You might try offering him a different food like small mysis shrimp, but if he's eating at least every now and then, I wouldn't worry too much. Kole tangs are pretty shy in general, and they take a while to "settle in."
I definitely would recommend Prazipro as part of a QT protocol, though. It's very gentle on fish and is easy to dose. I usually do a 5-day treatment, followed by a partial water change, then another 5 day treatment. Many hobbyists on this forum (myself included) advocate proactively treating tangs for marine ich (cryptocaryon) since they are susceptible to the parasite.
Its mostly the overly shy behavior combined with the lack of appetite that is concerning me. Granted, I can only see him in the evening when I get home from work, but every time I check on him he's simply in the pvc, not swimming about.
I also wouldn't be too concerned about not eating nori off a clip. Bristletooth tangs are much less likely to do so, most of the time it is because they see other tangs doing it.
You might try wrapping it around a piece of pvc and rubberbanding it down. Will help to imitate a more natural feeding style for them.
I'll also ditto the shy comment from above.
Thanks for the tip!
Even though they are considered herbivores; I always feed my new tangs mysis as a first food. IMO, tangs are really omnivores, they eat a lot of pods and other small anikmals while grazing. Nori is not special to them, mysis is.
I agree with the Prazi-Pro comments and I also proactively treat for parasites; that's a hotly debated subject.
I don't have any on hand right now, but i'll pick up some and see if that stimulates his appetite a bit.
+1
This has worked for me.
Is there a consistant lighting schedual and a bright enough light? These guys are visual and temporal feeders and if yer turning it on and off at weird hours and/or it's not bright, the feeding will be affected. Also, to de-worm internal nematodes there is a levamisole flake food made by angels-plus which is highly effective and usually palatable to tangs. Too often fish from the wild are full of worms on necropsy. Mr Tusk is right and there's research to proove it. "herbivorous" fish on the reef really aren't getting a large percent of their nutrient from plant matter (even though they are equipt to digest it) but moreso from the epifauna which grows on it.
Lighting schedule is consistent. The tank is lit by a standard aqueon hood + pc light. Its currently on a timer to match the DT's photoperiod - on at 10am, off at 8pm.
are you currently treating him with anything? Both Copper and PraziPro can suppress the appetite.
I'm not treating him with any medications at all right now.
Update:
Here's a quick vid (apologies for the iphone video. I don't have the webcam setup right now so i leaned this against the glass and left it there for a bit) showing his current behavior. Every time I see him he's swimming awkwardly in the pvc:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRexS0rejBE
I moved the elbow to get him to come out so I could snap a clearer picture of what I'm seeing with the dorsal and caudal fins:
Compare this to the day 1 pic above - the damage wasn't present then or wasn't as pronounced. Could this be powerhead damage? Only powerhead in the tank is a small koriala pump - he's never seemed interested in it.
I started prazipro tonight - recommended dose - approx 2.4 mL for the 10g water volume. I tested the water beforehand, same as above (0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrite, a little higher - 6ppm on nitrate). I did a WC and removed the carbon from the filter before dosing the prazipro.
Thanks for your help all - I'm hoping i'm being overly paranoid here, but I just don't like the look of those fins...
-Tim
