blue tang troubles

[bjlind8888]

hey i have a blue tang that i have had in my tank for about 4 months now.. but today i noticed that her face is turning yellows green anyone have an idea on wut would cause this is it fatal or is she ok??? thanks brandon

 

[balogh03]

??? Could be HLLE, but it is hard to tell with that discription. Try posting a picture if you can, I think it will help us alot.

Thanks, and good luck

-augustus

 

[bjlind8888]

i cant anymore she is laying on the sand in the cave in my tank on her side.. she is still breathing but idk wut happened.. i put a lil more current to the system and upgraded the protien skimmer and i up the temp a lil bit up to 77 it was at 75 and the lights are on longer now.....

 

[G&NSalty425]

Does the discoloration look like a coating of some type or just a color discoloration? Is she breathing heavy?

 

[bjlind8888]

yes she is breathin heavy and it just looks like discoloration... she has been very healthy up until this point and all my other fish apear to be fine...

 

[Herefishyfishy]

75' is a bit on the cool side so raising it to 77' wasn't the problem. How did you increase the current? Was the skimmer rinsed well? What specific changes were made to the tank? How long have you had the tang and what do you feed it? What else is in the tank? Frequency of water changes? Run carbon?
Please list all water measurements.

 

[G&NSalty425]

The reason I asked if it had a coating like appearance is because there is a type of Ich called Velvet that has a coating like velvet look which is why they call it Velvet. It ranges from a orange appearance to even a grey/white. Other symptoms include heavy breathing (it affects the fishes gills) and lethargic behavior. I am not saying she has it but... it might be possible. If you do get any opprotunity to take a pic please do. Taking a pic of anything is a great tool something I do to help look at things close up (I use it like a magnifying glass with photoshop to look at things closer). Hopefully somebody with more of a marine background will chime in I have kept freshwater fish for years now and recently switched over one of my tanks to saltwater but I do know Velvet is a freshwater/marine fish disease.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Still waiting for more info, but didn't sound like was describing a gold dusty velvet like dinoflagelate covering that wildcaught clownfish often get. Sounds more like stress related loss of color that shows in tangs which could be a sign of a disease, injury, or toxin related problem.

 

[Ed Hahn]

The first thing I saw in here was you upgraded your skimmer. It may take a few days for skimmer to break in. I would suggest carbon. One pound per 50 gallons for a few weeks.

 

[bjlind8888]

i have carbon running in my canister filter and i do 10 percent water changes a week i ran out of my tests a week a ago and just havent bought more i have had the tang for at least 4 or 5 months.. i feed her brimp shrimp marine flake formula two and sometimes get some caulerpa... she took the plung last night i guess woke up and she was gone... but all my other fish are doing very well.. i have a foxface that she likes to mess with could he have stung her??? idk but i was a quick death.. if it is ich or wut ever sould i treat my tank???

 

[DonW]

i feed her brimp shrimp marine flake formula two and sometimes get some caulerpa...

Bummer. Honestly thats a pretty poor diet for a tang. Brine is nearly worthless and it would take a whole bunch of flake to keep a tang fed. Nori, nori and more nori. Maybe formula frozen in addition to the nori.

Don

 

[bjlind8888]

so it could be poor diet??? should i do a water change?? what are some percaustions that i should take??? to aviod any other fish from going belly up??

 

[DonW]

so it could be poor diet??? should i do a water change?? what are some percaustions that i should take??? to aviod any other fish from going belly up??

Water changes are always good but if there is no ammonia it probably wasnt the water. Just based on what you said I'd guess you need to change up the diet. The fox face is going to need along the same lines as a tang. Id just switch to formula cube and nori sheets, lots of greens.

Don

 

[Herefishyfishy]

so it could be poor diet??? should i do a water change?? what are some percaustions that i should take??? to aviod any other fish from going belly up??

What were you keeping the numbers at before test kits ran out?

Probably a combination of underfed required nutrients with one other unknown issue. The unknown could have beed a foxface sting, internal injury, infection, or other. The reason I say more than one cause, a well fed healthy fish can take a lot of abuse. A weak one can fold with the drop of a hat. Keep the water clean as you seem to be doing and learn the nutritional needs of each of your pets.

 

[bjlind8888]

and i just found that the scooter blenny is belly up as well i think it has something to do with the new skimmer as i was to excited and didnt rinse it or anything... opps could that have done something

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Scrub out the new skimmer and rinse well.
Do a LARGE water change and make sure youir carbon has been changed in last few days.
Also make sure any new electrical is not shorting out into the tank.

 

[bjlind8888]

yes i cleaned everything out like my canister filter changed the phospahte and carbon media and no eletrical is in the tank... and i did scrub the new skimmer out and power head and i did a 10g water change.. the tank is only 30g.. hopefully that does it.. everything seemed to purk up alot like the frogspawn and my xenia and the zoos and all the fish seem to be more lively

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Good job on the precautions. Still no answer on what your water numbers were.

Best to not try putting a tang into a 30 gallon unless a juvi bristle tooth sp.
They need swimming room and are not happy caged. There are many fish that are very content in a 30, but for a blue tang, I would recommend a 6 foot tank. They grow fast if properly fed and healthy and if not, they die.

Sorry but I am that way.

 

[bjlind8888]

i went to today all over the place and they were sold out of test kits. but i had her in a 100g but it was to big for my house so i moved everything to a 30g.... i know that it was a no no but i thought it would be fine for the time being guess not.. thanks everyone for the comments hopefully everything is ok now.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

What is the salinity? Brand of salt? Adding any suppliments?
PH?
Temp?
Any potential big swings recently in Alk such as from dosing?