URGENT - Yellow Tang Issue

sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Hi, so I've had my Yellow Tang in my HT/QT for three weeks today. I've had two clowns in there for over 2 months now.
I have a hang on back filter PVC pipe and whatever. I noticed today that my tang is moving around rather quickly bolting around the tank. I thought this is its typical behavior until I noticed its gills moving at a mile a minuet. I fed him last night and he had no problem. He doesn't show any sign of sickness and looks yellow and happy. However, after research, I've found that he shouldn't have his mouth open all the time and it looks to me like he does. Again, mouth open, gills moving at a mile a minute. No sickness detected and my SG Level is at 1.009. It's been that way for approx 1 maybe 2 weeks now. There was no sudden change to mess with him. The clowns seem to be doing fine as always... they don't seem to both the tang either. Is this just normal behavior and the tang will chill out as time passes? Or am I looking at a situation far beyond my ability to help right now?
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
I'm going to guess that your ammonia has spiked in the Qt tank. Since you don't have any LR or major filtration on a QT tank you need to watch the ammonia closely to make sure it doesn't build up on you. Water changes are needed to bring the level down.
Ammonia burns their gills and makes them uncomfortable.
Also make sure you have some surface aggitation in your QT tank, i killed my first QT fish because I forgot about that when I set up my QT tank.
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
I'm checking the levels right now. I have a small K1 at the top of the tank to push water around, so I have enough surface aggitation to release any toxins. Should it be the ammonia would a quick water change resolve it? Or is that going to take some time for it to balance back out? It's about 3 minutes into the test and it's still showing 0ppm not saying that it can't change in the coming minute or two... but I'll still do a water change for the sake of it. I just changed the water last week though... 8-
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
if ammonia is 0 I dunno. is the fish still colored properly, good solid yellow, with the white stripe down the middle just really faint?
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Color is good. The white line in the center of the body is there but faint as I believe it should be. He just makes quick spirts and slows down. As of recent he has been sitting in one corner moving its fins but just hanging out, not really moving.
Tangs Rule - I'll check that out right now. Thanks!
 
tangs rule

tangs rule

Active Member
Fast respiration is either caused by low disolved oxygen levles, stress, gill damage by ich or velvet, or alot of activity. If you have a little airpump & stone, i'd run it and up the O2 level. Just keep watching him and how he behaves. Keep looking for signs of psites too, cause my good friend just lost an achilles that had been in hypo for 2 weeks, and i had a re-ocurrance of it in week 3 of hypo on my angle and butterfly in qtine.
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Does anyone know how many reps the gills should be going per second? I know it's a silly question but I don't know if it's beginning to slow down or if it's still at the same pace. It looks like it's anywhere from 2-4 reps per second.
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Doesn't seem to be very active any longer either. I just did the water change and his white line on his side was very noticeable. Since it has gone away and color has been coming back. But his gills seem to be going fairly fast and he doesn't want to move around any longer. Is this normal behavior at this point during it's first BIG water change? (20%. Typically I do 10%)
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Does anyone have any other suggestions? I just came home and the tang is STILL sitting on the bottom of the tank. Color looks fine, but it doesn't move from the bottom of the tank. I repositioned my Powerhead to have more water aggitation towards the top, but I don't know if the tang sitting in a stationary position at the bottom of the tank is normal... as side note its gills have slowed down to a "normal" pace now.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
What is a normal pace? How long has it been sitting there at the bottom? You might still want to put an air pump on the tank.
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
I don't have an air pump :-/... Usually it swims around near the middle of the tank... I don't think I've ever seen it sitting around at a stationary position. I guess I can add an airpump later tomorrow. I just didn't think this behavior was normal.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
No I don't think it is normal behavior either. Honestly doesn't sound good. Does the fish have Ich, is that why it's in hypo?
 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
I did not notice but may have missed it, how big is your QT? the patient here is obviously stressed out and O2 should be given as soon as possible. If the ammonia is indeed 0 check the Ph.
You can get an air pump fairly cheap at wal-mart and I would put that in at a low consentration (bubble) and turn off your lights to lower stress. IMO
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kiefers http:///forum/thread/386004/urgent-yellow-tang-issue#post_3388188
I did not notice but may have missed it, how big is your QT? the patient here is obviously stressed out and O2 should be given as soon as possible. If the ammonia is indeed 0 check the Ph.
You can get an air pump fairly cheap at wal-mart and I would put that in at a low consentration (bubble) and turn off your lights to lower stress. IMO
Yes I would also cut the lighting. Fish really don't need it anyways. And if you didn't paint the bottom of the tank black the glare from the lights off the glass can cause the fish to become disoriented and stressed. Definitely check all parameters.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
I know I allready went over this and you mentioned it too. But when you say you have surface aggitation the actual surface of the water in the tank is kinda like boiling right? Lots and lots of ripples.
That is a pretty small tank for a tang to be in even if its just for 4 weeks. How much longer do you have on the hypo?
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
It is a 60 gallon tank so I assumed as a baby it would be fine in this size for some time. I am in the process of taking down my 150 gallon and won't be putting it back up for a good 2 maybe even 3 months. The water at the surface is moving as if its boiling. I did not paint the bottom of the tank but instead taped paper covering the whole thing. Also, I don't have any light fixtures on the tank so the only light the fish get is natural light as well as whatever light I have on in the room. I have it in hypo because I figured I will just start doing hypo on every fish regardless if they're sick or not. After hypo is finished I can be guaranteed they aren't going to be sick.
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
My pH is indeed low! So I will have to go to the store and pick up some buffers. I did a check and the pH level is anywhere from 7.4-7.6... possibly even 7.2. So could this be a major contributer to why my tang and really my clowns are so slow on moving? The clowns are definately more active than the tang, but by no means as active as they were when they were in the DT.
 
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