Yellow Tang Down For The Count ?

[William Norman]

Hi All,

I am brand new to this.

Cycled my tank,

Waited

Added 2 clowns

Waited 2 weeks, added a Saddle Puffer and a yellow tang. Yellow tang was grazing first few days, then went into hiding. Anytime I came into room he would go back and hide. Wasn't really eating with everyone else at this point. Today he was out but seemed to be struggling. For a time he wedged himself under a rock. I turned off some flow, and he came out. Now he looks bad. See pic. Any ideas ?
I put some sushi seaweed next to him rubber band to a rock. No interest. My numbers are 0,0,0.

I did add a zoanthid and a feather coral yesterday that my wife suprised me with. He wasn't near them.

 

[William Norman]

He is breathing....

 

[GHsaltie]

Oi, that is one of the thinnest yellow tangs I've ever seen.... Did you purchase him like that or did he lose weight after you got him? Being that malnourished he very likely has internal parasites, maybe a little bit of HLLE, can't tell if it's that on his face or a wound. Velvet is also always a concern nowadays, and the tang hiding in the rocks could be indicative of that. Was he showing any other signs such as heavy breathing, swimming into a powerhead/current, flashing/scratching? Is he still alive at this point? Are any of your other fish showing any signs of illness or odd behavior, such as the ones previously mentioned?

@Humblefish @melypr1985 @Brew12 @ngoodermuth

 

[GHsaltie]

I'm also trying to get your thread moved to fish diseases and illness to get some more eyes on it.

 

[Paul B]

Yes, I am sorry, that tang is down for the count. I think he is too undernourished to recover.
I can't tell from here how he got into that condition.

 

[William Norman]

He has passed now... :-( He was scratching on rocks yesterday. He was eating from the rocks and such the first few days, but the last 5 he had not eaten. I tried to get him to eat, I tried a piece of shrimp, mysis shrimp, nori and pellets. He only stayed in his "cave". What should I be looking for in my remaining 3 fish for issues?

 

[melypr1985]

scratching on the rocks isn't normal and usually indicates a parasite of some kind... but it's impossible to tell which parasite caused the scratching and what ultimately his death aside from poor nutrition. He's very very skinny.

 

[GHsaltie]

Watch for these symptoms in your other fish, heavy breathing, swimming into the current such as a powerhead or filter, flashing/scratching, sensitivity to light and hiding excessively, any white spots or fine "dust" on the fish. If the tang was scratching then he could very well have had a parasite, ich and velvet are always the main concerns. With this particular fish he was in such poor condition that even ich, which normally takes a few days to really manifest, could have taken him down quicker than normal. I'm sorry you lost him .

 

[GHsaltie]

Here are some very useful threads that I encourage you to take a look at, you will find all of these as stickies at the top of the disease forum. The first is a comprehensive list of the common ailments you will come across in this hobby, inside the link you can click on the blue words to read more. The second is a picture guide to help with identification. And the third is a bit more complicated and debatable topic but I think very well worth the read.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fish-disease-index.247600/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fish-disease-index-pictorial-guide.285708/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ich-eradication-vs-ich-management.188775/

 

[William Norman]

Thank you all for the info... I am really bummed out, he was my favorite looking fish.

So I don't see anything on my other 3 fish, but my clowns do seem to be breathing a lot. My ammonia jumped. It is now somewhere between .25 and .5. I don't know if that was me trying a million different foods trying to get him to eat over the last 36 or something else. My other 2 # are still 0. My Saddle Puffer is scratching himself on the coral every once in a while. Ammonia ? Ph is about 8.1

I raised my water heater 1 degree so I will be at 78 (with the idea to raise it to 80 over a few days) , I added fresh garlic to my filter and Prime to my water. I plan on doing a 1 gallon water change tomorrow (I have 50) to further reduce the ammonia.

Anything else I should be doing ?

 

[4FordFamily]

I agree that fish was very very thin. Buy the fattest fish you can find, next time. Sorry for your loss. And I agree with the others - good chance there are parasites there, as they're everywhere right now.

 

[William Norman]

Any suggestion of what I can do to save my remaining 3 fish ?

 

[Humblefish]

Any suggestion of what I can do to save my remaining 3 fish ?

First thing you need to do is get that ammonia down. It should be zero at all times. Dose an ammonia reducer (e.g. Seachem Prime, Amquel) ASAP and then do a water change.

How long has your tank been setup? It sounds like it may not be fully cycled.

 

[William Norman]

Humble Fish. - Thank you... It has been up for about 8 weeks now. I fully cycled at 4 weeks and then I waited another week before adding my 2 clowns. I have been at 0/0/0 until yesterday.

 

[Humblefish]

Humble Fish. - Thank you... It has been up for about 8 weeks now. I fully cycled at 4 weeks and then I waited another week before adding my 2 clowns. I have been at 0/0/0 until yesterday.

Have you dosed any medications/chemicals which could be providing a false positive reading?

 

[William Norman]

I only dosed Prime per label recommendations after the Tang died. The only thing I did was increase the food while I was trying different foods to get him to eat. I tried to remove it as best I could manually, then let my filter do the rest. My LFS said I may have damaged my biologicals by shutting down my hang on the back filter buy turning it off while he was 'floundering' - he kept getting stuck to the intake.

 

[William Norman]

Another thought is my Saddle Puffer might have killed a turbo. I dont see an empty shell, but I really see them anyway.

 

[melypr1985]

I doubt having your filter shut off for a couple hours would damage your bio filter that much. A water change is certainly in store here and adding a bit of bacteria to the tank wouldn't be a bad idea either.

 

[William Norman]

So I purchased a 5 gallon tank to use as a Hospital/QT Tank, and a Aqueon 20 to filter. (still need to get a heater) . If I use my existing tanks water and move over a shell or 2 into the new tank. How long do you think I will have to wait to begin using it for copper treatment ? I also put Ich attack in existing tank yesterday as a stop gap. The clowns seemed to have responded as they are eating and not scratching for now. My ammonia is coming down. It is somewhere between 0 and .25.

 

[melypr1985]

So I purchased a 5 gallon tank to use as a Hospital/QT Tank, and a Aqueon 20 to filter. (still need to get a heater) . If I use my existing tanks water and move over a shell or 2 into the new tank. How long do you think I will have to wait to begin using it for copper treatment ? I also put Ich attack in existing tank yesterday as a stop gap. The clowns seemed to have responded as they are eating and not scratching for now. My ammonia is coming down. It is somewhere between 0 and .25.

You don't want any rock in the QT. Using new saltwater (not from the display) is the best plan since it gives your fish a "fresh start" in clean water that doesn't harbor the parasites, bacteria, poor quality ect that are bothering him in the display. You can use a bacteria in a bottle product like dr tims or biospira to help kick start the biofilter. You can start using it on day one but with water changes daily or every other day as needed until the tank cycles. An ammonia alert badge is prudent when using copper for real time ammonia readings.