Tang Trouble ?

derwood

derwood

Member
Have a YELLOW TANG that is acting strangely. He's hanging out at the bottom of the tank, swimming in fairly tight circles, and then every once in a while darting off around the rest of the tank only to return quickly to circle again.
I have had it for 6 weeks now and this is the first such activity I have seen from it. It is now starting to look a little stressed, but only showing pale whiteness on his lower front stomac area.
Other fish in the tank are fine, tests, PH, salinity are normal.
Any suggestions for why he's behaving this way?
 
derwood

derwood

Member
He's been in the 35 hex for about one week. There are three perks, a royal gramma, and a flame angel in there with him. All of them have been there >2-3 months.
Prior to that I had him (alone) in a 10G QT for about 6 weeks (he came with ick & had to do hypo). He never showed any of these symptoms while in the small tank. He's also a pretty small tang (2-3 inches max).
He has been eating fine. Mainly freezdried seaweed (puple stuff - "Sea Veggies"). Recently he's been showing more interest in some of the brine shrimp & blood worms I have been feeding the others, but mostly just the seaweed. I also tried some spinach as I read that was an option to give them some variety and he seemed to eat that as well.
PH = 8.0 (never been able to get it higher with buffers)
NO2 = 0
NH3 = 0
Alk = normal
SG = 1.022
No changes to the tank of late, no other illnesses to fish. Everything else seems normal.
So, are you then suggesting I put him back in the 10G QT and that he'd be better off in the smaller tank? Thats what your advice suggests? I have seen them in much smaller tanks than 35. :confused:
 
derwood

derwood

Member
Forgot to mention.... he's also swimming up next to the glass and rubbing / slapping his tail against it repeatedly (not constantly, but very frequently).
No signs of any real stress, or parasites, or damage.
 
karajay

karajay

Active Member

Originally posted by Derwood
So, are you then suggesting I put him back in the 10G QT and that he'd be better off in the smaller tank? Thats what your advice suggests? I have seen them in much smaller tanks than 35. :confused:
No. I was trying to suggest you may need a larger tank with more horizontal swimming space. Tangs, even when they are small, like to swim ALOT. Back when I first started in this hobby, I had a powder blue tang in a 55 that displayed similar behavior (pacing, circling). He's now been transferred to a new owner with a much larger tank and has far different swimming habits. Can't believe the difference.
If your tang is eating well, and otherwise appears physically normal, IMO it just needs more room to roam.
 
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