I have a 220 gallon with a few of the smaller morays, a sergeant major damsel (that I wish would get eaten), a Hawaiian black durgeon trigger (Melichthys niger) and a male Crosshatch trigger.
I was having issues keeping Caulerpa at bay, and an LFS got a Doctorfish tang (Acanthurus chirurgus) in that was large enough to not be moray food and easily as big as either trigger. For the first several weeks he did quite well and almost overnight wiped out the algae problem. He also looked to be able to hold his ground vs. the triggers.
However, over the last couple of weeks he has constantly been pale and seems to have new scratches/bruised areas every time I look at him. Watching the tank, it looks like the triggers have gone from occasionally picking at each other to tag-team harassing the tang. He's still eating pellets and I've been dumping caulerpa from the sump refugium back into the main tank just to make sure he's got his own food source (the triggers demolish nori immediately but leave the caulerpa alone). It doesn't seem to be making much difference and it's looking like time for him to go.
I really did not expect the triggers to gang up on a tang (especially a large one). If I can't tip the balance somehow (and have no idea how to do that), the tang will need to go, and the algae will again explode. Is there something I can do to salvage the situation, or a better-suited fish to do the same job?
I was having issues keeping Caulerpa at bay, and an LFS got a Doctorfish tang (Acanthurus chirurgus) in that was large enough to not be moray food and easily as big as either trigger. For the first several weeks he did quite well and almost overnight wiped out the algae problem. He also looked to be able to hold his ground vs. the triggers.
However, over the last couple of weeks he has constantly been pale and seems to have new scratches/bruised areas every time I look at him. Watching the tank, it looks like the triggers have gone from occasionally picking at each other to tag-team harassing the tang. He's still eating pellets and I've been dumping caulerpa from the sump refugium back into the main tank just to make sure he's got his own food source (the triggers demolish nori immediately but leave the caulerpa alone). It doesn't seem to be making much difference and it's looking like time for him to go.
I really did not expect the triggers to gang up on a tang (especially a large one). If I can't tip the balance somehow (and have no idea how to do that), the tang will need to go, and the algae will again explode. Is there something I can do to salvage the situation, or a better-suited fish to do the same job?
