Kole Tang problem

[baplemark]

Hi everyone,

I've had a Kole tang in my tank for about a month now as my last addition to my tank.Since he's been in, he very rarely comes out and will hide behind the rocks most of the time.The last week or so his belly has become "pinched in" which makes me think he's not eating or is there anything else it could be.I know there mouths are pretty sensitive but there doesnt seem to be any trauma to it. There's plently of fine algae on the rocks which i suppliment with dry green algae. Should i be trying to feed him with anything else? I feed the rest of the tank a mixture of frozen food (brine shrimp etc).

Tank details are below:

60 gallon tank

X2 powerheads (2000 LPH)
X1 fluval 1200 LPH external filter
UV filter
Protein skimmer

Corals:
X2 mushroom corals

X1 anemone

Fish:
1 Kole tang
1 lemon peel dwarf angel
2 percular clowns
1 purple firefish
1 green striped goby

Everything else is doing fine.He was the last planned addition to the tank.If he stays out long enough i'll try and get a picture on here.He was sold as a a yellow eyed tang but as he has blue circles round his eyes i'm guessing he's a blue eyed tang.

Any help would be grateful guys!

Thanks

Mark

 

[LakeEd]

Mark,

It sounds from your discription that your Tang isn't eating. How did it do as far as eating, when you had it in QT?? Or, I guess I should start that with asking IF you had it in QT, and how did it do addapting to the foods there?

A lot of times, Tangs tend to be picky eaters, and having them in a QT tank really helps them get use to what we are going to feed them, so once they are placed in our display tanks, they already know "what" to eat, and then its just learning how to compete with the rest of our tanks inhabitents for the food we are giving.

Lee (leebca) probably will have the best information for you... so you may try posting again in the "Marine Fish Discussion" forum here, this same question (if one of the mod's isn't kind enough to move this post for you).

 

[DonW]

I would ask how much nori are you supplimenting. The brine are like tying to live off bigmacs no matter how much you eat youll starve. Tangs are pigs and should go through alot of food for their size.

Don

 

[mmkeeper]

Try flake or other types of dry or frozen foods. My Kole will eat all of those and not touch algae in any form.

 

[NaH2O]

Mark - when you bought the fish was it eating? You say the stomach looks pinched, how does the fish look when you look at it head on....is the area above and inbetween its eyes thick looking, or is it sunken in a bit? How much live rock do you have in your tank? Does the fish look like its mouth is damaged at all? Ctenochaetus tangs don't eat the same way as other tangs...their bristle/comb like mouths are better at getting detrital matter off of rocks and sand. So, not all Ctenochaetus tangs will take to the algae sheets right away. It is important that it has a healthy mouth, and because of all the bristles, these are easily injured in the netting process. (Is it a Comb or a Bristle (Surgeonfish)? The Genus Ctenochaetus)

The teeth are geared for rasping fine detrital material from rocks and sand while the carp-like design of the mouth is efficient at sucking up this detrital material. This detrital material consists of diatoms, various small fragments of algae, large amounts of unidentifiable organic material (as much as 90% of one fish's stomach contents) and fine inorganic sediment (Randall, 2001).

 

[leebca]

Hi Mark.

You can pretty much tell from the reply posts that the fish has not been properly trained to eat foods. In addition, it appears like the fish hasn't totally acclimated to captive life. Lastly, the fish may have gone through some injury. These things you want to handle while the fish is in a quarantine process.

Now, in the display tank, the fish can hide and starve to death. There is a fair chance the fish will heal and make the adjustment, and come out of hiding and begin to nourish itself. At this point in time, just be prepared to offer whatever foods it will eat. Then stress a proper diet in the future as noted in the stickies in this Forum.

Good luck!

 

[baplemark]

Thanks for all the reply's everyone.A big help!He was in QT for about 2 1/2 weeks and was taking a lot of the detrital matter off the live rock that i had put in there.I've noticed today if you look at him head on his left side is a lot bigger than the right side and in between his eyes it is definatley sunken in.His mouth looks fine as i know this is a big problem with these fish with this.

Looking a lot worse today although still swimming around until i come into the room.I'm thinking maybe back in the quarantine tank for some TLC.

 

[baplemark]

This is a pic of the kole tang about 3 weeks ago about 2 days after he was added to my main tank.Sorry about the quality!The second pic is of him this morning.His colours changed a lot over the last week especially his caudal and pelvic fins which were yellow.Still not convinced what he is either as i was told he was a yellow eyed tang!

 

[baplemark]

Hi guys again (Sorry!)

I'm pretty sure the kole tang is not a feeding problem now.He;'s been out a lot recently.ON his right side though is belly is very enlarged compared to the his left side.ON both sides there seems to be a white area where his belly comes out the furthest.Hope this makes sense but i'm pretty sure it's not a feeding problem.Would anymore pics of him help?

Thanks

Mark

 

[leebca]

It's beginning to look more like an intestinal blockage or a partial intestinal blockage. Short of surgery, there isn't much to do but hope the fish pulls through on its own, or to put it down.

 

[NaH2O]

Lee - what would be the best course of action? Should the fish go back to QT for isolation, better observation, or does it not matter at this point?

 

[leebca]

Good question. I don't see any good reason to disturb a fish that:

1. is not contagious to other fishes; and
2. can't be helped.

If there is any chance the fish is being disturbed by other tank inhabitants, then there is no doubt it should be moved.

Unless there is some pretty good reason to further stress the fish, I'd advise leaving it alone.

 

[baplemark]

Thanks guys again,

Well over the last couple of days his abdomen got even bigger on the right side.I've come in from work today though and the whole side of his abdomen has gone down like it has popped.There's a small white abcess (diameter of a pencil) and around it a slight discolouration from his normal dark colour. To be honest though it looks a lot better and the fish is swimming around more and feeding on the green algae on the live rocks.The only things that do disturb it are the cleaner shrimps but i guess that can't be a bad thing!Is there any medication i can start it on or like you said is it best to leave it alone and hope it pulls through?

 

[NaH2O]

Can you get another picture?

 

[leebca]

At this stage it would be better to isolate the fish and treat with an antibiotic that goes inside the fish. I recommend Maracyn Two for Saltwater fishes. At normal salinity, use a double initial dose, by adding the recommended dose four times rather than twice, slowly ramping it up to the higher concentration.

I would also recommend a treatment for the external mucous coating. I would use something like: Pro Tech Coat Marine or StressGuard.

I didn't realize (my bad) that you had cleaner shrimp. Please get the fish away from the cleaner shrimp.