Is my Gem Tang ok?

[smena54]

I picked up a Gen tank from a local fish store. They do treat there fish in cooper. I had the tang for a week and he was doing great eating, swimming. This morning his in a Corner and won’t move from there. He didn’t eat, I added noir and he didn’t touch it. I also noticed he will swim on his side, then come back normal. I turn the lights off on the tank for now. Anything else?

 

[Fish Fan]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

#WelcometoR2R

Sorry to hear about your Tang!

Can you post some clear pics or best would be a short video of the fish in distress showing the odd behavior? Please use the brightest white lights you have, turning off all your blues for clarity. For videos, it's best if you could first upload them to YouTube, and then link that back here at R2R. This way, all R2R members will be sure to be able to view your video. Then, we can ask the R2R Fish Medic team for an assessment, and treatment plan if needed

Good luck!

 

[BryanM]

Its pretty hard to diagnose when he's behind that gorgonian (I believe).

 

[helmsreef]

Could be sick, with what not sure. When you say they treated him in copper, did they do a full QT on him or do they just hold their systems at a lower level of copper? This is pretty common with some stores. I would def consider setting a QT and isolate him to see if he can start eating. He looks stressed and may not go back to eating. Also if you have any tank mates that may be stressing him out, moving him to a separate tank will help him for that situation as well.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I picked up a Gen tank from a local fish store. They do treat there fish in cooper. I had the tang for a week and he was doing great eating, swimming. This morning his in a Corner and won’t move from there. He didn’t eat, I added noir and he didn’t touch it. I also noticed he will swim on his side, then come back normal. I turn the lights off on the tank for now. Anything else?

A week of copper is insufficient and was likely below 2.0 ppm as stores often do
Despite quarantine, do your own as an insurance

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I picked up a Gen tank from a local fish store. They do treat there fish in cooper. I had the tang for a week and he was doing great eating, swimming. This morning his in a Corner and won’t move from there. He didn’t eat, I added noir and he didn’t touch it. I also noticed he will swim on his side, then come back normal. I turn the lights off on the tank for now. Anything else?

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

From what I can see, the tang is lethargic and breathing too fast. That can be symptoms of a few different issues. I'm going to rule out acclimation issues (due to how long you've had the fish) and water quality problems (since the gorgonian looks ok). This could be a gill parasite. Many stores use "copper" but they don't hold their fish long enough for a proper treatment, or they dose the copper too low. This could also be gill flukes, but I think if that were the case, the fish would still be eating.

Did you see this tang do any scratching?
Are there other fish in the tank? Are they ok?
I agree - a clearer video is important here....