Well, I've now got a problem

[Anonymous]

I've had 4 fish (blue and purple tangs, 2 maroons) for about 8 years and all have been healthy. Recently I got them a new 100g tank, and all was going well.

Then I added a couple of new fish.

The new ones are now both dead and my blue tang had what appeared to be ich (cryptocaryon or whatever it is called).

This is a reasonably stable reef tank and it would be almost impossible to move the tang to a treatment facility without ripping everything up, so I got garlic extract, soaked some flake food in it, and all the external symptoms have disappeared.

However, the fish either has parasites or damage on its eyes. It still sees to eat, but it is almost as if the parasites avoid the skin and now go for the eyes.

Has anyone ever seen anything like this?

I assume it is because the garlic doesn't help with eye infections.

I guess it is sort of interesting as an internal control for whether garlic extract actually does anything, but the novelty is wearing off, and this fish has been with us for a long time and I don't want it to croak. It is still eating ok, so I don't think it is blind.

 

[Len]

What are the symptoms on the eyes? Is it cloudy? Fish with ich can sometimes develop this symptom as well, and it takes longer to heal then then the parasites that attach to the scales. But it does slowly go away if the fish's immune system is not suppressed.

It may also be a secondary infection and have nothing to do with the original ich. Fish with ich often scratch on the rocks. Your tang might have accidentally scratched it's cornea, leading to a minor bacterial infection. Ideally, you'd administer gram negative antibiotics to be safe. But since you can't catch it without stressing everything, I'd just wait it out. These injuries usually heal on their own.

 

[Anonymous]

It might have just a scratch on the eye. One of my blue tangs had a white film over it's eye at one time and it went away in about a week. It was also around the same time that both my blue tangs had ich. They faired very well after I put the UV sterilizer on for about 30 days. All has been very well since.

Good luck SM!

Keep us updated.

 

[Anonymous]

The cloudiness is definitely associated with the onset of ich. I did see it scratching furiously a couple of days before I saw the ich parasites on the skin and eyes. It looks too uniform to be scratching, although obviously I can't rule it out.

Right now I am trying to cram as much high-grade food into the fish as I can, and am hoping to keep the others fit enough to fight off what obviously they all now have been exposed to.

I knew I should have never added anything new to this tank. The guy at the LFS thought I was an idiot to buy $35 worth of fish food to feed a fish that sells for that. But I've had the thing almost 8 years, so I've got to at least try.

Naturally, I have to go out of town this weekend.

 

[Len]

The cloudiness with scratches isn't the physical trauma, but rather bacteria getting into the fluid of the eye and causing a localized infection. This stuff heals though, and it's often not worth administering antibiotics unless you can remove the fish with ease (ie, no stress). But it could also be remnants of the ich. Keep it fed and happy and the fish can and should recover.

8 years is a long time to be with any animal, fish or otherwise I know the attachment.

 

[Anonymous]

It's behaving better now and can definitely still see.

In that other tank a couple months ago I thought I had killed a royal gramma and it is doing perfectly fine now, so I am an advocate of not messing around with them more than I have to.

I also spent about $2K to make this and the other tang happier in a proper sized tank, so it had better live. I raised it from a fish that was the size of a dime.

 

[Anonymous]

UV, call it a day.

---or----

rip up all your rock work trying to catch a fish.

 

[Anonymous]

I have a UV in the closet but I am so convinced it won't do anything that I haven't bothered to dig it out.

 

[bleedingthought]

It's in your closet and you're not going to give it a shot?

 

[Anonymous]

FWIW, I've tried, garlic, hypo, and all the other remedies....I've lost tons of fish in the past, and even let the tank fallow for well over 2 months. I added more fish after 2 months - and they came down with crypto again. I strapped on a 25W UV to my 55gallon tank, and those fish are still living today.
I don't run it 24/7 - it's off now because I didn't add fish in well over a year now. But it most certainly cleared up my issue.
Fool around with hypo, and watch your corals shrivel, etc. Add some garlic here and there if your fish will eat it. Then, after you're totally sick of losing fish, corals, and stressing out your inverts, strap one on and call it a day.

 

[mr_X]

would selcon be helpful? my maroon clown had a weird fungus on him, and i don't know if it was the lack of stress, or the fact that i administered food soaked selcon that corrected this issue. :?

 

[Anonymous]

FWIW, I've tried, garlic, hypo, and all the other remedies....I've lost tons of fish in the past, and even let the tank fallow for well over 2 months. I added more fish after 2 months - and they came down with crypto again. I strapped on a 25W UV to my 55gallon tank, and those fish are still living today.
I don't run it 24/7 - it's off now because I didn't add fish in well over a year now. But it most certainly cleared up my issue.
Fool around with hypo, and watch your corals shrivel, etc. Add some garlic here and there if your fish will eat it. Then, after you're totally sick of losing fish, corals, and stressing out your inverts, strap one on and call it a day.

Mine too!

 

[Anonymous]

Anyway, I think he is on the mend. Eyes look better today and he is battling successfully with the aggressive feeders.

I think the way UV works is to generate a small amount of ozone which in water becomes hydrogen peroxide, and that kills some stuff.

The other way UV works in principle is to kill bacteria directly by mutating their DNA (thymine dimer formation) but (a) this requires the bacteria to be in the water going through the tube, (b) the tube to be clean, (c) and the UV photorepair enzymes in the bacteria to not be able to keep up with the UV damage, which means a lot of UV. All other things being equal, it could help, but yeah, it is still in my closet.

I don't know if the garlic actually does anything. It seems to get the fish to feed more aggressively, which alone could help.

 

[Anonymous]

I still can't reconcile the content of my posts with my avetar.

:lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Although it looks kind of like the guy who sold me the garlic extract.

 

[Anonymous]

would selcon be helpful? my maroon clown had a weird fungus on him, and i don't know if it was the lack of stress, or the fact that i administered food soaked selcon that corrected this issue. :?

Yes, definitely.

My bottle looks too old and gnarly, but I bought some brine shrimp gut-fed on it, so I am using that at the moment.

 

[Newportreefer]

I like the garlic idea but In addition I would add some vitamin C: 100-150 mg/50 gal. system. When I had this problem a few years ago I bought a couple of Scarlet cleaner shrimp and put the UV on for a couple of weeks. Between them it seemed to get rid of the cysts and larval stages. I did not have that problem again.

 

[Anonymous]

I have had mixed success using Melafix for eye and fin infections in the past.

And yes I know that some study found Tea Tree oil may make a males boobs grow.

 

[Anonymous]

Why don't ya just put a Centrum pill in there. :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Well, of course as soon as I left for baltimore the other fish now have cloudy eyes too.

You just can't travel if you have an aquarium.