Is my Tang Okay?

Krixic · Sep 29, 2020

I have a inch sized baby hippo tang in my 50 gal (yes I am very aware that its considered taboo to keep tangs in small sized tanks, but as I mentioned she is barley an inch and I plan on upgrading within a year or so, long before she will outgrow the tank). She has some odd spots on her than I cant quite make out and wanted to see if anyone has a opinion on what they might be and if they are dangerous. Near her fin there's a spot and her back third portion of the body is a dark blue in contrast to the rest of her body. And near the top back portion there are something that looks like whiteish streaks. No irregular movement (from my somewhat limited knowledge) swims happily with her clown fish friends.

lapin · Sep 29, 2020

The stripes could be scratches from being caught or something. The dark spot I dont know. I have only owned 1 and it had no imperfections. I got it at an LFS and was able to pick it out of a tank of many.

vetteguy53081 · Sep 29, 2020

This fish is very Undernourished and needs to be fed.. spirulina brine shrimp, flakes, LRS herbivore diet, mysis shrimp and formula 2 or veggie diet (frozen)

Krixic · Sep 29, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
This fish is very Undernourished and needs to be fed.. spirulina brine shrimp, flakes, LRS herbivore diet, mysis shrimp and formula 2 or veggie diet (frozen)

I've been feeding it hikari brine and nori smashed to bits. What else could I add? I just got her from my LFS and she looked fine yesterday but noticed the blue this morning. She eats like a pig so I know she is eating. All other fish look fine and healthy as far as I can tell as well.

Softhammer · Sep 29, 2020

Feed it and then feed it more. Stable salinity and lots of food cures most tang ills. Take nori sheets and rubber and them to a rock In addition to what Vetteguy says, and keep it stocked up. It won’t survive unless it puts on some weight.

vetteguy53081 · Sep 29, 2020

Krixic said:
I've been feeding it hikari brine and nori smashed to bits. What else could I add? I just got her from my LFS and she looked fine yesterday but noticed the blue this morning. She eats like a pig so I know she is eating. All other fish look fine and healthy as far as I can tell as well.

Eats like a pig is good.

Spirulina brine
LRS herbivore diet
Mysis shrimp

These are healthy foods and will fatten fish up

Krixic · Sep 29, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
Eats like a pig is good.

Spirulina brine
LRS herbivore diet
Mysis shrimp

These are healthy foods and will fatten fish up

Thank you!

Krixic · Sep 29, 2020

Softhammer said:
Feed it and then feed it more. Stable salinity and lots of food cures most tang ills. Take nori sheets and rubber and them to a rock In addition to what Vetteguy says, and keep it stocked up. It won’t survive unless it puts on some weight.

Got it! Thanks

Krixic · Oct 2, 2020

Its a sad day

Unfortunetly, my poor baby tang passed today. I just dont understand why? It appears she was not gettting the appropriate food as pointed out. I immediately went to the fish store and got Spirulina brine, LRS herbivore diet and a different variety of nori (she was not eating the one I was giving her). I upped feeding to 2-3 times a day using a syringe to taget feed but no matter how much I fed her no weight was gained (she still would not eat nori whether I rubberbanded it to a rock or crushed it up). I also tried added a tiny bit of crushed garlic to see if that might have helped but I saw no difference. I awoke this morning and saw her getting sucked into the overflow box and immediately turned off all circulation. She started to swim erradically, trying to poke her head out the water and occasionally flipping upside down. I was not sure what to do but about ten miniutes pass and looked about as close to dead as could be. I wanted to check and make sure she had no parisites or flukes (the place where I got her quarintines and copper treats their fish so I doubt there would have been) through a FW dip but could not see any. I feel really stupid for making such a dumb mistake as not giving a appropiate diet after doing so much research prior to getting her. I just assumed brine shrimp and seawood would be a sustanable diet which it seems it was not. A lesson learned for sure.

How could this be avoided in the future? I tried everything to fix my mistake but it seemed as though nothing worked. Was it pretty much over when I posted this thread? I got her about a week ago if that helps at all. I really dont think tank size was an issue but if you truely believe otherwise I would like to hear what you think.

SDK · Oct 2, 2020

Krixic said:
How could this be avoided in the future? I tried everything to fix my mistake but it seemed as though nothing worked. Was it pretty much over when I posted this thread? I got her about a week ago if that helps at all. I really dont think tank size was an issue but if you truely believe otherwise I would like to hear what you think.

A few things jumped right out at me.

Tiny Blue Tangs are tough to begin with. They do not forgive errors, and can be difficult to get established, even in the best circumstances. Starting with a larger (and healthier) Blue Tang in something closer to the 3” range will give you a better chance.

Your tank looks bone white and newly set up. Don’t add another tang until the tank matures some and there is more forage for the new fish. This can be critical during the time it’s adapting to your feeding regimen.

The pictured fish is so thin that it’s skeletal and has areas that are sunken in. If you just had the fish one week, it had to have been in bad shape when you purchased it. Make sure that any fish you are considering taking home are in better condition. It’s especially important that browsing feeders like Tangs, Butterflies, Mandarins, etc start out in your tank at a good body weight.

I did not want to discourage you at the time, but I was 100% sure that fish was doomed when I saw those pics on Tuesday. More patience and research on care will be what helps you moving forward.

Krixic · Oct 2, 2020

SDK said:
A few things jumped right out at me.

Tiny Blue Tangs are tough to begin with. They do not forgive errors, and can be difficult to get established, even in the best circumstances. Starting with a larger (and healthier) Blue Tang in something closer to the 3” range will give you a better chance.

Your tank looks bone white and newly set up. Don’t add another tang until the tank matures some and there is more forage for the new fish. This can be critical during the time it’s adapting to your feeding regimen.

The pictured fish is so thin that it’s skeletal and has areas that are sunken in. If you just had the fish one week, it had to have been in bad shape when you purchased it. Make sure that any fish you are considering taking home are in better condition. It’s especially important that browsing feeders like Tangs, Butterflies, Mandarins, etc start out in your tank at a good body weight.

I did not want to discourage you at the time, but I was 100% sure that fish was doomed when I saw those pics on Tuesday. More patience and research on care will be what helps you moving forward.

Shoot! Thats a bummer :/
Thank you for the information, Tank has been set up for about 3-4 months now so I though it would have been fine but I guess not. I do have some foliage like hair algae if that counts here and there but nothing too crazy. I feel so bad for putting the little guy through all that stress! Looks like I got in over my head this round. I did inspect the tangs (there were like 4 or 5 to choose from) and they all looked pretty good to my eyes but in all honesty I did not know what to look for in terms of nutrition. I did not know how tangs looked malnourished so I though they all looked fine. Oh well, I'll just learn from it and make sure to triple check everything. Thank you once again!