Help Tang Dying!!!

My 12 inch male Naso tang is dying and not sure what to do. He hasn't been eating great the last few days but not starving at all. Came home from work today and he was lying on the rock at the back of the tank dying. Water parameters are spot on as I tested last night and just a few minutes ago. I got him out of the rock work and put him in a quarantee tank and he is just laying on his side. He has a large knot/lump on his side and tattered fins.........

I haven't added a new fish to the system in over a year so nothing new could have been brought in.

Ideas

 

It's quite depressing as he is my centerpiece fish and I bought he and a female as a pair almost 2 years ago. The female just kept swimming by him.

 

pics would help, also, what size is the tank?

 

In 180 g tank (350 gal system w/ sumps/ref)

 

wife has the camera and is gone so can't put on a pic. He is basically just floating on his head.......when I put my hand in the tank, he swims around for a minute then floats back to the bottom and floats on his head.

 

i had the same thing happen to my coral beauty, but its one thing with a 4 dollar fish and another with a large expensive tang. could be a swim bladder infection, or some parasite.

do you possibly have any fish that could have done it, or could he have gotten caught in the overflow or something of that nature?

 

Don't think it could have been another fish.....he is by far the biggest and is the boss of the tank. I have wondered about both parasites and swim bladder.....not sure which. He is only puffy on the one side though...if it was a swim bladder, I think it would be just as puffy on both sides.

 

I have seen these exact symptoms before. I do believe from what you are telling me your fish has a swim bladder infection. I am sorry to say there is no treatment for this to my knowledge. I am afraid you are going to lose your tang as swim bladder infections have a very high fatality rate.

 

This may be a stupid question but I have been trying to do some research on the net trying to figure out if there is a way to help him or not and maybe find out what is wrong. Anyway, I have found some sites that say feeding frozen foods can give parasites to fish. Over the last few weeks, I started feeding my large carpet anenome small thawed shrimp (like in salads) The anenome loves them and has been doing better than ever.....but I did notice the fish eating off some of them.......could this be something or I am I just grasping at straws. :-/

I wouldn't think this would be an issue because I, like many others feed frozen foods to my fish, but didn't know if whole shrimp were an exception.....

 

I went in and checked on him at lunch and he is still alive....but stll on his head with the big bump flaoting up.

I read that you can take a needle and pop the bump to let air out....not a permanent cure but said it can work.....

Is this a true or is this just some crazy idea???