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Skinny Yellow Tang
4/7/12 Black string like object on yellow tang
9/6/08 Hi guys hope you can help, I have a yellow tang that
has a black string like object coming out of its anus. The fish is
otherwise healthy and behaviour is normal. Although some weight loss
seems to have occurred. It began growing yesterday and is now about 4cm
long. Is this intestinal worms? <Mmm, might be... but could also
likely be just something the fish ate, is passing... I wouldn't
panic... would wait a few days... Bob Fenner>
Strange behavior in new yellow tang 1/20/08 hello, <... the beginnings of sentences are capitalized...> some info on our tank. Its a 100 gallon reef aquarium that has been set up for about a year in a half. It has 150 pounds of live rock and deep sand bed. other inhabitants: algae blenny, mandarin goby, six line wrasse, 5 blue green Chromis, clarkii clownfish, and a 1" fish that they called a red spotted blenny at the store but we later found out it wasn't (we still don't know what it is). our last fish is a 2" <Wow, tiny> bright yellow tang that we purchased 6 days ago. We didn't quarantine because we don't have a quarantine tank and it looked fine. <You're learning> Our water quality was fine when we put it in. <All reads as "fine"> It didn't really behave weirdly then, the clownfish was sort of sizing it up but they pretty much ignored each other. It picked at the rocks' algae occasionally, but when I fed it, it completely ignored everything. It swam around the tank and explored. The store told us they feed it algae on a clip and brine shrimp <... no> and that they had had it for 3 weeks and it was eating fine. I put Nori on an algae clip and it ignored that pretty much too, except occasionally took a bite out of it. Then about four days ago it started only hanging out at one of the side panels, repeatedly pacing really quickly back and forth. <Is likely reacting to its reflection... and you likely did not follow instructions and look for your answers first before writing> It now does this 100% of the time. Someone else wrote about this problem but they said their fish only did this 40% of the time. The recommendation to them was to put up dark paper because it was probably seeing its own reflection. <Oh! Yes, this is correct> I did this, however, and it made a slight difference (it doesn't swim so close to the glass) but it still paces quickly back and forth in the same corner. I'm worried about it because its pretty skinny and doesn't eat. <Such a small tang... is problematical... can/do get too thin quickly... in the process of capture (am out in Hawai'i where they're collected), not being fed for days after capture, during shipment, further processing> I think it might eat after lights out though, because I leave an algae clip in its corner and in the morning all the Nori is gone. <Ah, good... but still needs more nutrition than this. I suggest Spectrum pelleted food> Anything could have eaten it, I know, but I'm hoping it was the tang. I also tried putting some garlic juice on red Nori because I've read that that helps. <Still insufficient nutritionally> It did and it ate some of it, but only a couple bites. Also, there is plenty of green filamentous algae on the rocks. <Some of this may be of use...> The other fish aren't harassing it at all. Any ideas on how to make it swim the whole tank, and not just 5 gallons of it? Any ideas on how to make it eat? We don't have water param.s now, (were doing a water change today) but I don't think its water quality. Our water quality was good last week when we put it in and it still paced. Thanks. <Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/YellowTang.htm and the linked files above. I would block the other end/viewing panel with dark paper, and use the very palatable, nutritious food-line, Spectrum. Bob Fenner>
Yellow Tang Growing
Thin -- 08/21/07 I currently have a 55-gallon saltwater aquarium...
Inhabitants include 1 Yellow Tang <<This fish really does need a
bigger environment>> 2 cleaner shrimp, 1 Coral Banded Shrimp, 2
hermit crabs, 1 Coral Beauty Angel, 1 Maroon Clown, 1 Chocolate Chip
Starfish, and a good amount of live rock. Protein Skimmer, EHEIM
canister filter, salinity is good, taking water in to work to get it
tested today. I just came home on my lunch break and looked at my tank
and noticed that my Yellow Tang's body seems to be caving it just
below his side fins. He is eating fine and acts completely normal...
Any ideas on the cause of that and if so how do I go about fixing this
problem? -Crystal <<Mmm, you say the fish is eating fine, but
eating what? My guess at this point is the fish is not getting enough
of the 'right foods' to eat. I suggest feeding New Life
Spectrum pellets and a macroalgae like Two Little Fishies Sea
Veggies...soaking all in a supplement like Vita-Chem or Selcon before
feeding. Another thought is that this fish has been exposed to an
antibiotic or copper treatment that has damaged its gut-fauna making if
difficult/impossible for the fish to properly digest food. If this is
the case, exposure to other tangs 'may' help it to re-establish
these. Regards, EricR>> Poor Tang Health....diet is to blame I have a yellow tang that I see eating but is extremely skinny. His skin is tight around his bones with no fat what so ever. I feed him frozen brine shrimp and he eats <Ahh...here we are, brine shrimp is virtually devoid of any nutrition....no protein...basically just water, like your or me eating popcorn or crackerjacks or whatever it is the devil kids eat these days (I'm only 20 but that's not a kid ok?). For protein try something of a marine origin, mysids.....krill, etc. . Furthermore surgeons rely on vegetable matter to make up most of their diet, try some sushi Nori. We need more variety my friend.> No other signs of disease. Tank set up for over 1 year. I have a snowflake eel, striped damsel, yellow tale damsel and misc. cleaning crew. Haven't witnessed it getting attacked or chased by anything else in tank. Worried it might starve to death. What would cause an eating fish to be so skinny (looks like Nicole Ritchie!). <Ooh....that's a good one....> thanks <Anytime, AdamJ.> Fading tangs 11/22/06 hey bob, Anthony and all <Shane! Where's your capitalization dude?> I thought I would look into what information I might find here concerning the fin erosion and color loss with yellow tangs, which I found discussed in one of your postings, a malady that has been cropping up in many of my retail customers' and aquarium service client's aquariums over the past few years. <IMO/E such "corrosion" is due to a synergism twixt mainly water quality and poor nutrition... possibly with a psycho-social component tossed in... the worse these factors are the faster, more obvious the damage... Oh, and can be reversed to an extent, especially if caught early...> I have seen this problem develop dozens of times, but have never been able to find any information that adequately explained the possible causes, which will appear in a wide range of aquaria, both reef and fish-only, as well as a wide range of water quality parameters. I have also seen it develop in purple tangs as well. <Mmm, yes... Notice that this rarely happens in Leng Sy's "Miracle Mud" systems? I suspect the catalytic effects of the mud improve both water quality and the make-up of the nutrient component of the water... which marines "drink" freely> unfortunately, the explanation given in your post entitled "fading tang" sheds no light at all on this syndrome. the pictured fish is as near a textbook example of the malady as I have seen, and it cannot be attributed simply to fin nipping as suggested in your article. <Agreed... this is at best a minor cause> short of performing empirical scientific research, which I have neither the time, energy, financial resources nor qualifications to attempt, my anecdotal explanation would be that some sort of toxic dissolved organic buildup in the aquarium water column is interfering with the fishes metabolic processes. <Agreed re some "chemical-physical" component here> in almost every case a fine sand substrate has been used, live and otherwise, which could likely result in anoxic or anaerobic zones that could release some nasty toxic d.o.c.'s like hydrogen sulfide. but then again, I've also seen this occur in fish-only tanks with a #3 or #5 grade crushed coral, so go figure. as I stated earlier, this phenomenon occurs in a wide range of aquaria and water parameters and in every case the fish is offered a fully balanced nutritional regime. perhaps it's occurrence is somehow related to collection, shipping and acclimation practices and their long term effect on the fish's immune system and osmo-regulation.... but now I'm grasping at straws. <I don't think it's collection, holding, shipping... almost all Zebrasoma flavescens are collected out of Hawai'i (am out there now, and visit a few months a year usually, including w/ friends in the "trop." industry... Their methods, holding systems are close to ideal... and the animals only held for a short while... a few days to about a week max.> interestingly enough, I have seen the telltale symptoms develop very quickly - almost overnight, rather than develop over a matter of weeks or months as it usually does, whenever stray ozone finds it's way into the aquarium, either via ozonizers with no carbon filtration, or via uv sterilizers. but ozone toxicity can't be attributed to every case since many of the aquariums with yellow tangs displaying the symptoms don't have either appliance. still, this connection might be a valuable clue to those with a background in biochemistry. I have also considered the possibility that commonly used pvc glues or other plastic plumbing fittings may be releasing toxins over time, but again, I have no empirical data to support this conjecture. <Interesting... would not be hard to test these hypotheses> anyway, this is an all too common disease that certainly deserves some attention from us professional aquarium folk. I have also seen this occur to a more limited extent with pacific blue tangs as well, and hole-in-the-head facial erosions seem to be part of the symptoms as well in every case. btw, I have checked for stray voltage, which is almost always a factor in the hole-in-the-head cases I've investigated with angelfish and tangs. while in some cases there has been a few volts present, such was not the case in most every instance of the yellow tang fin erosion and color fade phenomenon. <Yes> so let us know what you guys can dig up on this one. <Mmm, I too do exceedingly little science, but "borrow" ala Watson and Crick, syncretize others findings, observations... I do think there is still a nutritional component at play here... or at least an ability to counter whatever root cause/s with supplementation> oh, and kudos to you all for your Herculean efforts and keep up the great work! Shane Clayton owner/operator AquaTech aquariums manager capitol aquarium Sacramento, ca <Danke. Bob Fenner> Yellow tang boding disease? 6/20/05 So glad to have found this website and hope that you can help us. We are new at keeping a salt water aquarium. Our tank is 125 gallons and we are currently have about 80 pounds of live rock, 1 yellow tang, 4 damsels, 3 gobies, a peppermint shrimp, several snails. Last week, we lost two fish - one being a puffer that we had purchased about 3 weeks earlier (He just seemed to be getting used to the place.) and the other being a large clownfish which we had since December. We tested the water immediately at our local aquatic store and everything seemed okay. This week, the yellow tang, seems to be hanging out quite a bit with the peppermint shrimp. <Hmmm... interesting. A concern> The shrimp seems to be "cleaning him". I am sure that this is probably some type of symbiotic relationship but is it telling me that there are problems in the tank? <It could be> I looked for white spots on the fish and have found none. However, we are feeding them only brine shrimp and marine flakes. <Yikes... please do read in the archives about the patent poor value of adult brine shrimp. As a frozen food staple... it is perhaps the most hollow, useless feed on the market. Just read and compare the nutritional analysis on the back of it to other foods. Live brine may help new/shy fish to eat... but its only to be used as a treat/stimulant. Instead... seek and use frozen Mysid shrimps or fine krill. As for the fish... it may be a boding sign to be concerned with. Please do prepare (read/setup) a quarantine tank to be safe. If you don't have one... please buy and use it. It may spare future losses for less than the cost of a single fish. QT all new things (anything wet! snails, fishes, algae, live rock... everything) for 4 weeks to prevent the introduction of pests, predators and disease into the aquarium. Scott Fellman has a fab article on QT here in the archives... please do look it up. Kindly, Anthony> Thanks for your help! We are loving this journey! Regards, Robin & Keith Sick yellow Tang.... nutritional WWM crew, <Misti> I have lost a percula clown about 2 weeks ago and I think I about to lose a Tang. The Tang just stopped eating last night and this morning it was at the bottom of the tank having a hard time breathing. It also has a red blotch close to it's stomach and it appears to have red lips. <Not good> I have already found on your website that I may not have been feeding what I need to. He has been getting brine shrimp and algae flakes daily. <Yikes... sort of like you and I eating flake cereal and candy bars only... sounds good, tastes good, but not good for us in the long haul> Occasionally we feed them romaine lettuce. <This material is also a nutritive zero> I guess I should tell you we have: two tangs, 150 gallon aquarium, protein skimmer in sump, tank has been cycled for only about 2 or 3 months, do have a diatom problem at the time, water changes weekly (15 gallons per week), salinity 1.021, ph 8.2, 0 nitrates, 0 nitrites 0-.25 ammonia, temp 78.5-79.2. I would assume that we do have some nitrate present even if it isn't showing in the water test and some phosphate and silicates also. Any help with the tang would be appreciated. Misti <If this fish rallies... do look into live and dried algae like Nori, Kombu (at the grocery or pet-fish store) and Gracilaria... Bob Fenner> HLLE Treatment Please HELP! I stumbled across your site and I think it has loads of information to offer. It's absolutely wonderful! <We're so glad you stumbled by! Scott F. with you here tonight> I'm having a problem with a 5 inch yellow tang that I have had for a little over 4 months. The fish is displaying the beginning signs of lateral line disease. It is behaving normally...eating well, defending his "house", and very active. I've heard that you can feed them broccoli with fresh squeezed orange juice on it. Is this true? Will it have any adverse effects on my tank? <Sounds like one of the smoothies I had recently! I am not a big fan of terrestrial greens to feed marine fishes. In addition to being nutritionally inadequate for marine fishes (IMO), they can add a lot of undesirable nitrate into you tank. I'd be utilizing live marine macroalgae as a supplemental food source> Will it actually help? This fish regularly eats spinach, green marine algae, red marine algae, Spirulina enhanced brine shrimp. <The marine algae are good. How about trying some Gracilaria (Ogo), my favorite macroalgae? You can get a great starter culture from Indo-Pacific Sea Farms (www.ipsf.com). This stuff is one of the best foods for captive herbivorous tangs, IMO> I try to be as precise as I can about nutrition with all the fish in my aquarium...but am I missing something? Thank you! Desperate to save fish! <Well, Desperate- your dietary array is pretty darn good. Keep in mind that HLLE (Head and Lateral Line Erosion) can also be caused by environmental factors, such as water chemistry, and even exotic stuff, like stray electrical voltage. Do some searching on the net regarding this malady, and you'll get some more insights that may be of help. Good luck! Regards, Scott F.> Yellow tang problems 3/8/04 Hi guys, Me again. Thanks for all your help thus far. I just wanted to give you an update on my yellow tang. Unfortunately, it seems as though his HLLE is getting worse and his tail fine is starting to look a little ragged (Still eating well though). I have checked my water parameters and they are as follows: pH = 8.2, nitrites = 0, ammonia = 0, nitrates = 15-20ppm (I can't seem to get them any lower). I can't imagine it being nutritional because as I said from the previous email he is getting seaweed selects everyday in addition to veggie flake and brine and Mysis shrimp soaked in Zo? and VitaChem. I perform a 20% water change every 3 weeks. My tank is a 54 gallon corner tank. For filtration I have a wet/dry pro 75 by aqua clear aquatics. I am unsure of how effective the protein skimmer that is attached is because I never seem the get very much "gook" in the drainage cup. <As Scott mentioned, water quality may be an issue. Stray voltage and low Redo have also been implicated in HLLE. Also, it does take quite a while to heal, so if it was nutritional, you may not see significant improvement for several weeks.> Other tank inhabitants include a blue damsel and a percula clownfish showing signs of any problems. I have not seen any signs of aggression so I don't think that is a problem. For lighting I am using the standard fluorescent lighting that came with the tank assembly. Is it possible that my tang is not getting enough light? Should I invest in a more powerful lighting assembly? <Although lighting has been mentioned in association with HLLE, I find this to be a very unlikely contributor. You lighting should be fine the way it is.> I have begun to get very frustrated because I truly care about the well being of my fish and I don't know what I am doing wrong or missing. In the previous email you mentioned some kind of macro algae. Where can I get some of this? Is there anything else I should test for that could be causing this situation? <You may try to get a local advance aquarist to come by and advise you. Often something simple get's overlooked in this kind of exchange and is quickly picked up on in person.> One more thing that is starting to cause me concern is the proliferation of white furry growths forming on my rocks and tank walls. They appear to spreading fairly quickly. I emailed you guys a few weeks ago and the very gracious fellow who answered my email thought it may a type of sponge. Does this sound like the behavior pattern of sponges? If so, should I do anything to eliminate them? <Could be sponges, but hard to say. It is probably nothing to worry about unless they grow to the point of being unsightly.> Thank you guys so much for helping me out with this. I don't know anyone else I trust to answer these types of questions. You provide a tremendous service for beginners like me and I appreciate your hard work. Once again thank you and I hope to hear from you soon. Sincerely, Dan Kotecki <Thanks for the kind words. It is our pleasure! Adam> Tang Nutrition Issues Hi guys, <Scott F. your guy tonight> I returned home from work today to find my yellow tang with internal red spots near his dorsal fin and tail. I have been feeding him a daily diet of Ocean Nutrition Seaweed Selects soaked in Vita-Chem. In addition, he seems to be developing HLLE. My 55 gallon tank has been running now for about 7 months with a percula clown and a blue damsel, both doing well. In addition, today I just realized that I apparently have no form of chemical filtration. <One potential contributor to HLLE...Water quality is a factor> Therefore, I went out to the LFS and bought some activated carbon. Is it possible that having no carbon in my tank has led to the tang's deteriorating condition? <As above...> If not, do you have any other suggestions to clear this up? Could too much brine shrimp lead to this? <Well, too much brine shrimp is not really an issue...It's too much brine shrimp and not enough of other nutritious food items! Brine shrimp have their place, but they don't offer a lot of nutritive value for marine fishes.> Note: At this time I do not have QT. Please help! Thanks so much. Best Regards, Dan Kotecki <Well, Dan- you're on the right track by using Nori, Vita Chem, etc. Try some fresh macroalgae, such as Gracilaria, which offers many of the vitamins that the tang needs to thrive. Do test your water regularly, use chemical filtration media (activated carbon/Poly Filter), and small, frequent water changes with high quality source water. Aggressive protein skimming is helpful, too. Hope these tips help! Good luck! Regards, Scott F.>
Red Blotchy Yellow Tang Hey all, I tried to find the answer to my question in the FAQ's, but nothing quelled all of my questions. I have had my yellow tang for almost a year and a half now. Nothing new has been added to the tank for the past two months and it has been stable and great, but recently she had developed a red, rash-like pattern on the back half of her body, along the lateral line, the mouth, and lower Sailfin. She has been scratching against the liverock for a few days and I have since dipped her in a freshwater bath. She seemed to stop scratching for a bit, but she has started up again since I came back from the holiday. The other fish (2 lions, a coral beauty, and a blue tang, chocolate chip star, and turbo snail) all look and act fine. The yellow tang is eating and swimming normally, but she looks quite stressed, a little pale, and of course red. She eats Seaweed Selects Green Marine Algae with Vitamin C, Frozen Brine, and Krill leftover from the lion feedings. Her Sailfins (both top and bottom) became jagged after the dip, but show signs of regrowing. What course of action should I take to save her? Chris <Hi Chris, if this were me I would QT the Tang and be watching the other fish very closely for flashing, signs of distress, parasites. I also think part of the problem contributing to parasites with this fish is nutrition. Brine Shrimp is useless as a nutrient/food. The marine algae is good but you should try to give a good mix of fresh vegetative and meaty foods, perhaps soaked in a supplement like Selcon. To narrow down your parasite problem go here http://www.wetwebmedia.com/parasiti.htm and read the applicable links. Let us know if you need more assistance. Craig> Fin Deterioration on a Yellow Tang Hello Mr. Fenner - I have a 55 gallon system running, which currently houses an Orbic Batfish, Tomato Clownfish, Yellow Tang, and Niger Trigger. I have noticed recently that the fins of my yellow tang have slowly been becoming more and more tattered and ragged. I thought that this could possibly be from adversarial nipping from tankmates, most likely the trigger, so I isolated the Niger, but yet the raggedness drags on, increasingly so. Otherwise the fish seem to be doing fine. I have not had this tang for long and I would venture to say that it is a fairly young specimen. I have started to supplement its diet with broccoli and green leaf lettuce. I have positively observed it browsing the microalgae in my tank. If you have any suggestions as to what could be causing this problem, they would be taken with gratitude. <I do suspect nutritional deficiency here as well. Don't rely on the terrestrial greens to supply this. Please read over the Yellow Tang materials on WWM, starting here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/YellowTang.htm and on to the FAQs pages, marine nutrition, environmental and nutritional disease...> In case you need to know, the system is filtered with the large version of the Emperor outside power filter and a hang-on Prizm protein skimmer. Thank you in advance for any help you may be able to provide. - Dillon <Thank you for asking. Bob Fenner> White/Yellow Tang I have a yellow tang that is white (the front half, anyway) 23 gallon 1.024 salinity 79degrees. He is alone in the tank, except for a little live rock. My four year old daughter "fed" him with some sodium bicarbonate. (yes, I know, why was it left within her reach... I had been setting up a 5 gallon experiment and left the room for more stuff) It was enough to turn everything white (chemical rain from hell). So after some scrubbing and a 20% water change not to mention some serious powerhead scraping, the precipitation stopped. So, needless to say, my water is well buffered... but how would this affect the tang? As a side note, this is an extremely friendly tang, as almost nothing will stress him out. (he is the fish that chases the cat) and has been disease free for the entire time I have had him. Thank you very much, Chris P.S. I just wanted to thank you again for all the priceless info you give out!! <Thank you for writing, and I'm very glad it wasn't the child that ingested the Baking Soda... and not to worry re the Yellow Tang... though the "bicarb" is alkaline... it isn't that "strong" or "fast" a base to do immediate, ongoing or long term damage... if the animal is alive (which It likely it is... if it lived long enough for you to do the water change, etc... and write this message)... It should be fine. As a related side note, this and other tang species actually consume an appreciable amount of calcareous gravel bits in the wild that play a triturating (chewing) and biomedia role in their "stomachs"... An important consideration for aquarists who eschew the use of substrates... and people who keep tanks under long copper exposure (killing the beneficial microbes living amongst the grit in their tummies.... Bob Fenner, who is very glad to be "out here".> Yellow Tang Died I had a Yellow Tang die recently, I had it for six months and it appeared fine, looked healthy and was eating. It's illness came on very rapidly and it lost most of it's color then it refused to eat. Can you tell me what you think happened to it, it had no visible external diseases and all my tests indicated everything was alright in my tank. <Likely a cumulative nutritional disorder... very common with this species (and other tangs)... due often to the "urban-myth" of feeding them terrestrial greens like the nutritionally zero lettuces... A related possibility is the loss of gut fauna from exposure to copper, other medications, that kill off the necessary microbes in their "stomachs"... Does any of this sound familiar? There are other less likely causes of mortality... internal parasites, genetic defects... Bob Fenner> Yellow tang and tomato clown Need help My yellow tang looks terrible. From what I've read it sounds like a vitamin deficiency. Loss of color, fins look terrible etc.. Been feeding him green seaweed sheets though and no improvement. Ordered some vita-chem. to put in tank and soak food. Any more ideas? <Do try one or two of the new fish foods... Spectrum, Omega-Sea... And look for a vitamin AND iodide/ine supplement to add to food/water> Clown Tomato swimming funny upside down sideways almost does complete flip then acts fine. Does a lot of this unnatural swimming though. Acts like he has no balance or is just allowing the current to push him around. This is new behavior though. Both fish are still eating. I have a royal Gramma and some blue damsels they appear to be fine. I noticed a little gill scratching though. <The Clown is fine> 0 nitrites 0 ammonia. nitrates in the high range though 8.4-8.6 I think. I didn't have the info here. <Hmm, this is likely your water pH> Water temp fairly warm 84. I am having trouble with red algae so I disconnected my power heads from the under gravel filter. I bought some cheap GE aquarium light could this be helping the red algae? <Possibly...> Have protein skimmer, Fluval 304, used to have underground filter. Monthly water changes and filter cleaning carbon in the filter. I got ten turbo snails to help with algae they don't touch the red stuff. Keep the green under control but is this a good idea with the tang in there?- Couple of hermits 55 gal tank <No to most anything eating the Red (actually Blue-Green Algae, Cyanobacteria. Please read/heed: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/bluegralgae.htm> I've had fish before never a yellow tang though but I think his is a vitamin deficiency. The clown though is he just acting or some type of parasite? Copper treatment. Feed them all frozen brine flake and dry pellet food fresh seafood the tend is the only one that eats the alga sheets. Help, Roger <No to the copper, yes to altering, augmenting diets... do add (some/more) live rock... and look into culturing macro-algae... Study up on our site: www.WetWebMedia.com... and we'll be chatting. Bob Fenner>
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