Help for my Blue Tang

[cas2465]

Hi - I hope someone can help. My blue tang has started to behave strangely ove the last week or so - always lying in some coral on one side. I just noticed today that one eye (on the same side) is bulging & seems to have a white spot in it. I love my tang & desperately want to save him. Can anyone suggest the problem or what I should do?

 

[seattle989]

People are gonna ask you this anyways before they can help you.

water parameter
feeding habits
inhabitants
how long you've had it
ect ect
a Picture would be wonderful

Oh and welcome to RF

 

[cas2465]

Thanks for getting back so quickly!
All water parameters are as follows:
Temp 24
Salinity 1.032
pH 8.3
Ca 500
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.1
Nitrate 30
Phosphate 3.5
kH 8
I do weekly 10% water changes, I have 3 corals, a fox face & a couple of clarkes clowns in the tank along with a bubble tipped anemone. Pretty small tank (70l I think offhand). Had my fish for 6 months but moved the tank 6 weeks ago which was when I added the corals (2 tree type corals & a Goniopora). I've attached a photo which shows it's eye slightly cloudy. In reality you can clearly see a white spot on its eye.
Hope you can help

 

[seattle989]

your nitrates are 30????????? or is that a typo?? and is this tank 70 gallons or 70liters. your salinity is rather high as well. generally i usually see people around the 1.025-1.026.
If the tangs eyes are opaque its probably having signs of cloudy eyes due to your water quality.
how does the tangs breathing look?
Are you feeding real heavy? that could be why the reading for the nitrates and phosphates.

 

[cas2465]

Yes, nitrates are 30 (down from 80!). Tank is 70 litres. Breathing seems fine but does spend a lot of time lately in the coral "playing dead" lying on one side. Feed on frozen marine green, frozen fish dinner & pellet food (usually rotate these 3 foods for variety). Feed them once daily & they always seem to be really hungry at dinner time!

 

[Bored4ever86]

Yes, nitrates are 30 (down from 80!). Tank is 70 litres. Breathing seems fine but does spend a lot of time lately in the coral "playing dead" lying on one side. Feed on frozen marine green, frozen fish dinner & pellet food (usually rotate these 3 foods for variety). Feed them once daily & they always seem to be really hungry at dinner time!

I'd definatly do more (25-30%) more often if your nitrates are that high, plus if you could go to 2-3 smaller meals per day it'd be better for your fish

as per the tang, I don't know enough to make a comment on that

 

[pufferdady]

I'd say the salinity being that high would be moer stressful to the fish than the nitrates. IMO. I'd bring it down to 1.025 (slowly)

Yes, nitrates are 30 (down from 80!).

Also, how fast did you come down from 80, I know that any big change good or bad can be stressfull on fish. That's my 2 pennies

 

[Myteemouse]

and tangs should aLWAYS have food available to them..
Some algae on a chip would be good..
There is some good reading in the STICKYs in this forum about feeding tangs...
They eat ALOT!
And without proper diet, they may get sick

 

[krisfal]

and tangs should aLWAYS have food available to them..
Some algae on a chip would be good..
There is some good reading in the STICKYs in this forum about feeding tangs...
They eat ALOT!
And without proper diet, they may get sick

I am with the mouse on this one, wondering if it is a nutritional deficiency, I feed nori to my tang at least 3-4 times a day (and it should take about 1 hour to all be consumed each time). Tangs need veggies, lots and lots of veggies. Since the fish is not well I would add vitamins and fats into the diet also if you are not already supplementing.

Fish can handle high nitrates, that is much harder on the corals.

Hopefully Lee will chime in on this soon as far as if there needs to be some sort of treatment.

Hope the tang gets better real soon!

 

[leebca]

The Tang is looking pretty good overall, despite the affliction I see.

Don't control water quality by withholding food from fishes. If you want to keep fish, they need to be properly fed. That includes quality and quantity of foods. If you want to keep a reef and control water quality better, you don't want Tangs nor Rabbittfish for sure, since they are high polluters (because as mentioned in another post, they eat a lot). I think your fish are eating like they're really hungry, because they are 'really' starving. You need better foods, no flakes nor pellets, vitamin and fat supplements, and to be sure they get fed enough no less than 3 times a day.

Next, the 70L tank is too small for Rabbittfish and Tangs. They need a tank that is no less than 2 meters long. They eat a lot and pollute a lot. Not very good choices for a small reef tank, although they get along with invertebrates very well.

This fish is well known for laying on its side and on the bottom of the aquarium during different times of the day when frightened, and sometimes at night. This has been known to attract some substrate worms and other microbes to infect the eyes of these fishes.

The fish should be removed from the display and put into quarantine/hospital tank. Treat with an antibiotic such as Maracyn Two for Saltwater fish and feed properly with vitamin and fat supplements added to the feedings. I believe this should go away with this treatment.

It may go away on its own, but the fish Will be struggling with it in the meantime, hence I'd suggest accelerating its cure with the move and treatment.

Fish generally aren't concerned with "low" nitrates (which are below 200ppm for most fishes). Changes in nitrates and phosphates usually don't affect fishes. It does affect water quality and invertebrates, however. From the numbers you've provided so far, your Calcium and Alkalinity are not balanced. So you do have water quality issues you have not addressed.

Next, find new homes for the fish that don't belong there.

Lastly, take a look at the stickies here in this Forum. You'll find posts and reading on all the above mentioned topics: http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=15. They are marked with the word "Sticky" in front of them.

Good luck!

 

[returnofsid]

WOW, your nitrates are high! Your salinity is high!! Your tank is way too small for a Tang!!!

All of those things are contributing to this fish's health.

I'd seriously recommend rehoming this fish to someone with an appropriately sized tank.

It's probably experiencing a slow starvation as well.

 

[cas2465]

Thanks guys for all your advice. I'm gobsmacked that you all suggest I'm starving them as I'm just feeding them according to the advice from my LFS. I'll certainly up their food immediately! Salinity has always been good but just spiked up over the weekend - I'll work on getting that down but according to my testing kits, both my Ca & alkalinity are within normal range - maybe marine water is different down under
Guys in my LFS have advised starting off with a freshwater bath for my tang as I don't have a quarantine tank yet & don't want to add antibiotics to the main tank as I have an anemone. I'll keep you all posted as to how she gets on & rest assured, I'm also making plans to get a bigger tank online as quickly as possible which should suit her better also.

 

[pufferdady]

I wouldn't do a freshwater bath unless the fish is knocking on heavens door. As Lee said it'll prob. go away on its own. I'd say that keeping up on water quality,food, and giving it time would be better at this point than a FW bath. From what I've always heard FW dip is a last resort, go from a sick fish to a dead one very quickly. Just my opinion, I'm no expert.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

On a different note entirely, welcome to REEF FRONTIERS mate!

Hope you enjoy the experience. I agree with better water, better food, and when budget allows, a bigger tank. Until then, give it as much peace and calmness as possible to keep stress down. No FW BATH unless obvious parasites requires

 

[leebca]

How do you determine when your LFS is giving wrong information cas2465? From what you've repeated to us so far, your LFS doesn't know what they are doing and, following their advice is only going to meet with stressors placed on your fish. From what I can see so far, your LFS should have told you:

1. Wrong size tank for that fish;
2. Wrong fish for that tank;
3. Wrong water quality (I think you are seriously being misled on this from test kits and LFS -- you would benefit by reading this post: What is Water Quality);
4. Wrong foods; and
5. Wrong feeding quantities.

And you're about to continue to follow their advice?

Try to gain some information that isn't driven by sales, but instead based upon decades of experience and knowledge, from a person college educated on ornamental marine fish husbandry, and who has kept these fishes in their home.

You have the right to ask for and obtain credentials from those whom offer you advice. Ask for it; demand it. Mine are here: Lee’s Bio.

You've come here, presumably for help for the fish. Posters like Herefishyfishy, pufferdady, myself and others are giving you straight information and suggestions. Don't FW dip that fish. Start reading the sticky posts here and learn from them.