Trouble With tangs

[meer]

Hi All, I would first like to start off by saying this form and all of your guys and gals advise has been key to my aquarium success.
Tank stats 150 gal Reef, Temp 79 Sal 1.023 amm 0, nit to low to detect, PH 8.3to 8.4 Alk 8 Dkh Cal. 400 Lighting 3 400Watt MH. 200lbs LR RO/DI Water
Fish Maroon Clown, Potters Angle, Watchman goby, 6 line wrasse Naso Tang, Yellow Tang.
Food: Mysis , Algae sheets, Brine
I am at a loss of what to do, My tank has been up and running for almost 2 years I added my first tang about 8 months ago (Vlamingii Tang) and a blue hippo the Vlamingii was nice and healthy eating well for about a month not acting strange in any way but one morning I found him dead, no marks or signs of trauma. I checked the water and everything was normal that after noon the blue hippo stared to do the death circles and with in an hour it died. there was seeming no explanation they were not discolored in any way. All the other fish were and are still just fine. after i lost those two tangs I got kind of "gun shy" with tangs and waited about 7 months hoping that it may have been some kind of parasite of something that seemed to only effect the tangs last week I purchased a Naso and yellow tang and I got a call from my wife saying the naso just laying on the bottom getting blown buy the current bearly alive. The yellow is still acting fine as of now. As you all can appreciate my pain is there any ideas on why these tangs are dying? I hate buying fish and watching them die it defeats the purpose. One side note is that I have taken the tangs that died to the fish store where i got them and he said he had no idea what was going on. Is there any advise or ideas on what I am missing?
Thank you all for the help
T

 

[beth]

Hello, and welcome to SWF.com.
Tangs are not the easiest fish to keep, contrary to some information out there. Also, believe it or not, your tank size would be considered the bare minimum in size for most tangs. Space may just be the issue, especially if you are trying to keep more than one at a time. When you say "nit" do you mean nitrite or nitrate?
Are you feeding your tang the foods they need? They are omnivores, and need a a hefty amount of algae in their diet.

 

[al mc]

Tangs can be difficult to keep. Do you have a QT tank? If so, did you keep them there first before going into the DT? Did the LFS check their gills for damage/parasites when you returned them?

 

[mr. limpid]

You should acclimate them this web site has instruction on how this should be done. Also dido on Al Mc comment all your fish should be put in a Quarantine tank before they go in you DT. If you go to the disease form the first two threads tell you how to set one up. Good Luck

 

[tangs rule]

Having kept tangs for 9 years now, and seen many die off at LFS due to disease/parasites, only suggestion is to set up hospital tank, identify the parasite/disease, remove all fish from the main tank and treat in quarantine tank for 4 weeks after LAST sign of disease in gone. The minimum time the DT should be bare of all fish to allow the parasites to die off naturally is 6 weeks. Then never ever put anything (fish/invert/coral) straight into DT until it has spent 4 weeks or more in Q. I have only had skin parasite issues & fish disease leading to loss when I bought something "new&pretty" and put into one of my DT tanks prior to a full month or more in isolation.
Tangs are so very susceptible to parasites and are usually the FIRST to get sick and almost 100% of the time any tang from any supplier will have at least one skin parasite on it when you buy it. In a true OCEAN reef environment with billions or trillions of gallons of water, the parasites have to swim an awful lot to find a host and most die before reaching a fish (host) to feed on. Like mosquitos they need blood to get the energy to reproduce. In even a large 2000 gallon tank with 2 fish in it, the odds for the parasites go WAY up versus the true ocean reef and many of the dozens of offspring each parasite creates will successfully feed & breed dozens more. In only a couple weeks, your tank could contain hundreds or even thousands of parasites.
I've gotten to where I only add ANY new life to only 1 DT at a time, and only every other year or so. And that's AFTER the new addition has been thru at least 4 weeks of quaratine.
I got tired of fish loss, and parasites are so hard to fight & eliminate, it's easier to loose the new addition rather than risk loosing the thousand in tangs I have.
hope this helps & good luck
theres some good treatment & identification & hospital tank instructions at the top of this section.

 

[aquaknight]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Meer http:///forum/thread/382928/trouble-with-tangs#post_3345480
Fish Maroon Clown, Potters Angle, Watchman goby, 6 line wrasse Naso Tang, Yellow Tang.
T
Hold up. How long have you had the Potter's? Successfully keeping a Potter's angel isn't exactly no small accomplishment. If this guy's been alive for 9 months, you're doing something right, and I would almost consider eliminating disease as a possibility, as the Potter's would have been a long-goner too.
Marine Ich, even a full blown case, would be hard pressed to kill a healthy Naso tang in just a week. Marine Velvet certainly could, but the other tankmates would have been goners too. Flukes could kill as well, but you would, hopefully, notice the cloudy fins and eyes.

 

[rcreations]

I never had problems keeping tangs and I have a 150 as well. In fact, they seem pretty hardy to me. However, tangs are one type of fish that you must QT before putting them in your display tank. I suggest seeting up a hospital tank and putting any new additions in there for at least 3 weeks. This way it's easier to observe them for any diseases and keep the fish in your display tank from getting sick as well.

 

[tangs rule]

To the Original Poster, Meer:
Have you added any new "life" to the DT since this issue began? Anything new from any foreign tank (invert/coral/live food/fish) can introduce nightmares into your system, and tangs will usually be the first to suffer. Once I totally quit adding anything to my DT's but new saltwater, dry food, and additives - my tangs no longer needed a hospital tank. Just a thought