Achilles Tang tips

[chad 1079]

Hey everyone so I've ordered a Achilles Tang for my 125 aquarium FOWLR. I've ordered a couple in the past few months and they haven't lived but a day or two and I was wondering if any had any tips or suggestions that may have one now? Water quality,perimeters, tank mates etc.. The funny thing is I previously had two of them(separate tanks) that both lived for several Years without any issues. I guess it must have been dumb luck because I didn't realize they were hard to keep, just expensive.

 

[RockBox13]

It’s not a good idea to add another if you mean that you have one on the way. What are your water tests showing? How are you measuring salinity? Temperature? Filtration? What else is in the tank? Anything wrong with the physical appearance of the fish? Who are you ordering from? Are they observing for the health of the fish before selling it to you? Lots of stuff to consider here.

 

[ReefingDreams]

Hey everyone so I've ordered a Achilles Tang for my 125 aquarium FOWLR. I've ordered a couple in the past few months and they haven't lived but a day or two and I was wondering if any had any tips or suggestions that may have one now? Water quality,perimeters, tank mates etc.. The funny thing is I previously had two of them(separate tanks) that both lived for several Years without any issues. I guess it must have been dumb luck because I didn't realize they were hard to keep, just expensive.

They like extreme flow. Marine Collectors has a video series he did with BRS where he talks about the challenges with this species. Don't have a link handy, but should be easy to find.

 

[chad 1079]

They like extreme flow. Marine Collectors has a video series he did with BRS where he talks about the challenges with this species. Don't have a link handy, but should be easy to find.

Oh ok thanks. Yeah I did read something about the flow

 

[chad 1079]

It’s not a good idea to add another if you mean that you have one on the way. What are your water tests showing? How are you measuring salinity? Temperature? Filtration? What else is in the tank? Anything wrong with the physical appearance of the fish? Who are you ordering from? Are they observing for the health of the fish before selling it to you? Lots of stuff to consider here.

Oh no sorry I just meant I have 1 coming in today. I don't have any now, Salinity is around 1.018-1.020. I just use one of those plastic hydrometers, but I've noticed when I get my water tested on occasion at the LFS they use a refractometer and it's a couple of points higher. Temps around 76, PH 8.3 nitrates under 40. I will say in the recent past when I tried a couple they went in my 210 that has 3 HOB and a large airstone it. But now knowing about the shallow water, high flow, high oxygen. There may not have been enough flow or oxygen in that tank so I'm going to try this one in the 125.It's Shallower and I have a bubble wall in it plus a submersible UV sterilizer. In the 210 there are bigger fish(puffer, Foxface, Valmini Tang) but that shouldn't be a issue in the 125 all I've got in there is some green chromis damsels, small rabbit fish, and a small fuzzy dwarf lionfish. The last couple of attempts from this past year was from salt water fish .com. But in there defense the two I had previously that lived a long time were from them. Although come to think of it those 2 were actually from Hawaii(before there fish ban) and I'm not sure where these "new" ones are coming from. Could this also be a case of Hawaiian ones are hardier ? And I've asked before and they told me they do hold them for a couple weeks and they do use some kind of meds. Thoughts ?

 

[Darstar301]

Make sure you give them lots of flow, MP60 or a couple of MP60s in the 210

 

[RockBox13]

Oh no sorry I just meant I have 1 coming in today. I don't have any now, Salinity is around 1.018-1.020. I just use one of those plastic hydrometers, but I've noticed when I get my water tested on occasion at the LFS they use a refractometer and it's a couple of points higher. Temps around 76, PH 8.3 nitrates under 40. I will say in the recent past when I tried a couple they went in my 210 that has 3 HOB and a large airstone it. But now knowing about the shallow water, high flow, high oxygen. There may not have been enough flow or oxygen in that tank so I'm going to try this one in the 125.It's Shallower and I have a bubble wall in it plus a submersible UV sterilizer. In the 210 there are bigger fish(puffer, Foxface, Valmini Tang) but that shouldn't be a issue in the 125 all I've got in there is some green chromis damsels, small rabbit fish, and a small fuzzy dwarf lionfish. The last couple of attempts from this past year was from salt water fish .com. But in there defense the two I had previously that lived a long time were from them. Although come to think of it those 2 were actually from Hawaii(before there fish ban) and I'm not sure where these "new" ones are coming from. Could this also be a case of Hawaiian ones are hardier ? And I've asked before and they told me they do hold them for a couple weeks and they do use some kind of meds. Thoughts ?

They’re more shy than I think people estimate, but it sounds like your 125 might be best for the Achilles depending on size when you introduce them. If you didn’t notice the kind of spots and slime associated with parasites like Ich, Flukes, Brooklynella, Velvet, etc. and you didn’t see some fungal or damage to the exterior of the fish, that makes me think bacterial or viral infection. I’ve see a lot of Tangs go down with Septicemia whether the infection was viral or bacterial in origin, they end up dying like many animals, including ourselves from an infection that gets into the bloodstream. If you know anyone who has ever had Diverticulitis or gone septicemic, they can tell you how painful it is. Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia is something I feel affects Tangs in the way you observed. The majority of life by volume on an ocean reef is bacterias and viruses. Some harmless and some incurable but just how a virus that we can’t cure like chicken pox can come back with a vengeance as the shingles, infection levels, go up and down based on individual resistance and treatment. I would suggest you treat something as beautiful and valuable as an Achilles Tang with as much care as possible. Consider treating it with medication like Nitrofurazone or Kanamycin based treatment, There are some medications that you can put on food and getting them to ingest a medication right away is more effective than most anything else. Some companies make medicated food, there’s one I used to use for Tangs from New Life Spectrum but you’re better off learning how to make medicated food. The Kanamycin should be available at most pet stores or under Seachem as Neo-plex. In this small study of fish farms in Asia, they’re stressing that antibiotics are better used as a preventative treatment without any consultation from a veterinarian or scientist and that actually lowers the overall usage of antibiotics. “Oxytetracycline, ciprofloxacin, and amoxicillin were the most frequently used antibiotics. Most of the antibiotics were reported to be used for both therapeutic and prophylactic purposes”. “Improvement of fish health through better farming practices and changes in feed dealers' and farmers' attitudes towards self-prescription of antibiotic without veterinarian diagnostics may help to reduce the levels of antibiotic usage and thus contribute to mitigating antimicrobial resistance.”

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352771422000775#:~:text=Many%20antibiotics%20such%20as%20oxytetracycline,prevent%20fish%20diseases%20%5B7%5D.

They’re really shy a lot of times until another fish kinda breaks the ice and they seem to really like/be provoked by Yellow Tangs too I’m my experience.

 

[chad 1079]

They’re more shy than I think people estimate, but it sounds like your 125 might be best for the Achilles depending on size when you introduce them. If you didn’t notice the kind of spots and slime associated with parasites like Ich, Flukes, Brooklynella, Velvet, etc. and you didn’t see some fungal or damage to the exterior of the fish, that makes me think bacterial or viral infection. I’ve see a lot of Tangs go down with Septicemia whether the infection was viral or bacterial in origin, they end up dying like many animals, including ourselves from an infection that gets into the bloodstream. If you know anyone who has ever had Diverticulitis or gone septicemic, they can tell you how painful it is. Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia is something I feel affects Tangs in the way you observed. The majority of life by volume on an ocean reef is bacterias and viruses. Some harmless and some incurable but just how a virus that we can’t cure like chicken pox can come back with a vengeance as the shingles, infection levels, go up and down based on individual resistance and treatment. I would suggest you treat something as beautiful and valuable as an Achilles Tang with as much care as possible. Consider treating it with medication like Nitrofurazone or Kanamycin based treatment, There are some medications that you can put on food and getting them to ingest a medication right away is more effective than most anything else. Some companies make medicated food, there’s one I used to use for Tangs from New Life Spectrum but you’re better off learning how to make medicated food. The Kanamycin should be available at most pet stores or under Seachem as Neo-plex. In this small study of fish farms in Asia, they’re stressing that antibiotics are better used as a preventative treatment without any consultation from a veterinarian or scientist and that actually lowers the overall usage of antibiotics. “Oxytetracycline, ciprofloxacin, and amoxicillin were the most frequently used antibiotics. Most of the antibiotics were reported to be used for both therapeutic and prophylactic purposes”. “Improvement of fish health through better farming practices and changes in feed dealers' and farmers' attitudes towards self-prescription of antibiotic without veterinarian diagnostics may help to reduce the levels of antibiotic usage and thus contribute to mitigating antimicrobial resistance.”

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352771422000775#:~:text=Many%20antibiotics%20such%20as%20oxytetracycline,prevent%20fish%20diseases%20%5B7%5D.

They’re really shy a lot of times until another fish kinda breaks the ice and they seem to really like/be provoked by Yellow Tangs too I’m my experience.

Thanks for the advice. Yeah I usually put antibiotics in there food when I get new fish. I've been using Kanaplex but I'm pretty sure I have some Neoplex around as well. Do you like one over the other ? Since there both antibiotics.