Found my yellow tang dead today

jerseypete · Apr 26, 2015

When the lights came on in my tank this morning my yellow tang was barely swimming. Just swimming in place. Then would start to float on its side. I knew it wasn't good. He seemed like he had a white tint to the lower half of his body. Had to go out for a few hours. I came back and he was on the bottom of the tank with the clean up crew going to town. My wrasse and him were joined at the hip. He was ripping the hermits off him. And trying to lay on top of him. I'm so bummed. This fish has been in my tank for a year now. I haven't added a fish in 6 months. A few coral frags 2 weeks ago was the last addition. Tested water 2 days ago and everything was the norm. 5ppm nitrate. No ammonia. No nitrite. Cal 430. Alk 8.2 Mag 1480. Phos .08. The tang was perfectly normal at 8pm the night before. Fed the tank. He ate like a horse. Nori then mysis and brine shrimp. Then he and my wrasse swam around the tank as usual. Every other fish is normal as usual. Any ideas. Nothing has changed in my tank in a long time. Can figure this out. This is my first saltwater tank. Has been up a little over a year and the first time I lost a fish in this tank.

NanaReefer · Apr 26, 2015

No way to tell. Especially if he was doing as well as you said. Very sorry for your loss [emoji22]

dcarrion144 · Apr 27, 2015

Dammn I'm sorry to hear that Pete no info here just read ur post and wanted to give my condolences I hate when fish die especially when they have personality like that. There are plenty of fish in the sea but when u lose a fish u actually like the other may never take its place

Humblefish · Apr 27, 2015

Sorry to hear. You said he had a, "white tint to the lower half of his body". Do you mean like a white haze? Anything in the tank that could have stung him, such as a nem?

jerseypete · Apr 28, 2015

Thanks. No nem.

this isn't my pic but was sort of like this. See how it's pale white towards the bottom. But it could have been cause he was dead already. He was always bright yellow. Just odd he went so fast. Couldn't have been more than 12 hours that I seen him healthy and feeding. Every other fish and shrimp in the tank is fine. Like I said last fish I added was 6 months ago. Maybe it was something in the tank he ate? The only thing I noticed in the tank different is I seen a few bristle worms that I never seen before.

Humblefish · Apr 28, 2015

jerseypete If he was pale post mortem, then as you surmised it could be just that. Unfortunately, sometimes a fish dies and we never figure out why.

SantaMonicaHelp · Apr 28, 2015

I'm so sorry to heard that. It's a shock that the tang went down so fast. I hope there's nothing wrong in the tank to affect him like that. Best wishes to you.

-YK

jerseypete · Apr 29, 2015

Well its been 3 days now. Everything else in the tank is ok. No problems. I think I'll go out tomorrow and get another tang. Tank looks empty now. He seemed to bring out the other fish.