Biota Yellow Tang death

[NanoSteam]

All, I received my small yellow tang from Biota on Thursday, per their recommendation only temp acclimated and dropped the tang into the tank as to avoid an ammonia spike in the shipping water. Salinity was for the most part spot on hovering around 1.025 in their bag and I keep my tank at 1.025. The tang did come with some top fin damage but I wasn't too concerned it looked like some aggression from their holding tank and nothing serious.

Kept the lights off for an hour as well to allow it to adjust. It went straight into hiding in one of the caves. Did not take to food.

The next day (Friday) it was out swimming a bit but quickly went back to its cave and did not come out. I tried to feet masstick since that's what Biota recommended but it did not care to even try it. I figured it maybe needs a bit more time to adjust to the new environment so I left it alone.

Saturday morning it looked the same, just swimming around in it's cave, tried some Nori but it did not care for it at all. That evening I get home from an event to find it sideways unable to swim breathing very heavily. Throughout this whole time I did not see it flashing or swimming up against current (looking for hints of velvet). I also couldn't see anything visually wrong on it's body.

I did take a snap shot of it after removal of tank and there are red blotches near it's head and some areas. Some quick research brought up possible bacterial infection but i'm unsure.

My research also brought me to this thread Humble.Fish where another reefer may have ID their Biota tang coming with velvet but it's not clear.

As of now my other tank inhabitants, one clownfish and one royal gramma show no signs of distress, visual or behavioral issues.

Can anyone help ID the issue? Here's the pic of my YT. I contacted Biota on Saturday but I don't expect to hear anything until at least Monday since I assume they are closed over the weekend.

Tank params:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10ppm
Alk: 8
Calcium: 450 to 500 (test kit isn't very accurate)
PH: 8.0
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 79F
No chemical filtration, just protein skimmer

 

[i cant think]

All, I received my small yellow tang from Biota on Thursday, per their recommendation only temp acclimated and dropped the tang into the tank as to avoid an ammonia spike in the shipping water. Salinity was for the most part spot on hovering around 1.025 in their bag and I keep my tank at 1.025. The tang did come with some top fin damage but I wasn't too concerned it looked like some aggression from their holding tank and nothing serious.

Kept the lights off for an hour as well to allow it to adjust. It went straight into hiding in one of the caves. Did not take to food.

The next day (Friday) it was out swimming a bit but quickly went back to its cave and did not come out. I tried to feet masstick since that's what Biota recommended but it did not care to even try it. I figured it maybe needs a bit more time to adjust to the new environment so I left it alone.

Saturday morning it looked the same, just swimming around in it's cave, tried some Nori but it did not care for it at all. That evening I get home from an event to find it sideways unable to swim breathing very heavily. Throughout this whole time I did not see it flashing or swimming up against current (looking for hints of velvet). I also couldn't see anything visually wrong on it's body.

I did take a snap shot of it after removal of tank and there are red blotches near it's head and some areas. Some quick research brought up possible bacterial infection but i'm unsure.

My research also brought me to this thread Humble.Fish where another reefer may have ID their Biota tang coming with velvet but it's not clear.

As of now my other tank inhabitants, one clownfish and one royal gramma show no signs of distress, visual or behavioral issues.

Can anyone help ID the issue? Here's the pic of my YT. I contacted Biota on Saturday but I don't expect to hear anything until at least Monday since I assume they are closed over the weekend.

Tank params:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10ppm
Alk: 8
Calcium: 450 to 500 (test kit isn't very accurate)
PH: 8.0
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 79F
No chemical filtration, just protein skimmer

It looks like it had RBS (Red spot disease) but I don’t quite know if that’s a SW disease along with FW

 

[Reef AquaCult]

poor fish. need more info regarding the tank it was put in. dedicated QT? display? other fish / animals in display? i have experience with multiple Biota YT and all happy and swimming and eating soon after dropping into new home. hiding in cave for days after is not normal. something was going on inside the tank or the animal arrived ill which i would think would be unlikely as long as shipping conditions were ok.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

All, I received my small yellow tang from Biota on Thursday, per their recommendation only temp acclimated and dropped the tang into the tank as to avoid an ammonia spike in the shipping water. Salinity was for the most part spot on hovering around 1.025 in their bag and I keep my tank at 1.025. The tang did come with some top fin damage but I wasn't too concerned it looked like some aggression from their holding tank and nothing serious.

Kept the lights off for an hour as well to allow it to adjust. It went straight into hiding in one of the caves. Did not take to food.

The next day (Friday) it was out swimming a bit but quickly went back to its cave and did not come out. I tried to feet masstick since that's what Biota recommended but it did not care to even try it. I figured it maybe needs a bit more time to adjust to the new environment so I left it alone.

Saturday morning it looked the same, just swimming around in it's cave, tried some Nori but it did not care for it at all. That evening I get home from an event to find it sideways unable to swim breathing very heavily. Throughout this whole time I did not see it flashing or swimming up against current (looking for hints of velvet). I also couldn't see anything visually wrong on it's body.

I did take a snap shot of it after removal of tank and there are red blotches near it's head and some areas. Some quick research brought up possible bacterial infection but i'm unsure.

My research also brought me to this thread Humble.Fish where another reefer may have ID their Biota tang coming with velvet but it's not clear.

As of now my other tank inhabitants, one clownfish and one royal gramma show no signs of distress, visual or behavioral issues.

Can anyone help ID the issue? Here's the pic of my YT. I contacted Biota on Saturday but I don't expect to hear anything until at least Monday since I assume they are closed over the weekend.

Tank params:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10ppm
Alk: 8
Calcium: 450 to 500 (test kit isn't very accurate)
PH: 8.0
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 79F
No chemical filtration, just protein skimmer

Don’t most suppliers ship there fish at 1.018 salinity or lower ? Strange to see that biota is at 1.025 hmmm

 

[i cant think]

Don’t most suppliers ship there fish at 1.018 salinity or lower ? Strange to see that biota is at 1.025 hmmm

1.025 is normal, I think they’re shipping at 1.025 because some people may put their tang into a reef tank so it just needs to be temp acclimated

 

[((FORDTECH))]

1.025 is normal, I think they’re shipping at 1.025 because some people may put their tang into a reef tank so it just needs to be temp acclimated

I would bet that 95% of people here would say 1.025 not normal. Most fish vendors keep lower to save a lot of money on salt. But either way if yours was 1.025 when you got it then that is great. I assume you measured it yourself when you first opened the bag.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

All, I received my small yellow tang from Biota on Thursday, per their recommendation only temp acclimated and dropped the tang into the tank as to avoid an ammonia spike in the shipping water. Salinity was for the most part spot on hovering around 1.025 in their bag and I keep my tank at 1.025. The tang did come with some top fin damage but I wasn't too concerned it looked like some aggression from their holding tank and nothing serious.

Kept the lights off for an hour as well to allow it to adjust. It went straight into hiding in one of the caves. Did not take to food.

The next day (Friday) it was out swimming a bit but quickly went back to its cave and did not come out. I tried to feet masstick since that's what Biota recommended but it did not care to even try it. I figured it maybe needs a bit more time to adjust to the new environment so I left it alone.

Saturday morning it looked the same, just swimming around in it's cave, tried some Nori but it did not care for it at all. That evening I get home from an event to find it sideways unable to swim breathing very heavily. Throughout this whole time I did not see it flashing or swimming up against current (looking for hints of velvet). I also couldn't see anything visually wrong on it's body.

I did take a snap shot of it after removal of tank and there are red blotches near it's head and some areas. Some quick research brought up possible bacterial infection but i'm unsure.

My research also brought me to this thread Humble.Fish where another reefer may have ID their Biota tang coming with velvet but it's not clear.

As of now my other tank inhabitants, one clownfish and one royal gramma show no signs of distress, visual or behavioral issues.

Can anyone help ID the issue? Here's the pic of my YT. I contacted Biota on Saturday but I don't expect to hear anything until at least Monday since I assume they are closed over the weekend.

Tank params:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10ppm
Alk: 8
Calcium: 450 to 500 (test kit isn't very accurate)
PH: 8.0
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 79F
No chemical filtration, just protein skimmer

I always worry about salinity rises on shipped fish (as others mentioned), but Biota said they shipped at full salinity so that won’t be an issue.

What were the shipment parameters? Carrier? Shipping time frame? Air temperature at the arrival city?

Jay

 

[Tcook]

T

I would bet that 95% of people here would say 1.025 not normal. Most fish vendors keep lower to save a lot of money on salt. But either way if yours was 1.025 when you got it then that is great. I assume you measured it yourself when you first opened the bag.

TSM ships at 1.026. I believe Reef Pro does the same.

 

[i cant think]

I would bet that 95% of people here would say 1.025 not normal. Most fish vendors keep lower to save a lot of money on salt. But either way if yours was 1.025 when you got it then that is great. I assume you measured it yourself when you first opened the bag.

Yeah, I did. My LFS keeps fish in 1.030 salinity water which I find odd, but when they get shipments it comes in at 1.025

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Yeah, I did. My LFS keeps fish in 1.030 salinity water which I find odd, but when they get shipments it comes in at 1.025

My lfs is at 1.016 lol

 

[NanoSteam]

poor fish. need more info regarding the tank it was put in. dedicated QT? display? other fish / animals in display? i have experience with multiple Biota YT and all happy and swimming and eating soon after dropping into new home. hiding in cave for days after is not normal. something was going on inside the tank or the animal arrived ill which i would think would be unlikely as long as shipping conditions were ok.

Went into display tank RSR 250 along with clown fish and small Royal Gramma, both ignored the tang, never got close to it.

Shipping conditions itself were spot on, shipped 4pm Wednesday arrived at door 10:00am so I can't fault that at all.

Don’t most suppliers ship there fish at 1.018 salinity or lower ? Strange to see that biota is at 1.025 hmmm

I would bet that 95% of people here would say 1.025 not normal. Most fish vendors keep lower to save a lot of money on salt. But either way if yours was 1.025 when you got it then that is great. I assume you measured it yourself when you first opened the bag.

Initially I asked Jake @Biota what salinity they ship with and he insured me it was 1.025 which I did confirm myself with my refractometer. It nearly matched my reef tank only off by a hair.

I always worry about salinity rises on shipped fish (as others mentioned), but Biota said they shipped at full salinity so that won’t be an issue.

What were the shipment parameters? Carrier? Shipping time frame? Air temperature at the arrival city?

Jay

It arrived from Ft Lauderdale to SoCal in less than 24hrs via UPS, was immediately put in to temp acclimate. Thankfully a cooler day here with a high of 81F reported but the tang arrived at 10am when it was a bit cooler than that.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Went into display tank RSR 250 along with clown fish and small Royal Gramma, both ignored the tang, never got close to it.

Shipping conditions itself were spot on, shipped 4pm Wednesday arrived at door 10:00am so I can't fault that at all.





Initially I asked Jake @Biota what salinity they ship with and he insured me it was 1.025 which I did confirm myself with my refractometer. It nearly matched my reef tank only off by a hair.



It arrived from Ft Lauderdale to SoCal in less than 24hrs via UPS, was immediately put in to temp acclimate. Thankfully a cooler day here with a high of 81F reported but the tang arrived at 10am when it was a bit cooler than that.

O.K., I just wanted to rule out shipping stress, wasn’t that though…..textbook shipment.
Jay

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

I always open the bag and start a slow
drip, above the bags water. When the bag is close to full, transfer to the Specimen Container I had the bag in. Continuing the drip.
I’ve found that the pH has usually bottomed out, during shipping. I do a long drip to avoid pH shocking the Fish. Same for Inverts. If you know someone in the Medical Field, see if they can get you a drip minus the IV Needle. BTW, never put a Fish in a bare Styrofoam Shipping Container, the Styrofoam is Rough enough, to damage its Fins and Scales. I learned that the hard way, when I was a teen, and collected fish.

 

[Reef AquaCult]

poor fish. need more info regarding the tank it was put in. dedicated QT? display? other fish / animals in display?

I always open the bag and start a slow
drip, above the bags water. When the bag is close to full, transfer to the Specimen Container I had the bag in. Continuing the drip.
I’ve found that the pH has usually bottomed out, during shipping. I do a long drip to avoid pH shocking the Fish. Same for Inverts. If you know someone in the Medical Field, see if they can get you a drip minus the IV Needle. BTW, never put a Fish in a bare Styrofoam Shipping Container, the Styrofoam is Rough enough, to damage its Fins and Scales. I learned that the hard way, when I was a teen, and collected fish.

You can purchase a drip bag on Amazon.Denshine 1200ML Enteral Delivery Gravity Bag Set, Disposable Enteral Nutrition Bag, Gravity Feeding Bag - Large BoreDrip Bag

 

[NanoSteam]

I always open the bag and start a slow
drip, above the bags water. When the bag is close to full, transfer to the Specimen Container I had the bag in. Continuing the drip.
I’ve found that the pH has usually bottomed out, during shipping. I do a long drip to avoid pH shocking the Fish. Same for Inverts. If you know someone in the Medical Field, see if they can get you a drip minus the IV Needle. BTW, never put a Fish in a bare Styrofoam Shipping Container, the Styrofoam is Rough enough, to damage its Fins and Scales. I learned that the hard way, when I was a teen, and collected fish.

Although I usually do this method when bringing home a fish from the LFS, I was specifically told not to due to potential ammonia spike from PH rising rapidly once you open the bag allowing CO2 to offgas.

 

[i cant think]

Although I usually do this method when bringing home a fish from the LFS, I was specifically told not to due to potential ammonia spike from PH rising rapidly once you open the bag allowing CO2 to offgas.

An easier way to get dripacclimated is clip the pipe into the bag at the top (Keep the top open a bit until the water can get in there then close it up when the pipe is in)

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I always open the bag and start a slow
drip, above the bags water. When the bag is close to full, transfer to the Specimen Container I had the bag in. Continuing the drip.
I’ve found that the pH has usually bottomed out, during shipping. I do a long drip to avoid pH shocking the Fish. Same for Inverts. If you know someone in the Medical Field, see if they can get you a drip minus the IV Needle. BTW, never put a Fish in a bare Styrofoam Shipping Container, the Styrofoam is Rough enough, to damage its Fins and Scales. I learned that the hard way, when I was a teen, and collected fish.

Although I usually do this method when bringing home a fish from the LFS, I was specifically told not to due to potential ammonia spike from PH rising rapidly once you open the bag allowing CO2 to offgas.

That is correct: as long as the salinity is the same, drip acclimating shipped fish causes the CO2 to degas, raising the pH, and making the ammonia convert to its toxic form. I've seen fish die right in the bag from this. If the salinity is different, the trick is to make up some seawater at the same salinity, pH and temperature as the water in the bag, then move the fish right over, and drip acclimate from there. You can use an acid to lower the pH.

Jay

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

I will definitely be looking into this. I’ve only had Four or Five Fish shipped from Florida in the past, and didn’t have a problem. I wonder if you could use an Ammonia Lock, in the bag. I was taught my method at a LFS in the 80’s The owner would have me open the box, and the Styrofoam cooler. Open the outer big bag, and pull all the smaller bags out, and have me float them. He would weight the the big bag. The bag back in the box would be placed on the floor, opened, round air stone just below the surface. He opened these capsules into the water, depending on the weight/volume, “Concentrated Furan??” and we would start the drip. Small bags also got the drip, while in a Specimen Container.

 

[NanoSteam]

Anyone have experience with Biota's 7 day guarantee? I'm hoping for the best, they offer store credit or replacement according to the website which is perfectly fine with me. Hoping to hear back from them soon.

 

[Maxcmo]

I bought a yellow tang and a coral beauty a few weeks apart from them and I followed the instructions and was pretty amazed to see both of these fish eating in less than 5 minutes of being in the tank. My only gripe would be they are really really small fish I knew they were small but these are like infants.... Sorry to hear about yours if I had to guess I would say maybe some crazy temp swings during shipping. My boxes were very hot inside even though they had cooling packs. The weather has been really hot then it rains and cools down 15-20 degrees here in miami.