Nasobtang acting funny. I could use some help.

Bugeater281 · Nov 4, 2020

I’ve had this tang since September. I had him in a older tank that was overgrown with caulerpa. It’s a stable 55g around 4 years old. Basically I was qt him in it since I’m setting up a much large tank.

He’s knocked out a surprisingly large amount of the caulerpa and bubble algae, and I’ve been feeding nori every other day. Sometime he ate so much that you could see the little balls in his stomach.

However he’s acting funny now. I’ve been keeping an eye on since I did get him from petco. He hasn’t had any ick, no weird growths or patches. He usually swims all around the tank. I put some nori in last night, it hadn’t been touched. I got worried and started looking for him, saw him behind a rock, not moving at a 45* angle leaning on the glass. At this point I thought he died. Moved the rock amd he slowly swam away. He went in a corner where I could see him better. His breathing seems slow, he pressing himself against rocks like he hiding(like a fish will do when they get bullied). The only other fish in there is a mandarin. I’m worried about it, the only thing I’ve noticed different in the tank is a bit of caulerpa is going sexual.

1.024
78*
50ppm nitrates(stable here and any lower Dino’s pop up,
0 phosphate(algae)

Not sure the other perimeters. Since this tank is just a few softies.

I grabbed some new saltwater. Diluted have of it with current tank water. Dropped the salinity to 1.020. Added an air stone, and a piece of rock that’s been cutting for a year. Dosed a bit of microbaxter7. And added a couple drop of the antichlorine stuff(just incase I had an ammonia issue).

Hopefully he survives, I plan on setting up a new tank tonight for him. Any recommendations on treating him and helping him live?

Photo from today

These two are from Friday. Only difference I’ve seen is there may be a couple black dots on his tail.

Bugeater281 · Nov 4, 2020

I also added some carbon in the bucket incase there’s a toxin. Nothing else in the tank seems to be bothered. Dragonette is still hunting pods, anemones are out..

Jay Hemdal · Nov 4, 2020

The inverts look fine, so that rules out common water quality issues. Not sure I would have dropped the SG - a bit less stressful for the fish, but tough on the inverts.

Going off feed suddenly like that is of course a bad sign. I wonder if it could have gotten impacted by eating to much Nori? Any bulge/swelling in its belly now?

The other remote possibility is flukes, but the fish would have slowly stopped feeding, not quick like that. You say the fish is breathing slower, that rules out typical gill diseases. Do you have an ammonia test kit? Sometimes ammonia will cause fish to respire more slowly.

Jay

Bugeater281 · Nov 4, 2020

Jay Hemdal said:
The inverts look fine, so that rules out common water quality issues. Not sure I would have dropped the SG - a bit less stressful for the fish, but tough on the inverts.

Going off feed suddenly like that is of course a bad sign. I wonder if it could have gotten impacted by eating to much Nori? Any bulge/swelling in its belly now?

The other remote possibility is flukes, but the fish would have slowly stopped feeding, not quick like that. You say the fish is breathing slower, that rules out typical gill diseases. Do you have an ammonia test kit? Sometimes ammonia will cause fish to respire more slowly.

Jay

I should probably clear this up. I removed the tang from the main tank, added 2.5g of tank water and2.5g of fresh saltwater to a 5 gallon bucket. He’s currently in the bucket. With some fresh live rock, some microbaxter7, and some carbon. So the 5g buck is at 1.019. I thought that would reduce the fishes stress a bit. Here’s a better photo. I don’t think it’s external parasites, his belly doesn’t look sunken or bulging to me.(in the past it has, but that because he was eating algae like crazy, and you could actually see the shape of the round algae balls in his belly).

Jay Hemdal · Nov 4, 2020

Ok, I understand now. I don’t see any external symptoms on it, so offering a treatment would be worse than just a wild guess. The bucket has a heater? Your plan is to move it Friday m the bucket to a new tank then?
Jay

Bugeater281 · Nov 4, 2020

Jay Hemdal said:
Ok, I understand now. I don’t see any external symptoms on it, so offering a treatment would be worse than just a wild guess. The bucket has a heater? Your plan is to move it Friday m the bucket to a new tank then?
Jay

Bucket has a heater and is the same temp as the tank. I put him in the bucket around 4.30pm. I got home at 5.40pm and he seemed to be more active than at 4.30pm. Went to the lfs to get their opinion, they weren’t sure either, they think it could be internal parasites. They recommend metroplex. I got home around 7. Pulled the rock out(don’t want to get medication on my new rock). And the fish is having a hard time swimming now. I don’t think he will make it. I fed a small amount of nicer food I purchase. And I mixed some metroplex in with the food.

I’m guessing he had parasites when I got it. Probably why I thought he was eating great. They think the fish may now have an internal blockage. Which is why he stopped eating.

So he’s in some metroplex, has some food, a heater amd an air stone. I doubt he will survive the night. Which sucks because I really liked this fish. I think for now on everything will be qt before going in the tank. I’ve always had great luck with freshwater fish. But saltwater fish, not so much.