Killer Yellow Tang

[Silverado]

I have a yellow tank that appears to be killing my Skunk Cleaner Shrimp.

I have gone through 2 originals and I purchased 4 new one last week. Three are dead again.

Tonight I found the tang ripping at the shunk shrimp. Not sure if he was already dead or not.

I can not seem to keep these shrimp alive.

Any sugestions anyone.

 

[atkinsg]

Don't get any more skunk shrimp

Seriously, I have a Yellow Tang and a skunk shrimp, and I have never seen the Tang act any more agressively to the shrimp than to swim away from it really fast. Do you have any other animals in your tank besides the Tang and Shrimp?

 

[the7ferret]

Got Nori?

I have 2 skunks with my tangs 1 yellow 1 blue.
Whenever I am out of nori they get agressive.

No problems however.

 

[aquawolf]

Check your water parameters. Skunk cleaners are usually pretty hardy, but something may be off enough that they can't deal with it.

Also, how big are the shrimp versus the tangs? My cleaner shrimp is pretty big so that may be why I have never seen my tangs take anything more than a curious look at the cleaner shrimp.

 

[dchao]

Tangs are Herbivores, they would not kill a shrimp, IMO.

 

[Fmellish]

Maybe he doesn't like the way they smell?

Sorry

 

[jwhitlow1031]

shouldn't be a problem as long as the tang has enough nori to eat, shouldn't be a problem to start with because the tang is a herbivore, shouldn't be attacking anything but ur algae

 

[BTTRFLYGRL]

Maybe you have an unwanted guest in your tank..A crab? mantis?

 

[PatMayo]

Hey Fmellish,

How's that tank of yours doing? Things getting better for you?

My 90 is finally up. 3 weeks in. Took everything but substrate and blue damsels into the new 90.

Regards,

Pat

 

[NCreefwannabe]

My cousin has had a blue leg hermit in his tank for about a month, and 2 days ago he got a yellow tang... yesterday, his hermit was found outside his shellin the tangs favorite spot dead..

 

[Fmellish]

Pat, it's going well. I lost my first fish a few days ago. It was kinda sad.

Otherwise its going good, thanks.

Best of luck to you.

Josh

 

[Silverado]

I also have a clown fish, 22 snails, 1 skunk cleaner shrimp left, small sea urchin.

Water is perfect except nitrates are a little hight. Doing small water changes to bring back to normal.

Just can't find out why cleaner shrimp keep dying.

 

[Silverado]

Tang is about 2.5 inches in diameter,

shrimp is about 1.5 inches long.

 

[Silverado]

What is NORI

 

[the7ferret]

Dried Seaweed commonly used as the wrap in sushi.

 

[Snooker00]

Now I'm really confused. My YT is an omnivore, the reason I say that, is because she eats plenty of mysis shrimp and cyclopeeze besides all the nori she eats. I thought herbivores were nothing but plant eaters? This may sound a little dumb, but this thread got me curious enough to ask. But for the thread sake I also have 2 skunks, 2 peppermint and 1 fire shrimp plus hermits red & blue and snails. My tang is best buddies with all of them and the PJ Cardinals. I have never seen her act aggressive towards any of them. Maybe I got a lover and not a fighter
Just an observation of mine.
Steve

 

[Silverado]

Yes I put dried sea weed in the tank every day

 

[IslandCrow]

Yellow tang a herbivore. . .try telling him that! My yellow tang will eat anything and everything, and if given a choice between nori and mysis (or even chunks of regular shrimp), he'll go for the meaty stuff every time. My tang is usually the biggest wimp in my tank, but I've seen him nip at my cleaner shrimp (skunks) from time to time. . .of course, I think that's mainly because he started getting annoyed with them trying to "clean" him every time he got near. . .poor Jacque and Jacque Jr. Anyway, it seems perfectly plausible in my very limited experience that a tang might attack a shrimp, and whether he kills it intentionally or unintentionally, once it's dead, I'm sure it's fair game for eating. Guess it's a decision between the shrimp and the tang.

 

[Silverado]

See I don't know if the shrimp was dead first or not. Just losing to many of them.

 

[Snooker00]

What are your nitrate levels? How long and how do you acclimate your shrimp before putting them in the tank? Also check to make sure you don't have any readings for copper. Have you added a fish recently, only reason I ask is because most LFS's have copper in the fish tank water and if you just dump the fish into the tank with the water in the bag you could inadvertantly put copper in with it.
Just trying to help find the problem because I am in NO WAY an expert( sounds like a disclaimer)

Steve