yellow tang not in best form....

pashari

pashari

Member
....I have a 60 gal tank. Tank is about 3.5 y/o with 70 lbs of LR, 3 Power Heads and a Canister Filter. Have numerous blue legged hermits, mandarin, a clown, what I thought was a strawberry goby but just today was told is a psuedochromis (sp?) - bright pink with blue eyes - and the yellow tang. Have one cleaner shrimp and one emerald crab and three turbo snails.
Redid the tank about 6 months ago - had some pretty large, aggressive damsels and removed them as well as my two urchins who just chowed all my corraline, rearranged my LR and added the above. Did about a 30% water change at that time. Substrate is about 3 inches of crushed coral and shells. Had a hair algae bloom about 2 months after the change, but got it under control within 6 weeks and tank runs pretty smooth.
Feed a variety of flake food & frozen - paying attention to the greens for the tang. Also clip the seaweed select to the tank about twice a week. I feed about three times per day - think I may actually overfeed, but hope the hermits can keep things in check. Have great supply of opods for madarine - who is flourishing.
Lighting is plain flourecent (4 bulbs) - 2 50/50, 1 100% actinic and 1 Marine Glo. LR shows good corraline growth covering about 30 - 40% of the LR mostly purple in color although some areas do look a little bleached.
Now to my poor tang. About two months ago started to look a bit rough around the edges. Not looking like it was being picked on, just the top and bottom fin started looking very spiky. LPS said it was a green deficency hence added the seaweed select. Condition did not improve. Went back today and they gave me this "vita chem" by Boyd Enterprised saying to soak the seaweed select with this stuff prior to putting it in the tank.
Tang is active and is eating - no sunk sides. No other discolerations.
Any ideas????
Thanks for any help.
 
pashari

pashari

Member
...but they are too large to attached. Uploaded them to snapfish.com and tried the thing but that didn't work either....
Here's the snapfish url - http://images.snapfish.com/345%3A872...3C%3A844nu0mrj
Will that help?????
thanks for your response...
lisa
ps. the fish has the dark spot in the middle as I just turned the tank lights on to take the pic. Normally he's a solid yellow, albiet a bit pale.
 
aw2

aw2

Active Member
Problem #1: Your filtration
Problem #2: Your substrate
What are your water parameters?
 
connor

connor

Active Member
Originally Posted by AW2
Problem #1: Your filtration
Problem #2: Your substrate
What are your water parameters?
i completly agree
 
pashari

pashari

Member
....I started my first SW tank in 1989. Set up with a UG filter and one of those hang off the back things. What can I say, I was young, stupid and the internet wasn't around. More by sheer luck than anything else, the tank and inhabitants did thrive (except for a sea cucumber that the LFS sold me telling me it would be just fine).
I dumped the UG and added the LR around 1992. Also added some powerheads.
I decided to try to go reef in 1995. It was a dismal failure. I just didn't have the money or expertise needed for this type of tank. After losing my first two corals (a carpet and some mushrooms) I decided to stay FO. I married, moved and the tank was down for about 2 years. When I set it back up again 3.5 years ago I consulted with what I would consider our local experts at Tropicorium http://www.tropicorium.com/ and they advised that my old set-up would serve my needs just nicely. I wasn't going into corals nor was I planning to keep any fish with special needs. So, I set up the tank, bought a few seeded pieces of live rock and let things rip. Intitally had some damsels, and they were pretty and easy to keep so I left things alone. Six months ago, damsels are now HUGE, I'm looking for some variety so I trade them in and get my current crop which includes the tang
Aside from the last 2.5 years, I've kept a yellow tang pretty much throughout as it has always been my favorite fish. I've never had this type of problem with them before and wonder why the substrate would cause the current problem when I've been using the same substrate for over 15 years. Not saying that it couldn't, but am wondering why it would. I realize that crushed coral is out of favor for most hobbyists, but it is what I had at the time and was advised that it would be suitible. At this point, I'm not willing to pull it all up. There is abundant life in the substrate and my mandarin is feasting.
As for water parameters, I just test for the basics - pH is around 7.9, Ammonia is 0, Nitrite around 0.01 ppm. Specific Gravity at 1.022 and Temp around 77 to 78.
Thanks for your help. Can you give me any other ideas on what could be wrong? Is this just a sign of stress????
lisa
 
blueangelc

blueangelc

Member
Originally Posted by pashari
....I started my first SW tank in 1989. Set up with a UG filter and one of those hang off the back things. What can I say, I was young, stupid and the internet wasn't around. More by sheer luck than anything else, the tank and inhabitants did thrive (except for a sea cucumber that the LFS sold me telling me it would be just fine).
I dumped the UG and added the LR around 1992. Also added some powerheads.
I decided to try to go marine in 1995. It was a dismal failure. I just didn't have the money or expertise needed for this type of tank. After losing my first two corals (a carpet and some mushrooms) I decided to stay FO. I married, moved and the tank was down for about 2 years. When I set it back up again 3.5 years ago I consulted with what I would consider our local experts at Tropicorium http://www.tropicorium.com/ and they advised that my old set-up would serve my needs just nicely. I wasn't going into corals nor was I planning to keep any fish with special needs. So, I set up the tank, bought a few seeded pieces of live rock and let things rip. Intitally had some damsels, and they were pretty and easy to keep so I left things alone. Six months ago, damsels are now HUGE, I'm looking for some variety so I trade them in and get my current crop which includes the tang
Aside from the last 2.5 years, I've kept a yellow tang pretty much throughout as it has always been my favorite fish. I've never had this type of problem with them before and wonder why the substrate would cause the current problem when I've been using the same substrate for over 15 years. Not saying that it couldn't, but am wondering why it would. I realize that crushed coral is out of favor for most hobbyists, but it is what I had at the time and was advised that it would be suitible. At this point, I'm not willing to pull it all up. There is abundant life in the substrate and my mandarin is feasting.
As for water parameters, I just test for the basics - pH is around 7.9, Ammonia is 0, Nitrite around 0.01 ppm. Specific Gravity at 1.022 and Temp around 77 to 78.
Thanks for your help. Can you give me any other ideas on what could be wrong? Is this just a sign of stress????
lisa
Check this link from the Fish Health/Disease forum
forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/127010/diseased-fish-pictures
Doesn't it look like HLLE? (Head and Lateral Line Erosion)
 
pashari

pashari

Member
In the description of the ailment it says bloody blood vessels and emancipation (shrunken sides). The picture also shows the top & bottom fins as being full. My tang has the spiky fins - it's kinda like all that is there are the spines of the fins and the rest isn't there.
Thanks for the input. Anyone else agree??? Disagree??? I'd really love some help as I try to be a good hobbyist and take care of my fish.
Again, thanks.
lisa
 
J

jupoc911

Guest
im sorry but this fish is definitly not in good shape. what are yout nitrates? your nitrite should be at 0. have you considered fin and tail rot? Do you have a quarantine tank? The tang almost has no color left in his face, which can possibly be hlle. they also need more seaweed than twice a week. i feed it to mine daily and if he finishes it i add another for my snails and other animals later at night. I would get the fish out the tank and treat him with maracyn 2 but imo i dont think he is going to make it.
 
pashari

pashari

Member
I do not have a QT but can get one going. So you believe this is a bacterial infection??? If I do manage to get the tang to a QT - do you think this infection is a danger to my other fish??? Do I need to treat them as a preventative measure?
I just tested my parameters and all is normal (i.e. 0) with the exception of nitrates which is a bit high. Am in the process of doing a water change.
Again, thanks for your insight.
lisa
 
J

jupoc911

Guest
im not 100% positive it is bacterial but given the way he looks i would try every possible measure to nurse him back to health. get a 20 long quarantine because from the looks of it he will be in there for sometime. dose with maracyn-2 and feed algea strips every day. I would also soak all food that he is being fed with zoe and selcon. IMO this is the best way to nnurse him back to health. I think your other fish as long as there are no symptoms are fine, and I would leave them. Just work on getting nitrates down and follow my advice.
 
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