Purple Tang wasting away! Help!

[randy 12]

Our purple tang is wasting away. He is still eating but is horribly thin. He stays in one corner of the tank (not gasping at the top). He is in a 90 bowfront reef tank with ecosystem filtration. Nitrates, Nitrites and Ammonia are 0 and PH is right around 8.3 He has been in this tank for about a year and the guy before us had him for about 5 years. He has always been a very social fish and now... hiding in a corner not moving. The only other fish in there is a 6 line wrasse and a watchman goby.
Any ideas?
Thanks!

 

[randy 12]

Feeding Formula One, Formula Two, Flake (brine shrimp plus by Ocean Nutrition) Seaweed, Calurpa, sometimes brine as a treat. Supplements are Zoe and Zoecon. He has began looking a little thin the past few weeks but nothing horrible until I looked this morning. He ate like a pig last time we fed (Tuesday). Feed every other day. He also usually picks on the glass and live rock for the algae quite frequently. But this morning he looked sunken in on top, in his face and stomach. We fed and he ate but was not excited like he usually is and he's not cruising the tank as usual - just hiding behind a rock.

 

[beth]

Feed every other day???? Tangs need to be fed often....like a few times daily!
Tangs are grazing fish and need grazing opportunites all day long, something most tangs don't get in most setups. Start feeding your fish at least 2 times a day!! Supplement the food by soaking it in zoecon.

 

[randy 12]

Already soak in Zoecon and Zoe. Will start feeding 2 x a day. I thought by having him in a reef with lots of live rock to pick off the algae then he'd be okay. The guy before us fed every three days and did this for 5 years. He had him in a FO tank with no live rock. He's been in our tank for a year. Why now is he wasting away? Thanks for your help. I hope we haven't waited too long.

 

[beth]

Have you noticed any HLLE?
The algae that are nutritious for tangs just won't last long with a tang in most type setups. Basically the demand is much higher than the supply.
Can you start feeding your fish fresh meaty seafoods, in addition to the various vegetarian foods you are using now?

 

[randy 12]

As far as the HLLE, yes. He has had that for the 5 years the other guy had him. He gave the fish to us because he thought the HLLE was ugly. It hasn't gotten any worse being with us. As far as the meaty foods, can you expand on that? We use the Formula One which is mostly protein. He did eat tonight but still wasn't as excited as usual...but eating nonetheless.
Thanks!

 

[beth]

Fresh foods are obviously more nutritioius, and they will add calories.
Do you use a grounding probe?

 

[reefnut]

If you can get some Caulerpa (macro algae) you can put it on a clip and leave it in until it's gone and then add more. I put some in the tank from the fuge a few times a week... enough to last for a couple days. That way there is almost always something to munch on. I also put in a sheet of seaweed salad several times a week but only leave it in for a few hours. This is on top of the normal feeding.

 

[beth]

Originally posted by ReefNut
If you can get some Caulerpa (macro algae) you can put it on a clip and leave it in until it's gone and then add more. I put some in the tank from the fuge a few times a week... enough to last for a couple days. That way there is almost always something to munch on.
That is exactly what I meant by saying that "most" setups can't supply the vegetarian foods that tangs need. Hobbyists who have viable macro refugiums can handle these fish's needs, otherwise, a lot of supplementation is required.