911 on Yellow Tang

[eww]

HELP!!! We have had a Yellow Tang for about 2 1/2 weeks. He has been happy and healthy until today. We just added 2 Yellow Watchman Gobies and a Tiger Pistol Shrimp to the tank on Monday. Now tonight we just found it laying on its side in the sand bed back behind the rocks. Of course it's the only place we have no way of getting to it. I tried squirting it with a turkey baster to see if that might revive it or get it somewhere we could net it but it looks like that just blew it under the rocks where the Tiger Pistol Shrimp has dug out. We can't even see it now. What should we do?!? We would have to completely break all the rocks apart to remove them as they are all epoxyed together to hold them in place.

 

[ac7av]

That’s a tuff one. I would try a power head. Shoot it around behind the rock your trying to get it out of. When you could see it, was it still alive? I cant imagine the gobies having anything to do with it but stranger things have happened.

 

[returnofsid]

A fish the size of a Yellow Tang will add a lot of pollutant, when it dies. Unfortunately, I'd do whatever it takes, to remove it.

 

[eww]

We couldn't tell if it was breathing or not because of where it was. It looked like the.belly area was a whiteish color though.

 

[eww]

A fish the size of a Yellow Tang will add a lot of pollutant, when it dies. Unfortunately, I'd do whatever it takes, to remove it.

It was about a 2" fish. It was a small size from the store. Still think.we.should tear the tank apart to get it out?

 

[returnofsid]

Yep, unfortunately, I do. Something killed it, and I doubt it was the newly added fish or pistol shrimp. Chances are, it was already stressed, possibly by a water quality issue. As it decomposes, it'll just add to any possible negative water quality issue. This could lead to the death of other fish.

 

[mal1099]

agree with returnofsid on this. get it out. dead fish in a small system with destroy your water quality pretty fast.

 

[SpecialTang]

When you start kicking up the sand and moving the rock you are going to release gases and such that are far more harmful than that dead fish. Of course you would want to get the dead fish out as soon as possible OR make sure you have enough shrimp to eat it.

I personally would not tear down a tank just to get a dead fish out. I did it once and I spent more money in water changes then what it was worth.

Either way you decide goodluck

 

[iroll253]

???

If the fish is dead. You want him out asap. Use a turkey baster or somethin if hes stuck.

 

[eww]

We got it out last night. The Pistol Shrimp helped by pushing him back up out of the hole where we could reach it. I then took a full set of water tests. Here they are.
NH4 0.1
NO3 0.0
No2 0.0
PH 8.3
PO4 0.0
Mg 1400
KH 6.0
Ca 350

The only thing I see is a little low on KH but I don;t think it is low enough to cause death. I think I have an idea though. Ever since we got the Gobies/Pistol Shrimp they have been digging up a storm, literally, especially behind the rocks. Sometimes you can hard see into the tank for all the clouds of dust. The Tang always slept in behind the rocks so maybe the dust clouds were too much for it and it plugged up his gills, therefore suffocating it... Anybodies thoughts?

 

[leebca]

I can make some observations, now that you've solved your immediate concern AND you've provided more data. Just remember these are observations and recommendations made in a 'friendly tone.'

First, It's important to quarantine new fish. You want to perform a quarantine process. This post tells why and how: A Quarantine Procedure

Next, before you acquire a fish you want to be sure it is healthy AND it is the right fish for your system: Should I buy that fish?

Next, fish should be added slowly at a rate to allow the biological filter and the 'secret cycle' to adjust to the added bio-load. That is introduce bioload to the system slowly. One small fish every 6 weeks for your size tank is about the limit.

Another next. . .The tall tank models are not the best for marine fish husbandry. The larger the footprint, the better the biological filter. A short tank wide and long is optimal. Your tank isn't wrong, just not as supportive of a biological filter as it could be. Still, it's a nice tank.

Next next. . .There should be no detectable ammonia. Detecting ammonia now could mean it spiked or was out of control when you added the fish to the system or just after. It could be the first signs of the dead fish decaying. The point is, we don't know.

Final next. . .Your Mg, Ca, and Alk are not balanced. They are 'in range' but not balanced. Hobbyists generally aren't told that these three need to be balanced. You'll find a table in this post: What is Water Quality

Good luck!

 

[returnofsid]

If the tang were being suffocated, it would have moved to a different spot, that's not what killed it.

On a different topic, I hope your rock structure is sitting on the glass bottom and not on the sand bed. I've had a pistol shrimp undermine my rock structure before, and the rocks shifted, some falling against the glass. Luckily, no glass broke. However, I learned my lesson and immediately re-did the entire tank, placing the rock on the bottom of the tank, instead of on the sand bed.

 

[eww]

I can make some observations, now that you've solved your immediate concern AND you've provided more data. Just remember these are observations and recommendations made in a 'friendly tone.'

First, It's important to quarantine new fish. You want to perform a quarantine process. This post tells why and how: A Quarantine Procedure

Next, before you acquire a fish you want to be sure it is healthy AND it is the right fish for your system: Should I buy that fish?

Next, fish should be added slowly at a rate to allow the biological filter and the 'secret cycle' to adjust to the added bio-load. That is introduce bioload to the system slowly. One small fish every 6 weeks for your size tank is about the limit.

Another next. . .The tall tank models are not the best for marine fish husbandry. The larger the footprint, the better the biological filter. A short tank wide and long is optimal. Your tank isn't wrong, just not as supportive of a biological filter as it could be. Still, it's a nice tank.

Next next. . .There should be no detectable ammonia. Detecting ammonia now could mean it spiked or was out of control when you added the fish to the system or just after. It could be the first signs of the dead fish decaying. The point is, we don't know.

Final next. . .Your Mg, Ca, and Alk are not balanced. They are 'in range' but not balanced. Hobbyists generally aren't told that these three need to be balanced. You'll find a table in this post: What is Water Quality

Good luck!

Thank you Lee. I was thinking the ammonia was from the Pistol Shrimp going to town in the sand/coral bed thus stirring everything up. It's quite the mess and I'm now wondering if they will ever stop the digging and let things settle down. We have been battling the balance thing for a week or two. We thought we had low Mg and had been trying to raise it and then worry about bringing up the Ca/Alk once that was done. It turns out it was a old/bad test kit that we had acquired used. We just did a water change and will be supplementing Ca/Alk starting today to balance things out. We also realize this is a tall narrow tank but unfortunately is is the largest footprint we can fit in our home so it is what it is for a while but thank you for the comments on how it looks.

Thank you again Lee. We will be following your recommendations more closely now.

 

[eww]

Michael,

Yes our rock structure is sitting on the glass bottom and glued down and glued together with epoxy as well. We thought we might get some burrowing critters and didn't want any chance of avalanches with the height of the structure. Thank you for your input on all of this. The next Tang is going in a QT for 6 weeks... period!!!

 

[bigblue141]

Sorry to hear about your loss.