Feeding your tangs

[yankieman]

Ok I know you need to feed tangs a diet of algae , so I am feeding once a day , rotating every day with misis shrimp, rods food, spirlina brinehrimp,, so with that schedule rods food gets fed every other day ,, and about once a week I feed my 3 tangs (2 yellow and one powder blue) a half sheet of sea veggy on a clip ,, with that said IS THAT ENOUGH VEGGYS?,,, LIVE AQUARIA.COM says feed 3 times a week SEA VEGGYS,, but rods food and the spirilina brine contained some algea,, so the reason I am asking is my blue tang just in one day went from eating good and acting fine to wasting away on the bottom,, to dead in a matter 36 hours,,, was his immune system not up to par? because of not enough algea ( my tank has very little to no algea growing because I am using a ATS, so I have to supplement),,or is it just one of those things I really have no clue what happened ,, he had no marks on his body his gills was nice a red, he wasnt scratching or breathing hard,, there seemed no reason or rhyme why I lost blue he was my fav fish and I had had him for almost 5 months


MY fish list is
2 pajama cardinals
2 bangie cardinals
3 clowns
2 blue/green cromis
2 yellow tangs
1 powder blue tang
1 scooter blenny
1 goby

 

[yankieman]

anyone with an idea why my powder blue might die so sudden like?

 

[BLADEYAMAHA]

Not sure yankieman, almost would have to send it to a vet diagnostic lab to find out for sure.

 

[PicassoTrigger]

I feed my tangs green and purple seaweed 4 times a week, they like to graze, especially if you don't have any algae on your rocks for them to eat.

 

[DaveK]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your powder blue tang.

I doubt that diet would cause the fish death so quickly. Typically this would be a long wasting away issue, not something that happens in a few days. Tangs do need to eat a lot of food, so once it stopped eating, it's likely this was what made it look thin in a few days.

Usually wit tangs, the first things I think of are disease, and keeping the fish in too some a tank, but neither of these seem to be a factor here.

Two other things come to mind.

One is the fish being damaged be having a run in with something else in the tank, such as another fish, or a hitchhiker like a mantis shrimp. While somewhat less common today, there still seems to be the problem of collecting fish using cyanide. This can cause a fish to seem well for a period of time and then die quickly.

I doubt you'll ever be able to find out exactly what occurred, but maybe someone else will have some other ideas.

 

[steved13]

It sounds to me like your feeding schedule is good, far more disciplined than mine. I mix it up with about a dozen different foods, mostly frozen, but I'm more whatever I feel like giving at a certain time. I've been going through an algae outbreak, so I've cut back feeding quite a bit, every other day and sometimes I'll skip a couple of days. I hang nori about once per week now, instead of almost every day. I haven't seen any adverse effects on my tangs. I agree with DaveK, I doubt it was caused by his diet.

 

[yankieman]

Thanks guys , I was wondering if maybe one of the yellow tangs might have injured him but there didnt seem to be a mark on him ,, I guess it will remain a mystery,,
well dang he was my FAV fish too,

 

[BigAl07]

Dang man! Sorry to hear!!

I'd suggest pretty much always having some algae hanging in the tank unless you know for a fact they are getting some form of algae throughout the day. They really do need some form of algae to pick at each and every day. I used to always have a chip clip with one form or Nori or another in the tank. I had a pair of clips and just rotated them out every day.

 

[steved13]

Dang man! Sorry to hear!!

I'd suggest pretty much always having some algae hanging in the tank unless you know for a fact they are getting some form of algae throughout the day. They really do need some form of algae to pick at each and every day. I used to always have a chip clip with one form or Nori or another in the tank. I had a pair of clips and just rotated them out every day.

Probably good advice Al. I'm pretty sure mine must be feeding on the algae in the tank, but you're probably right and I'd rather be safe than sorry. I'll step up the nori again.

 

[steved13]

Yankieman, I should have said sooner...sorry about the loss of the fish, powder blues IMO are one of the prettiest fish...subtle beauty.

 

[yankieman]

I will add some more algea for the 2 yellows I have more frequently,, they both look so nice and fat so they dont seem to be lacking in the diet dept but better safe then sorry , I think AL is probably right too , even though I thought I was giving enough it probably wasnt,,,, thanks again guys,,,,

 

[dmatt88]

Tangs r strange. Some I don't believe r destined to live. Tangs tho show their health with their ribs n bellies. Feed em whatever the hell they will eat in the beginning til they become pets. Then slowly modify their diets to make em healthy. But in the beginning make em fat. If you have a good ol ha rock or two for em to start it helps immensely for the immune system. If your tanks r too clean u will always struggle with tangs. Algae. Its natures aspirin for em.

........milli's hate me.

 

[yankieman]

Tangs r strange. Some I don't believe r destined to live. Tangs tho show their health with their ribs n bellies. Feed em whatever the hell they will eat in the beginning til they become pets. Then slowly modify their diets to make em healthy. But in the beginning make em fat. If you have a good ol ha rock or two for em to start it helps immensely for the immune system. If your tanks r too clean u will always struggle with tangs. Algae. Its natures aspirin for em.




........milli's hate me.

All good advice,,, thanks