So I messed up.. Anything I can do for my Scopas Tang?

[MrSalty]

So I'm in the middle of setting up and moving my fish to a new tank. I've had them in a bucket with a heater and a wave pump aimed at the surface for aeration. They were in there about 18 hours, perfectly fine. We left the house of a bit and right before I had turned on the heater in the new tank to get it ready for the fish. Well I inadvertently hit the power strip powering everything for the bucket. It's about 63F in the house, 20F outside. I'm not sure if it was the temperature of lack of aeration but I lost a Banggai cardinal and my tang was laying flat on the bottom on it's side. I noticed it was still breathing so I dumped some of the now heated water from the tank into the bucket. After about 2 min the tang was back up and swimming. So I made sure the heater was on and left them be. I checked on them 10 min later and the tang was back on it's side at the bottom. Several other smaller fish were in there seemed fine, so I'm assuming it was more of an oxygen thing. I put the tang in a bag and floated it in the new tank for a bit and then released it into the new tank. The salinity and the rest of the parameters were the same due to all the water just being mixed. It's currently at the bottom of the tank all fins moving, breathing quickly, upright and laying against the glass. I have a wave pump at the surface pointing down to aerate the water. Is there anything I can do for it? I have the lights off and I'm just letting it be for the moment. It's been about an hour since I put it in the tank and he's not getting any worse but doesn't seem to have any initiative to swim.

 

[ScottR]

Fish will be finicky being moved around like that. But since it’s a new tank, have you checked ammonia and nitrites?

 

[MrSalty]

Fish will be finicky being moved around like that. But since it’s a new tank, have you checked ammonia and nitrites?

Ammonia and nitrate are 0 in the new tank.

 

[ScottR]

Ammonia and nitrate are 0 in the new tank.

Have any pics of the fish and complete system? As long as ammonia and NO2 are at zero, the fish should be fine. Were you medicating the fish or doing any treatment before putting in the display?

 

[MrSalty]

Have any pics of the fish and complete system? As long as ammonia and NO2 are at zero, the fish should be fine. Were you medicating the fish or doing any treatment before putting in the display?

I just had the fish in a bucket while I broke down the old tank and moved everything the the new tank. I didn't treat them or anything. I really think the low oxygen just got to them. I'll try to attach a short video.

 

[MrSalty]

Update: 2 hours later tang is still doing the same thing. I stuck my hand in the tanks and it swam around like it was drunk ran into a rock and is back to laying on the bottom. I have the blue and red on the light at 1% just so I can keep and eye on it. I'm just going to leave it alone because I'm not sure what else to do...

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Update: 2 hours later tang is still doing the same thing. I stuck my hand in the tanks and it swam around like it was drunk ran into a rock and is back to laying on the bottom. I have the blue and red on the light at 1% just so I can keep and eye on it. I'm just going to leave it alone because I'm not sure what else to do...

The tang was breathing pretty hard. I assume the white spots on it were just detritus? Why does it have bubbles stuck to its dorsal fin? Typically, when fish are moved from low temp water, or water with low dissolved oxygen, once back in better conditions, they recover pretty quickly. I wonder if there is something else going on?

Jay

 

[MrSalty]

I had a powerhead at the top aimed down towards him trying to oxygenate the water so some of the bubble got to it before I turned it down all of those spots are bubbles. It seem to be getting better, several times it swam around the tank but couldn't swim properly. Unfortunaly It was laying in the back of the tank dead this morning. I did quite a bit of research last night and came to the conclusion that with tangs there is a point of no return when the oxygen gets low. They loose air in their swim bladder and then cannot swim properly which then need to do in order to breath so it's just a downward spiral. At least that's what I gathered for a few articles. I'm not sure there was anything I could have done after I found him on his side.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I had a powerhead at the top aimed down towards him trying to oxygenate the water so some of the bubble got to it before I turned it down all of those spots are bubbles. It seem to be getting better, several times it swam around the tank but couldn't swim properly. Unfortunaly It was laying in the back of the tank dead this morning. I did quite a bit of research last night and came to the conclusion that with tangs there is a point of no return when the oxygen gets low. They loose air in their swim bladder and then cannot swim properly which then need to do in order to breath so it's just a downward spiral. At least that's what I gathered for a few articles. I'm not sure there was anything I could have done after I found him on his side.

Well, that research was sort of right- it isn’t the air bladder that is the issue, but rather, possible neurological damage due to low dissolved oxygen. I still worry that something else may have been going on- I’ve pulled fish out of low dissolved oxygen conditions before, and never saw any long term effects. Maybe there is a fine line and your fish was right on the line- not killed outright, but enough damage that it couldn’t survive?
Jay

 

[Lucky Corals]

If it recovers watch for ich as it tends to pop up after a big stress

 

[MrSalty]

Well, that research was sort of right- it isn’t the air bladder that is the issue, but rather, possible neurological damage due to low dissolved oxygen. I still worry that something else may have been going on- I’ve pulled fish out of low dissolved oxygen conditions before, and never saw any long term effects. Maybe there is a fine line and your fish was right on the line- not killed outright, but enough damage that it couldn’t survive?
Jay

The fish seemed to have full control over all it's fins. It just couldn't seem to stay upright so the swim bladder explanation seemed to make a lot of sense. I'm not an expert so I really don't know. I will say it was an interesting article explaining how the swim bladder is similar to a lung and is filled via air taken in the gills. I am really sad about the tang though, it was probably my favorite fish in the tank. I got it for my one year old and he really enjoyed watching it more than anything in the tank since it was so fast. I would feed the fish frozen brine shrimp that I would thaw in a red solo cup and then dump into the tank. Every time it saw someone with a red cup it was right there ready to eat.