous that I can't think straight.

Background: The tang was in the 180 for months but a recent addtion of a non-quarenteened fish was introduced. Ich to the other tanksmates was the result.

About 2 weeks ago my friend contacted me for advice. All the fish were removed from the display tank and the plan is to have them in qt hyposalinty and to keep the display fallow for 8 weeks.

Tonight my friend called because when he got home from work some of the fish were in distress.

I went over to look at the fish and had him test his water paramaters. He thought the water was fine since he was doing partial daily water changes. Ammonia was at 0 but nitrates and nitrites were elevated quiet a bit. I'm sorry I don't have the ppm. As soon as we saw that the colors were high on the chart the focus was on to doing water changes to reduce the stress on the fish.

Something I noticed in with his qt tanks..the only water movement he had in the tanks was from the hob filters (also the water level was high so there wasn't much breaking of the surface tension).

Could the elevated levels be from lack of oxygen? I'm so unsure of what caused the increase in nitrates and nitrites..uneaten food, fish waste...?

I had him add airlines with pump and also power heads for flow and ciculation.

At the end of the evening he asked me to take home his mimic tang. I'm a nervous wreck because this fish means so much to him. The tangs name is E-i-e-i-o.

Here are some photos of his fish. The eyes are bulging. Do you think this is a result of the water conditions or could it be something else like bacterial?

What should I be doing next? Should I treat the fish now? Should I wait?

The only things I come up with is that I should keep water quality pristine, vitiman enriched foods, garlic, possibly lower the SG because I think I see a bit of ich on him. Should I do medicated baths at this point? Medicate his tank? if so, what product would you recommend.

I need your advice.

Here are some photos of Eieio.

Please let me know what else I can do for him.

marine "Ich"

Fishguy — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 09:13:17 GMT

Kelly,
I have read many of your posts and understand what I have to do for my fish in order to get them healthy of this persistent parasite. However, I do still have some questions of my own.I currently am running a 55 gal reef tank with 2 maroon clowns, yellow tang, blue hippo tang, cleaner wrasse, coral beauty angel, and some inverts and lots of corals. I do have some"ich" problems and have had them come and go, especially with the blue hippo and some other more sensitive ones in the past.I also have a 29 gallon with a medium sized porcupine puffer in by himself, with plans to upgrade his setup as well. I have been thinking about moving all of my fish into the puffers tanks for quarantine.The 29 gal. has no corals inverts etc. It DOES have live sand, though, and as I read in your posts previous, you stated that there should be no sand for treatment purposes.My questions to you:

1. Should I attempt moving my fish from my 55 gal to the 29 gal "puffer tank" for quarantine purposes?
the puffer is actually very good with other fish being that he was in the 55 gal previous but I had to move him because he was inhaling my corals.

2. Should I first take out all live sand in the tank before the move?(copper treatment)

3. Also, the puffer tank hasn't been set up that long: 3 months with the addition of a new eheim filter. I wasn't sure if doing this move and copper treatment would result in death of any fish .

4. How long should the reef tank be fallow and when I do move the fish, should I float them in or should I not worry as much about the introduction into the quarantine tank being it's measures are about the same as the reef's. Sorry for the stupid questions. but I love my fish and wouldn't want to stress/ hurt them any more than they already are. By the way the only two fish with ich are blue hippo and yellow tang at this point.I just want to rid of this monsterous parasite once and for all. Any response to this poll is greatly appreciated and I thank you for all of your time.

Parasite control of marine ich

fisher — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:08:10 GMT

Hi Kelly!

I am new to this forum as well in marine fish keeping. I have started the aquarium for about 3 weeks now!

Recently I noticed my blue hippo tang rubbing against the live rock. I am worried as I have heard about Tang disease or more commonly ich. I monitored for few days but did not find any visible white or black spots on its body. Not sure if this is the first sign of ich. What can I do to possibly help the fish?

Can I use parasite control products to stop any parasites infestation in the tank? Which product do you recommend that is reef-safe and would not harm my other fish in the aquarium (I also have oceallaris clown, banggai cardinals, gobies, vermiculated angelfish and a cleaner shrimp)?

In the pet store I found a product called "Aqua Gem+ Parasite Proof Water Treatment". Have you heard of this product? Is it useful and safe for my aquarium?

Thank you in advance!

"Ich"

Fishguy — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 09:06:05 GMT

Kelly,
I have read many of your posts and understand what I have to do for my fish in order to get them healthy of this persistent parasite. However, I do still have some questions of my own.I currently am running a 55 gal reef tank with 2 maroon clowns, yellow tang, blue hippo tang, cleaner wrasse, coral beauty angel, and some inverts and lots of corals. I do have some"ich" problems and have had them come and go, especially with the blue hippo and some other more sensitive ones in the past.I also have a 29 gallon with a medium sized porcupine puffer in by himself, with plans to upgrade his setup as well. I have been thinking about moving all of my fish into the puffers tanks for quarantine.The 29 gal. has no corals inverts etc. It DOES have live sand, though, and as I read in your posts previous, you stated that there should be no sand for treatment purposes.My questions to you:

1. Should I attempt moving my fish from my 55 gal to the 29 gal "puffer tank" for quarantine purposes?
the puffer is actually very good with other fish being that he was in the 55 gal previous but I had to move him because he was inhaling my corals.

2. Should I first take out all live sand in the tank before the move?(copper treatment)

3. Also, the puffer tank hasn't been set up that long: 3 months with the addition of a new eheim filter. I wasnt sure if doing this move and copper treatment would result in death of any fish .

4. How long should the reef tank be fallow and when I do move the fish, should I float them in or should I not worry as much about the introduction into the quarantine tank being it's measures are about the same as the reef's. Sorry for the stupid questions. but I love my fish and wouldnt want to stress/ hurt them any more than they already are. By the way the only two fish with ich are blue hippo and yellow tang at this point.I just want to rid of this monsterous parasite once and for all.

How do You QT delicate fish ?

c.rob — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 18:06:05 GMT

Wanting to put some of the less hardy acclimaters in my tank when I upgrade. Example would be a Hippo Tang. Could yoou describe a QT Process for delicate fish ? Thanks.

Help with lionfish! ASAP!!

yshurtleff — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:18:09 GMT

My salt tank has been up and running for about 2 years. 2 days ago I found my lionfish acting strange. I check all chems and salitity and found chems are fine temp was high @ 82 degreess and worse that our salitity had fallen to 1.014. Since then I have been adding salt and now have it at 1.020. My lionfish can't swim though. He tries but just gets pushed around by the current. His color is good, he just can't swim. I think that his swim bladder might have been messed up by the lack of salt in the tank ( equipment malfunction ). Please help if you can. I don't want to loose him. I have had him for about 6 months in a 55 gallon tank with 1 snowflake eel. Any help would be great.

Maroone Clownfish Fanning Tail

Sandtiger — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:33:05 GMT

I have a Maroone Clownfish that has been fanning its tail in the substrate lately.

What does this behavior indicate, if anything?