pale yellow tang

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bncarey

New Member
I have had this tang since he was a baby. He is only about 7 months old and I have had him for about 5-6 months. When I first introduced him to my tank he was a bright yellow, a normal yellow...about 1 week later he turned really pale but the lateral stripe stayed his normal yellow. He was the only fish besides a sea star for a month, then I got 2 clownfish. I have done everything from water changes, tank changes, water treatments, changed his food for a month. I just dont understand. I never try to put my fish under any stress so I rarely ever stick my hands in the tank or put a net in there. I honestly dont think it is stress. and I know it isnt food. I feed him about twice a day. at night i throw about 10 pieces of flakes in. in the morning I cut a frozen brine shrimp cube in half and thaw it in the tank. Those are his favorites and he has coraline algae to eat all day long off the rocks and a little piece of green algae that my crab seems to eat more of. There is no amonia or nitrite and very little nitrate. Anyone got ideas? the salinity is 1.023 and the PH is about 8.1 temp is 80
thanks for any help..im gunna try to go get a picture
 
Big Ray

Big Ray

Has been struck by the ban stick
Hello,
what is the tank size and what is a little no3 ? what is it tested by ?

coraline algae is hard caco3 build up, not eeatable, the tank is eating the algae growing on top of that, or something else.

the pale color is from feeding mostly, tangs EAT ALOT, they eat like a cow !
bring shrimp has almost no nutritional value to fish ... change that to mysis shrimp and PE mysis has the highest proteins. also you need to include more algae in his diet, feed him a 1/3 of sheet of algae daily, clip it in the tank if you can so he can graze it.

now how much LR is in the tank ? if not enough room to swim, or not enough rocks to give him a reef feeling, he could be stressed. but mostly that is not the case, specially with younger animals like yours :)
 
oakleyx

oakleyx

Active Member
hi,

My tang was really pale too. Its because of his diet.

I changed his diet and now he is bright yellow.

I just followed Lee's sticky:
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/23066-feeding-marine-fish-marine-fish-nutrition.html

Here is what I feed mine based on 21 feedings.

Green, red and brown algae available all the time throughout the day.(mostly green).
7 feedings of frozen herbivore food out of 21.
7 of the following feedings soaked selcon or vitachem out of 21:
Vitamin enriched mysis shrimp - frozen
Vitamin enriched brine srimp - frozen
Vitamin enriched krill - frozen
Freeze dried plankton
Spirulina flakes

Here are pics of him August 2nd:
096.jpg


092.jpg


093.jpg


Here are pics of him in Oct.
IMG_3042.jpg


IMG_3043.jpg


Good Luck
-Dan
 
B

bncarey

New Member
I have abour 70 pounds of liverock in my tank and 30 live sand. I have green algae sheets already in my tank and my tang almost looks the one in the picture I believe Dan has. He is as pale with the dark stripe and fins but he doesnt have the white line or the white face. He is evenly pale. And I will switch the shrimp and he doesnt like krill I used to have a trigger a long time ago and that is the only fish i have that has ever eaten krill besides my arrow crab. thanks for all the info. Ill try the diet and see if it changes anything
 
Big Ray

Big Ray

Has been struck by the ban stick
bncarey said:
I have abour 70 pounds of liverock in my tank and 30 live sand. I have green algae sheets already in my tank and my tang almost looks the one in the picture I believe Dan has. He is as pale with the dark stripe and fins but he doesnt have the white line or the white face. He is evenly pale. And I will switch the shrimp and he doesnt like krill I used to have a trigger a long time ago and that is the only fish i have that has ever eaten krill besides my arrow crab. thanks for all the info. Ill try the diet and see if it changes anything
Click to expand...

how big is the tank ?

but yea, also increased flow helps in smaller tanks, (work out !)
but feed him as much as you can (and make sure he eats it, so the food wont degrade your water). Krill is okay but not that high in nutritions, go with mysis, hickari or PE
 
D

DaveK

Well-Known Member
JandR said:
Dont know if it has anything to do with the paleness but your tang looks like he may have HLLE (Head and Lateral Line Erosion) which can be caused by not feeding the right foods...

Head and lateral line erosion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hole in the Head (HITH) and Head and Lateral Line Erosion (HLLE)
Click to expand...

I agree with this post. Note the white areas around the eyes. Those areas should be yellow.

IMO, a pale tang indicates a tank that isn't getting the best of diet and/or was in poor shape to start with.

Lately I have seen a lot of yellow tangs, and for that matter other tang species in LFSs and they are in really bad shape. Besides the color of the fish, look for a round body cross section, above and below the lateral line. Also check the tail spines. They should not be damaged. Some shippers cut the spines so the fish can't damage other fish with them. Avoid fish like this.

It's well know that tangs require a large amount of algae in their diet, but they will go after other food that they like even better first. (just like kids) Sometimes you have to feed only algal products to they tank, so it will get enough green stuff to eat.
 
oakleyx

oakleyx

Active Member
Thanks guys for the advice.

The aug 2 pics were when I first moved him into my new tank. That's when I first found out he had hlle. I then changed his diet(thanks lee) to what I posted above and he is slowly healing.

Thanks

Dan
 
L

leebca

Well-Known Member
bncarey,

Not sure who is helping you or giving you advice/recommendations on your efforts in this hobby, but they aren't very knowledgeable. Many of the above posts have touched on some of the issues that will help your fish. The fish needs to be http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...9-fed-properly-received-proper-nutrition.html

Switching to krill isn't the whole answer. Note too that this fish doesn't eat Coralline Algae. Coralline algae is calcerous -- like coral :D

You must do the reading and learning in this area. :read: :read: :read:

These are the posts to read and follow:
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...eeding-marine-fish-marine-fish-nutrition.html
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums.../23069-different-forms-marine-fish-foods.html
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...41782-how-feed-macro-alage-marine-fishes.html

First, you need to know that your fish is ultimately a herbivore. :yummy: At this young size, it will need a mix of meaty foods and vegetables -- about 50:50 but as it grows it will rely more and more on vegetables. Also, when the fish gets to be about 3-4 inches long, it will need a 125 or 180 gallon tank. These fish travel up to 20 miles a day on the reef and need a long tank. You need to choose the 'meaty part' carefully, making it the best and most nutritious you can. Brine shrimp is NOT the right choice. :D

The above links to posts will tell you the right choices and the wrong choices; supplements; how and when to feed; etc. You need to include vitamin and a fat supplement, also covered in the above links.

The fish will 'right itself' when the diet provides the proper nutrition.

Since I'm assuming (first sentence) you may not be getting good advice, these are two more posts to read and learn from:
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/34037-what-water-quality.html
and
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/24702-marine-fish-stocking-limit.html

:thumbup:
 
Big Ray

Big Ray

Has been struck by the ban stick
leebca said:
bncarey,

Not sure who is helping you or giving you advice/recommendations on your efforts in this hobby, but they aren't very knowledgeable. Many of the above posts have touched on some of the issues that will help your fish. The fish needs to be http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...9-fed-properly-received-proper-nutrition.html

Switching to krill isn't the whole answer. Note too that this fish doesn't eat Coralline Algae. Coralline algae is calcerous -- like coral :D

You must do the reading and learning in this area. :read: :read: :read:

These are the posts to read and follow:
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...eeding-marine-fish-marine-fish-nutrition.html
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums.../23069-different-forms-marine-fish-foods.html
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...41782-how-feed-macro-alage-marine-fishes.html

First, you need to know that your fish is ultimately a herbivore. :yummy: At this young size, it will need a mix of meaty foods and vegetables -- about 50:50 but as it grows it will rely more and more on vegetables. Also, when the fish gets to be about 3-4 inches long, it will need a 125 or 180 gallon tank. These fish travel up to 20 miles a day on the reef and need a long tank. You need to choose the 'meaty part' carefully, making it the best and most nutritious you can. Brine shrimp is NOT the right choice. :D

The above links to posts will tell you the right choices and the wrong choices; supplements; how and when to feed; etc. You need to include vitamin and a fat supplement, also covered in the above links.

The fish will 'right itself' when the diet provides the proper nutrition.

Since I'm assuming (first sentence) you may not be getting good advice, these are two more posts to read and learn from:
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/34037-what-water-quality.html
and
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/24702-marine-fish-stocking-limit.html

:thumbup:
Click to expand...

I hope this was not towards me as I pointed each and every one of those out above .... lol :)
 
Alien2100

Alien2100

Member
bncarey,
I'd try the diet first as well, my yellow tang eats like crazy. Honestly she gets a mix of everything I put into my tank. But her overall diet is pellets and seaweed.
I use Two Little Fishes green and purple seaweed, best I've found so far.
I also feed Omega One marine pellets.
I've also heard good things about Spectrum foods, although I've never used them.
 
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