New Blue Tang owner - is she sick or stressed?

[Adrmsmi1]

Hey all, so we just inherited our 180 gallon saltwater tank on April 23rd. They gave us a ton of care instructions, food they've used, and info about most of the fish in the tank.

Our Pacific Blue Tang joined the group in November 2016. As far as we know, no problems before we got here. The past few days we've noticed her face turning lighter in color, but not always and it doesn't stay the same throughout the day. Sometimes it's her normal dark blue, sometimes it's almost white, other times it just looks lighter like she's sun-faded. It appears to be symmetrical. I've read that they can change their colors, and it doesn't look like any ich or HLLE from photos I've seen. I've included some pictures but she is super active and super fast! The first is one I just took, the others are ones my husband did. A few are this morning and then a couple days ago.

Nitrates and ammonia are good. We keep the curtain in front of the window down so they don't get too much sun. Temperature of the water has been consistent, about 76-ish degrees. The overhead lights are on timers for about 8 to 10 hours, I believe (those were set up by the previous owner and I have no idea how to change them). We've slightly increased the amount of Nori they get and we've introduced some vitamins from our local aquarium center that was recommended.

If it's totally normal for them to do this, please let me know. I've scoured the internet and can't find an answer.
#reefsquad

Ps- while I have you here... The tank is in a room we were going to make our video game room. Is the noise from the TV/people going to bother the fish too much?

 

[mfinn]

How much macroalgae are you giving it?
I've seen a few hippo tangs that lose color around the face because of a lack of it.

 

[Adrmsmi1]

How much macroalgae are you giving it?
I've seen a few hippo tangs that lose color around the face because of a lack of it.

We feed them Omega One Super Veggie Green Seaweed and the Omega One Super Veggie Red Seaweed. The original owners told us that this is junk food and to only give it to them every few days. Originally we were doing every three or four days but when Dory started changing colors, we read a lot of stuff that said to give them more. So we're doing every other day as of the past week.

 

[mfinn]

I don't know why they would say it's junk food.
Algae is a very big part of a tangs diet.
I give them algae pellets ( a little) every day and put a part of a sheet of algae on the clip every other day.
IMO when you see a hippo tang with a discolored head area, I think hlle right away.

 

[mfinn]

I also remember that it was discussed alot that excessive use of carbon caused hlle in tangs.
I use carbon off and on. I haven't seen any hlle in any tangs in my tanks.

 

[Adrmsmi1]

I don't know why they would say it's junk food.
Algae is a very big part of a tangs diet.
I give them algae pellets ( a little) every day and put a part of a sheet of algae on the clip every other day.
IMO when you see a hippo tang with a discolored head area, I think hlle right away.

And that's what a lot of people said! I can look into algae pellets, do you have one you would recommend?

I was thinking HLLE also but again, she doesn't look like anything I've seen in pictures. Also, being as the color fade isn't always present, I'm just not sure if it fits HLLE. I'm super new at this so I could totally be wrong. I saw that adding the vitamins should help with HLLE, which we only just started yesterday when hubs picked it up from the Aquarium Center. We're using Vita Chem by soaking their pellets in it and then giving them the pellets after the frozen shrimp.

 

[Adrmsmi1]

I also remember that it was discussed alot that excessive use of carbon caused hlle in tangs.
I use carbon off and on. I haven't seen any hlle in any tangs in my tanks.

As far as I know, we're not using carbon. We are using GFOs in a media reactor, part 3 of our five part filtration system.

 

[mfinn]

And that's what a lot of people said! I can look into algae pellets, do you have one you would recommend?

I was thinking HLLE also but again, she doesn't look like anything I've seen in pictures. Also, being as the color fade isn't always present, I'm just not sure if it fits HLLE. I'm super new at this so I could totally be wrong. I saw that adding the vitamins should help with HLLE, which we only just started yesterday when hubs picked it up from the Aquarium Center. We're using Vita Chem by soaking their pellets in it and then giving them the pellets after the frozen shrimp.

I just use a small sinking algae pellet.
I don't think it matters as long as it is a algae pellet.

If no other fish is showing any signs of disease or distress and you don't see anything like ick or velvet, and not seeing the fish in person, I would think diet.

 

[Adrmsmi1]

I just use a small sinking algae pellet.
I don't think it matters as long as it is a algae pellet.

If no other fish is showing any signs of disease or distress and you don't see anything like ick or velvet, and not seeing the fish in person, I would think diet.

Okay, cool. Thank you so much for your help! We'll keep an eye and see if the vitamins help at all. I'll also look into algae pellets. I'll post an update if anything changes. Thank you again!

 

[Angelwolf21203]

I have an angel with a moderate to severe case of HLLE, and another reefer on the forums here recommended I that 1 floret of broccoli and feed it daily. It's been only 2 weeks, and he's almost completely recovered!! He and my tang LOVE grazing on it, and it does not pollute the water. I pull out the old stalk when I add the new one and they attack it! Every time I use the seaweed sheets, I end up with tank problems, so I'm sticking with the broccoli!

Here's the "before" picture:

And here's today!

 

[Adrmsmi1]

I have an angel with a moderate to severe case of HLLE, and another reefer on the forums here recommended I that 1 floret of broccoli and feed it daily. It's been only 2 weeks, and he's almost completely recovered!! He and my tang LOVE grazing on it, and it does not pollute the water. I pull out the old stalk when I add the new one and they attack it! Every time I use the seaweed sheets, I end up with tank problems, so I'm sticking with the broccoli!

Here's the "before" picture:

And here's today!

That's awesome! Definitely will keep that in mind if we don't notice any improvement. I don't want to change too many things too quickly and freak out all the fish. But we'll keep an eye and make small changes as they come. Thank you so much for the help!!

 

[Adrmsmi1]

Dory seems to be doing better! We increased the amount of seaweed to once a day and did a water change and she seems to be happier. There were a couple days when she got really pale, whole body, not just her face, and was worrying us. But she seems to be steadily her normal colors. Thanks again for all the help!