Sick Looking Regal!

[Puncture.uk]

Hi All,

I have just collected a shed-load of marine equipment and with it came a small 2' 'cube' tank (was going to chuck this away or use it as a hospital tank) and a Regal Tang. When I arrived at the seller's house he already had the fish bagged (please remember this was 'free' with the equipment) and at first I thought it was a different variety as it lacked a lot of the blue colouring.
Long story cut short... When I got everything home I plonked the bag in the tank to acclimatise and noticed how ill-looking this Tang was. If you can imagine a Regal with the colour sucked out of it you will have a picture of what this looks like. It's fins look a bit 'tatty' and it seems a bit on the thin side.
This fish was an unwanted 'freebie' but I would love to be able to nurse it better - any suggestions?

Sam

 

[AK77]

I'd be very careful about adding this fish to your display tank. Tangs are notorious for developing whitespot and are highly susceptible to it when stressed and in a weakened state. I'd suggest you quarantine the fish and nurse it back to health in a QT. The last thing you want is to introduce a fish with ich into your display tank as it can be a reaaaaaaaaaal nightmare to combat and can wipe out hundreds of pounds worth of fish.

Point in case.... me, 2 regal tangs and a copperband butterfly. 3 fish £110! Oh and I believe Ski had a similar experience too.

 

[pengy666]

Everyone says that you should avoid them like the plaque, I would just get into QT quick smart and get feeding, try Nori and so,e other mixtures of flake to get it going, I think inevitably it will die but at least it wont be in your main tank and you cant say you didnt try your best?

I havent heard of many regals dying due to whitespot??

 

[Puncture.uk]

Thank you both for your replies.

It doesn't seem to have the whitespot symptoms (yet) but it does look very 'skinny' and lacking a lot of colour - You can still make out the pattern but it looks like a picture which has been left out in the sun for 10 years.

I am going to clean out the (small... only 2') cube tank that came with the the equipment and use that as a hospital tank. Now, is there any special care I need to give it other than regular feeding? Should I buy another Cleaner Wrasse to go in his tank? Higher water temperature? Lower water temperature? Any treatments?

The Tang looks really sick (I'll take a photo ) - I'd be very lucky to able to get it back to A1 Health again. Other than the wishy-washy colouring, it also seems to have 'tatty' ends to its fins and a lot more discolouring around its face.

Sam

 

[shibby]

tatty fins and loss of colour arent usually a sign of ill health, alot of tangs rapidly loose there colour when stressed so in a stable stress free enviroment its colour will coem back soon. tatty ends are also not a major factor im lead to believe all read in 500 ways to be a better marine keeper this information. marine fish have excellent regenration so keep it well fed and happy and its fins should grow back. as for thin side just feed it up lots of seaweed myssis brine, and it should hopefully pull through


ps. every fish ive been told carries the whitepost parasite its just when there not so stressed it dosent show, so again keep it happy well fed and the parasites shouldnt rear up.

 

[Puncture.uk]

Hi Shibby,

I've noticed a few white spots on the Tang this morning and they seem to have spread a little now - Any advice / treatments?

Thanks, Sam

 

[shibby]

hyposalinity if its in a qt and keep it well fed!! there is a theory garlic and spirulina help out, not proven but it makes the fish want to eat more so therefore builds its strentgh.

you may just be looking to hard though! i always think i see white spots on my fish these days after having a massive outbreak of it just after i had started!

or i suppose in a qt tank you could use copper based medication. whatever you do dont make the same mistake i did and try and treat it with melafix and cleaner shrimps! melafix dosent work on parasites as i found out later and the cleaner shrimp didnt clean and got eaten