Help me save my yellow tang

[zachfishman]

I apologize in advance, but I can't provide pics as the FOWLR in question is out-of-state.

I have two tanks I help my father maintain from afar, a 120 reef and a 90 FOWLR. The tanks house some tangs and a few other misc fish - and receive the same food: spirulina flakes daily, frozen brine shrimp every other day, and lots of nori several times per week.

The yellow in the 90, like the tangs in the 120, is quite fat. However, it has severe HLLE, so much so that its dorsal and anal fins have deteriorated quite extensively over the years (I'd estimate only 20% of those fins remain. The pectorals and tail are fine though). The other fish in the 90 (maroon clown, flame hawk, blue damsel) don't look as good as they could either, exhibiting very weak coloration same as the yellow.

Both tanks are grounded via titanium probe to the house's plumbing, and have similar (& decent) water chemistry, and remain very stable; though neither receives much maintenance (~15% W.C. biannually).

What do you recommend I do? I am currently planning on adding Selcon or Vita-Chem to the brine shrimp feedings.

 

[anbosu]

Stop feeding brine shrimp. Switch to mysis shrimp, and supplement a high quality pellet food like NLS Thera A.

Is carbon run on either system?

 

[Toddrtrex]

Do you only feed brine?

Need to feed them something different/better. For the tangs going to need to give them lots of "greens" I personally use Nori, LifeLine's Herbivore mix and 3 different types of Rod's food. Oh, and spectrum pellets too.

In addition I would increase the water changes/quality.

And, what "tangs" do you have in the 120?

 

[zachfishman]

Stop feeding brine shrimp. Switch to mysis shrimp, and supplement a high quality pellet food like NLS Thera A.

Is carbon run on either system?

I can move to mysis; is it really all that more nutritious? I bought some once, but the fish didn't seem as excited about the mysis compared to the brine.

Yes I run carbon on both, about 3/4 cup in a filter bag (placed in an old powerfilter) on each system twice a year. It is removed (at my direction) after one month.

 

[zachfishman]

Do you only feed brine?

They also get regular spirulina flakes and tons of nori.

In addition I would increase the water changes/quality.

I can't, I am only home twice per year long enough to perform water changes for each tank once. They aren't as healthy as they could be, but I only keep hardy corals in the 120 (softies, frogspawn, zoas, shrooms, etc.) which are doing quite well.

And, what "tangs" do you have in the 120?

The 120 (with sparse rock) has a 5" Pacific Blue (which has oddly been the same size for years) and a 8" sailfin which, I admit, has begun to outgrow the 120.

 

[Toddrtrex]

For the 120, both of those tangs will get (( and the sailfin already is )) too big for that sized tank. The reason the blue has been the same size is because of the food and water quality issues.

Honestly, if you can only do water changes twice a year, need to find someone that can do them more often, that really is the only way (( alone with higher quality food )) to improve this situation.

 

[Levito]

water changes take less than an hour, if the water is already mixed. Since it sounds like you're pretty much never home, you should get these fish in the hands of someone who can properly take care of them. They sound like they're in bad shape, and in desperate need of some TLC.

 

[zachfishman]

I think I'll try changing the feeding regimen first and see if the health of the fish improves. Regardless, I think it's time to offer my cousin (who is over there at least once a month) some compensation in return for taking up some maintenance duties. Additionally, I will begin scheming a way to catch/trap that sailfin without dismantling the 120.

Any fish trap recs for tangs?

As a side note, what exactly is it about "stale" water that can cause detriment to fish? Supposing the water is devoid of noxious minerals and compounds, has good (and stable) pH, alk, and temp, 0 ammonia or nitrites, and low nitrates - what exactly is harmful?

 

[anbosu]

I can move to mysis; is it really all that more nutritious? I bought some once, but the fish didn't seem as excited about the mysis compared to the brine.

Yes I run carbon on both, about 3/4 cup in a filter bag (placed in an old powerfilter) on each system twice a year. It is removed (at my direction) after one month.

Yes, it is better for them. Brine is good for a treat or to get fish eating, but doesn't have sufficient nutrition in it for a long term diet.

If you feed NLS pellets (sometimes you need to soak them first) the fish should start to recover.

 

[zachfishman]

Which NLS pellet product should I get? There's quite a few. Also, are there any comparable foods (in case my LFS doesn't carry NLS)?

Thanks for all the responses about the brine, I never knew it was that much different than mysis - always regarded it as personal preference.

 

[lostintheocean]

feed you fish the proper diet and do basic tank maintaince. why have you waited so long to try to find an answer? sounds like you fish are suffering, if you only have a couple hours each year for your tanks maybe you should rethink the hobby.

 

[anbosu]

Which NLS pellet product should I get? There's quite a few. Also, are there any comparable foods (in case my LFS doesn't carry NLS)?

Thanks for all the responses about the brine, I never knew it was that much different than mysis - always regarded it as personal preference.

I like the Thera A pellets. If the fish are decent sized you can get the 3mm sinking pellets, otherwise get the 1 or 2 mm size. It is way cheaper to get it online, so I would order there anyway. I got a pretty decent sized bucket that I split with a friend 6 months ago for $60 or so from aquacave and I still have probably 40% of that left, and I feed it to two tanks.

 

[anbosu]

Here is a link to what I ordered (I chose the largest size).

http://www.aquacave.com/spectrum-th...ula-3mm-bybr-new-life-international-1007.html

 

[zachfishman]

feed you fish the proper diet and do basic tank maintaince. why have you waited so long to try to find an answer? sounds like you fish are suffering, if you only have a couple hours each year for your tanks maybe you should rethink the hobby.

Thanks for the constructive criticism.

I originally set up these tanks about 10-12 years ago when I was in middle- and highschool. Though they have declined a bit in health over the years, the systems are still very viable and mean a lot to my father as they were projects we worked on together. I agree that I could've acted on this much sooner, but I believe that a turnaround can be achieved (heck, it would appear that switching to mysis and starting NLS pellets is half the battle).