Yellow tang is about dead why?

[ajremington68]

Got him from biota, did copper for 3 weeks. He has been in my frag tank for 2 months and been doing fine doesn’t care for pellets but munches up frozen brine and mysis. Also picks at the rocks and eats nori. Woke up to him laying upside down on the bottom, and clues what went south?

I added a baby powerhead a few days ago but how could this potentially hurt him? I I unplugged it and removed it just in case. Have a clown, bangeye cardinal, and damsel and they are all fine and corals in there too that are fine.

@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081

 

[ajremington68]

He is still in the tank, and barely breathing… all my parameters are good besides alk has been creeping up and is at 13dkh but I will do a full test on the tank once I get home from work. Want to figure out why so I can prevent in the future thanks

 

[Reef Wizard]

Got him from biota, did copper for 3 weeks. He has been in my frag tank for 2 months and been doing fine doesn’t care for pellets but munches up frozen brine and mysis. Also picks at the rocks and eats nori. Woke up to him laying upside down on the bottom, and clues what went south?

I added a baby powerhead a few days ago but how could this potentially hurt him? I I unplugged it and removed it just in case. Have a clown, bangeye cardinal, and damsel and they are all fine and corals in there too that are fine.

@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081

Its difficult to tell. Try to take a video of him under white lighting while hes still breathing. But with that split fin it appears to me like aggression

 

[vetteguy53081]

Got him from biota, did copper for 3 weeks. He has been in my frag tank for 2 months and been doing fine doesn’t care for pellets but munches up frozen brine and mysis. Also picks at the rocks and eats nori. Woke up to him laying upside down on the bottom, and clues what went south?

I added a baby powerhead a few days ago but how could this potentially hurt him? I I unplugged it and removed it just in case. Have a clown, bangeye cardinal, and damsel and they are all fine and corals in there too that are fine.

@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081

What level of copper are you administering and is is coppersafe or cupramine?
I notice torn fin- was it received this way or was fish in tank with others? If with others, may be aggression.
Additionally, belly area- it appears sunken but hard to tell from angle.
Is fish breathing normal or labored?
Other cause would be impact injury, elevated ammonia or insufficient diet. What foods are you offering it?
High alk likely cause this

 

[ga2040]

Copper exposure may have caused some damage to internal organs.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Copper exposure may have caused some damage to internal organs.

No - that isn't the cause, not unless the copper was grossly overdosed. Ionic copper can cause acute toxicity, but not delayed affects like this. Amine-chelated copper, properly dosed, is well tolerated by fish.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Got him from biota, did copper for 3 weeks. He has been in my frag tank for 2 months and been doing fine doesn’t care for pellets but munches up frozen brine and mysis. Also picks at the rocks and eats nori. Woke up to him laying upside down on the bottom, and clues what went south?

I added a baby powerhead a few days ago but how could this potentially hurt him? I I unplugged it and removed it just in case. Have a clown, bangeye cardinal, and damsel and they are all fine and corals in there too that are fine.

@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081

Sorry to see. That split fin just doesn't look too serious. Is there any damage to its snout? All I can come up with is that something startled the tang and it ran into something.

 

[ajremington68]

What level of copper are you administering and is is coppersafe or cupramine?
I notice torn fin- was it received this way or was fish in tank with others? If with others, may be aggression.
Additionally, belly area- it appears sunken but hard to tell from angle.
Is fish breathing normal or labored?
Other cause would be impact injury, elevated ammonia or insufficient diet. What foods are you offering it?
High alk likely cause this

Used copper safe, put through copper 2 months ago tho. None of them mess with each other in the tank and I have this tank in my room so I would see if there was aggression.

 

[ajremington68]

No - that isn't the cause, not unless the copper was grossly overdosed. Ionic copper can cause acute toxicity, but not delayed affects like this. Amine-chelated copper, properly dosed, is well tolerated by fish.

It was only at 2.25 checked with hanna copper checker

 

[ajremington68]

Sorry to see. That split fin just doesn't look too serious. Is there any damage to its snout? All I can come up with is that something startled the tang and it ran into something.

Not sure will take a good video if he is still alive when I get home from work

 

[vetteguy53081]

Used copper safe, put through copper 2 months ago tho. None of them mess with each other in the tank and I have this tank in my room so I would see if there was aggression.

You did the right things. Often with aggression, fish are in your presence are on their best behavior and often worse at feeding time as they try to hog all the food

 

[ajremington68]

@vetteguy53081 @Jay Hemdal

This was my dad, and I's fish so we have kept close watch on him. Got him feb 6th. did a 21-day copper at 2.2-2.3 in coppersafe. He was in a 40g tall alone tank been up for a while and he did well. he then got moved to my 35-gallon frag tank at the start of march and he has been fine. There is a maroon clown, a bangeye cardinal, and a blue devil damsel. (all my girlfriends fish, she picks the meanest ones) but even with them having tags of being ***** they never mess with each other. Everyone ate and the yellow was most aggressive with food. He ate mysis yesterday like a champ and then barely alive this morning then on break at noon he was dead. no visual wounds, little ripped fin. tested the tank and the excel cut from today is in there. ALK is high but its been like this for a while cuz a while ago it was creeping up and I just lowered the AFR on it so it has been steady, no sudden spikes. The ONLY thing new to the tank in a while is a little SLW-3 jaebo power head I added and i grounded myself to see if stray voltage, and no. This pump is SMOL so I know he didn't get caught in it or fighting the current and stressed him out.

Haven't lost a fish in a while and did all proper protocols for him but maybe an internal parasite or something? Just beat but sometimes there is nothing you can do. Sucks he was such a cool little guy.

 

[vetteguy53081]

@vetteguy53081 @Jay Hemdal

This was my dad, and I's fish so we have kept close watch on him. Got him feb 6th. did a 21-day copper at 2.2-2.3 in coppersafe. He was in a 40g tall alone tank been up for a while and he did well. he then got moved to my 35-gallon frag tank at the start of march and he has been fine. There is a maroon clown, a bangeye cardinal, and a blue devil damsel. (all my girlfriends fish, she picks the meanest ones) but even with them having tags of being ***** they never mess with each other. Everyone ate and the yellow was most aggressive with food. He ate mysis yesterday like a champ and then barely alive this morning then on break at noon he was dead. no visual wounds, little ripped fin. tested the tank and the excel cut from today is in there. ALK is high but its been like this for a while cuz a while ago it was creeping up and I just lowered the AFR on it so it has been steady, no sudden spikes. The ONLY thing new to the tank in a while is a little SLW-3 jaebo power head I added and i grounded myself to see if stray voltage, and no. This pump is SMOL so I know he didn't get caught in it or fighting the current and stressed him out.

Haven't lost a fish in a while and did all proper protocols for him but maybe an internal parasite or something? Just beat but sometimes there is nothing you can do. Sucks he was such a cool little guy.

Sorry to hear of loss and Maroon clown is on top of list of nasty fish and will bite others, bite your hand and even move rocks around

 

[ajremington68]

Sorry to hear of loss and Maroon clown is on top of list of nasty fish and will bite others, bite your hand and even move rocks around

Yea he was pretty mean when he had a nem but I pulled it cuz he lost privileges and he’s not as bad but still can be a dick towards me

 

[W31Olds]

That fish is very small. I would suspect aggression.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Yea he was pretty mean when he had a nem but I pulled it cuz he lost privileges and he’s not as bad but still can be a dick towards me

These tank raised fish simply don’t have internal parasites. They can get external parasites, but only from exposure to wild caught fish, and then, if that were the case, they would also have symptoms.

I’m still leaning towards tankmate aggression causing the tang to run into something in the tank.

 

[littlefoxx]

Sorry to see. That split fin just doesn't look too serious. Is there any damage to its snout? All I can come up with is that something startled the tang and it ran into something.

Can it running into something injure a fish that bad that it dies from the impact?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Can it running into something injure a fish that bad that it dies from the impact?

Running into something would show signs of damage to nose or body and even redness often showing on a yellow tang with impact injuries. There is evidence on fish showing aggression occurred

 

[Tangdora]

And old post but should you buy another just note biota does not recommend qting there yellows. Probably the only fish I didn’t not qt on my new build. But will leave that up to you.

As for just thinking out side the box hear. How much are your temps swinging on that breeder. April can be pretty aggressive in swings from day and evening temps which can carry over to the tank itself especially smaller tanks depending on how you conditioned your house is.

https://www.reef2reef.com/posts/8999443/bookmark

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Can it running into something injure a fish that bad that it dies from the impact?

Yes, but it is rare. I once went to a wholesale shop that had built special 8' long tanks to house their fish. They didn't want to chase the fish all around the tank to catch them up for shipment, so they installed 3" plexiglass sheets. running top to bottom at the back of their tanks. The idea was that when chasing the fish, they would hit the obstruction and be more easily netted. It was terrible - they killed so many fish, they had to fix their tanks after a few days (grin).

That said, there is usually some visible damage to a fish that "hits the wall" like that....