I need help with tangs!!

[kdv4pets]

Hello all! I am looking for help with my 55 reef tank. I have been having trouble keeping Tangs alive. Every time I get a yellow tang, it does okay for a few days, then quickly goes downhill and dies. I have gone through three tangs since the setup of my tank, and I refuse to lose another one! I have a master test kit, and I test the water at least once a week, and all the levels are great. I do a 10 gallon water change once a week as well. The other animals and plants in the aquarium are thriving. My setup consists of live sand, approx. 75lbs of live rock, a skilter, a filter, and a power-compact lighting system. The temp stays between 77 & 80 at all times. I have live plants that will take over if I don't keep them thinned out (very healthy), a carpet anemone, a bubble tip anemone, a tomato clown, a flame hawk, a sea cucumber, a sea slug, a brittle star, a blenny, and approx. 50 red-legged crabs. The tangs all end up propped up in a corner, breathing heavily, with their nose stuck in either the sand or behind something. The blood vessels in the dorsal and ventral fins become visable, the fish are obviously stressed. Anyway, if anyone can give me some advice, I would be glad to take it. I am at my wit's end, and a little upset that I can't keep these beautiful creatures in my home.

 

[wingnut]

maybe there is a plant in there its eating witch kills them thay do need a green suplment to servie what do you feed them and witch have you tried just the yellow? the yellow tang and scopes tangs i belive are the easyest to keep. I feed my tangs reef complete frozen and live brime shrimp dryed seaweed. ive had my powder bule tang for 1 1/2 years and hes doing fine on that food all though ive never binable to keep yellows alive eather. I kave only had luck with 4 that ive tryed so far poweder Blue tang, purple tang, orange sholder and naso these are the only 4 out of the 8 ive tryed un lucky ones inculed achilles, sohal, convict, clown the sohal and the clown dident die i cought that thay where acting funny and returnd them to the store and that got them back up in health and resold them good luck to you thay are very active and pretty fish and thay make a perfect addtion to any reef hope this helps some

 

[shadow678]

The most likely reason your tangs keep dying is that tangs get to be fairly large, and the minimum tank requirement for even the smallest tang to live in is 75 gallons. If they are kept in an environment smaller than this, they are constricted and will stress out and die. You will have to either give up on tangs or upgrade to a larger tank.

 

[wrassecal]

I knew someone would come up with the tank size thing. Tangs do need a lot of swimming room and I don't know how big the ones you have bought are. I have successfully, for 9 months kept a yellow tang appox 3 inches happy and healthy in a 55 gal long. I have designed the rock work where it has plenty of swim room the length of the tank and a couple good arches for swim throughs. Yes, they need room to swim but look at your other options too. What live plants do you have? How large are the tangs you are adding? Did you buy them at the same place? Is there a chance that they were caught using cyanide? It could be one of many reasons they die so quickly.

 

[steamboat1569]

I, too, saw the tank size thing coming. It comes up on every thread that mentions a tang in something less than a 75.
Other than the damsels that I cycled with, the tang was the first fish I bought - 5 yrs. ago.
I also have a 55 gallon.

 

[shadow678]

If you have a 5-yr-old tang in a 55-gal, then you are not practicing good husbandry, plain and simple. And yet, you talk proudly of this...

 

[steamboat1569]

OK, young un'. That is uncalled for. It is just that there are too many people out there blowing holes in that theory. Tangs are one of the most kept fish in this hobby and there are plenty of people that keep them in 55's. You hardly see a tank without one.
You have no right to say I am practicing bad husbandry. Where are your facts?
Since your pat answer for tang deaths in 55 gallon tank is having them in a 55 gallon in the first place, then why is mine alive, (being the bad caretaker that I am). By blasting me, you also blasted Wrassecal and anyone else that has been succesfull in doing this.

 

[sistrmary]

Personally, I look at it this way: how would you like to live the rest of your natural life in an elevator? I know that it depends on the tang in question, and I suppose if one grew up in a smaller tank (I know, fish don't grow to suit their environment) and were used to being in the smaller tank,then you would be more likely to survive. But if you were putting a full sized tang into a 55 gallon tank, do you think that it would adjust well? Or do you think that it would live for a month or two and then die? A lot of them do.
Wrassecal has had a 3 inch tang in a 55 gallon (Well within the 1" of fish per 5gal rule) but until his tang gets larger, the 55 is fine. Until it grows up, we'll never know about his tang.
As for your tang, you're not willing to accept that yours might be the exception rather than the normal? I know that I have quite a few fish that have lived far passed their expected aquarium lifespans...but I don't think that this naturally applies to that fish/invert. I'm successfully keeping anemones, and have been for quite some time...but I know that a lot of other people don't/can't/won't. It doesn't mean that anemones are long lived in aquarium life...it just means that mine are yaknow?

 

[shadow678]

My facts come from experts that get their information PUBLISHED. While they may not die right away as in this case, their normal lifespan WILL be cut short, and that is inhumane. There is a REASON why people like Scott W. Michael and Gerald R. Allen have had it published that this is the MINIMUM required tank. It's because through years of research, it was PROVEN that if housed in a tnak less than this, their lives will be detrimentally affected. I'd like to see someone confront one of these leaders in the marine biology field and try to convince them that the many years that they spent on this subject was all garbage.

 

[pstanley]

I agree that a 55 might be too small for a tang but that would not cause 3 to die within a couple of days the way that they died. They spend much longer than that in the lfs in much smaller tanks.

 

[joerdie]

pstanley- thats a great point about the lfs. i also keep a powder blue tang in my 55g. i am in the process of upgrading to a 150g but it isnt to make my tang feel better. (bigger is better ) i happen to think that all published rescerch is up for question. and thats not to say that the people named by shadow arent correct but after all the history of this hobby has been littered with inacurate so called "facts". im not trying to blast anyone but look at this way. before columbus it was a "fact" that the world was flat.

 

[juju]

WAIT A MINUTE!
You mean the world isnt FLAT?
..................................................................................
THE SKY IS FALLING!

 

[musipilot]

...back to the question about the yellow tang....if possible check your tank for any electrical current. You can use one of those Radio Shack testers, with the two sensors. Fish's lateral lines use electrical impulses to communicate and sense their surroundings, and any stray electricity in the tank will wreak havoc, ESPECIALLY with tangs, who are ultra-sensitive to it. A bad/dying powerhead or a filter may cause this, and its tough to detect without a testing unit or a freaking out tang. All your fish will be affected by stray electricity, so this is a real good thing to do. If you don't want to buy one, I guarantee a neighbor will have one you can use, lots of folks do. Good luck, and let us know.

 

[wrassecal]

I don't know why people keep arguing the 55g/75g thing. They are both 4 ft long. Length is what you have to consider in this situation and as others have said these fish would not die that quickly. So, kdv what about the answers to the other questions. We would like to help you figure this out so you don't continue to have this problem.

 

[wrassecal]

opps, sorry almost same as anthem, last couple replies didn't show up. Guess I should have said I agree with Anthem

 

[kdv4pets]

Okay, many of you have written several questions for me. To start, I bought the Tangs at 2 different locations. I only have one type of plant in my aquarium, and the pet store from which I purchased 1 Tang keeps the exact plant with their healthy, happy Tangs. As far as the size of the aquarium goes, I bought two of the Tangs out of tanks that are smaller than mine. As for feeding, I offer a wide variety of frozen, flake, live and freeze dried foods to my aquarium inhabitants. I find it easier to keep the Carpet Anemone eating with a wide variety to offer. As far as I can see, I'm doing everything right. As I've said before, everything else is thriving. However, I did not know of the Tangs sensitivity to stray electricity. I will absolutely purchase the tester and check all my tanks.
Not Meant to Have Tangs,
kdv
Oh yeah, I have also tried 3 different sizes of Tangs to no avail.

 

[get reel]

I' ll probably get flamed to no end for this. But I once kept a yellow tang in a 10 gallon nano. One day I came home to find my 90 gallon FO was cracked and leaking. well by the time I got home 80% of the water was gone, and since the yellow was the only fish, I had to do something with him. There was 5 lbs. of rock, 10 lbs. of LS, and a few mushrooms in the 10 gal before the tang went in. Honestly he seemed very content with his new home... eating nomaly, coming up to the glass and "playing" when someone was near the tank. He was there for about a year until I set up a larger tank where he resided, for 5 years, until about 6 months ago. (Suddenly died , old age possibly) I had him for 7 years.(the nano was 5 years ago). Posted by Shadow:
My facts come from experts that get their information PUBLISHED. While they may not die right away as in this case, their normal lifespan WILL be cut short
So I do not agree with the "lifespan WILL be cut short" part, as this was a VERY small home for the Tang. So if this was true, he should have died while in it."Experts" or no "experts", as with everything else in this hobby,everyone's experiences can, and usually do, differ a little from the next person's.

 

[musipilot]

Ah, we're coming clean with Tang restriction -- I have a similar story. We 'adopted' a purple tang with HLLE to try and cure him (which we did, he's doing great) but the only place for him was one of our large FOWLR with an established yellow.
The yellow went nuts, and since we needed the purple in that particular tank for healing the HLLE, we put the yellow in a nano (10 gal) for a while. He did fine after a few days, and like you said with yours, was happy for a few months.
He since went back to a larger tank, but there were no ill effects from him living in a 10 gallon for about 3 months.

 

[cobra2806]

Wait a second Musipilot and get reel, are you sure you didn't dream that up about having a tang in a 10 gallon tank??? Because I read earlier in this post that EXPERTS that get their information PUBLISHED have said nothing smaller than a 75 gallon for a tang? As for the living the rest of your natural life in an elevator comment, us living in an elevator is equivalent to a tang in a 1 gallon tank. I don't think anyone would try that. Now a tang in a 55 gallon tank would be like us in a 1500sq foot house, and I think I could do that rather happily. Musipilot and get reel you guys have a couple years experience and living proof, I consider you EXPERTS, I'll throw in a couple of bucks and we'll get this information PUBLISHED, just like anyone else can!

 

[musipilot]

Sarcasm noted Cobra, and well done too ....but keep in mind I knew from the onset of putting that tang in the 10 gallon that it was only temporary, never in a million years would I designate something that small as a home for a tang.
My son has a nano-reef (12 gals) and he's begging for a blue hippo (regal) tang, and me saying no and explaining why has opened the door for discussion about responsibility and proper care for our little friends.
I got to thinking about it, and I guess my threshold for keeping a tang would not so much be a gallon capacity, but a tank length. I'd be comfortable keeping a tang in anything at least 48" long, regardless of height and width. (within reason).
Besides, forget being published, if you want to get famous quick, change your name to EXIT, you'll have it in lights everywhere.