Another yellow tang.

reefboarder

reefboarder

Intelligent Donkey
Decided to try again and the tank transfer method just doesnt seem to be as great as everyone thinks. Everything is spot on ive been testing twice daily for ammonia and havent seen anything above .25 and at that I would change two gallons of water, which has been falling on the last day of each stay. The temp and salinity have not fluctuated at all, I made 50 gallons of water just for this fish and all water has come from it. It appears to be hlle but im not an expert. He stopped eating yesterday in the morning and ive tried two types of omnivorous pellets which it was eating before and , green and red nori and now it wont eat at all. It has very small holes around the eyes. He is very emaciated and I see a yellow strip above his belly and his back bone is visible thru his skin. There also appears to be a reddish brown stringy thing coming from around his front left fin. I am not and have not ran carbon with this fish. If theres anything I can try I would seriously like to not lose this fish.
 
I dont know WTH im doing wrong. And yeah I have 3" pvc fittings for hiding places. I use tge same barrels, pumps and heaters to mix saltwater for my display. I believe at this point that the tank transfer method is too stressful on the fish.
 
Im almost positive it was hlle. Had numerous small holes around the eyes and head, fin deterioration, stopped eating saturday morning. It had been eating at every feeding prior to feeding saturday morning. I was feeding 4-5 times a day 3-4 pellets and there would be a tiny bit of left over that I siphoned out.
I worked very hard at keeping this fish and I just dont know what the deal is. Everything else is fine and the tanks are all open so I dont believe it to be contamination, I think it was stress
 
Don't rule out the tank transfer method for the future because of this one incident. The fish could have easily had something fatally wrong with it when you got it. I have tried other means to quarantine fish in the past, with very mixed results. But over the last two years I have done nothing but tank transfer followed by Prazipro treatment for all my fish. The results have been fantastic, as I haven't lost a single fish and I have had no sign of any disease in my display.

Dave
 
Malnutrition is often thought to be a cause of HLLE. He was also emaciated and failed to gain weight while eating normally. All of these things make me think it was an intestinal parasite. :/ sorry about your loss.
 
I don't mean to start a brouhaha here, but it seems to me that the greatest enemy of a new addition is stress. It's stressful enough being "captured," netted, bagged and driven in a car for 30 minutes, floated, acclimated, etc. Having it done over and over again can only be more stressful. While quarantine is less stressful than transfer method, surely having the process repeated yet again is only more stress once it's time to go to the DT. I know all the arguments, the benefits, the risks, so no point is shoving them down my throat again.
 
No brouhaha here, just a healthy discussion. A fish can be moved from one tank to another one, right next to it, with very minimal stress. I use a clear tupperware in one hand and a plastic strainer in the other. slowly corner the fish, scoop and drop in tank right next to it. Very little stress created. Water conditions are identical, so no need to acclimate. Say what you will, but I haven't seen a spot of ich in over 7 years. Prior to tank transfer method, I have tried copper and hypo. The tank transfer method (in my opinion) is the least stressful on the fish.

Dave
 
While quarantine is less stressful than transferyou've obviously got it all figu method, surely having the process repeated yet again is only more stress once it's time to go to the DT. I know all the arguments, the benefits, the risks, so no point is shoving them down my throat again.

Well I won't shove anything down your throat. That's an insulting comment. Your post is just ill informed and rude ;you seem to like it that way. Not worth arguing or advising on anything since you already know it all better than the rest of us. Have it your way but refrain from giving bad advice without doing your homework.

reef boarder

Transfer is less stresful than other methods. It has nothing to do with hhle which is nutritional and takes a long time to kill a fish. Interstinal parasite would be my guess as Adam's. Hard to treat but prazi pro might help it.
 
Just a couple questions because I know this must be frustrating and upsetting. 1. Your post says another yellow tang so I'm assuming you've had this problem more than once so my question is have you gotten all your tangs from the same place or person? Secondly what is the diet you feed? Third before you purchase how long is the tang in the other persons or stores posession and also do you ask to see it feed and observe it at the store? Only reason I ask is it sounds like you're doing things right but I suspect the place you get the tangs from are not either properly acclimating or properly caring for the fish before your purchase.
 
Having lost two tangs in two weeks myself, I feel your pain. They are such beautiful fish but I don't know how to make sure I get a healthy one.

As a "bonus" - the first one's sickness killed most of my tank once it spread.
 
I was thinking about getting a small yellow tang and/or a small yellow eyed kole and this kind of scared me away. When I search google, there are just tons of horror stories about buying tangs and having them get ich and dieing or starving (could be a parasite or other illness) and dieing. It seems like half the tangs die once you get them home...is that really the case?

I go to the reef shoppe often and they have a few tangs I have been keeping my eyes on. They look healthy and eat fine. I have a 20L that i will set up for the QT. What is there to do that can help the tang adjust besides drip acclimating them and giving them a safe and clean tank with hiding spots? It seems like reefboarder is doing everything he can and its still not working. Is it really just roulette on getting a good tang?
 
Watching them in the store is always good practice. I don't even bother drip acclimating new fish. Match temp, salinity, and get pH close, and plop them in QT.

Tangs are known to be ich magnets. It seems they always have it. Intestinal parasites are less common, but it definitely happens.
 
I bought mine at the reef shoppe. He was beautiful and ate like a pig and he was dead less than 48 hours after being in my QT..... No idea what the heck happened.
 
lhscouchmonster said:
I was thinking about getting a small yellow tang and/or a small yellow eyed kole and this kind of scared me away. When I search google, there are just tons of horror stories about buying tangs and having them get ich and dieing or starving (could be a parasite or other illness) and dieing. It seems like half the tangs die once you get them home...is that really the case?

I go to the reef shoppe often and they have a few tangs I have been keeping my eyes on. They look healthy and eat fine. I have a 20L that i will set up for the QT. What is there to do that can help the tang adjust besides drip acclimating them and giving them a safe and clean tank with hiding spots? It seems like reefboarder is doing everything he can and its still not working. Is it really just roulette on getting a good tang?
Click to expand...

There are absolutely things you can do. One is very simply feed your tang seaweed at least 3 times a week. It strengthens their immune system and helps prevent parasites. Two is have a minimally stressful tank, that means no big swings in water parameters and no overly aggressive fish that will chase your tang around. Make sure there are plenty of caves and room to swim as well. Three is to get a cleaner wrasse, not only is watching these two swim around in my tank fun but the wrasse picks parasites off of fishes "skin." You'll see the wrasse swim up my tang pause and tilt sideways then the wrasse picks him it's really cool.
 
lots of good info in this thread but some bad, too.
HILLE did not kill the YT in this thread.
Stress definitely had something to do with it's death.
DO NOT rely on cleaner wrasses or shrimps to "pick parasites" and keep ANY of your fishes healthy. In fact, Cleaner Wrasses can STRESS captive fishes and lead to problems.

I would suggest avoiding cleaner wrasses altogether.

IMO/IME a 20 gallon is too small to QT a YT in.
Only the smallest of tangs could possibly be QT'd in a 20.

More on Cryptocaryon irritans:

the truth about marine ich
 
I was thinking about getting a small yellow tang and/or a small yellow eyed kole and this kind of scared me away. When I search google, there are just tons of horror stories about buying tangs and having them get ich and dieing or starving (could be a parasite or other illness) and dieing. It seems like half the tangs die once you get them home...is that really the case?

I go to the reef shoppe often and they have a few tangs I have been keeping my eyes on. They look healthy and eat fine. I have a 20L that i will set up for the QT. What is there to do that can help the tang adjust besides drip acclimating them and giving them a safe and clean tank with hiding spots? It seems like reefboarder is doing everything he can and its still not working. Is it really just roulette on getting a good tang?

A) select one suited both size of your tank( include hiding 'resting palces). Select only fish that are eating well and have a healthy appearance;no sunken or bloated bellies, emaciated appearance, frayed fins , skin spots, discoloration growths or mucous buildups on the specimen you re buying or it's tank mates.If you buy it on line and can't observe the fish ;choose a reputable vendor.

B) Quarantine in (a) tank(s) monitored and managed to prevent ammonia buildup. and treat peventatively for ich( crytocaryon irritans ). This applies to all fish going into the aquarium.

C) Keep a disease free tank.

D) Acclimate the quarantine tank to the fish, match key water parameters closely ; Avoid prolonged stays in open bag water to minimize ammonia toxicity risks. Set it up so you can move the fish quickly from the bag to the quarantine tank with tank water matched to the bag water .

The thread has more:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2185929&highlight=fish+acclimation+and

Establish a steady feeding routine including herbivorous foods like nori and spirulina as well as meaty foods.

I keep 6 tangs including a yellow tang (zebrasomma falvescens) ; several are 8 years old. I've also treated them for friend's and taken in a fnumbr rescue fish over the years.None other than those infested with intestinal parsites or too far gone with other maladies for me to save have died in qt, even in the relatively small tanks used for the short (3day stays) tmk transfer..For long periods of qt a larger tank is needed.
 
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