Help! Unknown disease

XCORROSIONX · 04-18-2008, 12:44 AM

We have lost a Racoon Butterfly, Foxface, and now close to loosing a yellow tang, and a sailfin tang..
They all seem to get dusty, not like ich, like a dust coating on their bodies and fins..
I gave the first 2 (foxface and butterfly) a fresh water bath..
(I just gave the tangs one as well..)
They seemed to be doing fine, then 3 days later.. Black spots indented into their bodys, then death..
Now i fear the same will happen for the tangs..
The water is fine, we have a regular clown, a blue damselfish, and a snowflake eel.. All alive after everything..
The tangs have inflamed gills (red inside), dusty bodys, and are gasping allot..
But like i said, the other fish are fine, and whatever the tangs, butterfly, or foxface had has had time to spread to the others, but hasn't..

The freshwater bath seemed to have cleaned them of everything.. But it just came back..

I plan on getting the water tested soon, but i don't think that's the problem..
Please help!

XCORROSIONX · 04-22-2008, 09:05 PM

They both died.. The clown, eel, and damsel are not affected what-so-ever..

Water quality was fine..

I'm going to treat the tank over the next month and pick up a uv sterilizer..

I was told it's almost impossible to kill a damsel, and the clown fish are almost immune to parasites cause of the extra slime coat for anemones..

As for the eel.. No clue why he's still alive..

The dusty coating on them was gone, but you can see the color change in them..

chadf · 04-22-2008, 09:51 PM

What are your water parameters?

Do you have anything working for you as far as gas exchange?

Could possibly be a fungus or bacteria.

XCORROSIONX · 04-22-2008, 10:05 PM

0 all down the chart, with a ph of 7.8..

We have a powerhead at the right side pushing the outflow of water to the intake on the left..

All fake ornaments.. All rock and sand is live..

chadf · 04-22-2008, 10:07 PM

That's a LOW ph, if you were to test at night it would be even lower.

unclejed · 04-25-2008, 02:19 PM

From your initial description it sounds like "velvet" disease and "black spot" disease. Maybe one led to other, next time you dip (hope you never have to) use Methylene Blue. I have had success with it. I will suggest that when you post and are asking for help or for ideas, please include all basic information. Basic information should include; all water parameters, size of tank and complete set up meaning, filter type (sump, canister etc.), let us know.

Tommy Gun · 04-25-2008, 11:05 PM

Hey XCORROSIONX - I am very sorry to hear about your troubles and your losses. If it matters at all, my guess would also be velvet and/or possibly blackspot disease...which could very well be a secondary issue caused by the pH so like chadf suggests, I would probably look into that further and double check pH at different times of the day and night.

Other than to agree with all of that, I also wanted to say that this might be a very good time for you to hold off on adding any new livestock if for no other reason than because you would be adding an already stressed out fish to an aquarium that might hold problems that are just searching for a host. (Or, with the best case scenario IMHO, quarantine new arrivals for an elongated period of time). To be very honest though, I have had a TON of problems with keeping tangs because they have all been ich magnets IME; even after a session in a quarantine tank. Obviously that doesn't mean you are sure to have the same sort of luck, but only to say that a tang might not be the best choice for your next fish purchase. Although I am sure that you probably know that already.