Tomini tang picking at gorgonian - typical behavior?

[MeganV]

I have a tomini tang that I have had in my tank for essentially the life of this tank - he was my first fish added. I added a Grube's gorgonian over the summer, and it has been thriving...until recently. Out of the blue, all of the polyps were retracted and I noticed that my tomini tang was picking at it like crazy. In his defense, I don't have much algae for him to graze on. He does get fed 3x daily, twice with New Life Spectrum pellets on an auto feeder (9am and noon) and once with frozen in the evening. I am currently feeding the Mermaid's Delight All in One Reef Blend.

Is this typical behavior for a tomini tang? Should I try a different, or more frequent feeding strategy to try to keep him occupied? Mastic? Algae clip? Nutrients are not an issue in this system as I have a low bioload (him and a pair of clowns in around 70 gal total water volume).

The gorgonian is on "his side" of the tank - I wonder if it's worth moving to the other side of the tank to see if he will leave it alone. I am so bummed because I really loved the flow and look of the gorgonian.

Thanks for any input you may have.

Megan

 

[lapin]

First thing I would try is an algae clip with sheets of nori. Tangs require algae. It’s a natural grazing behavior. It’s possible the gorgorian has some algae growing on it.