Purple Tang not eating and getting worse

[pude]

Hi All,

I have had a purple tang in my 180g for about 14 months now and has been going fine. It has never had a voracious appetite but was always healthy and not thin. A few days ago it's appetite diminished further to the point where now I am not seeing it eat anything at all really. I have tried feeding mysis, brine, frozen seaweed, seaweed on a clip, nori, 3 different types of pellets, and also tried soaking food in garlic but there has been little to no interest in any of the food. It picked at the seaweed sheet yesterday but didn't really eat any.
See the link for a video at feeding time: Fish not eating

I am at a loss now on how to get this fish to eat, and am worried that it's a matter of days before it starves. There are no visible marks or wounds that I can see. The only symptoms/oddities with the fish are that it isn't eating, and it is not as active with it's swimming as usual.
See the link for a video of it being less active: Fish being less active

Tank Context:
About 2 months ago my large Australian Stripey got very weak overnight so I pulled it out into a QT tub and it ended up dying a few hours later.
2 weeks ago my powder blue tang who was incredibly healthy and active was dead on my sand bed when i got home from work.
All fish have been TTM'd and all corals have been fallow QT'd.
Full Triton test result from 2 days after my powder blue tang died (note the nutrients are higher than usual):

Tank has been otherwise stable excluding the fish deaths mentioned earlier. Any help and/or advice is much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[threebuoys]

The video is a little blurry, however, the purple tang appears very skinny. I am concerned he is malnourished.

Will you describe what other fish are in the tank, how long each has been in the tank, including the others that have died?

Also,please describe what, how often, and how much you typically feed.

When the tang was eating, which food did he favor?

Do you see any physical symptoms on the tang or any of the other fish in the tank other than being skinny and not eating?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Chronic anorexia is a rare problem - usually the fish stops feeding because of some acute issue. I can't tell you why your fish gradually stopped eating, but if you want to delve into this issue, I wrote an article about it a few years ago:

Chronic Anorexia in Aquarium Fishes

Don't fall into the trap of assuming the fish will begin feeding when it gets hungry enough, or conclude it must be eating something, just not when you are watching.

reefs.com

Jay

 

[Tamberav]

Hmm.. the tang is extremely skinny… organs at this point may be being effected and shutting down. A fish does not lose the meat behind its head and at the top overnight. This had to have been happing for some time, perhaps slowly which made it less apparent but happening.

The other deaths are concerning. Did you treat for flukes? TTM does not treat flukes.

I doubt this fish is savable but you have lost a few at this point and I worry others may follow eventually.

Doing nothing isn’t an option so you could move it into a QT and dose general cure or prazipro to start in case there is a fluke infestation or such going on.

 

[pude]

The video is a little blurry, however, the purple tang appears very skinny. I am concerned he is malnourished.

Will you describe what other fish are in the tank, how long each has been in the tank, including the others that have died?

Also,please describe what, how often, and how much you typically feed.

When the tang was eating, which food did he favor?

Do you see any physical symptoms on the tang or any of the other fish in the tank other than being skinny and not eating?

Thanks for the quick response! It definitely is very skinny and has never been fat.

Fish List:
Bristletooth Tang - 2yrs old, had for 1 yr.
Yellow Coris Wrasse - ~4yrs old, had for 1yr.
Melanarus Wrasse - ~2yrs old, had for 9 months.
2 x captive bred clowns - 1.5yrs old, had for 1.5yrs.
1 x blue/green chromi - unknown age, had for 1yr.
2 x captive bred royal gramma - 1.3yrs old, had for 1.3yrs.
Bicolor Blenny - ~4yrs old, had for 1yr.

Powder Blue tang - ~4yrs old, had for 1.3yrs.
Australian Stripey - ~10yrs old, had for 1.3yrs.
Purple Tang - ~4yrs old, had for 1.3yrs.

3 cubes of frozen food (1 mysis, 2 brine/mix/copepods/lobster eggs/frozen seaweed. I mix it up), a few pellets, and some seaweed sheet.

Prefered seaweed and mysis.

No symptoms on the other fish whatsoever.

 

[pude]

Chronic anorexia is a rare problem - usually the fish stops feeding because of some acute issue. I can't tell you why your fish gradually stopped eating, but if you want to delve into this issue, I wrote an article about it a few years ago:

Chronic Anorexia in Aquarium Fishes

Don't fall into the trap of assuming the fish will begin feeding when it gets hungry enough, or conclude it must be eating something, just not when you are watching.

reefs.com

Jay

I will definitely do some research on this and see if it sheds any light for me.

Thanks for the help

 

[pude]

Hmm.. the tang is extremely skinny… organs at this point may be being effected and shutting down. A fish does not lose the meat behind its head and at the top overnight. This had to have been happing for some time, perhaps slowly which made it less apparent but happening.

The other deaths are concerning. Did you treat for flukes? TTM does not treat flukes.

I doubt this fish is savable but you have lost a few at this point and I worry others may follow eventually.

Doing nothing isn’t an option so you could move it into a QT and dose general cure or prazipro to start in case there is a fluke infestation or such going on.

Flukes was something I keep an eye out for and there was definitely no sign of them at all.

I will see if I can catch it to put it into a QT tank and dose some medication to see if it helps at all.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[threebuoys]

Thanks for the quick response! It definitely is very skinny and has never been fat.

Fish List:
Bristletooth Tang - 2yrs old, had for 1 yr.
Yellow Coris Wrasse - ~4yrs old, had for 1yr.
Melanarus Wrasse - ~2yrs old, had for 9 months.
2 x captive bred clowns - 1.5yrs old, had for 1.5yrs.
1 x blue/green chromi - unknown age, had for 1yr.
2 x captive bred royal gramma - 1.3yrs old, had for 1.3yrs.
Bicolor Blenny - ~4yrs old, had for 1yr.

Powder Blue tang - ~4yrs old, had for 1.3yrs.
Australian Stripey - ~10yrs old, had for 1.3yrs.
Purple Tang - ~4yrs old, had for 1.3yrs.

3 cubes of frozen food (1 mysis, 2 brine/mix/copepods/lobster eggs/frozen seaweed. I mix it up), a few pellets, and some seaweed sheet.

Prefered seaweed and mysis.

No symptoms on the other fish whatsoever.

Check the protein and fat content on the labels for the food. Most fish love mysis and brine shrimp, but many frozen products are very high in water and very low if real food value. Sounds like you inherited the fish from another hobbyist. If the fish were fat and healthy when you received them, its possible they have been gradually declining in mass for some period of time.

All of the deaths may be related to their diet. I don't know what is available to you in Australia. You should target prepared foods (or make your own) with high protein and fat content. Often with new fish, I will soak mini pellets with the prepared fish, shrimp, etc before feeding. I've found the fish adapt readily to eating the pellets (which are high in protein) along with the processed fish and shrimp and seaweed foods.

 

[MnFish1]

Sorry about your fish - and unfortunately - I cannot see the picture. That said - I believe you and the others that it's very thin.

At first I was going to suggest that you weren't feeding enough (3 frozen cubes is not much) - and perhaps other fish are out-competing it? BUT - you would normally see that.

Can you, at all, pin-point to any degree when the fish stopped eating - and if there was any changes around that time?

I would suggest its one of a couple things, flukes, internal parasites, or another disease (like a virus, cancer, or some other internal disease - as suggested by @Jay Hemdal )

At this point - I would consider moving it to a hospital tank - for 1) targeted feeding and 2) possible treatment for internal parasites - with fembendazole, etc.

Best wishes - tangs are long-lived fish normally (yellow tangs can live more than 40 years in the wild - something serious must be going on. I don't see anything in your ICP of concern.

EDIT - PS - the other fish deaths suggest something like a disease process - as compared to something affecting just this fish.