Yellow Tang Not Eating

[firegarden]

I have a Yellow Tang in a 45 gallon tank who was seemingly healthy until a bad accident occurred-the person who cleans my salon used my tank cleaning bucket to clean the flooor! When I realized that had happened I did a water change and he was fine, amazingly. I left for vacation the next day (a friend looked after him). When I came back he had obvious signs of HLLE. It took me a while to figure out what it was, as my LFS dismissed it. The really bad news now is, he won't eat anything at all, never mind the stuff that should clear up the HLLE. He's wasting away, I'm distressed and horrifed. His breathing is a little rapid, but no other obvious signs. I've tried feeding him everything possible. He's swimming and acknowledges food, he just won't eat it. He's the only fish in the tank (he's rather large), by the way, and I've had him about 10 weeks...

 

[beth]

Is this a new tank setup? How bad was the situation with the dirty bucket? I mean was it not rinsed thoroughly before you used it, etc?
What are your water conditions in terms of ammonia and nitrites?
What do you have in the tank? LR?
How bad is the HLLE?
Are you offering this fish greens? Tangs are mostly vegetarians and need a stable diet of seaweed, etc., not meaty foods.

 

[firegarden]

The tank is about 6 moniths old-my water conditions have been immaculate. I test like crazy, I wish it was as easy as bad water conditions, that's what is so puzzling! The bucket was not obviously dirty when I used it. I did a partial water change for good measure because I was going out of town, and the next day I was like, 'what's wrong with him?' A friend did detective work, I called the cleaning person and found out about the bucket. I was feeding him Algae cubes, flakes, and Spinach, but my Hermit Crab kept stealing the cubes so I cut that out. The HLLE is mostly on his face, not to bad. I started offering him Spinach, Nori, Algae Cubes, Spirulina, Kelp, flake food, and I'm dropping vitamins in the tank. He's the only fish, I haven't added anymore because I didn't want to stress him out until I figured out what was wrong. When I figured out it was HLLE I thought it was curable- now the hunger strike! It's in a hair salon, but the stimulation (people) have never seemed to bother him. I've decided not to turn the light on for now though-even though he is swimming around, not hovering.

 

[goldfish]

Is your water ok now?
Keep an eye one him...my bad luck with my tang was that he stopped eating as well after getting an internal parasite that I didn't detect until it was too late. Is his belly sinking in at all? How is his color?

 

[firegarden]

That's what is so weird! I went out of town again last weekend after I found out he had HLLE. I tried offering him all this great food, and didn't think to much about the fact he wasn't eating it at that moment. When I came back, his color was better (he also had a brown spot on his back end), but he was really skinny. The Nori I hung in the tank was gone, but no one saw him eat it. Either he did, or it fell off and the crab did. His stomach is not swollen, I thought that might be it to, but you can really see his skeleton, it's awful. So I really don't know what happened while I was gone. Maybe I shoule hire a professional next time I go out of town(?)! The girls that work for me will feed him, but he's isolated from them so they don't get to observe him every day...I was only gone for three days, but I know he has not eaten since Wednesday.

 

[beth]

Hang a nice green leafy romaine lettuce in the tank with a lettuce clip. Romaine isn't the healthest food, but it won't fall off and you can see if the tang takes an interest in it beause pieces will be missing. Do this for a few days changing it with a new piece of lettuce everyday, as the fish may not eat it right away.