What's wrong with my yellow tang?

[delavega]

Hi there,
WE bought a yellow tang about 4 days ago. When we got it, it was bright yellow. The past couple of days, it's head is starting to turn color. It looks like the yellow has just come off of it's head. We havea 60 gallon tank, nitrates are a little high but all other values are normal. We have a skilter and an emperor filter on the tank. What could it be?
Some advice on how to drop our nitrates would be good too. We've tried water changes and the powdery stuff from the fish store but nothing has worked.
Any advice would be helpful. We're trying to build up our tank again because we lost a bunch due to ich before Xmas. We don't want to lose our tang.

 

[737mech]

Could you post you no3 reading for us. Actually post all your readings. What are you feeding the tang? Is there lots of algae on the LR for him to eat? I would feed him some green seaweed selects on a clip.

 

[delavega]

Thanks for replying so fast. The Ph is 8.2 although we had to put some buffer in the tank 2 days ago because it was 8.0, but 8.2 now. Ammonia and nitrites are 0. Salinity is 1.022. Now the nitrates are even higher than before. The test tube is just bright red, so maybe one of the highest levels. We only did a water change on Saturday.
There is hardly any algae on our rocks, not enough for it to eat any. There is some red algae on our crushed coral which we thought may be due to the nitrates We feed it frozen brine shrimp.

 

[karajay]

Originally posted by delavega
We feed it frozen brine shrimp.
This is basically void of any nutritional value, and is at least part of the reason for the loss of color.
Definately add a larger variety of foods and particularly some green foods to the diet.
There are a few good home-made fish food recipes if you do a search on this site. As stated earlier, be sure to hang some veggies in a clip for it to graze on. Sea Veggies, Seaweed Selects and also nori (the stuff they use to wrap sushi) are good choices.

 

[delavega]

Thanks alot Karajay, we will pick up some other food. This website has been very helpful because there is only one saltwater fish store here so we have limited information. I have seen that food at the store but thought it was strange to feed your fish veggies. We'll give it a try!!

 

[canadiandude]

You may want to consider using RO water instead of tap water if you're not doing so already. Also frequent water changes is the only way to rid yourself of the nitrates. I would do a partial water change every second day until they are under control.

 

[737mech]

Tangs don't tolerate elevated nitrate levels. Do you have other fish in the tank too. What is it stocked with. I guess I'm trying to figure out why your nitrates are sooo high. Regular water changes will help over time as stated before. It does take awhile though. You may want to consider adding a refugium to your system and grow some macro algae in it to help with the nitrates.

 

[delavega]

We only have 3 damsels besides the tang. Also we have 6 hermit crabs. We have been very hesitant buying new fish because we lost a lot of expensive fish before Xmas. We've had the damsels about 2 months so decided to add some different fish. What is a refugium? I'm willing to try anything right about now to get those nitrates down. Is it too late to save the tang?

 

[oyam1]

get a skimmer (Prizm is good) and toss the skilter.
more quality live rock and live sand is good to.
never ever ever put eny more of that powdery sh...t in your water.
i feel your paid i just lost a bunch to,
souds like your fish is stressed do to water quality and damselfish are evel little fish that could add stress to your tang.
pre-mix salt hold for 24h and keep doing water changes.
keep light off longer and let your tang rest.
also you may still have ICH in you aquarium, sounds like it was not fish free for 30-40 days and even that is not a sure thing.
good luck.
good skimmers are about $70-80 on ---- (prizm delux)

 

[delavega]

I finally managed to get a pic of my yellow tang. He is getting worse. His belly is starting to wrinkle and his color is changing in more spots. He is more active than he has been and he is eating fine. He spends more time swimming around now whereas he spent a lot of time behind the rocks before.
Oyam1, our tank was without fish for almost 2 months after we got ich so we're hoping that wouldn't be causing this problem. But I do agree with you about stress from the water conditions for sure. The damsels don't bother him but would they still stress the tang out?
I have did a water change and plan to do one again in a couple days. I also bought some seaweed and some higher nutrient food. Also made my own as well. I'm trying!!
Thanks for everyone who've given me some pointers, hopefully they pay off and save my tang!

 

[delavega]

oh yea, I forgot to mention that he only has half of his right fin and a little piece gone out of his tail fin as well

 

[clint_reno]

I am still a relative newbie, but I do have a yellow tang, and I confirm the previous posts are correct.
They are very sensitive, intelligent fish. Any slight neglect they seem to take personally. Water quality is your first problem. You need to do those water changes to get the levels down. Is there much fish waste in the tank? That can affect your levels.
Second is the food. He is not eating. These guys are pigs! They need to eat all the time! That is the key. I feed mine a high quality color marine flake, and quality green marine algae. He gets the flake 4-5 times a day, and 2 inch square piece of algae, which I rip into smaller pieces and soak in warm water first. That way when it goes into the tank, it float below the surface, and he attacks it!
Within 30 minutes, most of the algae is gone.
Also, not to sound like a broken record, but do you have a QT?

 

[delavega]

We had a yellow tang before for 6 years and never had one problem with it. He died last summer of age we think. We aren't really new at this stuff but we moved our tank to another house and have been having problems since. We never ever had any water problems like this until now. We moved to an area with a different water source than the other house so it is possible that our tap water has nitrates? Is there any way to test to see?
We do have a QT but never put the tang in it because we only had a couple damsels to start off again. I guess we should have though. The damsels are fine though.
Our tang died this morning so I guess we lost the battle against whatever was going on. No more fish until we can figure out how to get those nitrates down. We've tried water changes, what else can we try? Is there anything we can buy?

 

[delavega]

oh yea, we were talking to the guy at the fish store who sold us the fish and some of the tangs that were in the same tank as ours are having the same problem. Is there a disease that they could have had that could cause the symptoms that ours had?

 

[737mech]

Sorry to hear about your tang. They are great fish. Anyway, I would get an ro/di unit pronto and do a series of water changes with some aged saltwater. Like I said before, adding a refugium would also help you out. Use the search button to find out more on the refugium.
I would also use the QT for every new fish that you buy.

 

[callieformula]

:happyfish
Has anyone ever told you guys that a yellow tang should be kept in no smaller than a 70 gallon tank? They turn into a very large fish and nothing less than a 70 gallon tank will keep a yellow tang happy for long.

 

[737mech]

Actually, I think you should look at that idea in terms of footprint over number of gallons. If you had a really deep tank that would give you more gallons, but not length. Longer is better!
JMO

 

[callieformula]

all I know is that any literature that you read on a yellow tang will state that they need at the bare minimum a 70 gallon tank. I am sure that most of the others on here would agree with that if they have ever tried to raise a yellow tang. These are not small fish, and to keep them in a small tank is not healthy for them, and they will suffer. They needs lots of room to roam. I made this mistake and had one in a 55, he lasted about 6 months. I now have a 100 gallon tank, added a yellow and after two months he has doubled in size to about 6" now, and my $20 fish is now worth close to $75. All I am saying is don't get too big of a fish for too small of a tank.

:happyfish

 

[737mech]

This has been debated over and over again here. You are right about the literature. Think about the LENGTH that is what a tang needs when he swims. Tangs are sensitive fish, so it could have been more the a 55 that did yours in. I have seen a YT in a 60 and he was chilling. He looked fat and happy. He had no HLLE and was very calm. He has been in this tank for years. He was bought very small.
IMO You should have been able to keep a YT in that 55 longer than 6 mon. unless he was huge to begin with and that would have definately been a mistake. A YT in a 55 with the idea of upgrading is fine in my eyes.
delavega I'm sorry this thread got hijacked.

 

[delavega]

So what you people are saying is that you shouldn't have a yellow tang if you have less than a 70 gallon tank? We had our first tang for years and he was fine. We bought him when he was small so it may be an adaptation thing.
Are there any other fish that need a lot of space that we should be aware of?
You know a lot about salt water fish 737Mech. Where do you get the info or is it just personal experience? Are there books or magazines that can be bought to help us out?
We've owned this tank for about 6 years but we've only just had problems after we moved it to our new house so it feels like we are new to the hobby.