Yellow tang won't eat

[tiberius]

I have had my yellow tang for 7 years. He has only ate 2 bits of food in the last 2 weeks. I have just tried frozen Formula 2. When ever I put food in for the clowns and blenny, he hides. The other guys eat. I was concern maybe a month ago when the inside of his mouth had red in it. I assumed he munched down on one of the big bristle worms when it came up from the bed to eat the algae sheet I was putting out for him. I could never get him to eat it from the clip and someone mentioned about using rubber bands and place it on a rock. That has worked wonderfully till his mouth was all red inside. He was still eating flakes then but just seemed like he couldn't chew at big ones and had to go after little ones.
The only thing that changed since he stopped eating was I did a water change. It was nothing that he didn't see already. But, I did use the water from the Glacier machines. I used the TDS meter on it and it was better then my tap water. I was using the water from those parking lot windmills before that. I just don't get it.
His mouth is not red anymore. But, how long can he go without food? He was always really thick. Now, I can see on the bottom is getting thin. The only other thing I could do is to try and get him out of the tank, which won't be easy since there are plenty of hiding spots, and put him in my 10 gallon which has been running for several months.
It is almost like he doesn't want to eat. He will go up to the food and not suck it in and then he goes and hides. He comes back out and swims around. Not like he used to but he doesn't hide all day. Just when the food goes in.

 

[trigger11]

Originally Posted by Tiberius
I have had my yellow tang for 7 years. He has only ate 2 bits of food in the last 2 weeks. I have just tried frozen Formula 2. When ever I put food in for the clowns and blenny, he hides. The other guys eat. I was concern maybe a month ago when the inside of his mouth had red in it. I assumed he munched down on one of the big bristle worms when it came up from the bed to eat the algae sheet I was putting out for him. I could never get him to eat it from the clip and someone mentioned about using rubber bands and place it on a rock. That has worked wonderfully till his mouth was all red inside. He was still eating flakes then but just seemed like he couldn't chew at big ones and had to go after little ones.
The only thing that changed since he stopped eating was I did a water change. It was nothing that he didn't see already. But, I did use the water from the Glacier machines. I used the TDS meter on it and it was better then my tap water. I was using the water from those parking lot windmills before that. I just don't get it.
His mouth is not red anymore. But, how long can he go without food? He was always really thick. Now, I can see on the bottom is getting thin. The only other thing I could do is to try and get him out of the tank, which won't be easy since there are plenty of hiding spots, and put him in my 10 gallon which has been running for several months.
It is almost like he doesn't want to eat. He will go up to the food and not suck it in and then he goes and hides. He comes back out and swims around. Not like he used to but he doesn't hide all day. Just when the food goes in.
I probably wont be much help but I would check over in the disease and treatment section on these forums. You may have more luck in finding an answer as to why your yellow tang wont eat. Hopefully someone with more experience in this matter will chime in.
~Trigger

 

[donald]

Mine likes to eat frozen mysid shrimp and omega one flakes. I don't know if this helps, but it might be worth a try. I just thaw out the shrimp in a little tank water and use a turkey baster to squirt them into the tank. The shrimp smell might work up his appetite. I hope he starts eating. I worry about mine more than any other fish.

 

[tokey]

Maybe after 7yrs its just his time ( old age )
I had a blue Damsel that died of old age he just stopped eating
one day.
The hardest part was watching him go down hill over time and not being able to do anything about it.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by Tiberius
I have had my yellow tang for 7 years. He has only ate 2 bits of food in the last 2 weeks. I have just tried frozen Formula 2. When ever I put food in for the clowns and blenny, he hides. The other guys eat. I was concern maybe a month ago when the inside of his mouth had red in it. I assumed he munched down on one of the big bristle worms when it came up from the bed to eat the algae sheet I was putting out for him. I could never get him to eat it from the clip and someone mentioned about using rubber bands and place it on a rock. That has worked wonderfully till his mouth was all red inside. He was still eating flakes then but just seemed like he couldn't chew at big ones and had to go after little ones.
The only thing that changed since he stopped eating was I did a water change. It was nothing that he didn't see already. But, I did use the water from the Glacier machines. I used the TDS meter on it and it was better then my tap water. I was using the water from those parking lot windmills before that. I just don't get it.
His mouth is not red anymore. But, how long can he go without food? He was always really thick. Now, I can see on the bottom is getting thin. The only other thing I could do is to try and get him out of the tank, which won't be easy since there are plenty of hiding spots, and put him in my 10 gallon which has been running for several months.
It is almost like he doesn't want to eat. He will go up to the food and not suck it in and then he goes and hides. He comes back out and swims around. Not like he used to but he doesn't hide all day. Just when the food goes in.
Have you monitored your water quality since the last change? Him, being seven years old, will be more likely to be stressed from a change than newer fish would be especially if you have done everything the same for seven years. How much water did you change? Have you added any new fish within a few months time? Have you noticed any discoloration other than the red in his mouth? Could you please post your readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, sg, and temp?

 

[tiberius]

Originally Posted by donald
Mine likes to eat frozen mysid shrimp and omega one flakes. I don't know if this helps, but it might be worth a try. I just thaw out the shrimp in a little tank water and use a turkey baster to squirt them into the tank. The shrimp smell might work up his appetite. I hope he starts eating. I worry about mine more than any other fish.
When he was doing good, he never went after the mysis shrimp that I used to try and feed the mandarin with. I bought Formula Two flakes and he never liked those when he was eating. He always liked the Marine flake and the Spirulina flake.

 

[tiberius]

Originally Posted by Tokey
Maybe after 7yrs its just his time ( old age )
I had a blue Damsel that died of old age he just stopped eating
one day.
The hardest part was watching him go down hill over time and not being able to do anything about it.
I don't know about that. I had a clown goby that lived 21 years and a pair of clownfish that lived for 16 years. I hope that isn't the case. Maybe someone can chime in on how long they have kept a yellow tang.

 

[tiberius]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
Have you monitored your water quality since the last change? Him, being seven years old, will be more likely to be stressed from a change than newer fish would be especially if you have done everything the same for seven years. How much water did you change? Have you added any new fish within a few months time? Have you noticed any discoloration other than the red in his mouth? Could you please post your readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, sg, and temp?
Doing the tests in a bit.
I changed out 21 gallons. He was used to getting a 32 gallon change. But, that was when I was using tap water. I was one to only do water changes maybe 3 times a year. I had to start and do them every 2 weeks or so depending on the trate level because I was feeding Cyclopeeze every day to bring up the pod production. I know I checked the trates a couple of days after the change to see the how much the trates dropped and I actually got none. I think that has been the first time in a long time. They have always been 10 or 20.

 

[tiberius]

Ok here are the readings
Amm 0
Cal 640
Trate 5
Phosphate .25
Trite 0
PH 7.8
specific gravity is at 1.025
temp 82 degrees
I think the PH is low because I did the test about an hour after the lights came on.
My Cal was at 700 and when I brought the water for a test they checked the Alk and said it was 5.
The guy told me not to worry about it since they were both high and my PH was then at 8.2
I didn't add any fish while he was like this. I thought when I lost my LMB he might of missed him since they were always hanging out together. I only had the 2 mated clownfish in there. My mandarin is still in the 10 gallon tank eating amphipods I get from the Bay.
Last week I did go and buy a Starry Blenny. But, he doesn't seem to pay any attention to it. It is also real small compared to the LMB which was 3 years old.
Just fed the tank Cyclopeeze and he didn't go and hide but he only ate what was floating in front of his face and sucked it in while he was breathing.
On my other posts I thought maybe he was lonely. My LFS seems to be running out of fish. They haven't gotten anything that I would want in over a month. Everything they have there are angels, wrasses and aggressive fish.