Fish are dying one by one.

[leebca]

but I read cleaner shrimp are pretty good at pest control.

It's one of the myths in the hobby. A cleaner shrimp or cleaner fish doesn't rid a fish of parasites that are below the fish's surface, or imbedded in the gills. I wish it was otherwise.

The tang seems to be stress free

Sounds good. Keep up water quality and feed the fish all it wants to eat. Don't overstock your aquarium.

 

[leebca]

the yellow tang kept requesting to be cleaned.

Just an FYI: It's interesting to note that in many cases the 'cleaner' marine lifeform does harm. You see, when the cleaner doesn't get enough food, it eats the fish's mucous coating, which makes the fish more susceptible to parasites and bacteria.

 

[Kirino]

Thx for all the replies, just a little update that the tang is still alive and as far as I can tell doing fine. He does stress easy, if you come close he´ll always hide and stare at you from his cave. But as long as you keep distance he´ll swim around. During feeding he also becomes very stressy, even though he´s the only fish. Outside that he eats everything as quick as possible.

 

[JohnL]

as far as I can tell doing fine

Glad to hear that

 

[Kirino]

Follow up question regarding the yellow tang. How likely is it that it's still infected? Should I give it some sort of treatment in quarantine? I mean, his breathing sure isn't slow and sometimes he has this erratic behavior. A couple of videos:
- video 1 (normal)
- video 2 (breathing)
- video 3 (acting weird)

Sorry the videos aren't very good, it's hard to film him. If I come close with the phone he'll just hide. He's already on to me from that distance. In general he swims normally. But just sometimes, like in the video, he goes weird mode for a few. It's not like I'm watching him all day, but in general I only see this behavior like once a week, but still it concerns me. In the last weeks I've caught him swimming against a rock once, like scratching behavior, but I haven't seen that since (2 weeks ago).

I'm planning to set up a bigger tank. Getting it ready will take months though. With that in mind, should I already give this guy a treatment, and put him back in the current tank. Or just wait and see and give him a treatment before moving to the new tank? I mean ... quarantine seems a risk as it's such a small tank. Treatment in the current tank might be an option too (after moving stuff out) but I'm not sure. Some advise would be super great. I don't want to overreact either.

 

[leebca]

I've caught him swimming against a rock once, like scratching behavior,

It's called "flashing." Healthy fish will do this now and again. No worries here.

his breathing sure isn't slow and sometimes

Breathing seems to be a little high, but again, nothing to worry about.

it's hard to film him

You can try something like this (not now though) Have you tried this? Set your smartphone/camera up to record a 30 min video. Then add food to the tank. Leave immediately after adding the food, and totally keep everyone out of sight. Check the video later to verify behavior.

How likely is it that it's still infected? Should I give it some sort of treatment in quarantine?

It's unclear what was going on with the other fishes. Overall I'd say the fish outgrew their tank and the previous owner didn't upgrade. Even the current aquarium is too small for the Yellow Tang. Ideally, the Yellow Tang should be moved to a new, larger, forever aquarium. I don't see any need or reason to perform any treatment.

 

[Kirino]

Thank you very much for the detailed reply. I´m grabbing a second hand red sea p650. Hope that´s big enough, cause I don´t think I can place bigger. Hope he´ll be happier in there.

 

[leebca]

red sea p650

There are variations of this 'type' of aquarium. But all should be large enough for the Yellow Tang.