Help This Yellow Tang Please Doctor!

[andrewt]

Hey, My yellow tang was doing fine a week ago. I just noticed two days ago that my tang has been acting weird. He eats and swims fine but he keeps on hitting the side of the tank and swiming weird. He's hurting himself by hitting the tank with his head! I need help

here is a picture of him, i noticed something is happening to his color.
http://www.thuggishtwo.com/fishtank/yellowtang.JPG
if you super size it, you can see it at close range
thanks for your help

 

[beth]

Andrewt, what is that oriental house doing in your tank??? Is this fish in your 125 gal? What are your water readings?
Is there a lot of swimming room in your tank? The tang is disoriented by the reflective of the tank glass. Cover up the areas he is having trouble with for awhile until the fish settles down. Use dark, non-reflective paper on the outside.
Is the fish skin eroding at all? What are you feeding him?

 

[andrewt]

It's a 125 gal tank, yes there is alot of swimming. I don't think it's because of the reflection. I was reading about HLLE and about the ground probe. People said it might have been a stray voltage or something and i need a ground probe to get rid of it. The tang swims fine, then sometimes it start to swim toward the glass and hit itself alot of time.

 

[beth]

Yes, definately add a gournding probe or 2 for that size tank.
I have to ask you again about that ornament. That kind of think could leech and couse problems in a SW tank.

 

[andrewt]

I Have some fake stuff in the tank along with LS and about 120BL LR. Maybe I should take the fake stuff out? I have a pagoda, kinda like a sanutary, a fake rock and a some fake plants. Should I Take them out?

 

[beth]

Some fake items could leech into the water and cause serious problems. Unless it is made for the Saltwater Hobby, not FW, I would not use it.
Fake plants, for instance, made for the FW hobby, have medal in them. A serious problem in a SW tank. Also, that ornament I saw was painted ceramic. I would take it out immediately.

 

[andrewt]

Thanks

 

[andrewt]

I just bought grounding probe, I hope i installed it right. this is what i did
1. there are three sockets, two plastic and one metal. i pluged them in an outlet. then i just put the metal side inside the tank in the back. that is correct right?

 

[andrewt]

after adding the grounding probe. how long should i wait until t he tang start to act normal again?

 

[beth]

There could well be more to it then the grounding probe. The probe is just one thing to be done with HLLE. Did you do a search on the topic here? There is a lot of info. What about looking at the link in the Diseased Fish Thread?

 

[andrewt]

Yes I did and i figured it had to do something with electricity cuz the yellow tang started to act like that right after i put a new 250 watt into the tank.

 

[andrewt]

250 watt heater i mean

 

[beth]

So, how is the fish doing?

 

[andrewt]

I have a 125 gal tank, should i put one grounding probe in the tank and one in the sump? or is two grounding probes in the tank ok?

 

[andrewt]

The yellow tank seems to be fine but still bumping it's head into the glass or shaking but not as much as before. I will wait about two days and i think the fish will be fine. Thanks for your help Beth! you're the best!

 

[beth]

Thanks! That's the nicest thing I've heard all week!
About your grounding probe....is it plugged in to a grounded wall outlet? It needs to be, if not.

 

[andrewt]

grounded wall outlet meaning it should bhe plug into an outlet right? not those ouetlets that spread out into 4 or two outlet

 

[beth]

An outlet that is grounded, not just an outlet. If you put the plug directly into a 3 pronged wall outlet, likely it is gounded.

 

[andrewt]

http://www.thuggishtwo.com/fishtank/electricoutlet.JPG
http://www.thuggishtwo.com/fishtank/electricoutlet-2
which one is correctly plugged for the ground probe? the first one or the second one?
BTW Beth, the yellow tank is fine right now, no sign of HLLE. Thanks alot guys!

 

[beth]

You mean no more crazy behavior!? Cool.
I couldn't open the 2nd one, but the 1st is fine.