OK. I have a 55g tank. Have had it since August. Water has tested perfect for months. I have a several mushroom coral, polyps, Christmas tree worm, xinia, and others. I have a couple clowns - 6 months old, a royal gamma, damsel, six line wrasse, cleaner wrasse and a mandarin (she's the youngest about a month old). All is going well. Same lighting, temp, salinity, etc and many corals multiplying and spreading. About 3 weeks ago our Small Tang became weak and died very suddenly. Very odd. I could find nothing wrong. After a week we brought another home and he was doing great after The quarantine tank About 5 days ago I noticed he had a few white spots that went away but be started to look a bit red in the face and this began to spread. He is still eating, swimming and seems ok but looks terrible. Thoughts? I gave him extra seaweed tonight and he ate it up.
Yellow Tang turning red
- Thread starter JFairfax
- Start date
clownfishrule
Member
It must be a disease my LFS had the same exact problem with all there yellow tangs.
Livingwaters
Member
sounds like hemorrhaging... Not sure why it happens but like matt said I'm sure Leebca could help you. I would try treating him with Maracyn-two and keep the water quality up in the QT tank.
DesertOrchid
Active Member
Have you checked your ammonia levels in the qt tank? I've seen that happen with elevated ammonia or nitrite levels. Best of luck!
It's a water quality problem which leads to an internal or what is known as a systemic infection. Most fish don't recover once it's gotten to the stage of becoming visually obvious.
Just guessing, without looking closely, but with that list of marine life, I'd say the capacity of the tank has been passed, or to put it another way, the tank is overstocked.
Water quality is more than just ammonia, nitrites, and the things we measure. You should read this post to understand this better: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/34037-what-water-quality.html
An overcrowded tank often gets ammonia spikes -- there is a reading, then it is zero. This encourages the systemic infections.
Just guessing, without looking closely, but with that list of marine life, I'd say the capacity of the tank has been passed, or to put it another way, the tank is overstocked.
Water quality is more than just ammonia, nitrites, and the things we measure. You should read this post to understand this better: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/34037-what-water-quality.html
An overcrowded tank often gets ammonia spikes -- there is a reading, then it is zero. This encourages the systemic infections.
You have several issues here.
"I noticed he had a few white spots that went away ..." This is almost certainly SW ick (Cryptocaryon irritans). Tangs are notorious "ick magnets". For treatment, see the sticky threads in the diseases section. I would also agree with leebca about an infection, and water quality.
Long term, you also do not have a big enough tank for a tang. Note the minimum tank size requirement here (offsite) - Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Yellow Tang - Hawaii Tangs, even small ones, need space. Also see this thread on tang care - http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/just-starting-out-sw-beginners/566-so-you-want-tang.html
Lastly, many tangs, especially yellow tangs and hipo tangs seem to be arriving at the LFS in extremely bad shape. Look for fish that are feeding well, and have full bodies, especially above the lateral line. Also, if you do not have one set up a quarantine tank. In a lot of cases, you'll need to treat a new tang for ick.
Don't let all this discourage you. Once established, tangs are hardy and will live for years.
"I noticed he had a few white spots that went away ..." This is almost certainly SW ick (Cryptocaryon irritans). Tangs are notorious "ick magnets". For treatment, see the sticky threads in the diseases section. I would also agree with leebca about an infection, and water quality.
Long term, you also do not have a big enough tank for a tang. Note the minimum tank size requirement here (offsite) - Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Yellow Tang - Hawaii Tangs, even small ones, need space. Also see this thread on tang care - http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/just-starting-out-sw-beginners/566-so-you-want-tang.html
Lastly, many tangs, especially yellow tangs and hipo tangs seem to be arriving at the LFS in extremely bad shape. Look for fish that are feeding well, and have full bodies, especially above the lateral line. Also, if you do not have one set up a quarantine tank. In a lot of cases, you'll need to treat a new tang for ick.
Don't let all this discourage you. Once established, tangs are hardy and will live for years.
Hi all...well, our little guy died. We felt horrible. He was gone by Saturday morning last weekend. We have been at this only a little while but it was hard to have what I think was a warning. We lost our gamma and mandarin within 48 hours after the Tang died. They were both fine and then just gone with no visible warning i could see. It felt like a spiraling we could not stop. Since last Saturday, We have done water changes, have monitored the water daily, and kept a close eye on the tank (practically hourly) and everyone seems to be holding. Our LFS also tested water. Our calcium and carbonate hardness were low otherwise everything was normal - no ammonia or nitrates. I think it must be spiking with number of fish we had and it was fine but hit a level too high. We now have (left) our original 2 clowns, six line wrasse, picker wrasse (forget his official name sitting here but long skinny blue with black stripe), yellowtail damsel and cardinal. Tank is 55 gall and lots of coral which is multiplying, spreading and looking amazing. Are we maxed out in fish, now? We won't get another Tang as not fair if our tank is too small for one.
lcstorc
Well-Known Member
You are defintely maxed on the fish. The recommended stocking level is one inch of adult fish for each 5 gallons of water. So that leaves you 10 fish inches. Now obviously the cleaner wrasse is long and skinny so you can certainly cut his amount in half or so. Let's see, you have 2 clowns but you don't say what type. Some such as maroons can easily get 4 or 5 inches while others only grow to 2 or 3. The six line can certainly be counted as 2 (mine is about 2 1/2 to 3). The cardinal is 1-2. The damsel I would also count as 1-2 though they can get much much larger. Let's count the wrasse as 1. So using conservative measurements you have about 10 inches now. I am guessing this is a new tank and they were added fairly quickly (adding that number of fish should take around 6 months or so) which would also increase issues.
Now to the bad part. Based on the spots you mention your tank is likely infected with ich. To treat that you will need to put your fish in a QT tank and treat with either copper or hypo-salinity while leaving your tank without fish for 8 weeks. There are great threads with details on the parasite and how to treat for it in the disease forum. Here are a few links.
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/23132-marine-ich-myths-facts.html
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/57175-fish-white-spots-went-away.html
Now to the bad part. Based on the spots you mention your tank is likely infected with ich. To treat that you will need to put your fish in a QT tank and treat with either copper or hypo-salinity while leaving your tank without fish for 8 weeks. There are great threads with details on the parasite and how to treat for it in the disease forum. Here are a few links.
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/23132-marine-ich-myths-facts.html
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/57175-fish-white-spots-went-away.html
The best response I could give regarding stocking limits is given in this post: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/24702-marine-fish-stocking-limit.html
It depends on the kind of fishes involves. Your list of fish doesn't help me reply to your request. Stockiing limitis are based on the room the organism needs to grow, not just live right this minute. I would need to have the following:
1. The sceintific name of the fish (not a common name)
2. The number of the same kinds of fish you have
3. The current length of the fish
4. A list of invertebrates that contribute to the nitrogen load (e.g., snails, shrimp, urchins, cucumbers, crabs, etc. -- these are the 'mobile' invertebrates) -- their scientific name if possible; their numbers; etc.
If using that reference is not easy for you or unclear, just provide the detailed information and I'll try to help you with this.
It depends on the kind of fishes involves. Your list of fish doesn't help me reply to your request. Stockiing limitis are based on the room the organism needs to grow, not just live right this minute. I would need to have the following:
1. The sceintific name of the fish (not a common name)
2. The number of the same kinds of fish you have
3. The current length of the fish
4. A list of invertebrates that contribute to the nitrogen load (e.g., snails, shrimp, urchins, cucumbers, crabs, etc. -- these are the 'mobile' invertebrates) -- their scientific name if possible; their numbers; etc.
If using that reference is not easy for you or unclear, just provide the detailed information and I'll try to help you with this.
Tomorrow I will pull out my book and type up the names, etc and post. The tank has been set up since August. Fish were added over time with everything going fine until about 3 weeks ago when we lost our then few month old Tang and it kind of spiraled when I replaced him and added the mandarin. Not denying things were fast but it was progressing well and now I am just holding and monitoring and will prepare for the quarantine but no other fish have spots - just the Tang that died quickly after they showed up but he also had the other issues mentioned above. So, I am taking a deep breath and will get the scientific names either tonight or tomorrow if I can get to it tonight. Thank you all for help. I am just thankful we haven't lost another fish in the last few days.
redneckgearhead
Active Member
Listen to mayor matt!