Clown nipping at yellow tang?

[colodano]

A few weeks ago I added a yellow tang to my tank, and after about 10 days, noticed some nips/ cuts on it's fins. The only other fish in the tank are 2 clowns and 3 green chromis. I have not seen any aggression whatsoever when watching the tank, yet I will see the clowns shoo the chromis away from the area that I feed at.

Wondering if anyone has seen a clown go after a Tang, or maybe I have something different going on, like a hermit crab nipping at it while it rests, or it has done this to itself?

and this one shows the size difference, the big clown is slightly larger than the tang.

 

[Pericyte]

I'm not sure what is doing it, but that yellow tang is skin and bones. He needs a lot of feeding. I would suggest 1/8th or a nori sheet per day. It may take him a few days to figure it out. Also soak your food (mysis shrimp or something) in selcon, or garlic if he's not eating. Get him fat and I bet things will start to change.

What size tank is that?

 

[jeff240gallon]

Clown nipping at yellow tang?

Could it be something nipping at it? Yes. However very uncommon for a clown to be going after a tang, or anything in that matter given the livestock you have. To me appears to possibly be fin rot. Start feeding it more, maybe higher quality food to build its immune system. If it is fin rot and it gets bad you can treat him with meds. for whatever reason fin rot is common in yellow tangs


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[colodano]

Hmm, with how sharp and precise the damage is, I didn't think of something like fin rot.

I was hoping diet was good, as it seems to be constantly grazing on the algae in the tank, and eats mysis with the others when I feed as well, but I can add in some nori sheets with garlic to stimulate some plumping up as well.

The tank is a 55, and I know that it is generally smaller than people would like to see a tang in, but he is pretty darn small, and generally sticks to a fairly small area of the tank. I do have a 180 empty in the basement, but I don't plan to set it up in the house we are currently renting, but it is always an option when the need is there.