Damsel cleanig Yellow Tang??

[blondenaso1]

I have a yellow tang in my 50gal with 4 damsels. I was watching them today when I saw an amazing thing. The tang swam to the middle of the tank and extended his dorsal finm kind of turning in his side also. As he did this one of the damsels started pecking at his side. The tang allowed him to do this 4 or 5 times and it seemed like the tang was enjoying it?? I have also seen the tang and this particular damsel sleeping under the same rock together. Is this behavior common? Has anyone else seen it? I figured the damsel might have just been cleaning him. Unless they were mating LOL. What a mix that would be!

 

[stupid_naso]

Probably your yellow tang just got it going on . I don't know.
I've never heard of damsel cleaning a yellow tang. Do you notice any damaged scales on the yellow tang at all?
If not then you ought to tell those two not to publicaly display their affection, keep it under the rocks guys. It might cause jealousy on the other damsels .
sebae_the_clown

 

[jumpfrog]

Great questions because I was going to ask the same thing. I "rushed" things a bit and paid the price of having my yellow tang pick up some ick. Interestingly the tang would go up to three green chromis' I have and request a cleaning by turning to his side. They take turns accomodating him. He's just about cleared up and doesn't go to the chromis' as much now. Anyone else see this with other damsels

 

[blondenaso1]

So does this mean that the Tang has ick? I do notice tiny white spots on him, but I am not exactly sure what ick looks like. Can someone help?

 

[tru conch]

if there are tiny white spots, then yeah it is probably ick. hopefully you have a qt tank so that way you can just treat the fish instead of your entire tank.
if it is ick, there are several cures. the most natural is hyposalinty, making the water more fresh than salt over time. there are also chemicals, but that is stressful on the fish. look in the disease board, they go into more detail about the hyposalinty treatment.
good luck and i hope you dont have ick. it is nasty stuff

 

[1 year novice]

Not sure we have ich but we have a yellow tang that has developed a white film all over it, including the eyes. It was perfectly healthy Sunday with no white film at all. Anyone know what this is and what to do about it?