unicorn tang,

My unicorn tang looks as iff its missing a patch of scales about the size of a quarter near his caudal fin. Just looks as if the bare skin is exposed. any 9idea on what it might be?

 

Any chance you could put up a picture?

 

updated the thread with a picture

 

omg! that doesnt look too good!!!

 

I'm on my phone so its a little hard to tell but it looks like a skin/fungal infection of sorts

 

OMG! That poor fish. Someone must have some advice.

 

I should add that if it is an infection you need to quarantine immediately and start treating with something like Pimafix. Usually the fish has to be stressed to allow something like this to take hold so mind what you have been feeding and your parameters. There may also have been bullying going on. What size aquarium?

 

Looks like a very bad bacterial infection. Set-up a hospital tank asap. There are a couple different routes to go for treatment. If you are using a hospital tank, pimafix will be helpful but be careful not to overdose as it robs the water of oxygen. My personal preference is antibacterial foods.

ON formula two works well for making antibiotic food. Melt a few cubes (say 6-8oz) in a small Tupperware container. Let it sit at room temp for about 5-15min, then lace the food with either or both; Kanamycin and Metronidazole. Metronidazole is effective against a lot more fungal and bacterial pathogens but Kanamycin has fewer pathogens that are resistant against it. I usually use .5 tsp of kanamycin and 2 tsp metronidazole for an 8oz mix.

Also, using something called "Stress Guard" by Seachem works in helping the healing of the open wound if muscle tissue its exposed (like pimafix but w/o robbing the water of o2).

Another route is to dose general antibiotics into the hospital tank. This I'm not a fan off because that will mess around with the ph stability of your hospital system and you will need to do daily water changes....But it does help!!

You can also make a antibiotic "paste" using something like kanamycin and mixing it up with a tiny bit of gel binder and water to get a gooey mix that you can apply directly to the effected areas of the fish with a q-tip.

Most bacterial infections in sw are a sign of something being off chemically in your system, ie very low ph and kh. What are your water parameters like

 

I agree with all of the above. My only suggestion would be instead of making an antibiotic paste, I usually use Hikari Bio-Bandage.

 

yeh, the Hikari Bio-Bandage is awesome stuff. much easier than making your own ;p