hard breathing yellow tang.

[mlm]

All of a sudden today my yellow tang started breathing very heavy (like when you cycle your tank with fish) and will not eat its normal green dried seaweed on a clip. I cheaked ammonia and it was non-existant. The other 2 fish in the tank are fine as are all of the inverts. Any ideas?

 

[beth]

Is he being harrassed? Did you do any maintence in the tank? As you probably know, tangs are very skiddish and any cleaning done in the tank tends to stress out these high strung fish.
I'd suggest you keep an eye on the fish to see if a disease process is developing. Specifically red streaks around the tail or body area, cloudy eyes, etc.

 

[kris walker]

Breathing rapidly and not eating. I would suspect parasites in the gills. You might try hypo or copper for this, but in a QT tank as you probably know. Terry, Mr. Tang, what do you think?
sam

 

[beth]

Yes, it could be parasites, it could be an infection, it could be harassment...it could be anything. In the absense of further symptoms, I do not recomment treating a fish when you have no idea what the problem is. Close observation over the course of the next 24-48 hours are in order, not random treatment for an unidentified ailment.
If you do not have a separate hospital tank, however, you could be working on getting one in the event that the necessity of threatment is imminet. Whether this fish will need a hospital or not, it is a very good idea to have a separate hosital/QT on hand so that it is available when needed.

 

[fish tank]

MLM CAN YOU E-MAIL ME AT ANACONDASS@AOL.COM . I LIVE IN SLIDELL

 

[mlm]

Thanks all that posted but when I woke up this morning the tang was dead and a scarlet hermit and a brittle star were already going to work on him. When I took it out I look at him and there were no visual signs. The inly thing I could guess was the gill parasites b/c he was definitly not being harassed. "fish tank" are there any good LFS in Slidell?