I wonder...

[trottman]

If algae eating fish are more susceptible to Ich and other diseases, because the algae they eat lacks something? There are not many true meat eating fish that get loaded with disease like tangs do when they are introduced into captivity. I am just wondering, because I have had two true algae eating tangs get loaded with disease and die, while my third tang (meat eating Thompson) did not get one stitch of disease. I bet that the algae that tangs consume lacks something that helps boost their immune system or something.

Although, the first two tangs that I have dont have a good track record to begin with in captivity.

Any thoughts? ... Just something that I was pondering when i was supposed to be doing school work.

 

[Nanook]

This might be an interesting article to get started....if you have access to it?

 

[scbadiver]

Reading the abstract, it seems this is something Randy Holmes - Farley could have written. I understood about 12 words there :lol:
I love Randy's stuff but have to read it all 6 times with the dictionary on the desk.

I always thought the tangs in general must have a little bit different skin, scales, or slime coat that made them more susceptable but the diet is an interesting thought.

 

[Charlie's Angel]

Interesting. Could very well be the case. All I know is I am fighting the battle now and it seems to be beating me and my fish. I am trying to fight it by keeping the fish eating a varied diet high in nutrition. We'll see.

 

[beapeams]

Actually the reason Tangs (or algae eating fish) tend to be more susceptible to Ich is not about the algae that we feed. Tangs in general tend to have high metabolisims and in the wild they graze constantly. Algae, seaweed, etc tends to be more readily available than most food, other than platonic food. Collection, holding, aclimating, and reapeat this process once it gets to our LFS, and then repeat again once we bring it home only accounts for the stress a fish goes through before it gets in our tank. Once in our tank in an effort to keep our tiny Oceanic systems (When compared to the ocean) stable and clean we tend to feed less than Tangs would eat in the wild. Most of the algae we buy is packed with Vitamin C as a rule, and most of us have macro in the sump. I Cull my macro by feeding it to the tangs in my tank, and I give sheet algae twice a day. I dose my other foods with vita-chem once to twice a week, and since I started that regimine, no tang I have had has had ich. The key is to give them algae multipe times a day, as that is what they are accustomed to in the wild. My Naso is a good example. I can feed daily Rod's food or any other type of food, but if I don't feed algae frequently he starts to look thin and ill (still does not get ich though). I even recently added a fish to my tank that had ich, not one of my exsisting fish got ich, and the fish I added is ich free after a week. I also have a cleaner shrimp and cleaner wrasse to be on the safe side. I use to have ich constantly after I setup my tank, since I have paid more attention to water quality and nutrition, ich is not a concern.

 

[zt444a]

Matt it sounds like school is actually having a positive effect on you!

How much of this is due to just some fish being much more susceptible to ich in the aquraium trade? The movement and transfer takes such a huge toll.

What sort of variables could we look at here? Would the size of the tank and the bioload make a difference in ich rates? I am sure that would factor in somehow...

 

[scbadiver]

You're right Howard, he even spelled "susceptible" correctly. Definate positive effect. Keep up the good work Trottie.

 

[paulamrein]

I think the answer is yes to both arguements. It is a different type of scale and mucus that the tangs have that lead them to be more susceptible. But I also know for a fact that it is diet as well. Well balanced nutrition has always been a disease prevention in any species. If you can recall in history, it was the more heavy women that were considered beautiful, because of all the diseases going around at the time. Reading the artical it seems like the more herbavorous fish needs to work harder for digestion having them needing more food. Like it's been said in above posts. But, well rounded nutrition both omnivorous fish and herbavorous fish need both plant and animal in their diet. So I would think the strict carnivorous species would have the most issues with getting complete nutrition as they do in the wild. Which would leave them more suseptable as well.

 

[trottman]

The way the tangs are made (body structure, scales/skin, slime coat) is all affected by what they eat. Therefore, that is due to nurition. I still think that there is some nutritional thing that makes tangs more susceptible to disease. All fish are the way they are due to what they eat. (their body shape, color, ...)

 

[scbadiver]

Ok, based on that Matt, and reading above, I'd guess the answer might be "lack" of nutrition. As said they are constant grazers. In our tanks the food sources not being as plentiful as on the reef perhaps they are just always hungry in our tanks and stressed due to that. Possible?

 

[paulamrein]

There is defense and enviornment that plays into that equation too. Some are created faster, some are created for the bottom feeding, Cleaner species seem to have special markings that would separate them from others to show others to come get a cleaning. To say it's all nutrition is only looking at one part.