Injured blue tang

Liebfinehomes · Jul 24, 2026

Hi guys,

Got this blue tang in about 3 weeks ago. Shes been doing great in the tank. No issues with any of the other inhabitants. She did pick the worst hiding spot deciding to tuck in to my reefwave45 every night. I tried to discourage her from that spot but it just made her wedge in deeper. I was afraid of her injuring herself and I am assuming this is what happened. She has some damage to her dorsal fin. Any advice on how to help her recover? Shes only about 1.5" currently. Still actively swimming around. I did order some guards for the wave maker but they are still about a week out. I do not have a qt tank currently set up (shame on me) but i have a spare fluval flex I can setup this evening as a QT.

Other livestock in tank
1 kole tang - 5" or so. Came in the same order as her. They seem to completely ignore each other.
1 six line wrasse
1 bicolor blenny
1 watchman goby
1 royal gramma
1 neon dottyback
2 Ocellaris clowns
1 fire shrimp
Basic cuc
Mixed corals

Open to other potential causes but to me it seems like physical injury from the wave maker. Im definitely not an expert.
I can provide parameters if applicable.

Tank is only about 4 months old.

Picture with white lights only attached from this morning. Picture of her hiding in the wave maker from when she started doing it.
Let me know if i can provide anything else.

Looking for best practices to help her heal up

Liebfinehomes · Jul 24, 2026

Got a video of her that shows it fairly well

Kooma · Jul 24, 2026

I’m following along as I am curious myself. In the past I’ve seen yellow tangs that injur their dorsal, and it never grows back. This is bones showing, hopefully it does alright.

Kooma · Jul 24, 2026

Basic tang question, are you feeding plenty of nori on a clip for the hippo?

Liebfinehomes · Jul 24, 2026

Kooma said:
Basic tang question, are you feeding plenty of nori on a clip for the hippo?

Yeah I have a nori clip in there. I usually add a piece and take it back out in the evening. Kole tang eats from it. I have not seen the blue tang eat directly from it but has taken some pieces that have shed off. Also feeding ocean nutrition 1&2 flakes, new life spectrum pellets and assorted frozen foods. Been feeding pretty heavy because nutrients have been bottoming out pretty quickly. She seems to favor the flakes or I get the most feeding response from her for those at least. Open to other suggestions for feeding of course.

vetteguy53081 · Jul 24, 2026

Liebfinehomes said:
Hi guys,

Got this blue tang in about 3 weeks ago. Shes been doing great in the tank. No issues with any of the other inhabitants. She did pick the worst hiding spot deciding to tuck in to my reefwave45 every night. I tried to discourage her from that spot but it just made her wedge in deeper. I was afraid of her injuring herself and I am assuming this is what happened. She has some damage to her dorsal fin. Any advice on how to help her recover? Shes only about 1.5" currently. Still actively swimming around. I did order some guards for the wave maker but they are still about a week out. I do not have a qt tank currently set up (shame on me) but i have a spare fluval flex I can setup this evening as a QT.

Other livestock in tank
1 kole tang - 5" or so. Came in the same order as her. They seem to completely ignore each other.
1 six line wrasse
1 bicolor blenny
1 watchman goby
1 royal gramma
1 neon dottyback
2 Ocellaris clowns
1 fire shrimp
Basic cuc
Mixed corals

Open to other potential causes but to me it seems like physical injury from the wave maker. Im definitely not an expert.
I can provide parameters if applicable.

Tank is only about 4 months old.

Picture with white lights only attached from this morning. Picture of her hiding in the wave maker from when she started doing it.
Let me know if i can provide anything else.

Looking for best practices to help her heal up

Food has nothing to do with this. Tangs fight and this type of tang tends to dart into crevices. This may be the cause and should heal on its own . Keep an eye on area and assure not getting worse
Also please post a couple of pics without blue light intensity and using bright white light intensity Only

Liebfinehomes · Jul 24, 2026

vetteguy53081 said:
Liebfinehomes said:

Hi guys,

Got this blue tang in about 3 weeks ago. Shes been doing great in the tank. No issues with any of the other inhabitants. She did pick the worst hiding spot deciding to tuck in to my reefwave45 every night. I tried to discourage her from that spot but it just made her wedge in deeper. I was afraid of her injuring herself and I am assuming this is what happened. She has some damage to her dorsal fin. Any advice on how to help her recover? Shes only about 1.5" currently. Still actively swimming around. I did order some guards for the wave maker but they are still about a week out. I do not have a qt tank currently set up (shame on me) but i have a spare fluval flex I can setup this evening as a QT.

Other livestock in tank
1 kole tang - 5" or so. Came in the same order as her. They seem to completely ignore each other.
1 six line wrasse
1 bicolor blenny
1 watchman goby
1 royal gramma
1 neon dottyback
2 Ocellaris clowns
1 fire shrimp
Basic cuc
Mixed corals

Open to other potential causes but to me it seems like physical injury from the wave maker. Im definitely not an expert.
I can provide parameters if applicable.

Tank is only about 4 months old.

Picture with white lights only attached from this morning. Picture of her hiding in the wave maker from when she started doing it.
Let me know if i can provide anything else.

Looking for best practices to help her heal up

Click to expand...

Food has nothing to do with this. Tangs fight and this type of tang tends to dart into crevices. This may be the cause and should heal on its own . Keep an eye on area and assure not getting worse
Also please post a couple of pics without blue light intensity and using bright white light intensity Only

Appreciate the reply. Ill take some more pictures when im back off the jobsites with whites up higher and blues off. The video and pictures of the injury are blues off with whites around 40%. The pictures of her tucked away were from the other night when blues were on. Hoping she steers clear of the wavemaker for the time being

Kooma · Jul 24, 2026

vetteguy53081 said:
Food has nothing to do with this. Tangs fight and this type of tang tends to dart into crevices. This may be the cause and should heal on its own . Keep an eye on area and assure not getting worse
Also please post a couple of pics without blue light intensity and using bright white light intensity Only

Food question is pertaining to nutrition during healing.

Jay Hemdal · Jul 24, 2026

Liebfinehomes said:
Yeah I have a nori clip in there. I usually add a piece and take it back out in the evening. Kole tang eats from it. I have not seen the blue tang eat directly from it but has taken some pieces that have shed off. Also feeding ocean nutrition 1&2 flakes, new life spectrum pellets and assorted frozen foods. Been feeding pretty heavy because nutrients have been bottoming out pretty quickly. She seems to favor the flakes or I get the most feeding response from her for those at least. Open to other suggestions for feeding of course.

Baby blue tangs are more plankton pickers - so pellets, small mysids, etc are good foods. Flakes are fine as long as it isn’t taking them in but spitting out pieces (happens with some fish).

Jay Hemdal · Jul 24, 2026

Liebfinehomes said:
Hi guys,

Got this blue tang in about 3 weeks ago. Shes been doing great in the tank. No issues with any of the other inhabitants. She did pick the worst hiding spot deciding to tuck in to my reefwave45 every night. I tried to discourage her from that spot but it just made her wedge in deeper. I was afraid of her injuring herself and I am assuming this is what happened. She has some damage to her dorsal fin. Any advice on how to help her recover? Shes only about 1.5" currently. Still actively swimming around. I did order some guards for the wave maker but they are still about a week out. I do not have a qt tank currently set up (shame on me) but i have a spare fluval flex I can setup this evening as a QT.

Other livestock in tank
1 kole tang - 5" or so. Came in the same order as her. They seem to completely ignore each other.
1 six line wrasse
1 bicolor blenny
1 watchman goby
1 royal gramma
1 neon dottyback
2 Ocellaris clowns
1 fire shrimp
Basic cuc
Mixed corals

Open to other potential causes but to me it seems like physical injury from the wave maker. Im definitely not an expert.
I can provide parameters if applicable.

Tank is only about 4 months old.

Picture with white lights only attached from this morning. Picture of her hiding in the wave maker from when she started doing it.
Let me know if i can provide anything else.

Looking for best practices to help her heal up

That does look like an injury. These often heal on their own, but if the erosion grows larger or turns red, there can be a secondary bacterial infection.