Blonde Naso Tang is beginning to worry me

[Rawsreef]

Hi,

I have a blonde naso who has refused to eat since I took him from the store.

The only thing I have seen him eat is algae. The live stuff, while he grazes my rocks, which I am noticing less and less of. Also, Nori from the clip or when it floats around. What worries me is that he is not even aggresively eating. I am afraid he is eating less and less and withering away. He sometimes shows interest in a floating piece of nori and will chase it, just to ignore it when it's in his face, like if it wasn't what he was looking for.

Thinking he might be a picky eater, I've tried a variety of foods, to no success.

I picked up live brine, which was the only thing I was able to get him to eat a bit of. Same exact response as the algae, went crazy for 2 seconds, only to start ignoring the brine after a few bites.


I've also tried, NLS pellets, a few different types of flakes, krill, mysis, a frozen DIY prepared. Nothing has worked.


I try to soak the Nori and most foods in Vitachem and garlic.
Other fish seem to love the stuff, naso does not.



Is there any hope? I really do not want to lose this fish, my girl loves it. This is my second attempt with a Blonde Naso.



Now here's some more backstory :



I got this 4-5'' blonde naso around Dec. 26. I saw a group of them at the store, and asked if they were eating frozen foods.
The LFS employee said "lets see" and squirts a good amount of frozen food in. They all began going after the food, some more than others. I picked what I thought was the most beautiful of the bunch, and made sure I saw him eat a few pieces.

After getting netted, noticed some stress marks, but nothing crazy.


Did not QT because my tank already has ich. I just put him in the acclimation box together with a magnificent foxface I got at the same time as the naso.


Noticed from day 1 the mag foxface was eating everything, the naso is the opposite.

 

[Rawsreef]

Heres some photos for reference. In the box was when we first got him

Now :

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi,

I have a blonde naso who has refused to eat since I took him from the store.

The only thing I have seen him eat is algae. The live stuff, while he grazes my rocks, which I am noticing less and less of. Also, Nori from the clip or when it floats around. What worries me is that he is not even aggresively eating. I am afraid he is eating less and less and withering away. He sometimes shows interest in a floating piece of nori and will chase it, just to ignore it when it's in his face, like if it wasn't what he was looking for.

Thinking he might be a picky eater, I've tried a variety of foods, to no success.

I picked up live brine, which was the only thing I was able to get him to eat a bit of. Same exact response as the algae, went crazy for 2 seconds, only to start ignoring the brine after a few bites.


I've also tried, NLS pellets, a few different types of flakes, krill, mysis, a frozen DIY prepared. Nothing has worked.


I try to soak the Nori and most foods in Vitachem and garlic.
Other fish seem to love the stuff, naso does not.



Is there any hope? I really do not want to lose this fish, my girl loves it. This is my second attempt with a Blonde Naso.



Now here's some more backstory :



I got this 4-5'' blonde naso around Dec. 26. I saw a group of them at the store, and asked if they were eating frozen foods.
The LFS employee said "lets see" and squirts a good amount of frozen food in. They all began going after the food, some more than others. I picked what I thought was the most beautiful of the bunch, and made sure I saw him eat a few pieces.

After getting netted, noticed some stress marks, but nothing crazy.


Did not QT because my tank already has ich. I just put him in the acclimation box together with a magnificent foxface I got at the same time as the naso.


Noticed from day 1 the mag foxface was eating everything, the naso is the opposite.

This was a recent discussion and unfortunately there has been a recent number of blonde Naso and convict tangs refusing to eat often in a daze and slowly declining to the point of weakness and perishing questioning the methods being used for capture
If it is being caught by cyanide or other chemical means, there is no medication or method to reverse it as the fish may be be already affected both neurologically and internally. Most have been indo pacific caught as well as from Sri Lanka

 

[Rawsreef]

This was a recent discussion and unfortunately there has been a recent number of blonde Naso and convict tangs refusing to eat often in a daze and slowly declining to the point of weakness and perishing questioning the methods being used for capture
If it is being caught by cyanide or other chemical means, there is no medication or method to reverse it as the fish may be be already affected both neurologically and internally. Most have been indo pacific caught as well as from Sri Lanka

This is not what I was hoping to hear. Honestly this is why I have trust issues when it comes to buying anything from LFS.

 

[Rawsreef]

I just read that the nasos may like Sargassum. I always see that stuff at the beaches, and by the sandbars when I am out there.

I live 20 mins from the marina, I may try to get my hands on some of that stuff to try to feed it.

 

[vetteguy53081]

This is not what I was hoping to hear. Honestly this is why I have trust issues when it comes to buying anything from LFS.

When buying from an LFS, ask to see fish eat
Observe its skin for parasites and imperfections
Observe its breathing rate
See how it interacts with other fish if any in the store display

In essence, LFS cannot be blamed as they too may be unaware as collectors do not communicate with them

 

[Rawsreef]

When buying from an LFS, ask to see fish eat
Observe its skin for parasites and imperfections
Observe its breathing rate
See how it interacts with other fish if any in the store display

In essence, LFS cannot be blamed as they too may be unaware as collectors do not communicate with them

I did ask it to eat, and it did.
No obvious signs of parasites or imperfections, they all looked pretty healthy. It was a group of 5 Blondes hanging together. The one I took was the best-looking of the bunch IMO.
Breathing normally, even in the bag on the way home and during acclimation, which can be pretty stressful.

I did notice a lot of flashing, after being taken out of the display at the store. Mostly while in the bag and in the acclimation box, I tossed it up to stress, which is most likely what it was.



Honestly IDK if I agree, that LFS cannot be blamed. Because I doubt the owners of these stores are unaware of these practices, and the state of these fish. Yet they still give these distributors business and go on to sell these fish at retail $$...


Either way, I am not going to give up on this guy. I will continue to soak Nori and looking for other foods he may be more interested in. Either way this was the route I was planning on taking since I would not like to pull him to medicate, causing further stress.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I did ask it to eat, and it did.
No obvious signs of parasites or imperfections, they all looked pretty healthy. It was a group of 5 Blondes hanging together. The one I took was the best-looking of the bunch IMO.
Breathing normally, even in the bag on the way home and during acclimation, which can be pretty stressful.

I did notice a lot of flashing, after being taken out of the display at the store. Mostly while in the bag and in the acclimation box, I tossed it up to stress, which is most likely what it was.



Honestly IDK if I agree, that LFS cannot be blamed. Because I doubt the owners of these stores are unaware of these practices, and the state of these fish. Yet they still give these distributors business and go on to sell these fish at retail $$...


Either way, I am not going to give up on this guy. I will continue to soak Nori and looking for other foods he may be more interested in. Either way this was the route I was planning on taking since I would not like to pull him to medicate, causing further stress.

Brine shrimp and mysis shrimp often enticers, As stated, often they nibble and pick at food and soon they stop altogether and shutdown if this fish is another candidate of what has been seen

 

[beesnreefs]

This was a recent discussion and unfortunately there has been a recent number of blonde Naso and convict tangs refusing to eat often in a daze and slowly declining to the point of weakness and perishing questioning the methods being used for capture
If it is being caught by cyanide or other chemical means, there is no medication or method to reverse it as the fish may be be already affected both neurologically and internally. Most have been indo pacific caught as well as from Sri Lanka

@vetteguy53081 any sense on how long it takes for them to show signs and decline? I ask because I have a blonde naso on order from a QT vendor so, at best, this fish will come to me at least 30 days after being acquired. Could I safely assume that after 30 days it is healthy?

 

[RickG]

Bump. Unfortunately, I’m on about my 4th-5th try with nasos and have had absolutely no luck. All have been a similar story as the OP. They stay looking at the food and don’t eat and slowly die. I have tried regular, blondes, big and small. I have a Red Sea 900xxl, feed variety of foods ex.. mysis,brine, pellets, nori, veggie mix, all soaked in vitamins. All my fish are happy and I have added other fish with no problems but nasos have been my biggest hurdle. I will try live brine. This will be my last try to keep this fish. Any input on naso care taking is appreciated!

 

[Troylee]

Bump. Unfortunately, I’m on about my 4th-5th try with nasos and have had absolutely no luck. All have been a similar story as the OP. They stay looking at the food and don’t eat and slowly die. I have tried regular, blondes, big and small. I have a Red Sea 900xxl, feed variety of foods ex.. mysis,brine, pellets, nori, veggie mix, all soaked in vitamins. All my fish are happy and I have added other fish with no problems but nasos have been my biggest hurdle. I will try live brine. This will be my last try to keep this fish. Any input on naso care taking is appreciated!

I got a little guy about a month ago who was a picky eater and refused pellets, and mysis, brine etc… I got him eating omega one flakes with garlic and now he’s getting fat and eats what ever I put in the tank for the rest of the fish.. I’m having this problems with convicts tangs and gave up..

 

[RickG]

I got a little guy about a month ago who was a picky eater and refused pellets, and mysis, brine etc… I got him eating omega one flakes with garlic and now he’s getting fat and eats what ever I put in the tank for the rest of the fish.. I’m having this problems with convicts tangs and gave up..

I have never been a fan of flakes but I might just try them out lol!

 

[Troylee]

I have never been a fan of flakes but I might just try them out lol!

Me either but I got some tiny anthias and they were picky so I fed them flakes and was like oh wait?!? He loved it! It got him eating and the rest was history…

 

[RickG]

Well I’m omw to the fish store to pick up flakes so let’s see lol, fingers crossed

 

[Rawsreef]

Well I’m omw to the fish store to pick up flakes so let’s see lol, fingers crossed

Try algae, any type that you can feed it, whether its live algae or nori sheets. That's the only thing mine ate at first. Then I got him onto vitachem/selcon/garlic soaked nori. Once he was used to nori I moved him onto frozen soaked in the same stuff. I feel like the smell of the additives enticed him to go after the frozen.


Now my blonde naso only eats frozen and nori. It was tough to get him to eat, so I'm not sure what's going on with these fish.

But in my case, mine turned out to be a really picky eater.