Yellow Tang Still

[Nigel35]

having several yellow tangs, You may have seen that they startle and stress easily. I suspect it may have freaked out and ran into glass.
If youve had this guy for quite a while, it is apparent water management is good. I would say. . Increase aeration, lower white lights to calm it and Step up the diet. Mine as you see below are filled and proportionate. For diet, I highly recommend:

-Spirulina brine shrimp
- LRS Herbivore diet
- mysis shrimp
- small plankton
- Nori seaweed basted with garlic extract
- Hikari Marine cuisine
- Formula 2 flake and frozen
- Hikari veggie marine

Add selcon vitamins to the foods 2-3X per week and on alternating days, garlic extract for stamina and immunity health

Your correct. He hit the glass and then gave up? I have had it for over a year and a half. I fed it mysis, spirulina brine, vitamin enriched pellets, red and green seaweed veggies...

I had him since he was but the size of a quarter...

 

[Nigel35]

I'm rather frustrated and confused as to what happened here... How do you go from a to b in less then 24 hours?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Your correct. He hit the glass and then gave up? I have had it for over a year and a half. I fed it mysis, spirulina brine, vitamin enriched pellets, red and green seaweed veggies...

I have him since he was but the size of a quarter...

he should come around- its like us running into a door. Biet will make a difference with color and plumpness.

 

[Nigel35]

Should a 50 or 75 percent water change have been performed? I didn't like the idea of making another huge change...

 

[Nigel35]

he should come around- its like us running into a door. Biet will make a difference with color and plumpness.

He is dead... my apologize that that wasn't made clear...

 

[Nigel35]

Unless I am wrong? I don't see any breathing or even a flicker of movement at all

 

[vetteguy53081]

He is dead... my apologize that that wasn't made clear...

Oh no , and theyre so hard to find other that Biotas that dont impress me with Juvenile paleness

 

[Nigel35]

Oh no , and theyre so hard to find other that Biotas that dont impress me with Juvenile paleness

Thats what I had said to myself that might just be the last beautiful yellow tang I will ever have...

He was one of a kind...

 

[Nigel35]

I guess this mystery will go unsolved, unless it was a drive by shooting I am at a loss...

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Should a 50 or 75 percent water change have been performed? I didn't like the idea of making another huge change...

Imo yes a large WC should have been performed.

Given that you don't know what it was initially, And there are only so many possibilities, Most of which include something wrong with the water after messing with the tank, That would have been time well spent in the absence of anything else definitive.

 

[Enkopaaisen]

saw some good yellow tang deals on r2r. Maybe you can still snap one?
Regarding tang death after certain environmental changes. I had it once 2-3 months ago when I moved all my livestocks from 45g frag tank to a new 80g frag tank. My gem tang (5”+) was 100% the alpha in the 45g, with 2 yellow tangs (5”). They have been in thr 45g for 6 months. Acced them for 3 hrs before moving them to the 80g. The gem tang died 3 hrs later in the save evening. It was swimming around once it got into the tank. So I took it that the fish were doing well, and went out for dinner. The moment the lights went off, I noticed the gem tang was laying on the bottom with little breathing…. Died view minutes later. The rest of the fish are still doing great till now(2-3 months later). My only guess is, it’s just got over stressed…. And you never know when they are scared to death….. sad

 

[Nigel35]

Imo yes a large WC should have been performed.

Given that you don't know what it was initially, And there are only so many possibilities, Most of which include something wrong with the water after messing with the tank, That would have been time well spent in the absence of anything else definitive.

But throwing a water change at it without any evidence to support such action would be unwise IMO

 

[Nigel35]

saw some good yellow tang deals on r2r. Maybe you can still snap one?
Regarding tang death after certain environmental changes. I had it once 2-3 months ago when I moved all my livestocks from 45g frag tank to a new 80g frag tank. My gem tang (5”+) was 100% the alpha in the 45g, with 2 yellow tangs (5”). They have been in thr 45g for 6 months. Acced them for 3 hrs before moving them to the 80g. The gem tang died 3 hrs later in the save evening. It was swimming around once it got into the tank. So I took it that the fish were doing well, and went out for dinner. The moment the lights went off, I noticed the gem tang was laying on the bottom with little breathing…. Died view minutes later. The rest of the fish are still doing great till now(2-3 months later). My only guess is, it’s just got over stressed…. And you never know when they are scared to death….. sad

looks like there may be a little to that story

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

But throwing a water change at it without any evidence to support such action would be unwise IMO

What do you mean No action to support it??

There is every action to support it.

According to you, the fish was perfectly healthy, You put your hands in addition to a bunch of new rock in the tank, and magically the fish is on death's door With no signs of trauma. Bullying or underlying illness.

If anything new comes into the tank and has an adverse reaction with livestock, a water change is one of the only things you can do at that point.

Given that from the very beginning you had no idea what the cause is, That's enough reason for a preventative water change.

This action costs no more than a few dollars and minutes of your time.

 

[Nigel35]

What do you mean No action to support it??

There is every action to support it.

According to you, the fish was perfectly healthy, You put your hands in addition to a bunch of new rock in the tank, and magically the fish is on death's door With no signs of trauma. Bullying or underlying illness.

If anything new comes into the tank and has an adverse reaction with livestock, a water change is one of the only things you can do at that point.

Given that from the very beginning you had no idea what the cause is, That's enough reason for a preventative water change.

This action costs no more than a few dollars and minutes of your time.

The fact that ALL the livestock, YT excluded, was perfectly healthy is a dead giveaway that chemistry couldn't be held responsible like Uncle99 mentioned... logically it doesn't add up.

Unless there is some organism that magically spawned during my rock cycle and then predatorily killed the YT...

Look the poor fellow, ate the grave... that is just something that I will have to live with. But I want to take something away from this. If possible I want to know what happened. I want to learn and discover what the causes were and know how to prevent it from happening again if possible. I don't want to make a mistake, not learn from it, and then make that very same mistake again.

I'm responsible for the death of a beautiful and unique creature... Maybe a water change could have solved it maybe it couldn't. There is however something more to the story, something that we are missing, something we haven't accounted for... Lets find it.

In the United States and in most countries when a family member or friend passes away, 99.99% of the time we know why they passed away. It is indeed a privilege to hear what happened and why it happened. In other countries people don't have that privilege. They go on with life never knowing why they can't ever see a child or a loved one again.

While that is an extreme example it illustrates my point. If possible... I want to know how this happened and learn how to overcome that challenge the next time I face it.

 

[Nigel35]

@Jay Hemdal?

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

The fact that ALL the livestock, YT excluded, was perfectly healthy is a dead giveaway that chemistry couldn't be held responsible like Uncle99 mentioned... logically it doesn't add up.

Unless there is some organism that magically spawned during my rock cycle and then predatorily killed the YT...

Look the poor fellow, ate the grave... that is just something that I will have to live with. But I want to take something away from this. If possible I want to know what happened. I want to learn and discover what the causes were and know how to prevent it from happening again if possible. I don't want to make a mistake, not learn from it, and then make that very same mistake again.

I'm responsible for the death of a beautiful and unique creature... Maybe a water change could have solved it maybe it couldn't. There is however something more to the story, something that we are missing, something we haven't accounted for... Lets find it.

In the United States and in most countries when a family member or friend passes away, 99.99% of the time we know why they passed away. It is indeed a privilege to hear what happened and why it happened. In other countries people don't have that privilege. They go on with life never knowing why they can't ever see a child or a loved one again.

While that is an extreme example it illustrates my point. If possible... I want to know how this happened and learn how to overcome that challenge the next time I face it.

Hey bud, I completely agree on wanting to figure it out as well.. It's not going to save your fish, but we are leaving a log for those who come after today, and find this post.

Given that we don't know WHAT it was, logically, we cannot outright dismiss chemistry. Flukes don't kill a healthy fish in hours. It very well may have run into The glass really hard and injured itself and succumb to that.

You may not think that a water change would have helped in this situation. I'm 50/50 at this point. I do know that it wouldn't hurt anything, And there's still the chance it would have been helpful.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Just yesterday I transferred 25-30 lbs of cycled rock to my display tank. The yellow tang soon afterwards wasn't darting around the tank as usual but slowly drifting in the middle of the tank and moving around just slightly.

This morning I found him landed on top a few rocks breathing rapidly and fins flapping quickly. I Put him in an acclimation box with and airstone to help recuperate. He wouldn't even move despite putting a net next to him or even me gently putting him into the acclimation box.

He has been eating extremely well still on the slim side but appeared ghastly skinny this morning. I've fed nori, brine mysis, pellets etc. regularly. Can't seem to figure out whats wrong here.

Just an hour before the new rock came in and I changed the aquascape he starts to lose it. ALL other fish are happily swimming around the tank and eating well, no issues whatsoever. My guess would be flukes or something along those lines but it came so quickly and the fact that I made a big change to the tank makes me inclined to think otherwise. I just can't let this guy go... It would make me sick to let such a beautiful part of the ocean perish...

Salinity is 1.026
Ph: 8.2
Temp: 77.8

Was there an rise in salinity during the tank work? If a fish has kidney issues, a rise in salinity can cause it to dehydrate and get really skinny.
Jay

 

[Nigel35]

Was there an rise in salinity during the tank work? If a fish has kidney issues, a rise in salinity can cause it to dehydrate and get really skinny.
Jay

Very little... Salinity prior to rockwork was 1.025, salinity after was 1.026. Could that be the issue?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Very little... Salinity prior to rockwork was 1.025, salinity after was 1.026. Could that be the issue?

No, that is too small of a change to be of any consequence, I was just wanting to rule that out……
Jay