Is something wrong with my Yellow Tang?

[mosreef]

How is he doing? Just visited my new LFS (I just moved to Florida) and he had a Biota yellow tang that was doing that exact same jerky swimming pattern when I went up to the tank to examine it. I think maybe he felt threatened by me standing too close. Made me think of you & your fish - hope he's doing better.

 

[chome360]

Pretty much the same, no change. Indent looks the same, no better or worse. Fish has colored up a bit, but I guess that's to be expected after 2 weeks of settling in. Eats fine. The jerky swimming is still there, but I think it's also mostly what I walk up to the tank. I put a little webcam anne the tank and spy down it when I'm not in the room :) My first Tang, so I don't know if that's normal behavior or not. But watching it it seems more like it's a little nervous from me walking up to the tank, maybe a little excited to be fed. Although it generally only eats after I back off from the tank about 20 ft. Was hoping it would be more comfortable by now.

Viota had asked me to wait a month and check in with them. Been a little over 2 weeks so far.

 

[mosreef]

I've only had a wild caught yellow tang, many years ago (paid $19!!) and it didn't behave like this. But seeing another Biota tang do exactly the same thing when I walked up close made me think maybe it's not neurological, but rather more of an "I will cut you" type behavior. I will probably buy the tang from my LFS so I can look at it first.

 

[chome360]

I've only had a wild caught yellow tang, many years ago (paid $19!!) and it didn't behave like this. But seeing another Biota tang do exactly the same thing when I walked up close made me think maybe it's not neurological, but rather more of an "I will cut you" type behavior. I will probably buy the tang from my LFS so I can look at it first.

Makes sense. Coincidentally this afternoon after my last reply, I popped into my LFS after a lunch meeting. They had a tank with two recently arrived yellow tangs. They were acting the same, maybe even more panicked swimming. It seemed like they were really nervous. A fairly small tank right by the store's entrance. I asked and they confirmed that they were from biota as well. Maybe they're just not used to being in smaller tanks when compared to their breeding tanks, and who knows how often they are viewed through the panels at the breeding facility.

 

[chome360]

Quick update to share how this scenario turned out. The fish did fully recover from whatever it was. We're about 5 weeks out from when I first got it, and the dark colored indentations are completely gone. I'd say the first 3 weeks or so, it barely looked any different. Then over the course of the 7 to 10 days after that, it rapidly went away. I could see the difference almost daily. For the last week it's been completely gone, so all in all I think it took about a month.

Now oddly enough, as of this morning, I noticed the fish has some red blotches on it's body and fins. Seems fine otherwise, eating and looks happy. Water parameters are looking good. Trying to do some research now on what the red blotching could be.

There's a couple pictures of it completely recovered that I took over the last few days. And then a pictures this morning with the red blotching.

 

[mosreef]

That’s great news that he healed up! So glad to hear it, thanks for the update!