Tomini tang hiding and not eating

[Zachary Hart]

Am I right thinking that the terra cotta pots I’ve got in there absorb copper? I’ve dosed the recommended amount and was at 0.39 yesterday (cupramine) and now it’s at 0.33 today. This is still within therapeutic range apparently but it’s still not supposed to go down is it. Aiming for 0.5

[Zachary Hart]

Does that look alright from a funtional standpoint. Enough pipe work for hiding spots

[Tamberav]

Honestly I wouldn't worry about the terracotta, I don't think the clay pots pose much of a problem. It could just be the test kit. they have a range of error. 

 

Accuracy - ±0.05 ppm ±5% of reading @ 25°C/77°F

[mcarroll]

I think your evidence has been very selectively analyzed so far.  

 

I don't see anyone so far considering anything other than disease explanations and medication based solutions.

 

As if that's all there was to consider.

 

EVEN THOUGH THERE HAS BEEN NO REAL SIGN OF DISEASE SO FAR.

 

🤔

 

From the top....

 

On 10/16/2022 at 10:58 AM, Zachary Hart said:

Hi again, I recently bought a tomini tang online and had it shipped to me on Wednesday (4 days ago). On the second day I tried feeding him and he ate pellets and frozen.

Clue #1:  Sick fish don't come out of the bag eating and acting normal.

 

On 10/16/2022 at 10:58 AM, Zachary Hart said:

The next day and every day since he has hidden in a pvc pipe and not come out for food or anything. Basically I haven’t seen him at all since the second day.

Clue #2:  A fish will hide and act funny if it's scared/stressed.  

 

Your tank is not a good tank for QT.  In particular for these fish, IMO.  Your tank is not like "a home" it is more like a prison cell.  Believe it or not, this matters.  (Hopefully that's easy to see.)

 

More on the QT tank below....

 

On 10/16/2022 at 10:58 AM, Zachary Hart said:

At the moment he is in a quarantine tank with a tailspot blenny from the same shipment which is doing fine, out and about and eating whatever I put in with no signs of disease. Any suggestions on what I should try next?  Parameters are all acceptable and I have a Seneye constantly monitoring ammonia which is reading 0.001. Thanks

Sadly this didn't seem to get validation from anyone.

 

Clue #3:  BOTH fish fine, other than hiding (which is expected after only 4 days).  

 

No actual signs of actual disease.

 

I HEAR YOU!!  🙂 There are still things we can improve on though!!  Keep reading...

 

On 10/16/2022 at 1:03 PM, Zachary Hart said:

It’s a 20 gallon long.

This is a good hospital/medication tank where the fish isn't going to be there more than a day in most cases.  

 

This is not a good QT tank where the fish may be in there for "weeks".  (possibly – not ideally)

 

Analogy:  I don't mind seeing my doctor in a little 9x11 exam room.   But I wouldn't want to stay there overnight!  Let alone would I want to be forced to stay there a few days/weeks/months!!!!!

 

At minimum, rip out 80% of those decorations and replace them with a few naturalistic cues such as a piece or two of decent live rock and some fake plants.

 

 

On 10/18/2022 at 10:07 AM, Zachary Hart said:

Yeah I turned off the pump yesterday because I thought it may be that. And I think it was because as I say he is now slightly more confident and interested in food. 

Yes!

 

I love instant positive feedback to removing stresses like this.  There can be so much doubt sometimes, so it's nice!

 

 

On 10/18/2022 at 11:53 AM, Zachary Hart said:

Just tried feeding some  algae flakes again which he is now eating. Not that enthusiastically but it’s better than nothing seeing as his stomach will have shrunk from not eating for 5 days

An BOOM there you have it....eating almost immediately after removing a stress.  👍

 

This is not coincidence.  He had a chance to progress a little bit!!

 

 

On 10/21/2022 at 11:09 AM, Zachary Hart said:

Update:

both the tailspot and tang are still eating a bit of mysis and flake however they are breathing faster than I think they should be.

Still in a stressful little holding tank, so not surprising.  The fact that they are still eating is virtually everything that matters.

 

On 10/21/2022 at 11:09 AM, Zachary Hart said:

As part of my quarantine procedure I added fluke solve which is the UK equivalent to prazi pro as a precaution and put the air stone back on.

Ack....bad move IMO.  Adding two stresses.

 

You do not medicate as a precaution, BTW.  I know you're see folks around here and other similar places advocating it sometimes, but it is unsound (and unnecessary) practice.  

 

(There are better alternatives if you really do want to hedge against what risk there really actually is.  Meds are not the way for this.)

 

 

On 10/21/2022 at 11:09 AM, Zachary Hart said:

it’s been about 3 days since I dosed the prazi and theyre still breathing heavy. Do you think maybe it wasn’t flukes?

🧐You asked IMO because I think you're pretty confident that it was not flukes.   I am confident as well – though your judgement is worth at least as much as any of ours.  (Nobody ever saw flukes after all!!!  How'd that even get into the discussion?)

 

 

On 10/21/2022 at 11:09 AM, Zachary Hart said:

What else causes heavy breathing. I’m pretty sure there’s enough oxygen in the tank as I have a screen lid and powerhead pointed at the surface with an airstone. Ammonia is 0.001 and nitrates are 10. Thanks

You were able to rattle off two possibilities without trying (or at least you made it look easy!! 😉).

 

So you probably won't be surprised to see me stay that LOTS OF THINGS can cause rapid breathing.

 

Including stress and medications.

 

Hm....those are things WE'VE BEEN ADDING TO THE TANK.

 

 

On 10/21/2022 at 7:05 PM, Zachary Hart said:

Wouldn’t velvet show itself quickly? As in wouldn’t heavy breathing be accompanied by the white dots or is the heavy breathing like a warning sign of what’s coming

You are correct in your overall assessment – you need a combination of clues in order to reach any conclusion like this.

 

So far that combination is not happening in your situation – and we're 9 days in by now.  If your fish were succumbing to some disease, it would have progressed in some meaningful way by now.

 

That means if ("IF"!!!!) there ever was a disease, that by now it is being defeated by the fishes' own immune systems.  This is the typical outcome for fish that aren't HORRIBLY overrun by some kind of disease organism on the day you get them.  Which yours were not – they seemed "fine" from Day 1.

 

 

On 10/21/2022 at 8:15 PM, Zachary Hart said:

Do you think to be on the safe side I should do a water change, run carbon etc to get rid of prazi and then do a run of copper treatment?

What the ABCDEFG????  No!  Based on what??

 

I can get with the carbon and water change, but that's to eliminate the meds from the environment and ONLY for that reason.

 

On 10/22/2022 at 4:43 AM, Zachary Hart said:

the tangs still shy but here’s a video of the blenny. Tang isn’t breathing as fast 

I don't see a problem per se in the vid.   And now the Tang's breathing is looking better.

 

This should be great!!!!

 

 

On 10/22/2022 at 4:45 AM, Zachary Hart said:

Also noticing the tang sort of twitching its dorsal fins a bit. No scratching yet 

Yet?  During QT, we are trying to remain observational rather than being anticipatory.   If you anticipate too hard, you can cause what you're anticipating.....this is true not just in reef tanks and fish keeping.

 

Fish twitch their fins for no reason sometimes.  But they may especially do so if they are feeling stressed as they would be in your tank, under medication.

 

On 10/22/2022 at 10:40 AM, Zachary Hart said:

Alright I ran carbon overnight and now I’m dosing cupramine. There are no visible signs like you say. Not even scratching just the twitching from the tang. Hopefully copper will sort whatever it is out. 

Gah!??   What nonsense is that???  

 

No signs - not even scratching!!??

 

😕

 

IMO you have caused all the "problems" that you're seeing so far.   Thankfully, the "problems" so far are very minor and the fish still don't seem to be too much worse for the wear.  But there are limits to what harsh treatment they can take before breaking.  

 

So I would end this medication/QT regime ASAP, return water quality to normal as quickly as possible, make as many of the suggested improvements as possible, and get back to simply observing these fish for a few days (or whatever timeframe you judge) before they go into the display tank.

 

Which begs the questions about the display tank where these fish are going:  What kind of tank is waiting for these fish when they are done in QT?  (Size, age, setup, et al?)

[Zachary Hart]

Ok a lot to take In there. So you’re saying that I should now put in carbon and do a water change and then just continue monitoring them. What would you suggest for a quarantine tank if you say that mine is unsuitable. Bearing in mind the tang is only 1 inch 

[Zachary Hart]

They’re each going in a different tank. I have a nano IM 20 for the blenny and a reefer 350 for the tang. Both set up around the same time in June. 

[mcarroll]

8 hours ago, Zachary Hart said:

Ok a lot to take In there. So you’re saying that I should now put in carbon and do a water change and then just continue monitoring them. What would you suggest for a quarantine tank if you say that mine is unsuitable. Bearing in mind the tang is only 1 inch 

The easy stuff I mentioned – replacing most of the decorations you have with a piece or two of decent live rock and some fake plants – and the removal of the air stone which you had done before.   Those are easy.  👍

 

If the Tang is that small, then the QT tank itself is probably fine.

 

8 hours ago, Zachary Hart said:

They’re each going in a different tank. I have a nano IM 20 for the blenny and a reefer 350 for the tang. Both set up around the same time in June. 

It's nice they've been running for a little while.  Are there already fish, cleanup crew, corals, etc there?  Or what are things like in each tank?  (I didn't see any threads on them.)

[Zachary Hart]

Yep in the 350 I’ve got a mcoskers wrasse, peacock wrasse, 2 clowns, Midas blenny, red hawk fish and crocea clam. It’s going to be an sps dominated tank as this will be my third tank and I wanted to try something harder. Got about 6 Acro frags and a couple plating montipora (on opposite sides of the tank to stop them touching). 
in the IM I’ve got a pistol shrimp and goby pair as well as a pair of flurry clownfish which are doing great. A rock covered in zoas from my old tank and a torch coral and some frag clippings from the sps tank

[Zachary Hart]

Got some cyano but this is the IM tank. In the middle at the back is a hammer coral that I got about a month ago now. For some reason it’s never fully opened up but it is still alive with no tissue recession. I have anemones and a torch coral in here also which opens up really well so I’m a little confused as to why it isn’t. I was thinking of moving it downstairs into the main tank just to get it a little more established

[Tamberav]

Maybe just need to decide how you want to QT. Many people do it successfully different ways. 
 

Some people treat all fish with meds. 

 

But some people do observation as mcarroll is suggesting which is fine if that’s what you want to do. 
 

They all have positives and negatives to them. 
 

I used to put fish in a observation tank with rock and it worked great for years but it has failed me many times the last year or two so I treat all my fish with hybrid tank transfer now. Fish at my LFS or just carrying too much crap these days. 

[mcarroll]

22 hours ago, Zachary Hart said:

Got some cyano but this is the IM tank. In the middle at the back is a hammer coral that I got about a month ago now. For some reason it’s never fully opened up but it is still alive with no tissue recession. I have anemones and a torch coral in here also which opens up really well so I’m a little confused as to why it isn’t.

What are your NO3 and PO4 tests showing?   (Also the rest of the numbers you log....including salinity?)

 

Cyano suggests your nutrient levels may be out of whack.  Along with the corals not opening, I'd guess you have low PO4 levels, for one thing.  (Low near zero is bad.  ≥0.05 ppm is good.  More is better IMO.)

 

22 hours ago, Zachary Hart said:

I was thinking of moving it downstairs into the main tank just to get it a little more established

Corals don't really like to move, so I'd take other measures unless you just want that coral in the other tank, regardless of this situation.

 

22 hours ago, Zachary Hart said:

Looks nice IMO!!  👍

 

However it does look a bit over-clean for 6 months old.   Has there been any sign of green hair algae or coralline?

 

11 hours ago, Tamberav said:

Fish at my LFS or just carrying too much crap these days. 

It matters how they are caring for their fish before you buy them.  

 

Being local (vs purchased online, from far away), that's one big advantage to you.  

 

But if the fish are treated poorly at the LFS (which should be a haven of recovery), then that's a pretty big disadvantage to you.

 

In that scenario, I would not buy out of their tanks (ideally, find a better store).  

 

Instead see if the LFS would pre-sell you fish from a new order.  Then you show up on shipping day and just take them home straight out of shipping from the wholesaler, before they even hit the retailer's tank, ideally before the even cut open the shipping bag.  

 

You're still getting highly stressed fish along with the possibility of a higher average mortality rate (due to long distance shipping and associated handling), but at least you take control of handling and everything else ASAP.  This can be a huge leverage point in your favor.

 

HOWEVER, this does put more responsibilities on you – for one example, understanding how ammonia works in shipping bags.  

 

You can definitely do things wrong with new fish by following conventional hobby wisdom....things your LFS might even be doing wrong as well.   (Sometimes they learn from the forums too.)

• https://srac.tamu.edu is a great FREE resource of scientifically valid methods for aquaculture – including ornamental displays like ours.  (They cover all areas of aquaculture, so you will have to sort through to find the relevant info.)  
• Sustainable Aquatics still has an excellent, very detailed white paper online about acclimation, just to nail down one subject.  
• If you are going to attempt to use any kind of treatment for your fish, I highly suggest the Edward Noga book on fish disease rather than the guidance you find online.   There is overlap (you'll recognize things you've read online), but hobby advice tends to be biased and inconsistent relative to what you'll read there....and not biased in a beneficial way.
• My suggestion:
  At home with your new pre-retail fish: first do a freshwater dip; add them to your "naturalistic" QT (w/rock and fake plants) or to the display tank; in either case, add them along with strong UV and micron filtration....possibly along with reef-safe chemical treatments, if called for.  Freshwater dip, UV and micron filtration are ALL very under-appreciated and underestimated, generally speaking.  Only rarely should stronger interventions, such as copper, be necessary.  At the rate you'd acquire fish at home, it should be very close to zero – very unlikely.

 

Experience like you describe tells me your LFS could be doing some things better or differently.   My guess would be that they are a high-density setup and do nothing to compensate for it other than running low levels (sub-therapeutic) of copper.  That's not the only "bad formula" out there (could even just be lack of overall TLC), but low-copper seems to be more common than it should be.  Of course, keeping fish at high density levels is problematic to begin with – less is more.

 

 

[Tamberav]

2 hours ago, mcarroll said:

What are your NO3 and PO4 tests showing?   (Also the rest of the numbers you log....including salinity?)

 

Cyano suggests your nutrient levels may be out of whack.  Along with the corals not opening, I'd guess you have low PO4 levels, for one thing.  (Low near zero is bad.  ≥0.05 ppm is good.  More is better IMO.)

 

Corals don't really like to move, so I'd take other measures unless you just want that coral in the other tank, regardless of this situation.

 

Looks nice IMO!!  👍

 

However it does look a bit over-clean for 6 months old.   Has there been any sign of green hair algae or coralline?

 

It matters how they are caring for their fish before you buy them.  

 

Being local (vs purchased online, from far away), that's one big advantage to you.  

 

But if the fish are treated poorly at the LFS (which should be a haven of recovery), then that's a pretty big disadvantage to you.

 

In that scenario, I would not buy out of their tanks (ideally, find a better store).  

 

Instead see if the LFS would pre-sell you fish from a new order.  Then you show up on shipping day and just take them home straight out of shipping from the wholesaler, before they even hit the retailer's tank, ideally before the even cut open the shipping bag.  

 

You're still getting highly stressed fish along with the possibility of a higher average mortality rate (due to long distance shipping and associated handling), but at least you take control of handling and everything else ASAP.  This can be a huge leverage point in your favor.

 

HOWEVER, this does put more responsibilities on you – for one example, understanding how ammonia works in shipping bags.  

 

You can definitely do things wrong with new fish by following conventional hobby wisdom....things your LFS might even be doing wrong as well.   (Sometimes they learn from the forums too.)

• https://srac.tamu.edu is a great FREE resource of scientifically valid methods for aquaculture – including ornamental displays like ours.  (They cover all areas of aquaculture, so you will have to sort through to find the relevant info.)  
• Sustainable Aquatics still has an excellent, very detailed white paper online about acclimation, just to nail down one subject.  
• If you are going to attempt to use any kind of treatment for your fish, I highly suggest the Edward Noga book on fish disease rather than the guidance you find online.   There is overlap (you'll recognize things you've read online), but hobby advice tends to be biased and inconsistent relative to what you'll read there....and not biased in a beneficial way.
• My suggestion:
  At home with your new pre-retail fish: first do a freshwater dip; add them to your "naturalistic" QT (w/rock and fake plants) or to the display tank; in either case, add them along with strong UV and micron filtration....possibly along with reef-safe chemical treatments, if called for.  Freshwater dip, UV and micron filtration are ALL very under-appreciated and underestimated, generally speaking.  Only rarely should stronger interventions, such as copper, be necessary.  At the rate you'd acquire fish at home, it should be very close to zero – very unlikely.

 

Experience like you describe tells me your LFS could be doing some things better or differently.   My guess would be that they are a high-density setup and do nothing to compensate for it other than running low levels (sub-therapeutic) of copper.  That's not the only "bad formula" out there (could even just be lack of overall TLC), but low-copper seems to be more common than it should be.  Of course, keeping fish at high density levels is problematic to begin with – less is more.

 

 

 

My LFS prices and selection makes them very popular. They come from the wholesalers looking like absolute garbage often and there is very fast turn around at my LFS. They will hold for 3 days but no longer. The fish often sell in a few days after they arrive, no safe haven. They are a family owned place and I love them, they have given me great deals and give good $$ on coral trade ins. Yes, they flip fish... and they are the store I want to use as they get what I want at the prices I want. 

 

We have stores that do full QT and hold on to fish longer but selection is just mostly common stuff and prices are higher save for one that has low overhead. 

 

The thing is I keep things like leopard wrasses, copperbands, multibar angel, and anampses wrasse. The places that treat the fish to a spa don't really order/get these. They get the gobies, royal grammas, common tangs, clowns, etc.

 

It makes sense... they probably lose too many 'difficult' fish since they don't flip them right away... so it makes no sense to order them as a dead fish is lost profit. 

 

Most of the time, I don't want those common fish though 🙂 

 

I do grab fish when they are in the bag when I can but I don't have the leisure of being able to just go to the store specific days/times. That being said, some of the fish are already bad from the wholesaler, it isn't my LFS. They might be skinny or some have marks or just really small specimens that don't do well being caught in the wild because they have no fat reserves for transit. 

 

So I QT ALL of my fish.... all of these 'expert only' fish.. and I don't always succeed but most of the time I do (or I would be broke). 

 

QT'ing is just like reefing in that you get better at it in time as you learn how to do things better. With experience comes greater success. 

 

FYI, I wasn't trying to push Zach in any specific direction. I just was just providing information. 

[mcarroll]

On 10/27/2022 at 2:58 PM, Tamberav said:

Yes, they flip fish... and they are the store I want to use as they get what I want at the prices I want.

Sounds like a good candidate for getting the fish before they hit their tanks then.....if they'll allow it.   👍

 

On 10/27/2022 at 2:58 PM, Tamberav said:

It makes sense... they probably lose too many 'difficult' fish since they don't flip them right away... so it makes no sense to order them as a dead fish is lost profit. 

It's true on multiple fronts...."difficult" fish aren't generally popular AND they are delicate.....best case scenario is that they are an ongoing cost and constant worry....not really good business to begin with – but especially if the store doesn't really know what they are doing.  

 

On 10/27/2022 at 2:58 PM, Tamberav said:

FYI, I wasn't trying to push Zach in any specific direction. I just was just providing information. 

It's all good.  👍

[Zachary Hart]

hi, sorry it’s been a while I’ve just been monitoring without medications. A couple days ago in noticed the blenny start flashing on the pipework. I knew that wasn’t anything good but I thought I should wait until other symptoms appear because treating purely on scratching would’ve led me down the copper route. He’s now got a largish white patch on the side of him near the gill (I’ll try and get a photo later). So I think it’s either a bacterial infection or flukes. But seeing how I treated prazi on this tank not too long ago I think it may be bacteria. Tang is doing ok still and no scratching. 

[Zachary Hart]

[mcarroll]

Ew!  

 

At least from the pic it doesn't look like something that's on him....looks more like a part of him.

 

Maybe caused by the flashing....something in these must have a sharp edge.   One of the pipes, maybe even the tank trim if he's taken any runs at the surface....hard to know for sure unless you've had LOTS of time to watch the tank. (Can't tell at all from a pic tho....lol.)

 

If I recall correctly, Blennies may also have more of a skin rather than scales...so this might be something like a bruise.

 

How has water quality been?  Any detectable ammonia?  Can you fill us in on anything that happened between now and your last comment on 10/26?  Did the fish seem to improve or get worse in any other ways?  All the details matter in QT.

 

I don't like seeing fish take extended stays in such bare tanks....a day or two for a treatment is one thing.  Bare tanks are inherently unstable, and somewhat stressful in and of themselves.

[Zachary Hart]

Ok well I’ve just put some anti bacterial medication because even if the mark wasn’t caused by bacteria it might get infected now.  But it’s weird because it wasn’t there at all yesterday from what I saw but I was at uni so didn’t have long to observe. Tang is now eating readily Hikari pellets that I feed my main tank and still eats the algae flakes, also no sign of mark like blenny. Still hides for most of the day though. Water quality seems to be ok according to Seneye however food that the fish don’t eat settles on the floor and I can’t siphon it out because the tank is on the floor, so nitrate was getting a little higher. Otherwise, the blenny has coloured up nicely over the last few days and tang sometimes comes out and nips around at the floor and pvc. 

[Tired]

What kind of anti-bacterial medication? If it's specifically antibiotics, you really need to be careful with those. 

 

Poor lil guy. 

[mcarroll]

8 hours ago, Zachary Hart said:

however food that the fish don’t eat settles on the floor and I can’t siphon it out because the tank is on the floor, so nitrate was getting a little higher.

Sounds like something I would do to myself.   "Note to self:  Next time – cinder blocks!"  😄

 

Makes more work for you, and requires a bit more vigilance from you to watch ammonia....but maybe no big deal.  

 

8 hours ago, Zachary Hart said:

Otherwise, the blenny has coloured up nicely over the last few days and tang sometimes comes out and nips around at the floor and pvc. 

If the Blenny doesn't have any parasites showing and is no longer regularly doing the flashing, the mark in the photos may have been simply from brushing up against something in the tank with a sharp edge.  The irritation from such a "bump" may have even been causing the flashing behavior rather than vis versa.  Once the wound "calmed down" and started to heal, I imagine he would stop flashing.

 

BTW, Combtooth Blennies such as your Tailspot are scaleless fish.  (Scales = armor.)  

 

A surface injury ('tis but a flesh wound!) seems like it could certainly present like this in a scaleless fish....think of "rug burns" on people skin.  Not likely to be life threatening, or risk of getting worse/infected...(this one doesn't look like an open wound).....but still looks like h*ll unit it heals up.  Just how skin works. 🤷‍♂️

 

The fishes own slime coat should keep the wound protected and promote rapid healing as long as he isn't too stressed out or malnourished, etc.  

 

And being a scaleless, bottom dwelling reef fish, I bet he's got a gnarly slime coat.  This is good!  

 

Being scaleless also means that all the symptoms you were seeing could easily have been from irritation by meds.  Be wary of using any more meds while this guy is around.

[Zachary Hart]

10 hours ago, Tired said:

What kind of anti-bacterial medication? If it's specifically antibiotics, you really need to be careful with those. 

 

Poor lil guy. 

Nt Labs anti bacterial

 

 

 

3 hours ago, mcarroll said:

Sounds like something I would do to myself.   "Note to self:  Next time – cinder blocks!"  😄

 

Makes more work for you, and requires a bit more vigilance from you to watch ammonia....but maybe no big deal.  

 

If the Blenny doesn't have any parasites showing and is no longer regularly doing the flashing, the mark in the photos may have been simply from brushing up against something in the tank with a sharp edge.  The irritation from such a "bump" may have even been causing the flashing behavior rather than vis versa.  Once the wound "calmed down" and started to heal, I imagine he would stop flashing.

 

BTW, Combtooth Blennies such as your Tailspot are scaleless fish.  (Scales = armor.)  

 

A surface injury ('tis but a flesh wound!) seems like it could certainly present like this in a scaleless fish....think of "rug burns" on people skin.  Not likely to be life threatening, or risk of getting worse/infected...(this one doesn't look like an open wound).....but still looks like h*ll unit it heals up.  Just how skin works. 🤷‍♂️

 

The fishes own slime coat should keep the wound protected and promote rapid healing as long as he isn't too stressed out or malnourished, etc.  

 

And being a scaleless, bottom dwelling reef fish, I bet he's got a gnarly slime coat.  This is good!  

 

Being scaleless also means that all the symptoms you were seeing could easily have been from irritation by meds.  Be wary of using any more meds while this guy is around.

The mark seems to have gotten a bit smaller so whether that was due to the antibiotics or the fish’s own immune system is a mystery but I don’t think it hurt adding the antibiotics just in case. Will continue with antibiotics in the tank for the recommended course length. Both fish were out this morning swimming around together and picking at algae that has grown 

[Tamberav]

Haven’t used that med but every fish I ever treated with antibiotics sailed through it easily. If he is eating, that is a good sign. I would just watch for redness. Fish heal quickly if it’s not infected. 

[rimga123]

I may have missed it if someone already said it, but I would recommend feeding your fish best quality food you can get while in quarantine (and out of course), something with infused garlic may be a good idea as well to help with the immune system,

[Tired]

What I meant about being careful with the antibiotics was that antibiotic resistance is a terrifying thing, so any course started with antibiotics NEEDS to be finished properly, in order to reduce the risk of antibiotic-resistant bacteria surviving. Bacteria can pass genes on to each other, so a harmless strain of bacteria that becomes antibiotic-resistant can pass that resistance to pathogenic bacteria, It's good the fish seem to be doing well, but make sure to complete that course properly, and take all recommended precautions against antibiotic resistance. 

 

It's important to remember that, with both animal and human medication, antibiotic treatment shouldn't stop just because symptoms go away. People stopping their antibiotics with a few pills left because they feel fine now is believed to be one of the leading causes of worsening antibiotic resistance, along with "oh, I don't feel well, I'll take a couple of these pills left over from last time". 

[mcarroll]

7 hours ago, Zachary Hart said:

Nt Labs anti bacterial

Quote

Active Ingredients: Acriflavine 26.7 mg/100 ml, 9-Aminoacridine HCl 26.7 mg/100 ml, Formaldehyde 754 mg/100 ml

You have an itchy trigger finger!

 

No hard feelings.....just saying so you know.

 

Even if it's being done in retrospect, please do what you can to find out if the good folks at NT Labs have any specific recommendations for scaleless fish like your Blenny.  

 

It's good that you haven't noticed any immediate negative reaction, but remember that stresses are cumulative over time.  👍

 

 BTW, you might soak that itchy finger in the tank water and see if any of those meds help. 😉 😇

 

Some info from Noga's book on fish disease:

Quote

ACRIFLAVIN

Acriflavin is a mixture of euflavine and proflavine. It is potentially mutagenic and is an irritant.
Use: Treatment of bacterial, water mold, or parasitic

infections/infestations of aquarium fish. This agent has been used frequently in the aquarium trade, but there is a considerable resistance by common fish bac- terial pathogens, and there are other, more effective agents for treating water molds and ectoparasites. At high doses, it might inhibit normal swim bladder infla- tion in developing fry (Sanabria et al. 2009).

 

No info on the 2nd chemical.  

 

Quote

FORMALIN

[....]

Formalin is contraindicated if fish have been recently stressed (e.g., transported, shipped) or if skin ulcers are present. Used formalin solutions should be diluted to at least 25ppm before discarding.

The entry on Formain is long and the concern above is repeated in several ways....it's irritating to fish.

 

Formalin can also make your ammonia tests not work properly – BE WARNED.

 

Not sure if any of this is included with your literature from NT Labs.  😬

 

Here's the book I'm referring to:

https://g.co/kgs/J2QKSU

 

Highly recommended to anyone who's going to attempt to QT their own fish.   You can usually get a used copy for around $100.  It's in electronic format too if you search.

[mcarroll]

Wikipedia says this about the 2nd chemical:

Quote

9-Aminoacridine is a highly fluorescent dye used clinically as a topical antiseptic and experimentally as a mutagen, an intracellular pH indicator and a small molecule MALDI matrix.^[1]

 

Looking through NT Labs' online FAQ it seems like they only cater to folks with ponds.  🤷‍♂️