Yellow Tang acting Strang

GrimReefersDad · Jan 20, 2026

Hello everyone, I have a Yellow Tang I noticed an anomaly on his side a couple days ago. During that time, he also got shy. He has remains shy now and has sought out a low flow area in rocks to hide and is not floating upright as he should. He is swimming on his side.

Any suggestions or things I should do?

vetteguy53081 · Jan 20, 2026

GrimReefersDad said:
Hello everyone, I have a Yellow Tang I noticed an anomaly on his side a couple days ago. During that time, he also got shy. He has remains shy now and has sought out a low flow area in rocks to hide and is not floating upright as he should. He is swimming on his side.

Any suggestions or things I should do?

Looks like a small injury and even can be a tail strike
Keep an eye on area. If it gets larger, consider treatment in a separate tank using seachem neoplex

Jay Hemdal · Jan 20, 2026

GrimReefersDad said:
Hello everyone, I have a Yellow Tang I noticed an anomaly on his side a couple days ago. During that time, he also got shy. He has remains shy now and has sought out a low flow area in rocks to hide and is not floating upright as he should. He is swimming on his side.

Any suggestions or things I should do?

Do you have another tang or a foxface in the tank? It could be an abscess from being spined by one of those fish. It looks mostly healed over. In that case, adding antibiotics to the water really reach down if there is a deep seated infection there.

GrimReefersDad · Jan 21, 2026

Jay Hemdal said:
Do you have another tang or a foxface in the tank? It could be an abscess from being spined by one of those fish. It looks mostly healed over. In that case, adding antibiotics to the water really reach down if there is a deep seated infection there.

yes, I have 5 tangs total. I have the Yellow, a yellow eyed kole, a purple, a powder blue, and a Gem Tang. What should I add? what will it do to the remainder of the tank biology?

Jay Hemdal · Jan 21, 2026

GrimReefersDad said:
yes, I have 5 tangs total. I have the Yellow, a yellow eyed kole, a purple, a powder blue, and a Gem Tang. What should I add? what will it do to the remainder of the tank biology?

The yellow or the kole are unlikely culprits. The purple, PBT or the gem could all have caused that.

If I'm correct, I don't think it requires treatment - certainly no water treatment would be effective. If there is a deep-seated infection, oral antibiotics might help, but they are tricky to dose:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/proper-dosing-of-medicated-foods.765689/