Young Blue Hippo Tang colorless spots?

[woodwrkinnut]

I had lost a couple of fish this past summer because my tank got hot. I have installed a air conditioning unit beyond the houshold central air unit as the tank is in a office addition in our attic.
Anyway, the hippo (blue) tang survived and quickly showed colorless areas near the tail and higher on the posterior of the back, and his tail seems to be ratty on the end. This was almost an overnight condition since that experience. All other fish since and others that have surived show no signs of anything and are all healthy. The tang has been fine and shows no signs of further decline?
should I be treating him or leave him as he seems healthy otherwise?
Thanks!

[leebca]

Tangs in general have a rather poor slime coat. It is easily penetrated and often provides the protection needed for good captivity. They are quite often the first to show a water quality problem.

I'd be concerned since so much time has passed and yet the Tang has not fully recovered. This is indicative of continued stress on the Tang. That can be water quality, lacking swimmiing length of the tank, tank mates, or diet. I find more times than not, aquarists don't provide the proper diet for these kinds of fishes. Anyway, look into all four of those most common stress sources and make corrections. For diet, see: Feeding Marine Fish and Marine Fish Nutrition

[woodwrkinnut]

Thanks for the reply.
Water #'s are good!
My tank has been running for approx 1.5 yrs now and all others are healthy.
I feed sinking feed once a day and supplement the tangs with algae sheets and feed all of them shrimp or krill approx once every 4-5 days.
Does this seem adaquate to you?
Thanks again.
also this tang is approx. 21/2" long.

[lcstorc]

No I would not consider that as a healthy diet. Fish need a variety of whole foods often soaked in supplements. Read Lee's thread about fish nutrition and it will explain the good and the bad of various foods.

[AQTCJAK]

The ratted tail would be my concern possbility of a nother fish gone rouge

[leebca]

Generally speaking, the diet is deficient. If by sinking foods you mean compressed pellets, discs and things like that, then the are not good for long term feeding of marine fishes. They were made mostly for bottom and middle-level feeders in aquaculture. They contain as binding agents usually a form of wheat or wheat gluten. This is something that marine fishes don't digest.

You mention good numbers for water quality. But the feeding of wheat containing products is adding pollution to the aquarium. What the fish don't digest (e.g., wheat) goes into the aquarium and become waste for bacteria and other organisms. This raises the nutrient level of your water. There is no home test for this. So your water is also 'off' by virtue of the diet the fish are getting.

Still, there are other water conditions we don't test for -- such as organic content. Your skimmer and carbon treatments should be well maintained and removing as much excess organics as possible. In retrospect, I'd say the aquarium is getting too small for this fish. It will require as a minimum a 6 foot long aquarium before the end of this year.

Frequency of feeding should be no less than twice a day, though 3 or more is preferred. Smaller more frequent meals is what marine fish are used to and by that I don't mean just as a matter of convenience, but that is what their digestive track is build to handle. To optimally absorb nutrients from their food, it should come through the digestive track slowly and continuously.

Offer marine algae sheets (smaller but more frequent amounts) daily to this fish -- twice a day if you can.

Then look into fat and vitamin supplements for the foods. As lcstorc has mentioned, feed only whole foods (leaning towards frozens) of pods, ocean plankton, etc. even if you have to make it smaller for this fish. Keep in mind that at this size, the fish expects about 60/40 algae and pods in its diet. As it gets older, the amount of algae should increase.

Unless their are still other stressors, the fish should come around with the above adjustments.