Help! Yellow Tang looks pale

[Lee]

I came home from work today and my yellow tang, whom I purchased for his vibrant yellow color, looks very pale and white-ish. His skin looks good, and his fins are perfectly intact.

Yesterday I upgraded from 80 watts of standard output T-8 flourescents (10,000k and actinic) to a 260 watt power compact fixture with 12,000k and actinic. The lights were off all day today, and he looked fine when I fed them this morning.

Below is one before pic and two after pics.

Whats wrong with him? He's my favorite fish.

[kathywithbirds]

He looks a little thin. Is he eating?

[Lee]

Originally Posted by kathywithbirds

He looks a little thin. Is he eating?

Like a damn pig. He eats algae all day. Plus I feed them flake in the morning, which he eats, and either brine, mysis, or pygmy angel formula at night. All of which he loves.

I think he's thin because he's a baby. He was the size of a silver dollar when I got him 3 or 4 months ago. He's still very small. I'd say 2-3" at best

[DrHank]

He may just be a bit stressed. Check all the tank parameters. Check the temperature. Is his breathing OK? Swimming OK? Is he eating? How long have you had him? Do all the rest of your fish seem OK? Any other Tangs In your tank? How large is your tank?

Tangs will sometimes react in this manner when they are stressed. My Purple tang has shown pale spots (not as large as your yellow) which resolved on their own in about a day.

[Lee]

Originally Posted by DrHank

He may just be a bit stressed. Check all the tank parameters. Check the temperature. Is his breathing OK? Swimming OK? Is he eating? How long have you had him? Do all the rest of your fish seem OK? Any other Tangs In your tank? How large is your tank?

Tangs will sometimes react in this manner when they are stressed. My Purple tang has shown pale spots (not as large as your yellow) which resolved on their own in about a day.

-Temp: 78. Normal temp is about 80 but I've had my canopy off for 24 hours, resulting in a 2 degree drop. I suppose this could have upset him enough for his color to change.
-Breathing well
-Swimming well
-Eating normal
-Had him probably 4 months
-Rest of the fish look normal
-No other tangs
-75g

Yesterday, I did change the lights, re-arrange the rock a bit, and remove the canopy, resulting in the temperature drop. Plus, I think my flame angel is encroaching on his territory a bit and he's having to re-adapt.

**Update: As I was checking these things, his color seems to have gone back to normal. This is odd, because all the times that he was moved, quarantined, all the times that I've re-arranged his rocks, added new fish, etc, he has never once changed color, even when he should have been under extreme stress. I've had one fish die from poor/lack of successful acclimation and he turned real dark in color, and I had a stupid blue hippo tang that died in quarantine, right after he started turning pale white. (which is why this alarmed me)

Below is a picture about 30 minutes after the last picture:

[DrHank]

I understand completely. When my Purple started with a white blotch (the first time) I went bonkers. Being tangs, they will sometimes do that. He probably was just reacting to the lighting change. He should be fine but expect him to do this every now and then.

[Lee]

Ok. Thank you for the input.

[Dentoid]

Originally Posted by Lee

-Breathing well
-Swimming well
-Eating normal
-Rest of the fish look normal

With these 4 points you should never worry about your fish. Color changes occur for many reason one of which is communication, something we know absolutely nothing about. However, the above things we do know about and really are enough to tell you your fish are healthy.

[kathywithbirds]

He looks a little better. Maybe you moved his favorite hidey hole.

[dobejazz]

He does look thin though I'd feed nori of some type for him

[Lee]

Originally Posted by Dentoid

With these 4 points you should never worry about your fish. Color changes occur for many reason one of which is communication, something we know absolutely nothing about. However, the above things we do know about and really are enough to tell you your fish are healthy.

Thats good to know. I'll keep that in mind.

Originally Posted by dobejazz

He does look thin though I'd feed nori of some type for him

I'll pick some Nori up after work. I think I do need to change up their diet a little bit. Thanks for the tip

[framerguy]

yeah, he just looked a little PO'd in the photo. Fresh nori from an asian food market is a wonderful treat. The dried sheets work great too but it's fun to spoil them occasionally. I have a scribbleface rabbit fish which is related to the tang and when someone he doesn't recognize looks in the tank he turns BLACK, it's freaky! So my point is, they get upset too.