Yellow Tang showing red blotches

[jilewis]

I have a newly setup 90 gallon reef tank (4 months old). I use the "berlin" method with protien skimming, etc. Everything seems to be going fine. My salinity is 1.0235, temp 76, PH A.M 8.2, PH P.M. 8.27, ammonia 0, nitite 0, nitrate 0.2, alk 5, calcium 500ppm, iodine 0.06. Along with muliple corals, I have 135 lbs of well established live rock, 1 yellow tang, 1 flame angle, 1 watchman gold gobie, 1 holothia hilla, 1 banded coral shrimp, 1 serpant star, 1 blue tuxedo urchin and 25+ turbo snails. Everything is doing well except the yellow tang recently showed signs of these lateral maroonish redish blotches/splotches near his his tail fins and on his sides. I have been feed a variety of dried seaweed, many types of meaty foods, romain lettuce, etc. I'm pretty sure this is not a good thing.

Can any one help as to what this is and what I need to do to fix this problem? If you need more information please let me know

Thank You

 

[clwnphish]

My tang had this once back in my FO days. Do they look like small red veins? I can not remember the disease name, but do remember I used maracyn 2 to treat it.

 

[EmilyB]

I'm not familiar with diseased fish.

My best advice would be to get him on OSI spirulina flake, lots...with nori to nibble on all day.

Recheck that water. And I hope all goes well and someone can give more input.

 

[Emmitt]

Most likely a bacterial infection. You'll need to isolate the fish and treat with a gram negative antibiotic (like maracyn-two). Do not add antibiotics directly to your tank or you risk killing all the beneficial bacteria as they are gram negative also.

The sooner you do this the better chance you have of saving the fish. If you can get some Tetra medicated flakes (food), it may help if the infection is also internal.

Good luck.

 

[MattM]

Reddish blotches are a symptom of "septicemia," a blood-borne bacterial infection.

Treatment with antibiotics is recommended, but short of culturing the bacteria and testing different antibiotics, it's a coin-flip as to whether the agent you use will be effective on the particular pathogen responsible.