Regal Tangs

[spyderreef]

I have three regal tangs in a 125. I had two neon gobies disappear and also a yellow tang which may have been a meal for a rose anemone. At the same time two of my three regals always stay hidden. I thought one of them was dead. When I tried to remove it I saw that it was still alive. Instead of putting him back in my tank I moved him to the refugium that I just hooked up my 125. (I hope that was not a mistake.) It is a 29 gal with grape caulerpa growing in it. Today I was able to take a closer look the fish. It's eye has fuzz on it as if it was molding. It's tail looks as if it is rotting. The other fish does not appear to be as sick but it still will not come out. Any ideas? Should I move both fish to a hospital tank. Because I have a reef tank I do not have anything to treat the fish with plus I don't know what is wrong with them. I do have a 10 gal set up for a hospital tank but I need to test the water first.

 

[beth]

Could the problem be aggression? With other fish hiding out, and others turning up missing it could be that they are under attack. Notice that any of the tangs is faring better than the others?
You can certainly move the injuried fish to the QT. I'd suggest taking some time to see if you see some aggression going on in the tank. Watch the tank when you fish do not know you are watching.

 

[spyderreef]

Do you think that it is ok to leave the fish in the refugium?
(I thought that it would be less stressful if it had the same water, I really thought it was going to die.) I also thought aggression might be the problem. I did witness the one regal keeping them in their hiding place. They have been together for a number of months. Why would one suddenly turn on the others? Now that they are in hiding I do not see them eat and I was concerned that they were starving. The only reason that I caught the one was because it had wedged itself in a rock. It also is the one that looks sick. I am not sure that I can easily catch the other one. As for the other missing fish, I am not sure what happened. I never saw aggression towards the gobies or the yellow tang.

 

[beth]

Beleive me, where tangs are concerned, friendly tankmakes can suddenly turn into jack the ripper! Especially with their little swords. And this can occur literally over nite. I had a hippo that grew up in my FO. He was in my FO for yr before he turned on all the fish and hit them hard with his swords. These fish were the same fish that he swam with, slept right next to, etc. very peacefully for many mos before he turned on them.
If the fish is doing ok in the refugium, leave him there. It is probably a great place for him to be with plenty of pods and algae! Do feed him. If you can get zoecon, add this to food you offer the refug tang.
Might, want to find a new home for aggressor tang.