HAVE YOU RESENTLY PURCHASED BLONDE NASO TANG?

Bought blonde naso tang? Did fish survived?


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zheka757

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In last 6 month have you got one and it died on you? Like with in days or weeks? Looked good, ate, then stoped eating and died.
I'm one of alot of cases lately!
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Jay Hemdal

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I've noticed this issue as well. I have a theory: Nasos are popular aquarium fish. When fish collection in Hawaii shut down, there was still demand for this genus of fish. So, instead of large N. lituratus from Hawaii, they started selling more blonde nasos, N. elegans. These come mostly from Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Those fish are not handled as well as fish from Hawaii were. Also, large nasos do not ship well, and the shipping distance really increased when the shift from Hawaii was made. All of this resulted in more blonde nasos coming into the US (not sure about Europe) and more of these are having problems. The problems I see are fish that arrive and look good initially, but then develop infections and die within a month to six weeks.

Some people have implicated collection with cyanide, but I don't think so - Nasos are open water swimmers, they don't hole up, so cyanide isn't used to catch them.

Jay
 

chipchipbro

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Here in europe all nasos I see are no problem at all.
All super healthy and in good condition.

Im also a bit confused @Jay Hemdal .. Dejong Marinelife has received like 20 Achilles this week. Im curious where they come from. Even XXXL fish.

 

Jay Hemdal

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Here in europe all nasos I see are no problem at all.
All super healthy and in good condition.

Im also a bit confused @Jay Hemdal .. Dejong Marinelife has received like 20 Achilles this week. Im curious where they come from. Even XXXL fish.

I’m not sure where the big Achilles are coming from - used to be mostly Hawaii, now it is probably Fiji or Micronesia.
Jay
 

Enderg60

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Im actually looking to purchase a large blond naso in the next month or two. Are there any visual cues to look out for when selecting one?
 
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zheka757

zheka757

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That
Im actually looking to purchase a large blond naso in the next month or two. Are there any visual cues to look out for when selecting one?
That's a thing, you will not see a dam thing with a fish, but then out of nowhere stop eating, for several days, weak. Then died. For size vise, this is how big mine looked when i had to transfer my fish between tanks. He is in 5 gallon bucket.
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coral reeftank

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For the past few years I have been seeing naso tangs with pinched bellies. I’ve tried to medicate them for worms but they never survive for very long. I have not been able to keep one for over 10 years because everyone I see around me have been suffering from this weird pinched belly issue.
 

Jay Hemdal

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Found this video of this guy selling them,


If his fish are truly short supply chain like he says, these could be a better option. Dallas is a USFWS port of entry, so he could be importing directly.

Sri Lanka is a bit of an enigma - in the 1980's it was a great place to source fish from, no cyanide was used. Lately, I've been hearing reports of poorer quality fish coming from that region, so things may have changed. Interestingly, Rodney Jonklaas, one of the early fish collectors there, identified cyanide use there way back in the 1960's.

Jay
 
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zheka757

zheka757

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If his fish are truly short supply chain like he says, these could be a better option. Dallas is a USFWS port of entry, so he could be importing directly.

Sri Lanka is a bit of an enigma - in the 1980's it was a great place to source fish from, no cyanide was used. Lately, I've been hearing reports of poorer quality fish coming from that region, so things may have changed. Interestingly, Rodney Jonklaas, one of the early fish collectors there, identified cyanide use there way back in the 1960's.

Jay
What you saying is that it's still a gamble to buy one?
 

Jay Hemdal

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What you saying is that it's still a gamble to buy one?

If what the vendor is saying is true, then his fish are less of a gamble than for long supply chain fish. However, we do NOT know the actual cause of this issue in blonde nasos, is it the long supply chain, or is it something inherent in how the fish were collected? IMO buying any show fish can be a gamble - I prefer buying small to medium sized fish. Here is the issue: the biggest cost for these fish is shipping. Shipping is based on shipment weight and distance. Water is expensive to ship. Large fish are typically shipped in proportionally smaller bags than smaller fish are. Therefore, large show fish are exposed to disproportionally worse water conditions during shipment. in addition, larger fish are more "set in their ways" and do not acclimate as well as smaller fish do to captive life.

Jay
 
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zheka757

zheka757

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It's being 2 month now, have any one heard of death cases to continue? I'm considering to try again. But won't buy it if they still die for unknown reasons
 

bluemon

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Also, is this only a case for blonde Naso or all Naso in general?

I was under the assumption that the blonde and regular were the same species
 

Baka Mop

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I got a small 2 inch naso from reefs4less in June. He's been doing fine and is the most active in my tank along with my blue tang. He's starting to get the color patterns on his face.
I've actually been having the worst luck with bluethroat triggers. I cannot get them to eat at all and they slowly die. I've gone through 2 already, and my 3rd recently finished QT but has not been eating still. I'm honestly gonna give up on one for a while if this one doesn't make it.
 

Raptor72

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I have gone through about 8 Nasos, regular and blonde over the past 3 years. I couldn't keep one for more than 4 months at a time in an established tank. I have finally been able to keep on for a year now. It eats like a pig, but so did my other ones.
 

bluemon

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I got a small 2 inch naso from reefs4less in June. He's been doing fine and is the most active in my tank along with my blue tang. He's starting to get the color patterns on his face.
I've actually been having the worst luck with bluethroat triggers. I cannot get them to eat at all and they slowly die. I've gone through 2 already, and my 3rd recently finished QT but has not been eating still. I'm honestly gonna give up on one for a while if this one doesn't make it.
You know what my blue throat loves?

Get some market clams, freeze them, and chop them up.

They will eat whole chunks that float around.

Then in that clam juice, melt some mysis or even better, LRS.
 

Jay Hemdal

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It's being 2 month now, have any one heard of death cases to continue? I'm considering to try again. But won't buy it if they still die for unknown reasons

We are still hearing of issues from members. It looks like the poll is showing about a 50% mortality rate in the first few months. That is on par with the mortality rate I found in mixed fish coming from Indonesia that were collected with cyanide. I don't think the nasos are caught that way, just that the mortality rate is similar and very high.

Jay
 

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