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Adding new fish I am going to be adding 2 new fish to my 150g tank today and was wondering what I can do to keep my yellow tang from bothering the new additions? The tang bothers every new addition relentlessly. No matter where the new fish go he goes after them. It drives me crazy. Thanks! Kevin Ballard <Either remove the Tang for a week or so while the new additions become established in the tank, or partition the Tang into a corner, float it in a colander etc. in the tank to keep it away from the other livestock... I know it's hard to catch... use two nets of size, a friend who's good with the other one... Moving decor, leaving lights off, feeding... won't likely help here. Bob Fenner> Yellow Tang Hello Robert, I have written to you before commenting on how much I like your site. keep up the good work!!) <Will endeavor to do so my friend> I have a question for you if you don't mind. I have searched online for answers to what is happening to my Yellow Tang fish but couldn't find anything. Maybe you could help? As you can see in the pictures there is some reddish areas towards the back of the fish. <Yes, good close-ups... petecchial markings (blood evident, likely septicemic) along this specimens lateral line on the flank...> It is redder then it shows in the photograph. These red blotches are on both sides of the fish. They don't seem external. It looks like the blotches are coming from within the fish. <You are correct> It kind of looks like abrasions but from the inside. The fish has been eating normally and the water parameters are all in acceptable ranges. I have not added any new fish to the tank and there doesn't appear to be any aggressiveness going on. He has been eating a variety of frozen foods and dry seaweed type foods. I am at a loss as to what is happening and I would hate to lose a fish to something I had no clue about. Thanks for all your help. <Do start administering a multiple vitamin and iodide preparation to this fish's diet... do you have live rock, macro-algae in this system? What sort of filtration? What supplement practices? What other livestock (this gives good clues as to what may be going on) and any of them presently mal-affected? Bob Fenner> Mike Yellow Tang nutrition Hi Bob, got a question for you about a yellow tang. I will first give you a rundown on my tank, 35 gal, running for about 2.5 months. PH- 8.1, NH3 <1, Nitrite<1, nitrates 4-5, Salinity 1.023 ,76 degrees. Anyways back to the tang, she eats very well, loves lettuce and flake food, has beautiful coloring, ( I just put her in this week). I started the tank with 3 damsels all of which are still alive, every once in a while she will take off fluttering around the tank once sort of sideways almost as if she is being chased and then she returns to normal, I have seen her do this twice. Have you seen this before , is she just playing or is it something I should be concerned with? Thanks. <Natural behavior for such a fish (Zebrasoma flavescens) being new to such a small volume, with three territorial fishes in place... Do yourself and this Sailfin Tang a big fave and stop feeding terrestrial greens (the lettuce) and look into human-intended algae like Nori... which you can cut into sheets and feed with a plastic clip... Much more on foods/feeding/nutrition and "Tangs" posted on our website: www.WetWebMedia.com... "read it", "believe it", "live it" (Fast Times at Ridgemount High, eh?). Bob Fenner> RE: Yellow Tang Mortality Bob: Thanks for the reply. Three follow up questions: 1) Why do the tangs look good when I get them? <Appearances can, indeed be deceiving... there is a time lag between the copper poisoning and its resultant effects... We are "species centric" in our understanding... subjectively comparing our current experiences with those of the past... as homeotherms (warm blooded animals if you will) we are accustomed to A influence leading almost consecutively to be consequence... The world, universe is much broader my friend... Fishes show subsequences sometimes weeks, months, years later> 2) What do you mean by destroying gut fauna? 3) Is there anything I can do to save my current tang, i.e. special diet, medication, etc.? Steve <Surgeonfishes have a mix of microbes, bacteria, protozoans... more that like E. coli in our intestines, or better, similar organisms in termites allowing them to utilize cellulose... With loss of these obligate co-digesters, the animal hosts suffer from nutritional deficiencies... Where do the Surgeonfishes et al. pick up these helpers? From ingestion in the wild (sediment, detritus, fecal pellets... Perhaps having a not-too clean system, with other healthy Tangs would re-seed the impugned fishes guts. Bob Fenner> Stress Marking Hi Bob, Could you please help me with a problem with my yellow tang? I just purchased him yesterday and he has this weird stripe down his sides. It is yellow when the lights are on for a while but when I first turn them on in the morning it is white. (see photos) He was not like this when I purchased him but the stripe appeared when he was in the bag on the way home. My tank is fairly new but after having water tests the guy at the store said I was ready for fish. Please let me know. Thanks, Erik <No worries. This is just "stress marking/coloration"... and you will see it first thing in the morning when you turn the light on... or when a new fish is introduced into the tang's environment... or when you clean the tank... Nothing to do, but seek to make the tank optimized and stable as an aquatic world. Bob Fenner> Re: Yellow Tang Black Spot II Hi guys , I am writing under very depressing circumstances . <I know... the Janet Reno for Governor thing is getting to me too. One of us is senile... I just keep watching CNN to try to figure out if it is her or me...hehe> I took your advice and gave my 4 yellow tangs a fresh water dip to cure their black spot. I spent two days getting the water just right . I used RO/DI water the Ph was 8.3 , temp 78 . I also put a small power head in for oxygen . After all this effort all 4 tangs died within 12 hours . What happened ? <very unusual and likely had little to do with the dip. As a rule, a properly conducted freshwater dip is far less stressful than a long bath/tank full of medication. Again, as a rule, if a fish dies in said FW bath, it wasn't going to make it anyway. Still... all four within 12 hours suggests it was related. I understand that the water was pH adjusted (perhaps bicarbonate) but was it buffered/remineralized (SeaBuffer?). RO/DI water is to NEVER be used on fresh or saltwater fishes unbuffered (you follow the difference between pH and alkalinity, yes?). Another concern is a fast capture... the FW dip candidates must be captured quickly (easy in a QT tank or sleepy morning time, but difficult else wise). If the fish were run down with a single net (Always use two nets to catch fish) for several minutes before being thrown into the FW, that may have contributed. If it took more than 5 minutes of chasing each to capture them, then I assure you that contributed> I am devastated . Any ideas on the cause? <truly sorry...consider the above. If not either... then no fault of your own I'm sure. Perhaps too advanced or virulent of an infection> Also I wrote asking about CPR's bio bale and you said you never heard of it. All it is , is plastic curled shavings put in a sump instead of bio-balls . <I have in fact heard of it... I've disliked it for over a decade. Very poor performance biologically compared to engineered media (bio-balls). Bio-bale is an industrial by-product swept off of factory floors...hehe> When is it adequate to remove the bio-media from a sump . I have 110 lbs of live rock . <at least 1 pound of cured live rock per gallon... you can slowly begin> The tank is a 120 gallon . I think the bio-media is creating nitrates. <almost certainly> I have a little tid-bit that I thought might be of some interest . The store where I buy my livestock has 3 large 180 gallon tanks all in series , they have the best equipment money can buy and all the live stock and rock looks great . I brought a nitrate dip test from home and tested the water, the nitrates were well over 150 ppm. When I asked him how anything is living in that system . I just got a shrug . Any ideas? Richard <sure... for starters, dip/litmus test strips are staggeringly inaccurate. I mean show-stopping. I cannot believe they are still sold or have lasted on the market as long as they have. But lets assume that it is accurate: if the tank is display only or has a slow rotation of livestock, then they have gradually become accustomed to it. Else, we know that most fish and many invertebrates can indeed tolerate high nitrates for at least some period of time. Perhaps enough are living long enough in their water to be sold to a customer with hopefully lower nitrates. Do buy dry tab only test kits. Liquid is easily corrupted and dip strips are really just scary. Kindly, Anthony> 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> Sick Revolving Yellow Tang Hi Guys, <cheers, Anthony Calfo in your service> Two months ago I bought the healthiest Yellow Tang, that I've ever purchased. It is about 3.5" in length. A month ago he was showing signs of a parasitic infection (scraping near his gills on rocks & elevated respiration) probably Gill Flukes or Velvet. My other fish appear healthy. Water quality looked ok for a FO tank (0 ammonia & nitrite, ph is 8.2, Nitrates are 15 - 20ppm, Salinity 1.023, @ 78F) His diet consists of vitamin enriched herbivore flake food, frozen mysids and brine shrimp and romaine lettuce. He is still a big eater. I've been doing regular water changes. I changed 30gallons last week to get the nitrates down. I'm mixing 10 gallons right now. I also added 15lbs of high quality cured Fiji LR today. Everyone seems to be excited about it. However the tang continues to hide. He can spot me from across the room. If he sees me, he hides. I removed him from the tank and gave him a fresh water dip. Now my LFS tells me that does more harm than good. <they are very mistaken... FW dips are one of the single most effective treatments for parasites when properly conducted... especially for Velvet and Gill Flukes which are unaffected by copper treatments. Copper is really best for Cryptocaryon because it is superficial (not buried in gills/flesh deeply)> Anyway he seemed to improve for a day or two then he started showing signs of another infection. I noticed black/brown spots on his fins and body Velvet) .. <actually a Terebellid worm (Black spot on tangs) that needs daily FW dips for 5-8 consecutive days... do archive proper FW dip protocol> This time I gave him a formalin bath in salt water. The salt water was at a lower salinity. <A good treatment... I'm OK with that> After an hour or so, I returned him to the tank. He was fine until Tuesday. On Wednesday, I placed him in a make shift hospital tank.( 32Gal trash can filled w/ 15 gallons lower salinity salt water. Correct dosage of Formalin. Power head for circulation) <outstanding! I like the ingenuity!> I left him there for 30 hours then I returned him to his tank. <arghhh! QT should be for 2-4 weeks... the frequent moving is a death sentence for some fish!> While he was in the hospital tank, I fed a mixture of medicated flake food, and vitamin enhanced flake food for herbivores. <medicated flakes should be for 11-14 days to be effective> He appeared to be back to normal when I returned him. Today the parasites appear to be back (scratching again, though not frequent.) He hides from me. I think he stresses out when he sees me, and that may be weakening his immune system. I don't think I'm going to move again. I'm going to wait and see if he calms down on his own. What do ya'll think. Thanks, Glenn <my friend... a cure for this takes time and you just are not sticking with anything long enough. FW dips are great but must occur on consecutive days... a QT stay with medication is safe but takes nearly two weeks to work. Please give some of the above a chance to work. A ten gallon hospital tank would do you wonders. Best regards, Anthony> Neglected Yellow Tang I recently acquired a Yellow Tang that came from someone who had been neglecting it. It appears very faded in color, has some pink discoloration above and between the eyes that appears as though some skin has peeled off. It has been malnourished for some time. I don't know the proper terminology for the fins, but the only ones that are still intact are the ones on his sides (I think pectoral) and his tail fin. The one on top (dorsal?), the one opposite it on bottom, and the two small fins in front of that are almost completely gone. <It sounds like an extreme case of Head and Lateral Line Erosion.> I almost think he would be better off if I just put him out of his misery, except he does not appear to have any type of parasites or infections and he seems very active and is eating well now. <This affliction can be reversed somewhat over time with proper care (excellent water quality and feeding).> What are the chances of this fish being ok? <Pretty good actually. It may never make a complete recovery, but can definitely improve and continue to live a long life.> Can tangs grow back damaged fins? <To an extent. It depends on how far the erosion has occurred.> If so how long does it take to grow them back? <It has taken months, possibly years, of neglect and poor husbandry to get this bad. It will take months to correct.> Is the faded color most likely from malnutrition, <Poor diet and water quality> and will his color return with proper diet? <Yes, in time. Good luck! -Steven Pro> Tang with Red Splotches Hi Bob, <Paul... Anthony Calfo here in your service> To start off Jerry Abbot from San Diego says HI. I hit him with a problem and he suggested I contact you. I have a yellow tang, had him for about two months, in a fish only 90 Gal tank. He has now developed red splotches, symmetrical on both sides near his tail fin. He is acting normal (for a tang), eating, everything. I am setting up a QT for him, <excellent and glad to hear it> but don't know what it is or what to use to treat it. Any help would be appreciated!!! Thanks......Paul. <maintain stable water temperature and similar or slightly lower specific gravity than display tank. Bacteria are likely to be present (although they may be secondary). Find a commercial medication at your LFS that has both Nitrofurazone and Furazolidone in it and give a full marine dose (sometimes double the freshwater dose). Feeding a program of medicated food for the next two weeks in quarantine is also a helpful idea to prevent secondary infections. If you do not see stabilization or improvement in three to five days, please write back. Anthony> Tang With Ich Hello Bob, <Scott F. with you> I have a fairly new 100 gallons FOWLR tank with only 1 yellow tang. Few days ago, I noticed there were some small white spots (like salt grains) on the fins but quickly disappeared after a few hours. I did lot of reading on this web site and also your book and these steps were what I did so far: - Dipped the fish in FW with Methylene Blue for 5 min.s - Then moved it to a hospital tank (20 gallons). - Raised tank temperature 1 degree/day. - Lowered the Spg 0.001/day. - Do water change everyday (2 gallons) since the hospital tank has not yet established. - Let the main tank goes fallow for about 1 1/2 month. <Good protocol-decisively executed!> Here're my questions: 1) How high the temperature should I keep in the hospital tank? What about the Specific Gravity? <I'd shoot for about 82 degrees, with 1.020- keep the oxygen level high. Some people like to lower specific gravity to 1.015, but I'd try to keep it close to "normal" tank readings, if possible to avoid added stress> 2) Should I treat the yellow tang with any kind of chemical such as copper, formalin... or just altering the water like what I did is enough and observe the fish for a while? <I like the idea of observing, then performing freshwater dips, when possible. However, a standard aquarium copper remedy, used in accordance with manufacturer's instructions, is very effective. Avoid long-term use of copper with tangs, as it could damage their digestive fauna> 3) For the main tank, should I raise the temperature and lower the Specific Gravity as well? Should I still do water change even without fish hosts? <Yes on the temperature increase-as it will accelerate the life cycle of the parasite. I'd leave the specific gravity alone, and perform regular scheduled maintenance> Thank you in advance for your help. Regards, Dung Ngo <Glad to be of service. You're doing great! I'm sure that you'll beat this disease. Just be patient> Fuzzy Lips Hello, <cheers> My yellow tang has fuzzy
lips. I understand that this is likely a fungus. <a common
misdiagnosis: it is much more likely to be a bacterial infection (true
fungal infections are quite rare). It is still to be treated with the
same antibiotics in a bare-bottomed isolation tank. Use a Furazolidone
and Nitrofurazone mixed med, double dose daily for 5 days> I have
read about references to medicated foods but I can't find anyone
who sells them. <hmm... mildly effective here. A swab of the
lips with Merthiolate or iodine would be even better. Do avoid staining
the eyes or gills>> Are you aware if any are more efficient than
others and where I can find them? <they are weak but helpful
if fed for 11-14 days without other foods> Also, are there negative
ramifications to the other fish who are not sick? <no harm
here> I have also read about garlic oil. <dubious if it
even works at all. More of a preventative or placebo than primary
treatment> Any experience with that as a medication or preventative?
<I wouldn't trust my fishes life to it> Thanks! Ana M.
Saavedra <best regards, Anthony>
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