My blonde Naso Tang

[rkmcinvale]

Can anyone give me suggestions on to why my Blonde Naso isn't swimming, and no he isn't dead? He hasn't eaten in 2 days now, so I am getting worried. Our lights went out for awhile on Monday but I used a back up generator to keep some water flow going, and now I don't know what to do :help:

 

[triga22]

Does he show any sighns of stress.Someone else on here i think it was drewsta his died of not eating! I hope everything goes well.

 

[rkmcinvale]

No other signs of stress, his breathing is normal, no ich outbreaks, and he was fine to the power went out, but we still had our power heads running to keep the water flowing.
We just bought him last week, this is the third Naso Tang, the other two out grew my tank fast. We plan on upgrading our tank to at least a 90 gallon in September. All of our other fish our doing fine, we have a saddle clown, yellow tang, yellow damsel, fire shrimp, saddleback anemone, sebae anemone along with our crabs and snails.

 

[triga22]

Well I gues you should try feeding him and hope for the best you could try other foods for him but I think he isnt going to eat .. =[... To let you know naso's are my favorite fish.. I hope he does well

 

[fordguy67]

what size is your tank now, that may be the problem. they need a lot of room to swim and a lot of rock to hide in.

 

[nereef]

if the tang is in your 55 gal in your profile, then it is probably stressed.

 

[rkmcinvale]

He was fine until power went out in the pic he looks bigger than what he is, he's only about 4 inches.
I just checked all my levels and they are normal and now he is laying on his side, and now my yellow tang is trying to attack him. Any suggestions would be helpful. Should I try a water change or try a fresh water bath with him.

 

[petjunkie]

That fish has already outgrown your tank and a 90 gallon isn't big enough either, why do you buy fish that you can't keep just to stress them out for the short while they live in your tank? If you want a naso tang buy a bigger tank but until then I would stick to fish that would be happy in a small tank. All of my fish can live happily in my tank for their entire lives.
Sorry not to flame you or anything it's just all my fish have to be overnighted here at $30 shipping so I don't really understand buying fish just to sell them back in a short while my fish don't have anywhere else to go so I planned way ahead of time what's going in my tank.

 

[rkmcinvale]

My LFS said he was fine to go into our tank until we received our 90 gallon because it is being ordered. And I don't believe he is all stressed out if that was the case he would of showed more signs sooner, but hasn't it has just been since Monday afternoon. Besides what if an LFS couldn't sell him he would of been stuck in that little display tank that they keep him until he died. Well it sure seemed liked you flamed me, but it was your choice to have the fish shipped to you, not me.

 

[hammerhed7]

This is a long shot, but do you have a surge protector on a GFCI power outlet. You may have had some voltage leak into the water. Aside from the tank size if you think this problem started at the same time as the power outage. This is rare but happened to one of my freshwater tanks, and it took almost a week for the fish to return to normal.

 

[rkmcinvale]

All of our plugs are on a surge protector but no where near the water or the pumps. He is still lying around, only swimming just to move away from the other fish, and he is still breathing slowly.

 

[supalupa]

You say you've checked all your levels. What did you test for? What type of filter are you running if it's canister and you didn't clean the filter media you could be pumping detrius back onto the tank.
I wouldn't dip the fish you will only stress it further.
Your best bet is try and find some live brine shrimp at your lfs and double check and maintain good water quality.
Another fish could be bullying it. You may want to try one of those tank dividers that allow the water to flow through but keeps the fish seperate.
I do believe a 55 gal isn't the best for a Naso but lots of people have done it successfully. You may just have gotten one that doesn't want to acclimate to a tank that small very easily. If conditions were perfect it would have been easier but with the power failure that probably pushed him over the edge.

 

[nereef]

i believe your question has already been answered. the tank is too small for a naso tang.
what is your current stocklist?

 

[dogstar]

Could be a lack of oxygen from dureing the power failure has caused some damage to this fish. The Naso species need highly oxyginated turbulent waters....as well as lots of room. They grow to 18 inches quickly. Your LFS seems to be giveing you bad advice, they want your money, I dont.

 

[rkmcinvale]

I have a yellow tang, a saddle clownfish, a yellow damsel, the Blond Naso, Sebea Anemone, Saddleback Anemone, Fire Shrimp, brittle star(hides in the rock), 19 crabs, and 20 snails. While the power was out though I still had the tank running, all but the lights and protein skimmer. Right now he still alive but just hiding behind the rocks and breathing slowly. I have a mechanical filter, the bio filter, and 60 lbs. of live rock along with the protein skimmer.

 

[lion_crazz]

I agree with everyone above. The LFS is giving you bad information to make money off of your ignorance. Naso tangs need at least 180 gallons. They are very active fish, and need well oxygenated water.
Can you list your water parameters for us? What is your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, kH, salinity, and temperature?

 

[puffer32]

I agree with everyone who says it might be stressed from lack of oxygen, and is probably still stressed from the yellow tang attacking it. I have a 150 and would love a naso, but even that size is to small for these fish, even a 4 inch one.

 

[drewsta]

to coax him to eat try buying frozen emerald entree and mix it with garlic. If that doesnt work try brown algae sheets dipped in garlic as well. Have you checked your water parameters lately tangs especially large ones put out quite a bio load your nitrates might be way to high. Hope this helps

 

[fishcake]

hey... puffer, a 150 is plenty for a naso tang,
55 is small though.
Try feeding the naso live brine shrimp, it will keep him alive til you find better living arrangements for the fish.

 

[rkmcinvale]

Well the Naso has died, tried feeding algae sheets which are already dipped in garlic, shrimp, and kelp flakes. He wouldn't take any. We have decided not to buy anymore Naso Tangs. They are a beautiful fish and I feel bad now because we lost it, but I know for future reference not to own one unless I have a huge tank.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions and comments on this matter.