Blue tang won't eat, HELP

[symon_say]

Hi

I purchase a hippo blue tang about 10 days ago, and i haven't been able to make him eat.

I bought it with a desjardini sailfin and a banggai cardinal, the other tank mates are a pair of clarkii, 2 royal gramma and 1 foxface.

Desjardini start eating right away, banggai wasn't eating until i feed some bloodworms since then he is a pig, but blue tang don't seen interest in anything i feed the tank.

I have tried, NLS pellets, flake a pellets spirulina, nori sheets, mysis, bloodworms, tropical fish food, coral frenzy and even made my own frozen food, all the other fish goes crazy on anything i feed the tank but the blue go out of his hiding a swim around food, i haven't seen it pick anything and is starting to look skinny.

Help me with this i'm running out of ideas.

 

[Megatrev62]

10 days seems long for a blue tang not to eat, especially the foods you mentioned. I would suspect a sick fish at this point. Hopefully others will respond which would make you feel a little better. Good luck.

 

[symon_say]

I think about decease, but he seen healthy, except for the skinny look he is getting.

 

[pktech]

Maybe the sailfin is intimadting the hippo a little?? My sailfin would bully everyone @ feeding time - if you don't have another tank to put it in maybe you can get some sort of egg crate & divide your tank & give it some comfort until it puts on a few...?

 

[symon_say]

I just left some nori in tank tonight to see if he eats it.

 

[Kyle10181]

To entice him to eat, have you tried adding some Garlic Extract to the Nori? Also, I'm wondering what types of Nori have you tried? I've found in my personal experience dealing with my 3 tangs they all have a personal favorite Nori. My purple tang and sailfin love Green nori, while my Blue Hippo favors red Nori.

It may be worth a try of getting both types of nori and trying to enrich it with some supplements such as Selcon, and Omega; and add some Garlic. If all goes well, he should begin to eat and gain the much needed nutrients he needs at this point, where hes gone 10+ days without eating, that you've seen.

It is also worth mentioning that if you are hanging nori on a food clip, the fish may very well not accept this as it is not how they are used to eating in the wild. I've seen a few tangs that would not accept nori unless it had been tied to a piece of live rock with an elastic band or something of its likeness to stimulate the same feeding response.

Best of luck, and hope to hear good news of the little fella's speedy recovery and new found fervor for food!

 

[symon_say]

I put garlic, I took him out To qt and giving him treatment with maracyn, I haven't seen any sign of illness, I'll get the red nori to see if he likes it.

 

[Megatrev62]

Just wondering if your tang has eaten yet?