Help, sick fish w/ PIC

[KingMinnow]

My tang is acting fine, but has developed a sore around his eye on his right side, and another one under his fin. Can you tell what this is? How do i treat him (with what) and what procedure?

[img=http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/3940/cimg2888jg6.th.jpg]

180 Gal Saltwater FOWLR tank.
1 Emporer Angel
1 Flame Angel
1 Foxface
2 clowns
1 Orange/Blue Damsel
1 Blue Tang *sick*
misc starfish and snails

Thanks,
Nick

[leebca]

Although you see the problem area, the fact is that the fish has smaller such areas in many different parts of its body.

You don't mention how long you've had this fish, so I am unsure if this may have evolved from bad handling or net damage. However the two most likely causes (other than injury) are water quality or nutritional deficiency, or a combination of both.

Regarding each, you need to do some reading, if you haven't already. You want to make sure the fish is getting the right kinds of foods, often enough. This is a long but thorough read on that subject:
Feeding Marine Fish and Fish Nutrition

Regarding water quality -- there is much more to water quality than just the things we mostly test for (e.g., ammonia, nitrites, etc.). You haven't mentioned how old the tank is, whether it has matured properly and settled down, for instance. This is a shorter, but important post to read on that subject:
What is Water Quality

When a fish is undernourished or subject to water quality less than perfect, the fish is open to infections, disease, and opportunistic pathogens. This fish has the appearance of being attacked by a bacteria.

It should be separated from the other fish and treated with an antibiotic. It would be ideal to know the bacteria doing this and thus, based upon that information, choose the best antibiotic. However, there doesn't seem to be much time and that leaves just guessing, unless you have the means to have a scraping done to identify the bacteria.

I would treat with two antibiotics at the same time. These two go together well and are quite potent:
Nifurpirinol [a.k.a. Furanace] and Neomycin (a gram negative antibiotic).

While you are setting up to do this, closely review the fish's diet both past and present and be sure it is getting enough greens and the proper nutrition.

Please keep us informed. Ask any questions you might have.

Good luck!

[KingMinnow]

Thanks for your advice. I've had this tank for almost 2 years. I admit i let the filters go longer than normal for the fresh water RO/DI kit. I've had the tang for almost the entire time. I added a few new fish about 3 months ago. But past the first few days after adding the angels and the clown's everything has been pretty normal, no fighting or biting since.

I have been feeding the fish a mixture of the formula foods from Ocean Nutrition.
The red and the green flake. the red is Brine Shrimp Plus, Aquarium Tropical Fish Food: Ocean Nutrition Brine Shrimp Plus Flake Fish Food

the green was the seafood algae flake. Aquarium Fish Foods: Ocean Nutrition Formula Two Pellet Food for Herbivorous Fish

So now what, can i treat the whole tank? I'm sure not right? So setup a QT and put the medicine in?

Thanks again!
Nick

Although you see the problem area, the fact is that the fish has smaller such areas in many different parts of its body.

You don't mention how long you've had this fish, so I am unsure if this may have evolved from bad handling or net damage. However the two most likely causes (other than injury) are water quality or nutritional deficiency, or a combination of both.

Regarding each, you need to do some reading, if you haven't already. You want to make sure the fish is getting the right kinds of foods, often enough. This is a long but thorough read on that subject:
Feeding Marine Fish and Fish Nutrition

Regarding water quality -- there is much more to water quality than just the things we mostly test for (e.g., ammonia, nitrites, etc.). You haven't mentioned how old the tank is, whether it has matured properly and settled down, for instance. This is a shorter, but important post to read on that subject:
What is Water Quality

When a fish is undernourished or subject to water quality less than perfect, the fish is open to infections, disease, and opportunistic pathogens. This fish has the appearance of being attacked by a bacteria.

It should be separated from the other fish and treated with an antibiotic. It would be ideal to know the bacteria doing this and thus, based upon that information, choose the best antibiotic. However, there doesn't seem to be much time and that leaves just guessing, unless you have the means to have a scraping done to identify the bacteria.

I would treat with two antibiotics at the same time. These two go together well and are quite potent:
Nifurpirinol [a.k.a. Furanace] and Neomycin (a gram negative antibiotic).

While you are setting up to do this, closely review the fish's diet both past and present and be sure it is getting enough greens and the proper nutrition.

Please keep us informed. Ask any questions you might have.

Good luck!

[leebca]

Just treat this fish in a separate hospital tank. Antibiotics should not be used in a tank with LR in it.

I would suggest improving the foods you are feeding. Skip the flakes. Use a wider variety of frozen. The Foxface and Tang need actual macro algae to eat. Offer marine algae sheets. The omnivores might eat it too (Anemonefish and Angels). Offer this at least once, but I'd go for twice a day, small amounts that will be eaten in an hour or so.

Please go through that long post. Look for the types of foods you feed and see what I've written about them. Then look to what should be fed to those fishes. Also add supplements (vitamins and fats) to your feedings as suggested in that post.

You're welcome!