Vendor just sent me this "gem tang". What is going on here?

[Jersey Corals]

White stuff on Gem tang

I got him less than two weeks ago. He has been generally doing fine. Now I see this white marks on him. He is not active and just hangs around in a corner. Yesterday he barely ate. What should I do? I have a QT running with a regal angelfish in it. Should I bring th gem tang there to isolate him...

humble.fish

 

[Jersey Corals]

Please see the humble fish link. That’s their stress patterning.

 

[Jersey Corals]

They will develop these markings at night too

 

[MnFish1]

Um - you did not get the tang you ordered. Those markings look artificial - or odd. Just dispute with your credit card

OK - ok - to satisfy everyone - my language meant 'you did not get the tang you ordered, i.e. a healthy tang'. The marks look odd - someone said they had not seen them in 35 years. What is the issue - I would dispute it with my credit card company - if the person selling the fish will not replace it. EDIT - PS -the picture on my computer is bright yellow - not stress coloration

 

[MnFish1]

This is a weird take my man.

As i stated i dont give a rats whatever about the vendor thing or my money - yet.

I am trying to determine if this fish has a life threatening disease and i need to take steps to save its life.

I'm not 'you're man'. And - I answered your question to my knowledge.

 

[afrokobe]

In the interest of caution, i had my wife dump RODI to salinity match the QT tank to the bag, to avoid further stress and exacerbating whatever the unknown situation further. My plan was to raise him to 1.022 which is what i run my QT over the course of the next 24 hours or so, definitely not in a rush to raise it, even moreso now knowing this is stress related

Edit: clarify to say we matched salinity from the start. Since originally a concern it could have been velvet, we got him straight into copper, did not drip. Only temperature acclimation

Your wife is a champ. Awesome of her to help with all of that. Asking to feed frozen is like pulling teeth here lol

 

[Kmarshall168]

I had this same thing with a different species. I had no clue bi color blennies actually have white stripes along their body. Good luck with the tang though

 

[SpyC]

Seems like this should be solved in the vendor forum. Not the public forum. The quickest thing you should be acting on is asking for a refund?

You do understand not all vendors are sponsors of R2R, right?

 

[MnFish1]

You do understand not all vendors are sponsors of R2R, right?

There is no rule as far as I know - that sponsors are different from others - perhaps point me to the TOS - in either case - my initial comment I feel was correct - talk to the person you bought the fish from.

 

[IrezumiHurts]

As mentioned in my previous message, I ended up asking the mods to change the subject line since it appears i cannot, to remove the vendor name, since this is a stress pattern and therefore not relevant to a lack of care on their part, and could have been the same for any vendor.

Also vendor actually was very quick to call me about the situation just a minute ago even though they are closed today, so i can tell they take their business very seriously and keep an eye on the forums. The salinity is lower than what I'm used to and prefer, but i wouldn't hesitate to order from them again, given they actually cared enough to contact me directly.

Thanks everyone

 

[MnFish1]

Now that we've gone through all the happy answers - here is a quote from the OP: "Fish was shipped in dirty 1.016 water though so im not going to wait to get an answer from them if i need to be acting quickly on something. Not sure why anyone would ship salinity that low unless they are trying to keep disease down, that's really low. I mean the fish is huge (4-5in, sold as 2in) and looks nothing like the picture (normal gem tang) or any gem ive ever seen, so mad about all that, but thats something i can take up with the seller. For now just trying to diagnose if this is a disease."

FWIW - the vendor did the purchaser a disservice. IMHO

 

[IrezumiHurts]

Now that we've gone through all the happy answers - here is a quote from the OP: "Fish was shipped in dirty 1.016 water though so im not going to wait to get an answer from them if i need to be acting quickly on something. Not sure why anyone would ship salinity that low unless they are trying to keep disease down, that's really low. I mean the fish is huge (4-5in, sold as 2in) and looks nothing like the picture (normal gem tang) or any gem ive ever seen, so mad about all that, but thats something i can take up with the seller. For now just trying to diagnose if this is a disease."

FWIW - the vendor did the purchaser a disservice. IMHO

You are very weird, and oddly aggressive. Not sure what to make of you, or your bizarre perspective. Im guessing you get that a lot.

I stand by my original statement. Water WAS DIRTY and salinity WAS LOW, and i get a fish with really weird markings that look like disease. First thoughts are that vendor is passing off a sick fish that has been neglected or otherwise false advertising some low quality genetic issue stock. Water parameters and visible quality did nothing to improve those initial fears.

Did the fish poop a ton in the bag on the way? Is it normal tannins from a high nitrate system that doesnt have run carbon or ozone, or tinged from acriflavine and prime? No idea. Doesnt matter. Fouling water could have been a contributing factor had it been a bacterial issue. Do you consider 1.016 low sg? I sure do, and most will agree, probably even someone as contrarian as yourself. Is that something i cant overcome? No, but it definitely felt relevant to mention at the time, maybe the vendor was sending a fish with known potential velvet or ich in low salinity water in an attempt to suppress disease long enough to survive shipping and circumvent a DOA situation. I have no idea, but couldn't rationalize what the need for 1.016 is otherwise at the time. Now i hear its an industry standard, but not one ive come to experience myself yet.

As i also said, i was not home, and had to work on secondhand experience of a less experienced spouse.

Kindly move along, ive seen nothing you've said that positively contributed to the situation.

 

[SpyC]

You are very weird, and oddly aggressive. Not sure what to make of you, or your bizarre perspective. Im guessing you get that a lot.

I stand by my original statement. Water WAS DIRTY and salinity WAS LOW, and i get a fish with really weird markings that look like disease. First thoughts are that vendor is passing off a sick fish that has been neglected or otherwise false advertising some low quality genetic issue stock. Water parameters and visible quality did nothing to improve those initial fears.

Did the fish poop a ton in the bag on the way? Is it normal tannins from a high nitrate system that doesnt have run carbon or ozone, or tinged from acriflavine and prime? No idea. Doesnt matter. Fouling water could have been a contributing factor had it been a bacterial issue. Do you consider 1.016 low sg? I sure do, and most will agree, probably even someone as contrarian as yourself. Is that something i cant overcome? No, but it definitely felt relevant to mention at the time, maybe the vendor was sending a fish with known potential velvet or ich in low salinity water in an attempt to suppress disease long enough to survive shipping and circumvent a DOA situation. I have no idea, but couldn't rationalize what the need for 1.016 is otherwise at the time. Now i hear its an industry standard, but not one ive come to experience myself yet.

As i also said, i was not home, and had to work on secondhand experience of a less experienced spouse.

Kindly move along, ive seen nothing you've said that positively contributed to the situation.

That is how that person is. I wonder if you can block certain users.

 

[SpyC]

There is no rule as far as I know - that sponsors are different from others - perhaps point me to the TOS - in either case - my initial comment I feel was correct - talk to the person you bought the fish from.

Only the OP of a thread in that section and the sponsor are able to post there. If the vendor is not a sponsor they cannot reply there. You don't need ToS to understand common sense.

And since you cantbe bothered to look, here is a link to the info you are demanding. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/feedback-forum-guidelines-please-read-before-posting.815606/

 

[MnFish1]

Only the OP of a thread in that section and the sponsor are able to post there. If the vendor is not a sponsor they cannot reply there. You don't need ToS to understand common sense.

And since you cantbe bothered to look, here is a link to the info you are demanding. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/feedback-forum-guidelines-please-read-before-posting.815606/

Yes I know - that was my initial suggestion. Many times the posts complaining about a vendor - are referred there. Best wishes

 

[IrezumiHurts]

Your wife is a champ. Awesome of her to help with all of that. Asking to feed frozen is like pulling teeth here lol

Unlike most hobbyist, its something we actually have in common together! I do most of the work to keep things running and testing, she enjoys feeding. In fact if anything i have to get on her about overfeeding haha, she makes sure nobody goes hungry lol.

Great for a marriage. Terrible for a bank account.

 

[littlefoxx]

Might be HLLE. Doesn't exactly look like it, but that's the most probable thing. It could also be a genetic anomaly. I'd QT the heck out of this fish just in case.

Kinda what I thought when I saw it too but its weird, did not know they got stress like that. Never had a gem and only seen a few but the gold coloring is what was weird!

 

[littlefoxx]

Glad your fish is okay! He is very beautiful. Love gems, but always comes between a purple and a gem for me, purple always wins cause thats my favorite color and I dont have the money for a gem, wish I did. Hopefully all goes well in the QT!

 

[Steve2020]

Curiosity question, since the consensus is that the markings are stress related does it make sense to put the Gem in a tank with 2.0ppm copper? I would think that would cause more stress. I thought the method of using copper was to bring it up slowly to therapeutic levels over a few days and monitor for stress or possibly poisoning.

 

[Kmarshall168]

I probably would just get it in a comfortable salinity and temp then observe for medical issues while slowly bringing the salinity up to match your tank