Regal blue with issues.

Troy V

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It is constantly inhaling air from the surface. During feeding time or whenever. How do you stop this behavior? It seems to be effecting its ability to maintain neutral buoyancy. I have had this tang for over 6 years, and it has always done this to some extent, but the frequeny has increased recently. Ideas??

20180203_211749_1.gif
 

Crabs McJones

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It is constantly inhaling air from the surface. During feeding time or whenever. How do you stop this behavior? It seems to be effecting its ability to maintain neutral buoyancy. I have had this tang for over 6 years, and it has always done this to some extent, but the frequeny has increased recently. Ideas??

20180203_211749_1.gif
How much surface tension do you have to mix oxygen into the water? It is pretty odd behavior. Let's get #reefsquad @Humblefish @4FordFamily @Maritimer involved. They may know.
 
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Troy V

Troy V

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How much surface tension do you have to mix oxygen into the water? It is pretty odd behavior. Let's get #reefsquad @Humblefish @4FordFamily @Maritimer involved. They may know.

I have a good amount of surface agitation from 2- Mp40s 4" under the surface at about 3/4 output. Plus I have a total of 4 return nozzles from a Sicce 5. The skimmer is a Vertex 250, which is on all the time.
 
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Troy V

Troy V

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You are correct there is a film on the surface. This has recently appeared because I have been feeding the tanks very heavily with automatic feeders. I've been dosing KNO3 and subsequently it dropped my total phosphorus to 0. Maybe the film on the surface has amplified the behavior. I will clean the strainers so the film will go away.
 

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So are you sure that you have enough surface movement going on cause it also looks like the movement that you have now is not strong cause it’s not moving that film it’s only moving it right in front of that pump or outlet that’s in the vid.
 
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Troy V

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ezgif.com-gif-maker.gif


Just took this video with the overhead room lights instead of actinic light.
I do see what you are talking about. With the actinic light it looks like the tank is dank and void of much flow. Actinics can really throw off the eye.
 

4FordFamily

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It almost looks like he has a swimbladder infection or issue. Is it an accurate observation that he has trouble swimming because he’s overly buoyant?
 

ca1ore

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The hippo is prone to idiosyncratic behavior, but that is odd. That film may be impairing gas exchange. Hippo is a very active fish and will be among the first to exhibit oxygen depletion symptoms.
 

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Between the water movement we can see and the (assumption of a) protein skimmer somewhere in the tank, oxygen levels should be within normal in that tank. it is of interest to see that he seems to be focused on the one small patch where the film isn't appearing . . . Does the tang do this often, sometimes, all-the-time?

There are several parasites (flukes, ich, velvet) that tend to focus on a fish's gills. Have you noticed any symptoms that might indicate the presence of any of those?

That is a beautiful beast of a clam, by the way!

~Bruce
 
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Troy V

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The hippo is prone to idiosyncratic behavior, but that is odd. That film may be impairing gas exchange. Hippo is a very active fish and will be among the first to exhibit oxygen depletion symptoms.
You are right about the blue tangs idiosyncracies. The personalities of tangs really vary between species. By cleaning the strainers last night it removed all visible surface film, and the Vertex 250 skimmer is working as designed. How much oxygen does a 120+ lbs clam use? It sucks all of the NO3, PO4, CA, and Alk. Why not O2?
 
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Troy V

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Between the water movement we can see and the (assumption of a) protein skimmer somewhere in the tank, oxygen levels should be within normal in that tank. it is of interest to see that he seems to be focused on the one small patch where the film isn't appearing . . . Does the tang do this often, sometimes, all-the-time?

There are several parasites (flukes, ich, velvet) that tend to focus on a fish's gills. Have you noticed any symptoms that might indicate the presence of any of those?

That is a beautiful beast of a clam, by the way!

~Bruce

Thank you!

It has always done this to some extent. But recently the behavior has gone into overdrive. I don't see any parasites on it or any of it's 30+ tank mates. Maybe it is a stress reaction to the recent NO3 introduction. However it is only at 1ppm. I am getting some algae growth where I wasn't before. Maybe the change to it's environment are causing a stress reaction.

Here is the whole system. I don't have any protein build up on the outer tank surfaces ,only the center one.
P1170660.JPG
 

Maritimer

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Silly question . . . do you ever feed pellets or flakes that float at the surface?

Could she be prospecting for such food?

~Bruce, who's seen that magnificent display on the forums before - and didn't realize it was you! (>_<)
 
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Troy V

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Silly question . . . do you ever feed pellets or flakes that float at the surface?

Could she be prospecting for such food?

~Bruce, who's seen that magnificent display on the forums before - and didn't realize it was you! (>_<)

Good point! I try not to feed floating food because much of it goes down the drain before it is eaten. I usually feed sinking pellets, or sink the flake food in my finger tips before I release it. But like you and others have pointed out the protein on the surface is altering the bubbles due to the surface tension dynamics, and the Tang is mistakenly consuming the buvbles as food. Since I cleaned the drains and remove the film, the tang isn't doing it nearly as much. I love brain storming ideas on Reef2Reef. You guys are the best. Thank you everyone for helping!
 

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Love that clam, always one of my favorite things in a reef, what lights are you running over it and at what settings if you don't mind my asking?!
 
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Troy V

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250 Bimini Sun MH and 2-Hydra 52 HDs
The 250 MH comes on from 2 to 6 and the Hydra 52s start at 7:50 and ramp up to peak at 2:10pm UV 68%, Violet 65%, Royal Blue 124%, Blue 95%, Green 54%, Red 25%, and Cool White 52% the light are out at 8:30, then moon light. I tried taking a screen shot of my setting but I could get the image to load.
 
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