Is it normal for a tang to suddenly stop eating?

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Biff0rz

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With my fish trap, i place a piece of frozen brine shrimp in it. I allow it to thaw and open the door and allow fish to go in and eat. The Next day, I do the same, but this time , I wait for the fish I want to go in and I release the door once in
Right, thats my problem tho, he's not eating..
 

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I've had it happen a few times over the last 30 years and its always happened within a month or so of getting the fish. Fish looking and eating normally for weeks or a month or 2 then one day just stops responding to any type of food and ends up dying from starvation. I have no idea why but one day when reading about cyanide and its use and side effects to fish collected by this method I thought maybe it was collected with cyanide and suffering some side effect from it now. One of those fish was a Naso tang.
 
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I've had it happen a few times over the last 30 years and its always happened within a month or so of getting the fish. Fish looking and eating normally for weeks or a month or 2 then one day just stops responding to any type of food and ends up dying from starvation. I have no idea why but one day when reading about cyanide and its use and side effects to fish collected by this method I thought maybe it was collected with cyanide and suffering some side effect from it now. One of those fish was a Naso tang.
God, I hope thats not the case with this fish. Can that be treated for at all??

Time to dismantle- oh no
ugh
 

DeniseAndy

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I have had that happen to an anthias and when necropsied its liver was disintegrated and had no muscle tissue left. Cyanide does this.

Hoping for the best for you and your tang. Worth getting out to treat. Good luck!
 

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To my knowledge no treatment. It kills the fish, just takes time depending on dose suffered. I believe some mild cases may have been treated, but seriously hard to say without true test and who would want to do those on these amazing creatures.
 

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God, I hope thats not the case with this fish. Can that be treated for at all??


ugh
Cyanide rarely used other than in poorer countries which we really dont get fish from them due to export laws and costs
 

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Back when I started it was much more a worry than now. Places have cracked down on them and I am hoping suppliers began not purchasing from them also.
 

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One of my tangs suddenly stopped eating today. It won't go for nori or mysis. It's mostly hiding in the rocks and I'm noticing it's breathing very fast. Other than that everything looks normal. No spots, no fin damage, nothing, looks completely healthy otherwise. Do tangs do this once in a while?

Tank params are normal, nothing has been added or removed in weeks.

Video of him breathing

I don’t think it’s aggression, you would most likely see fin damage, and then, when they weren’t fighting, the gems respiration rate would reduce.
It isn’t cyanide as that would have shown up within 45 days of importation, and tangs are usually caught in nets (except baby hepatus.
Water quality seems fine. If it was low oxygen, other fish would show symptoms. To me, that just leaves gill disease or anemia.
Jay
 
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I don’t think it’s aggression, you would most likely see fin damage, and then, when they weren’t fighting, the gems respiration rate would reduce.
It isn’t cyanide as that would have shown up within 45 days of importation, and tangs are usually caught in nets (except baby hepatus.
Water quality seems fine. If it was low oxygen, other fish would show symptoms. To me, that just leaves gill disease or anemia.
Jay
Ok, so gill disease is probably flukes, right? If he's doing this tomorrow I'll pull him and do prazi. What's the treatment for anemia? Also... what is that?
 

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Ok, so gill disease is probably flukes, right? If he's doing this tomorrow I'll pull him and do prazi. What's the treatment for anemia? Also... what is that?
Well, it could be bacterial gill disease or flukes or velvet. Anemia just means a blood problem that causes oxygen transport problems so the fish has to breath faster to compensate...not sure of what causes it, nutrition problems would be chronic and develop slowly over time.
What about a FW dip to screen for flukes and buy some time if it is velvet?
Jay
 

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The only few times I've had a fish stop eating for no obvious reason it never started eating again, they all starved to death. Isolating it in another tank and trying all types of live or dead food didn't work, medicating it didn't work, they all starved to death. Thank God its only happened 3 times in 35+ years to me but it still would be nice to know why a visually perfect fish living in a prestine aquarium would just stop eating one day and never eat again.
 
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Well, it could be bacterial gill disease or flukes or velvet. Anemia just means a blood problem that causes oxygen transport problems so the fish has to breath faster to compensate...not sure of what causes it, nutrition problems would be chronic and develop slowly over time.
What about a FW dip to screen for flukes and buy some time if it is velvet?
Jay
Yea I can do that. Should I do that tonight?? It's out and swimming around during the night time here, I snapped some pics and videos..
might be easier to catch at night, idk





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PXL_20210110_024131872.jpg
 

HB AL

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Yea I can do that. Should I do that tonight?? It's out and swimming around during the night time here, I snapped some pics and videos..
might be easier to catch at night, idk





PXL_20210110_024114766.jpg
PXL_20210110_024123306.jpg
PXL_20210110_024131872.jpg

At this point I would try anything you can, it can't hurt. Good luck and let us know the final outcome.
 
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Biff0rz

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At this point I would try anything you can, it can't hurt. Good luck and let us know the final outcome.
What should I treat with? I have cp, prazi, metro, kanaplex, focus, etc.

Can I do cp and prazi at the same time? My only worry would be depleting oxygen too much
 

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EXCELLENT Excellent photos. If you look clearly at facial area, you will see what appears to be ich or flukes in which the Coppersafe and Prazipro would be the antidote. HLLE would have been great but what I can tell is more then likely, its a bacterial infection. Normally they are common after Ich infestations, because when the parasite drops off, it leaves open wounds. which then can get infected by bacteria. Treatment, water quality and diet will all play a role to recovery.
Hopefully, will see if we can get Jay to chime in. These photos disclose a better picture of whats going on.
Fior the bacteria, Maracyn 2 will be the answer.

@Jay Hemdal - your thoughts?
 
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EXCELLENT Excellent photos. If you look clearly at facial area, you will see what appears to be ich or flukes in which the Coppersafe and Prazipro would be the antidote. HLLE would have been great but what I can tell is more then likely, its a bacterial infection. Normally they are common after Ich infestations, because when the parasite drops off, it leaves open wounds. which then can get infected by bacteria. Treatment, water quality and diet will all play a role to recovery.
Hopefully, will see if we can get Jay to chime in. These photos disclose a better picture of whats going on.
Fior the bacteria, Maracyn 2 will be the answer.

@Jay Hemdal - your thoughts?
I mean, those white areas always show up on him when he's stressed or lights go out. Where are you seeing the ich/flukes because I don't see it. Would love to learn here. And... Does this mean all other fish need to come out? This seriously baffles me... All fish went thru ttm.
 
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EXCELLENT Excellent photos. If you look clearly at facial area, you will see what appears to be ich or flukes in which the Coppersafe and Prazipro would be the antidote. HLLE would have been great but what I can tell is more then likely, its a bacterial infection. Normally they are common after Ich infestations, because when the parasite drops off, it leaves open wounds. which then can get infected by bacteria. Treatment, water quality and diet will all play a role to recovery.
Hopefully, will see if we can get Jay to chime in. These photos disclose a better picture of whats going on.
Fior the bacteria, Maracyn 2 will be the answer.

@Jay Hemdal - your thoughts?
Btw I have copper power, not coppersafe. I'm pretty sure I have maracyn 2 as well. Should I do a fw dip?
 

vetteguy53081

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Btw I have copper power, not coppersafe. I'm pretty sure I have maracyn 2 as well. Should I do a fw dip?
FW dip will offer temporary relief
 

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