yellow tang, tattered fins, bloody eye

[cps68500]

This tang has been with me for over a year now. No problems to date. The past week he has not ate. I've tried recently a garlic bath, to no luck.

He has now started looking more translucent than yellow. His fins are starting to look all torn at the edges. He also has a bloody eye ball...

Parameters are perfect, and steady.

ph: 8.2
am: 0
nitrate: 0
nitrite: 0
temp: 78
calcium: 450
mag: 1500
alk: 9 dkh

 

[animal877]

how big is the tank? and what else is in there with him?

 

[cps68500]

it's a 75. I have a few corals.
lobo
plate
maze
bubble
polyps

fish:
2 sm clown fish
3 sm damsel
1 sm blue hippo

 

[jango]

Have you added anything new to the tank lately?

 

[reefsane88]

some thing is either biting him ,or he is dealing with some kinda internal bacteria . the bloody eye really concerns me also ,and im sorry to say but if you had this fish for one year i would check my steps in the last few days cus he wouldnt get like that out of nowhere .......oh and it came to my head its youre damsels thats what i think

 

[frank180reef]

yes maybe the damsels or maybe a rock fell on him? yes something did that one way or another

 

[inverted]

Sounds like a bacterial infection to me. I would probably qt and treat with antibiotics. However, usually these are somewhat related to water quality. How are the other fish in the tank doing?

 

[reefsane88]

i thought bacterial also becouse the eye ,his outer layer looks rather ok from the pic ,but it could be eating him from inside .

and the shreads at the end of his top fin make me think damsels (lil pita)

check out the sailfin in the 20 gallon


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrzJwemP5gk

 

[cps68500]

I have not added anything in the last 3 months (added a clam, forgot that in the livestock list)... They all have been together fine for at least 8 months now... I'm really thinking I need to qt him and give him antibiotics, but I not sure what to treat him for. Also, I have everything i need for a QT tank BUT some filtration of some sorts...

 

[cps68500]

...ps, everything else looks fantastic actually. This is what baffles me.

 

[inverted]

There are usually gram-positive and negative treatments, but figuring out what type of bacteria can be tricky. There are a few treatments, like Furan 2 or Maracyn, that are pretty broad spectrum though. You could try one of those first and see if there is any improvement. Someone else may have other ideas.

 

[animal877]

yea im thinking the damsels to. they are very frustrating!! i just got rid of mine cuz they went after all my fish

 

[cps68500]

Update:
I caught the hippo tang nipping at the fin on the yellow tang. I removed the yellow tang the next day and started to treat him in the QT tank. At first I started with a copper treatment and over the next two days he seemed to deteriorate. I kept up with the recommendations on the copper treatment and then started with erythromycin.... it's been a bit of time now in the QT tank and he's doing great! Still making a decision on whether to place him back in the tank ( after more strengthen time )...

 

[stingythingy45]

Can I ask what a "garlic bath"is?
Is this fish eating?
I'd sell the Hippo and just keep the YT if he survives.