Mourning my Yellow Tang

clsbgirl · Mar 3, 2015

I woke up this morning to find my Yellow Tang on the sand bottom. Needless to say he died over night. I'm trying to figure out the reason why. I have no aggressive fish or bullies in the tank, he was eating and swimming around fine the night before. When I pulled him out there were no markings or sign of disease. He used to hang out with my Foxface all the time, is it possible he got stung? My water parameters are all good except I've been battling nitrates for the past 2 months, they've been stable around 20, no spikes or anything. Anyone have any guesses as to what happened?

Humblefish · Mar 3, 2015

Sorry to hear. Tangs are susceptible to external parasites, such as ich & velvet. These can harbor inside a fish's gills, so you may never see visible symptoms. However, that doesn't necessarily mean this is what happened to your YT. But I would keep a close eye on all your other fish.

clsbgirl · Mar 4, 2015

Thanks for the info, beautiful tank btw... The other fish are fine, thank God! I've been using Seachem Seagel instead of straight up carbon, I guess I should switch over to Purigen... Any thoughts?

Humblefish · Mar 4, 2015

Most of what I do in this hobby, I try to do on the cheap. But when it comes to carbon, I spring for the "good stuff" because I am worried about my fish getting HLLE: BRS Bulk Premium ROX 0.8 Aquarium Carbon - Bulk Reef Supply