Tang death

[GHOSTLY]

Apologies for the late night post, and please forgive me if I didn't answer right away. It's been a tough day. I'm mourning the loss of my tang. I raised him from a tiny baby a year ago to the 10" long monsterfish he became. He was eating from my hand last night. Fine, fat, healthy earlier today. Then he was suddenly dead. I got him out immediately but did not witness it happening. No outward signs of any trauma or disease. Everything else in the tank is fine as though nothing happened. One odd thing I found was shrimp stuck on the filter intake. (He ate a wide variety of foods at different intervals, nori, frozen, flakes and freeze dried shrimp.) He had a voracious appetite and often ate the shrimp cubes whole before they even broke up. Could this have killed him?
The other odd thing- On Monday I cleaned out the filter media and added new seeded xport bio blocks, and this is now Friday. I found a broken piece of block somehow in the sand. If he'd eaten that, would it kill him? I'm just at a loss, second guessing, blaming myself, and I suppose i will never know. Very saddened over this.
6ft 125g, Other inhabitants include 4 clownfish, 2 cardinals, 3 purple and 5 blue chromis, starfish, urchins, hermit crabs, horseshoe crab, snails, small clams and oysters, sponges, hermits, various gorgonians and way too many amphipods. Too mentally exhausted to test parameters tonight but everyone appears perfectly normal & unaffected.
Apologies also for such a long post.

Sorry for your loss. Don't worry, i have posts at 1 AM

 

[cancun]

Sorry for your loss.

If no other fish in the tank are showing symptoms, it most likely is NOT a communicable infection. Other fish and invertebrates still doing well also points away from water quality issues.

Did I miss it, what species of tang was it?

Sudden death of a 1 year captive is unusual, but not unheard of. Mechanical trauma/blockage certainly is a probable cause here.

Jay

+1! Sad though going from happy and healthy one minute to gone the next. Nope you didn't miss it, I don't think the OP said yet.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Check- he got all of the above at varying intervals but the hebivore cubes were SF Bay. I'm wondering if he did suddenly choke. I did not know that fish could do that? But yes he ate the cubes whole and it would explain the shrimp on the intake if he spit them up.
Couldn't stop him from overeating without starving the tank, He'd literally steal food from the mouths of smaller fish and the starfish. He was a chonker.

Yes- hard to ingest or break down frozen particles

 

[Anihiel1]

Wow....so sorry for the loss of your Tang. I agree that sometimes we loose a perfectly healthy fish for no apparent reason. Especially if everything else is in check.

What species of Tang was it?

Surgeon Doctorfish. Baby pic, juvenile, and adult pic attached

 

[i cant think]

Surgeon Doctorfish. Baby pic, juvenile, and adult pic attached

From the images it seems like there wasn’t anything in the tank that could help lead to death so it may have well been impaction from the cubes, it’s such a shame since they’re not commonly imported into the hobby..

 

[i cant think]

Yes he was a juvenile, perhaps 1/4 the size of my adult foxface. He grew a bit during quarantine but then got huge in the DT. He'd been in the DT for a little shy of a year. Can velvet lie dormant? Should I proactively treat with anything?

yes, velvet can lie dormant but you would have most likely seen something like rapid breathing or a ton of dots but since you saw nothing wrong on the body then your chances of velvet are low

 

[Anihiel1]

Sorry for your loss.

If no other fish in the tank are showing symptoms, it most likely is NOT a communicable infection. Other fish and invertebrates still doing well also points away from water quality issues.

Did I miss it, what species of tang was it?

Sudden death of a 1 year captive is unusual, but not unheard of. Mechanical trauma/blockage certainly is a probable cause here.

Jay

Yes 24+ hours later, everyone else is fine. Its like nothing happened. I think I luckily may have caught it within minutes after he passed. He still had some coloron the edges and his eyes were not yet clouded. His body after removal to a bucket went completely white by the time I was 'off' work.

 

[cancun]

Surgeon Doctorfish. Baby pic, juvenile, and adult pic attached

Beautiful Tang! Again sorry for your loss! I always have a tough time explaining to non reefers that my fish are my pets, like my dog.

 

[Anihiel1]

Thank you everyone for putting my mind at ease about disease. I was feeling a bit frantic at possibly losing all of them. Raised all of them from babies. I think I would have quit the hobby at that point.

 

[i cant think]

Thank you everyone for putting my mind at ease about disease. I was feeling a bit frantic at possibly losing all of them. Raised all of them from babies. I think I would have quit the hobby at that point.

Yeah, I know how it feels having fish you raised from juvies to adults dying, I lost all my fish I raised from juvies to adults in an ammonia spike when setting up my 4 foot tank but hey, you can always try find a tang to ‘replace’ that one, I know that sounds cruel but you could be able to raise another fish from Juvie to Adult

 

[Anihiel1]

Yeah, I know how it feels having fish you raised from juvies to adults dying, I lost all my fish I raised from juvies to adults in an ammonia spike when setting up my 4 foot tank but hey, you can always try find a tang to ‘replace’ that one, I know that sounds cruel but you could be able to raise another fish from Juvie to Adult

I hear you, its not cruel. I originally got the tang as a buddy for the foxface. They were inseparable. So I may have to get another for his sake. He's currently non-stop pacing the whole tank, I'm assuming looking for his bff

 

[Qasimja]

i had a yellow tang for over a year then one day he just died found him on the sand bed one morning and none of my other fish had any issues sometimes it just happens sorry about your fish

 

[piranhaman00]

Happened to me recently with a sailfin I had since quarter size, devastating. I actually decided to downsize my tanks now because of it!

I know how you feel, hang in there!

 

[Lavey29]

Are certain corals capable of stinging fish to death like an anemone can? Torch coral? What if he nibbled on a zoa? Just curious as I see my fish really seem to avoid any direct coral contact in the tank.

 

[Qasimja]

Are certain corals capable of stinging fish to death like an anemone can? Torch coral? What if he nibbled on a zoa? Just curious as I see my fish really seem to avoid any direct coral contact in the tank.

i think most fish really know what to avoid so it wont get stung

 

[cancun]

Are certain corals capable of stinging fish to death like an anemone can? Torch coral? What if he nibbled on a zoa? Just curious as I see my fish really seem to avoid any direct coral contact in the tank.

I am not sure about other fish, but Passer Angel ate several torch corals, and some hammers within a few days. No more Euphyllia in my tank!