Please help with my Blonde Naso Tang...

[donnales]

I have a question concerning our Blonde Naso Tang...

We have had her close to a year now. She survived Katrina and being in water temps in the 90's. She survived the seven and a half hour move to Dallas... and all of a sudden... she has stopped eating!

The only thing we can attribute this to is a new RBTA that we put in the tank earlier this past week.

The RBTA is ummm *huge* ... like at least 10" accross. I remember a while back when we tried rescueing a rose from a friend, Betty B. dove in for food and got stung. Her mouth went 90 mph but she never skipped a feeding.

She didn't eat last night nor today... though she is quite the lil fattie... I am very concerned. Her behavior is strange. She's not hiding but knowing her behavior...she is definitely stressed as she is not her normal color, her mouth is moving 90 mph again. She is swimming around, however... she will go to the opposite site of the tank looking towards the XL RBTA. Then she will swim the length of the tank but when she approaches the Anemone Island... she swims low and cautious... almost looks like she's trying to avoid it.

She loves eating out of my hand and won't even do that.

Just did a series of water tests and they all checked out. I know some of you may ask.

I don't see any visible spots, internal bumps, specs, cysts or anything to raise a red flag.

Any suggestions???

I'm just taking a stab at the whole RBTA thing because that's the only change we have had to the tank in the recent weeks.

I appreciate any help or input that yall may have.::::::::::::
__________________________________________________

As of today, it's been 6 full days that she has not eaten. Yesterday, she tried... but it almost seemed she had a sore throat as she went after a piece of mysis but spit it back out... other than that one try...she hasn't even attempted to eat.

6 days after not eating... her belly looks very lumpy on both sides. She is still swimming around the tank and very active.... but won't eat.

My thought is that is has to be something internal. I am putting her in our 40g Qt tomorrow but I need to know what to treat her for. Can someone help me?

She is swimming around fine, patroling her tank... her mouth isn't moving 90mph any longer, no hiding, no eratic breathing, no glancing off the rocks.

The other fish are all eating and seem fine. I'm very concerned.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Please help!

Thanks!

 

[jsmkmavity]

sounds like she got a sting in the mouth from the rose or maybe a bristleworm. they can easily go this long without eating but if she doesnt eat soon she will have a hard time recovering. if the problem is something else it needs treated immediately! if you have a qt tank you could treat her there with a broad spectrum treatment of your preferred type. if she stays in the main tank try feeding SMALL live food for a while like meal worms, black worms- not too much or too often, its not really a good diet, or newly hatched brine shrimp or mysis or something similar, you could even feed mosquito larvae if you go to a pond and scoop some up with a small fish net! small and live is the key! small for possible injured mouth- live to encourage feeding response! good luck and keep us posted!

 

[donnales]

thanks jsmlmavity! I just added some pictures in my gallery to show yall what kind of shape she's in after 6 days of not eating. The lumps in her belly don't look good. She is going in QT tomorrow... getting ready to set it back up and seed it with some tank water...we have a 60g drum full of fresh rodi, airated, with salt and heated...ready to go!

Any suggestions as to what I should medicate her with? I purchased some today and the LFS said it was a good *all around* treatment. It's out in my jeep... next trip out... I'll post the name. EDIT::: Got it::: it's Seachem KanaPlex...??? I've been lucky as my fish have always been healthy... for the most part... never had to use a product such as this one. Is it the right thing to use?

Thanks,

donna

 

[steve-s]

I actually wouldn't suggest treating the tang at all. With no visible symptoms other than not eating, what would you be treating? A gunshot approach can be worse than doing nothing sometimes.

I would focus on trying to alternate the food types, sizes and texture to see if anything will entice the tang. If it was stung in the mouth, it can take anywhere from a few days to a week or two to recover.

Things to attempt would be nori, brown algae wafers, very well blanched broccoli, slightly frozen fresh spinach leaves, softened shelled peas and adding vitamin B12 to the water. Watch the water specs to be sure they stay high and that you do not see anything ominous develope.

Do you have a cycled QT?

Cheers
Steve

 

[donnales]

We have 2 QT's, 1 40g that we just took down to clean and had a 10g QT cycled... then last night our Reidi's had a brood of fry so we had to make it a nursery.

We can seed the 40g w/water from the 90g and add fresh saltwater made with RODI. I can have it up tomorrow.

Steve, did you have a chance to look at the BNT in my gallery? Her tummy is very lumpy. Aagain tonight... she is swimming around, patroling her tank... but not eating.

I offered Nori which she adores... small mysis shrimp, emerald entree and frozen cyclopeez tonight... she just looked the other way.

Tomorrow will be day *7* without food.

Thank you very much for your reply,

donna

 

[steve-s]

Yikes, sorry i did not see that. I read the first part of your post....

I don't see any visible spots, internal bumps, specs, cysts or anything to raise a red flag.

I gleened from that there was no sign of any issues other than a lost appetite.

How fast has this progressed and can you have that QT up tonight? Have you seen anykind of feces output? Are you seeing any redness near the base of the tail?

If you use the Kanaplex which I would suggest, disregard Seachem dosage recommendation. It's far too weak. In a 40 gal tank, use 4 grams (22 scoops). 1 scoops (180 mg) per 5 gal of water will not be strong enough for an internal infection.

Cheers
Steve

 

[jsmkmavity]

its hard to tell from the pics but number one looks like something other than an empty stomach and beyond my expertice. number 2 looks ok for a side view, tangs are use to grazing constantly and it doesnt take long for the stomach area to look sunken. this type is less noticeable than a yellow or other rounder slimmer ones. your tang seems to have enough body mass to survive a week or two with little or no food but the sooner it eats the better. live foods can sometimes stimulate a feeding response even when its not the proper diet for a fish enen when all the usuall favorites fail. the key here IMO it to figure out what the problem really is and treat that. the best i can do here is guess. hope this helps and maybe better reefers might recognize symptoms i have missed. keep us posted.

 

[donnales]

There is no redness near the base of her tail. I have not seen any feces output. This began over the last week when I intro'd a new and huge RBTA to the tank. Thought she got stung as her mouth was moving 90 mph and she'd position herself approx 6 inches from the Anemone and just stare at it. After 3 days, her mouth quit moving so quickly...but the lumps in her belly began showing.

Thank yall soo much! We're just getting ready to restart the 40g. She'll be out of the 90g later today and will start treatment immediately following. Will keep yall posted.

Anything else yall recommend?

 

[BTTRFLYGRL]

Hey there! Good to see you here..I told you Steve is VERY helpfull! Hopefully Betty B will be back to her ole self!
Kim

 

[steve-s]

Anything else yall recommend?

Drop the salinity in the QT to help with appetite and reduce enegry consumption in the fish. Without feeding, it will need all the help it can get. Be sure if the fish ever does start showing interest in foods, you soak some of the med in the food prior to feeding. Injesting the med is always more effective.

Please update by Mon-Tue with any progress or not. Sooner if there's something else.

Cheers
Steve

 

[donnales]

Hey there! Good to see you here..I told you Steve is VERY helpfull! Hopefully Betty B will be back to her ole self!
Kim

Thanks Kim!

She is in the hospital tank after a battle to get her out of the main. She seems a little confused, which is to be expected. I just treated with KanaPlex per Steve's recommended dosage.

Sure hope this works for her and I'm not too late.

donna

 

[steve-s]

Should work but it's not a guarantee. If the symptoms do not abate in a few days please post back quickly. We may need to switch meds.

Cheers
Steve

 

[donnales]

I'll write daily updates to let you know of her progress or lack thereof.

Today she has stayed in the corner hovering between two rocks coming up momentarily... maybe 6-7 times. She's not nearly as active in QT but again... I'm sure she is confused.

Turned the lights off... time will tell.

Thanks again!

 

[donnales]

Today her lumps aren't nearly as evident. I lowered the salinity to 1.0195, did a large water change and readded meds for the replacement water. Will lower salinity to 1.016 throughout the day tormorrow.

Offered her both live baby brine and live adult brine, nori and mysis... to no avail. She seems excited when I offer her the food but goes to the corner as to avoid temptation. On a good note, she does seem a bit more active today.

Going on 8 days without eating. Will add B-12 tonight and picking up brown algae wafers tomorrow.

My daily update.

Thanks everyone! (especially steve-s)

donna

 

[donnales]

steve, sent you a pm... your box is full.

 

[steve-s]

All fixed up. let 'er rip...

Cheers
Steve

 

[donnales]

Things have been pretty grim for Betty B. She has refused to eat for 11 days.

Not sure if I could have kept my sanity up to this point had it not been for steve-s. He has given me a daily list of specifics including water tests, medications, water changes, suggestions for food offerings, support and much more. (And someone to ask MANY dumb questions of) lol

Every morning, I take a series of pictures of my Blonde Naso, upload them to our website... so steve-s can observe her day to day condition to perhaps see what's working (or not) and make any additional suggestions or changes to her treatment.

Today I noticed for the first time in "12" days... her interest in food. Steve had me offer her broccoli on a clip, soaked in Vitamin B-12. I figured since she showed an interest (eyeing it) that I'd offer her some flake... by hand.

Well, she pecked at a few flakes for the first time in 12 days!!! She's not eating much... BUT, she has eaten a little bit of Omega One Flake- 3 seperate offerings today. I'll try again tonight... before her lights shut off.

Today she seems much more alert, less withdrawn. I try to stay positive... but 12 days is a very long time for her not to eat. I don't want to think "what if"... But thank heavens for Kim Hardie who pointing me towards steve-s and this forum.

We're not out of the woods with her yet. Tomorrow is a different day. At least for now, first time in 12 days, we have hope. Tangible hope.

There's my update... for now

donna

 

[jsmkmavity]

we will keep hoping and praying she pulls thru!

 

[donnales]

we will keep hoping and praying she pulls thru!

I know you've been following her progress jsmkmavity. Thanks for your support!


donna

 

[BTTRFLYGRL]

Keeping my fingers crossed!!
Keep us updated!

Kim