purple tang QT wont eat

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Risk1994

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swimming at a 45 degree angle most of the time. Strong feeding response but not eating.

He does a lot of twitching. Not flashing or rubbing, just twitching. I've never seen it before and dont know what to make of it. I just really hope he eats, been nearly 2 weeks now.
 

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swimming at a 45 degree angle most of the time. Strong feeding response but not eating.

He does a lot of twitching. Not flashing or rubbing, just twitching. I've never seen it before and dont know what to make of it. I just really hope he eats, been nearly 2 weeks now.
Can you describe the "strong feeding response, but not eating"? Typically, non-feeding fish just ignore all food. This one is attracted to food but not swallowing it?

We were all going down the road of commonly seen issues, but in the end, this could be a neurological problem - if it tries to feed, but can't and swims at an angle because its brain is telling it is upright, then there is an issue I see in flasher wrasses with those same symptoms, never seen it in a tang though.,

Jay
 
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He normally stays in his hiding spot and rarely comes out. When I drop food in he runs out and swims around. He'll swim right up to food items, look at them, then let the item float past, then he'll run to another item, stop, look at it, then let it float past. Its very odd. When his in his hiding area he often swims at a 45. Not sure if its because hes trying to press up against the PVC (his hiding item) or having difficulty swimming. I've tried to take a video of the twitching but you really only see it when he comes out, which is rare.
 

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He normally stays in his hiding spot and rarely comes out. When I drop food in he runs out and swims around. He'll swim right up to food items, look at them, then let the item float past, then he'll run to another item, stop, look at it, then let it float past. Its very odd. When his in his hiding area he often swims at a 45. Not sure if its because hes trying to press up against the PVC (his hiding item) or having difficulty swimming. I've tried to take a video of the twitching but you really only see it when he comes out, which is rare.
Other than you trying food that is too large, or the wrong food, this sounds very much like that neurological issue.

One final test - does the fish react to you being in the room? That is, if it were out of the hiding spot and you walked into the room, would it react to you visually? Coming out for food isn't quite the same thing, as it could just be smelling it. I'm just trying to rule out blindness.

If that isn't it, then it likely is that issue and there isn't anything that can be done about it that I've ever been able to figure out...sorry.

Jay
 

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I got this purple tang from LFS on 7/3. Its now 7/12 and he has not eaten a single bite. I cant say this for sure since I cant watch him 24/7 but hes in QT with a yellow tang who's eating voraciously. I give them them a mix of nori/lettuce/frozen/seaweed pellets...I've tried everything, I've soaked in garlic. I get a slight feeding response from him...but he wont bite. There is no copper in the tank yet, I like to make sure they look good before I stress them further.

I saw 2 tiny black dots on his tail the other day, dont see them now. He was EXTREMELY shy when I first got him, hid for the first 4 days, he comes out now but no eating.

LFS had him for a week before I picked him up and reported he was eating ok. I wanted a pair of tangs so I had them source these for me.

Here is a pic, I dont see any outward issues, his mouth is kind of white, but I dont know if thats normal for purple tangs.

(water has a lot of debris, I just dropped a bunch of food in to see if I could get him to eat)

ph is 7.7, ammonia 0, nitrite 0.

20210712_154709.jpg
20210712_155351.jpg

I can’t speak for masstick enough. All of my fish go crazy for it. I got the masstick 40 premade nuggets.
 
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He very much reacts when were in the room. Hes very shy. I put a cam on him so I could watch him from another room. Definitely not blindness.

I leave Nori in there with him during the day which ultimately disappears. I just assumed it broke off and floated away as Ive never seen him peck at it. But maybe he is eating it, his color isnt that bad and hes been in this tank for 2 full weeks now...can they go that long with zero food?
 

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He very much reacts when were in the room. Hes very shy. I put a cam on him so I could watch him from another room. Definitely not blindness.

I leave Nori in there with him during the day which ultimately disappears. I just assumed it broke off and floated away as Ive never seen him peck at it. But maybe he is eating it, his color isnt that bad and hes been in this tank for 2 full weeks now...can they go that long with zero food?
Fish can go a surprisingly long time without food, but they begin to use their livers for energy. When that organ wastes away to a point, they can't be brought back, even though they may live for a few more weeks. Two weeks without food is o.k. for a fish this size, but more than a month probably isn't survivable.

Can you get live adult brine shrimp?

It is looking more and more like that neurological issue,

Jay
 
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so checked my PH and it was 7.7...pretty low. I do like 50% water changes weekly and didnt appreciate how fast PH could drop.

I did like a 70% WC and brought salinity down to 1.018 (from 1.020), reduced copper to 2.1 (from 2.5) and increased PH up to 7.9.

2hrs later I dosed seachem PH buffer to bring it up to 8.3.

Purple already looks better, I cant put my finger on it, even my wife agreed...could be wishful thinking.
 

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so checked my PH and it was 7.7...pretty low. I do like 50% water changes weekly and didnt appreciate how fast PH could drop.

I did like a 70% WC and brought salinity down to 1.018 (from 1.020), reduced copper to 2.1 (from 2.5) and increased PH up to 7.9.

2hrs later I dosed seachem PH buffer to bring it up to 8.3.

Purple already looks better, I cant put my finger on it, even my wife agreed...could be wishful thinking.
One other thing - carbon dioxide can also depress the pH in a tank - do you have good aeration?

Jay
 
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I have an airstone inside that foam pad and a powerhead pointed at the surface and a HOB filter that also agitates the water. Still not eating though
 
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sitrep:

The PH buffer just increases ph for a day, then it drops back down to 7.7. I bought a nano skimmer and hooked it up to my CO2 reactor. Now PH is stable at 8.0 (and hopefully, well oxygenated water)

So the QT is a bit of a Frankenstein's monster. There is a seachem tidal HOB, powerhead, Sponge filter, partition and several PVC peices. Copper is stable at 2.0.

I've started turning off HOB and powerhead when I feed. Then I let the food sit on the ground on the purple tangs side for a couple hours before turning back on, I do notice less food so Im HOPING hes eating, it could be when he comes out to sniff the food (as he does) hes just moving it around. But I dont know. Its been three weeks now. He MUST have eaten something.

He does seem even more shy than before, hardly ever comes out of his PVC. I dont know. Im just going to ride it out another couple of weeks until the 30 day copper treatement is up.

20210725_161314 (Medium).jpg
 

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The yellow tang is eating fine? Is the purple tang developing a pinched belly?

jay
 
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Yellow is a pig! Really aggressive eater of whatever I throw in there. He's vigorously healthy!

Hard to tell with the purple, I've never seen his belly pinched like some of the sickly yellows I've seen in fish stores in the past. He hides all day now, except when I feed, then after 20 mins he'll sneak out and sniff around...I just cant catch him eating anything!
 

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Yellow is a pig! Really aggressive eater of whatever I throw in there. He's vigorously healthy!

Hard to tell with the purple, I've never seen his belly pinched like some of the sickly yellows I've seen in fish stores in the past. He hides all day now, except when I feed, then after 20 mins he'll sneak out and sniff around...I just cant catch him eating anything!
Well, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. You could try setting up your phone to video the tank, then feed it and leave the room. That might confirm if it is eating when you aren't around.

Jay
 
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I bit the bullet and did exactly what I didn't want to do. I moved the tangs to their own tanks. Now I have 4 tanks to maintain! I just couldn't take watching the purple wither away. I just knew at the 30 day mark when the QT ended he would be dead.

Now he's swimming freely out in the open. MUCH more outgoing and less shy. He's picking at food more. MUCH more colorful. Of course the yellow isn't thrilled with his new accommodations, he's been darting around erratically like he's nervous. Hopefully he gets used to it.

The plan is to introduce the purple to the DT first, then the yellow a week later.

20210801_164011 (Medium).jpg


Now that the purple is out I can get a closer look at hime. Noticed some discoloration on his face and lateral line...is this something to be concerned about?


20210731_131554.jpg



20210731_131558.jpg
 

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I bit the bullet and did exactly what I didn't want to do. I moved the tangs to their own tanks. Now I have 4 tanks to maintain! I just couldn't take watching the purple wither away. I just knew at the 30 day mark when the QT ended he would be dead.

Now he's swimming freely out in the open. MUCH more outgoing and less shy. He's picking at food more. MUCH more colorful. Of course the yellow isn't thrilled with his new accommodations, he's been darting around erratically like he's nervous. Hopefully he gets used to it.

The plan is to introduce the purple to the DT first, then the yellow a week later.

20210801_164011 (Medium).jpg


Now that the purple is out I can get a closer look at hime. Noticed some discoloration on his face and lateral line...is this something to be concerned about?


20210731_131554.jpg



20210731_131558.jpg
That’s minor HLLE, pretty common with this species. Just avoid using dusty/soft carbon as that will make it worse.
Jay
 
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BTW how does everyone keep the PH up in QT?

Mine drops to 7.7 right away and I cant maintain anything above that without that little skimmer+co2 scrubber. I dont want to have to buy another one.
 
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