1 out of 3 yellow tangs is skinny

[Lousybreed]

I don’t mean like starvation skinny. Just thinner than my other two. My two normal tangs have a body that is about the same width as the head. In other words the fish looks smooth from front to back. My other tang gets a bit skinnier behind the head. It is. It emancipated nor is there any aggression in the tank. Hell the skinny one is the sassiest of all three. Could it just be a skinny tang or might it have parasites? To answer the obvious stuff: fish are fed 3-5 times a day, 250 gallon tank, SPS heavy tank, overall a peaceful tank with no major issues. Lots of live rock to hide in. I feed everything from pellets to frozen foods.

 

[flooddc]

Maybe it not get enough food as the other two.
Do you feed them Nori (dry seaweed). I picked up a yellow tang from another reefer a while back. It's was skinny, however, after only few weeks in my tank (feed nori daily, homemade frozen and flake alternately) it got fatter.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Tangs need to graze on nori every day. Go to your local oriental market and buy a pack. If you don't have algae clips, folk up the nori sheet and rubber band it to a small piece of rock.


HERE's how I cut and feed nori.

 

[nereefpat]

Any QT? Deworming while there?

 

[4FordFamily]

More aggressive tangs higher in the pecking order will dominate the algae clips and be much heavier than their tankmates. My Desjardini Sailfin and Gem Tang are massive as they are 1 and 2.

 

[norfolkgarden]

If you have 3 t***'s then using several algae clips will give the smaller 1 a better chance of eating.

Lol, I'm leaving that up there. ***

Not sure if Google Voice to text is trying to tell me something about tang behavior in general.
[emoji23]

 

[Lousybreed]

Thanks guys. I do feed nori but never thought about two places. He eats pretty good. I did not deworm in QT but the guy I buy from does. Let me try the nori challenge and see if things get better!!

 

[ca1ore]

Pinching behind the head is generally not a good thing. Maybe not dead tomorrow, but not good long term (it’s invariably fatal in leopard wrasses as example). Two locations for nori is worth trying if the skinny tang is getting boxed out. I have a lot of tangs and they get an 8x8 sheet daily (lasts all of 5 minutes). The Vitalis (formerly New Era) grazer rings are good too; you have to order them from the UK though.

Nori is very good at fattening up tangs; it’s my go to food for convicts that often arrive semi emaciated.