Need advice, sick yellow tang.

[Reverond]

Hey All,
I got a small yellow tang about 20 days ago. He is about 1 1/2 to 2". I put him in a 29g quarantine tank that has 1 big chunk of live rock and a 4" T PVC pipe.

He seems to have been doing well up until today. He has been eating Nori, both red and green. And some flake food.

Today i get home from work and he is breathing really fast, and not swimming around as much. He also will not eat anything.

I added a air stone to see if that helps. Then i tested the water. Parameters are as follows:

Temp = 79° F
SG = 1.025
Ammonia (Nh3/Nh4) = 0 ppm
Nitrite (NO2) = 0 ppm
Nitrate (NO3) = 0 ppm

He is now laying on his side on the bottom of the tank breathing rapidly.

Here are some pics i took with my phone.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bluemerle]

I don't know much about them but imho..he looks really skinny, I'm sure you already know that though...I wish I could help you..

I don't know if it matters over 20 days but how did you acclamate him to the qt tank? Was his weight good before the qt tank? A slow drip is ideal..

 

[YourWrasseIsMine]

Are you moving rock around and kicking sand? try putting a mirror on the tank. i hear that works.

 

[Reverond]

I don't know much about them but imho..he looks really skinny, I'm sure you already know that though...I wish I could help you..

I don't know if it matters over 20 days but how did you acclamate him to the qt tank? Was his weight good before the qt tank? A slow drip is ideal..

He was acclimated with a slow drip over about a 2 - 3 hr period. I am not sure about his weight, as this is my first tang, and he is so small. But he has seemed a little thin. He also always seemed to breath fast.

But he has been eating great and swimming around till today so i didn't worry to much.

 

[bluemerle]

He was acclimated with a slow drip over about a 2 - 3 hr period. I am not sure about his weight, as this is my first tang, and he is so small. But he has seemed a little thin. He also always seemed to breath fast.

But he has been eating great and swimming around till today so i didn't worry to much.

Geez..man I don't know...I was worried about my mandarin this morning because he was all curled up didn't move when I put the tongs in close to him or turned the lights on..I was freaking out..but come to fined out the little ******** was sleeping in late..

Try another food? Seriously sorry can't help I feel for ya though..Good luck with him

 

[bluemerle]

Are you moving rock around and kicking sand? try putting a mirror on the tank. i hear that works.

What will the mirror do? Tks

 

[delta]

Mirror works to deal with aggression from other fish but this fish is alone. So not really relevant in this case.

Is the quarantine an established tank or was the rock from a tank that was established?

It could be collection issues that is starting to show up.

I would aerate the tank and make sure O2 level are up as well try some meaty foods such as Mysis or the like.

Although I would move to a shorter acclimation period lie 20minutes to an hour tops. As long as the water parameters are fairly close. Did you compare the water parameters of the water he came from to the quarantine tank?

Tank size may also be playing a role.

 

[bluemerle]

^ this is exactly why I'm here...

 

[Reverond]

Hey Guys,
Thanks for all the replies.

Delt,
Yes, the rock was left over from when i moved everything to my 50g from this 29g. I thought it had a Mantis shrimp in it, so i didn't move it. Then it turned out to be a pistol.

I left the 29g up to use as a quarantine. But it was empty with just the rock for around 2 months.

I have been doing 5g water changes every week, with water from the 50g. And the parameters have been testing ok.

Not sure what to do. I just hope he makes it through the night. :-(

 

[jmac5058]

I would think your quarentene peroid is over and moving to a livley place has helped alot for me to add some life to lethargic fish,but the opposite has also happened.Tangs dont like confined spaces and would move him to your display tank asap,espicialy if there are no established tangs in there already.I am not a sworn officer but do you know tangs should be in a 6 foot tank minimum ,just want to let you know before the Tang Police make a bust.I now (after 4-5 years)totaly agree after struggling with tangs even hardy ones like yellows for years until upgrading to a 240 gal,the only real diffrence made to change my fish to thriving and truley enjoying them without stressing out over multipull setbacks.











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[SharkLover]

you might wanna try and entice it to eat by soaking the food in garlic guard. grab a bottle at your LFS. Also, i'd take it out of quarantine and put it in the 50 gallon.

 

[frank180reef]

looks pretty skinny...........I saw some at Petco like that this weekend

Frank

 

[jayman10134]

try some PE mysis. if my fish won't eat anything else they will usually eat the PE mysis

 

[Jason72]

If it's not too late - what's your alk level? I had an issue with very high alk when I first started and it had a similar effect on the fish.

Good luck

 

[bluemerle]

Hey Guys,
Thanks for all the replies.

Delt,
Yes, the rock was left over from when i moved everything to my 50g from this 29g. I thought it had a Mantis shrimp in it, so i didn't move it. Then it turned out to be a pistol.

I left the 29g up to use as a quarantine. But it was empty with just the rock for around 2 months.

I have been doing 5g water changes every week, with water from the 50g. And the parameters have been testing ok.

Not sure what to do. I just hope he makes it through the night. :-(

Hows he doing this morning? I hope he made it.

 

[wrassefan]

I would do a 30% water change and add some carbon....couldn't hurt....if it's not eating, that will be your first priority if not too late

 

[JayM]

I'm sorry to say, but that fish is WAY skinny, and if it is laying on it's side.....

my YT's always liked having a nori clip and nori in the tank, but I fear any intervention at this point is going to be too late.

 

[stingythingy45]

I'm sorry to say, but that fish is WAY skinny, and if it is laying on it's side.....

my YT's always liked having a nori clip and nori in the tank, but I fear any intervention at this point is going to be too late.

+10
That fish is so skinny it's pathetic.Definitely DO NOT put this fish in your display!
I don't think it's your fault,the fish could have internal parasites or may have been caught using illegal methods.Or it just simply could be sick and weakened beyond help from transportation.I also fear that this fish will not make it.I wish you the best.

 

[amdphenomx4]

Just as a bit of encouragement. I got a yellow tang thin like yours from a 20G tank for free. It has been over a month and its been eating like a pig. Its still thin but fattening up for sure. Dont give up, give it garlic enfused Nori!

 

[Reverond]

Thanks for all the replies and word of encouragement. But as i feared, he did not make it through the night. :-( Very sad.

I have some follow up questions.

1) Is a 29g quarantine really to small for a yellow tang of this size (1.5" - 2")? I have a 50g, and 120g display tank. But the 29g is all i have room for in the quarantine department.

2) What should i do now to sterilize the 29g quarantine as i don't really know what caused the death? It just leaving it empty for a few weeks good enough? Or should i break it down and let it dry out?

3) If it was a bacteria infection how do you sterilize the tank, and rock and such?

4) Any ideas on why he took a turn for the worst so quickly? It seemed to happen literally in 1 days time. Although as i said this is my first tang, so there may have been signs before this that I just didn't notice.

Thanks for all the help.