Tangs pooping sand?

[KYnewbee42103]

Just curious My two tangs a 9" blonde naso tang and 6" purple tang have just recently started to Poop sand after a year, not all the time but enough that I am curious why? They both eat nori EOD, mix of red, purple, and green nori soaked in selcon- garlic. They both act fine but is there something lacking in their diet to make them eat sand? is it internal parasites? Maybe its normal IDK seen them fart bubbles before but heard that was ok. Is sand the corn of underwater poo? LOL!

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

My orange shoulder scoops up sand that has surface algae on it.. rains it down on the acans.

 

[J1a]

Some, but not all, tangs have gizzard like stomachs and use sand to help to break down the hard to digest algae.

 

[i cant think]

My orange shoulder scoops up sand that has surface algae on it..

This is what my Ctenochaetus binotatus does, he’ll scrape any sand then chuck it somewhere it shouldn’t be.