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| Kelly, I recently purchased a royal gramma, a pink spotted goby and a yellow tang from the local lfs. I put them in a 20 gal QT 1.021 sgu with a sponge filter. The yellow tang and the goby looked great after acclimatization but the Royal Gramma seemed to be struggling to breathe. after about 12 hours the RG was doing much better - But the goby got sucked into the powerhead (my rookie mistake plus I thought that he had jumped out) but was not removed from the tang for as much as 16 hours after that. The nitrogen went up to .4 and I discovered the the goby in the pump. The RG died the next day. After 3 days of regular water changes the N2 seemed to be down to .2 and dropping. Throughout all of this the Tang behaved well and appeared fine except for a small mark that looks like a scrape above the left gill. Now the tang has a cloudy left eye. What should I do about the cloudy eye? Tom
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| Tom mccl, Welcome to MarineDepot.com and this forum. Hats off to your good husbandry practice of quarantining. Sorry for your losses. Can you post a pic of the area above the left gill? Is the cloudy eye on the left side as well? The cloudy eye could be a result of the recent unstable water parameters. Did you have an ammonia spike or pH drop as well? The tang's immune system is stressed/compromised from the recent move to a new tank, unstable water parameters and a potential injury and possible bacterial infection. I would focus on pristine water conditions and trying to decrease stress. I would enrich the food with beta glucan, selcon and vitamins to boost the immune system. In light of the fact of recent stressors, possible injury versus bacterial infection and now a cloudy eye - you could be conservative - focus on water quality, decreasing stress and feeding enriched food. Or you could be aggressive and do everything in the "conservative approach as well as adding antibiotics. For antibiotics, I use maracyn - 2, kanamycin and nitrofurazone. Jungle has a medicated food "Anti-Bacteria" that contains nitrofurazone and sulfa. When feeding medicated food - only feed the medicated food as to make sure the fish gets enough antibiotics. If you opt for antibiotics, you must treat for 7 - 10 days even if the symptoms disappear so you do not partially treat and run the risk of the bacteria developing a resistance to the antibiotics and redeveloping. Again, welcome. Please provide updates. Best of luck.
Kelly
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The cloudy eye and the scrape, i.e., mark, are on the same side and fairly close together. I would not be surprised if the eye also made contact with whatever caused the mark (if it is a scrape).
The ammonia level did get up to about .6 but I have been able to keep it between .2 and .4 since then. The level seems to be going down now.
As far as feeding goes, I have not been able to observe eating yet. The fish does not notice food on the surface and has not been interested in pellets or flakes. I tried clipping a small piece of nori on and leaving it on the bottom. It may have eaten some but I am not sure. When he starts to eat, I will follow your reccomendations.
I will try to post a picture soon.
Thanks for your quick reply. I saw you speak in Cleveland at a CSEA meeting a few weeks ago and I left the meeting convinced that I should be quarintining new fish. But what about the fish already in the tank, 7 chromis and 2 oscellarus? They've all seemed very healthy from the get go and have been in the tank 3 months and 1.5 months respectively. Is it okay to assume that they did not bring any parasites into the tank?
Tom
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| Tom, Anytime you add anything wet to the display tank, you run the risk of introducing opportunistic pathogens (parasites, bacteria, fungus, etc). Just because your fish are not displaying symptoms, doen' mean that the display tank is free from pathogens. Your fish might have developed an "immunity/resistance", the fishes' immune systems are strong, the pathogen count is low, etc. The problem is if there is a stresssor or if a new fish is introduced that does not have a good immune system or resistance. To "prophylactically treat" the display tank for potential parasites - would include leaving the display tank fallow (fishless) for 4 - 6 weeks. The presence of ammonia (even if it is low) is causing stress and impairing the immune system. This will leave the fish vulnerable to opportunistic pathogens - so while the areas in question on the fish may be due to injury, they may not heal or will develop a secondary bacterial infection. Daily large water changes may be in order to keep water parameters pristine. What are you using for biological filtration? Elevated ammonia levels may be affecting the fish's appetite as well. Keep offering the nori as this is an important food/nutrient for tangs.
Kelly
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Kelly,
Thanks for the advice on treating "Bubbles" the tang. To answer your question, a sponge filter provides the biological filtration in the QT.
Before I go further, there was one major problem that had not been discovered when I did the last updat: the glass hydrometer I had been using was at reading at least .01 sgu to high. Therefore the actual specific gravity of the QT was about 1.029 (the sgu of my display tank was about 1.031 which probably explains some problems there). After correcting the specific gravity gradually, I observed the fish for a few days. Both eyes became cloudey and the brown marks spread to above his eyes to the front of the dorsal fin.
I treated with Maracyn-two for a five day treatment and noticed improvement in looks and behavior. He was eating Nori well and both eyes were almost clear. I continued the treatment for 5 more days according to the package instructions and the fish continued to improve.
But this weekend things have gone south. The N2 has shot up and does not seem to be impacted by the filter. Could the treatment have affected the bacteria that consumes nitrogen.
Bubbles now has two slightly popped-out eyes and seems to be unable to move away from the surface. His dorsal fin is slightly above the surface almost all of the time. Could this be a swim bladder problem? If so, is there a treatment?
I'll add an N2 scrubber in an HOB filter to try to control the nitrogen levels.
Thanks for your help.
Tom
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update:
As of about 1 PM the right eye was cloudy and a little more popped out, the fish appeared a little bloated and he was having an even harder time staying submerged. I have added a nitrogen scrubber to a HOB filter housing but have not started any other treatment.
Tonight I plan to check do a water change if necessary.
Tom
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| Tom, Most gram negative antibiotics (maracyn -2, nitrofurazone, kanamycin) - the ones that are needed to treat saltwater bacterial infections can/will affect the biological filtration. Immediately do a large (50 - 100%) water change. You may need to do it daily until the parameters/biological filtration catches up/recycles. In your previous post, you were having ammonia spikes, now nitrite..........it seems as if you filter was not cycled well before adding it to the QT and now perhaps the antibiotics have further affected it. The stress of the water conditions have affected the healing process as well as the immune system. I would recommend better control of the water parameters and treating with a different antibiotic and doing large water changes. Antibiotics work "better" in lower salinities. I usually will lower the salinity to at least 1.018 for antibiotic treatments. This also increases the oxygen levels and makes it easier for the fish to breath. Is the fish eating? Are you leaving food in the tank ? This could be contributing to the water conditions. Thanks for the update. Best of luck.
Kelly
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The fish was eating until 3 days ago (saturday) when he got worse. I have not offered food in the last 2 days and have done several massive water changes.
Should I wait for the filter to cycle again before I try a different antibiotic?
Thanks
Tom
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| Is the fish any worse today? Did the water changes help any with the eye or swimming? What are your current water parameters?
Kelly
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