SeanH May 26, 2011 Share May 26, 2011 I've been extremely busy and haven't been watching my tank lately. I was sitting at my desk (first time in months I've just sat here) and noticed the yellow tang was sitting in the front corner of the tank in an eddy. I had noticed that the tang hadn't been racing around for food during feedings and, looking more closely, the fish's belly is very pinched. This fish has always eaten well, both on pellets, nori, frozen foods and tank grazing. Now the fish is hanging out in one place and seems disinterested in food, but I can see no reasons for this change. My other fish are doing well. I believe this fish to be about 5-6 years old, perhaps older. Does any one have any thoughts of what I might check or is this fish at end of life? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Lazar May 26, 2011 Share May 26, 2011 Statistically, it's very unlikely that old age is your tang's problem. I would try feeding frozen food like mysid shrimp after soaking them in a garlic extract. I'm not a big believer in medicinal powers of garlic, but it's obvious to even a sceptic like me that it makes food more attractive to fish. I'd also observe the fish for white, stringy feces, which is a sign of internal worms. Worms are be passed in a fish's poop, and since your fish all eat each others' poop one fish can pass the worms to the rest. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind May 26, 2011 Share May 26, 2011 Ditto what Jon said above!! I would also pick up some live brine shrimp and see if it goes after that. How is the breathing, is it fast? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grav May 27, 2011 Share May 27, 2011 Yep, garlic... but dry food absorbs it better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanH May 27, 2011 Author Share May 27, 2011 Ditto what Jon said above!! I would also pick up some live brine shrimp and see if it goes after that. How is the breathing, is it fast? Yes, fast breathing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Grenier May 27, 2011 Share May 27, 2011 I visited this guys house and saw some of the biggest & fattest tangs around. He was taking the seaweed sheets he bought at an asian market for making sushi and soak them in garlic for a while before feeding. Big, fat, impressive looking tangs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami May 27, 2011 Share May 27, 2011 Fast breathing... Have there been any changes to equipment lately? Large additions to livestock? What are your water parameters (specifically, salinity, ammonia and nitrite)? Have you begun dosing anything that might have contributed to a bacterial bloom? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanH May 28, 2011 Author Share May 28, 2011 Fast breathing... Have there been any changes to equipment lately? Large additions to livestock? What are your water parameters (specifically, salinity, ammonia and nitrite)? Have you begun dosing anything that might have contributed to a bacterial bloom? No changes to livestock at all for months. I had a skimmer impeller fail and have been running the repaired skimmer and a large Remora to catch up, but I've done that before. The temp spiked in the tank due to an AC failure even though I had a spot cooler on the tank (86F). Lost some hard corals and the softies are still kind of pissed, so I've had a lot of skimmate. The tang was like this before these other calamities occurred. I tried feeding him some of his favorites and hatched some live brine shrimps to see if he would have more interest. The other fish were really happy, but his feeding response was zip. The temp is back down to 78F and I don't see the tang at all today. It may be that he has succumbed at this point and the star fish has drug him in to the reef. Salinity is 1.026. I haven't tested the other parameters, but everything else in the tank is happy, including my shrimps, crabs and other fish. - Sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flowerseller May 28, 2011 Share May 28, 2011 No changes to livestock at all for months. I had a skimmer impeller fail and have been running the repaired skimmer and a large Remora to catch up, but I've done that before. The temp spiked in the tank due to an AC failure even though I had a spot cooler on the tank (86F). Lost some hard corals and the softies are still kind of pissed, so I've had a lot of skimmate. The tang was like this before these other calamities occurred. I tried feeding him some of his favorites and hatched some live brine shrimps to see if he would have more interest. The other fish were really happy, but his feeding response was zip. The temp is back down to 78F and I don't see the tang at all today. It may be that he has succumbed at this point and the star fish has drug him in to the reef. Salinity is 1.026. I haven't tested the other parameters, but everything else in the tank is happy, including my shrimps, crabs and other fish. - Sean A single 6" brittle star can make fast work of a 4" tang leaving little to NOTHING in 24 hrs. I've seen it several times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind May 28, 2011 Share May 28, 2011 Fast breathing could be from ich attacking the gills. Ich is sometimes hard to see on yellow tangs. Any signs of it on other fish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanH June 3, 2011 Author Share June 3, 2011 Fast breathing could be from ich attacking the gills. Ich is sometimes hard to see on yellow tangs. Any signs of it on other fish? No evidence of it on the exterior of the fish, but I was thinking "ich" also, but thought about it too late. I didn't get to perform a necropsy on the fish because the scavengers got it. I'm going to be moving my reef from a 66 gal to 150g. I think I'll set up a fish only tank for the fish and treat them for ich - I think it's highly likely that the tang died from late stage ich after reading more about the parasite's progression. - Sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind June 3, 2011 Share June 3, 2011 If it died with the gills spread and month open that is normally a sign they died of ich or something else keeping them from getting the O2 exchange they need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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