Naso Tang lying down & in trouble

[Word up]

Naso has never eaten well although I gave him strips of brown, purple, green algae. He just started nibbling on new life spectrum pellets for past 2-3 days but now he is skinny and he is laying down for about 5 hours. Any suggestions on how to get him to eat? I just bought some ocean nutrition / garlic enriched today.

 

[Word up]

Sg 1.016
Ph 7.7
80 degrees
No nitrates
180gallon

 

[michael_in_nc]

SG looks a little low, usually it's around 1.025, but Naso should survive hypo if it wasn't changed too quickly. pH is also low, usually around 8.3. What about ammonia? How long has the tank been running? How long have you had him?

 

[Word up]

I have had Naso for 3weeks. He nibbles at food occasionally but last night he seemed skinny but good color (not faded like when stressed) and swimming around. Now in 7th hour of laying down what looks like labored breathing. Ammonia is 0 but tank has 120lbs live rock but is only 3 months old...

 

[Word up]

Dead. Maybe lateral line disease.

 

[Triton_Z]

If they (Naso) usually don't eat well at first, they tend to waste away and die. It's likely the fish was stressed or diseased prior to your tank and was on the way out.

I was acclimating and QTing a pair and had one eat like a fiend and the other barely eat at all and waste away within 5 days. I knew the 2nd one was in trouble within a day given its behavior. My LFS worked with me given the situation, but still disappointed I lost the fish.

 

[sandwi54]

Naso tangs are very tricky fish. According to Bob Fenner and my own experience, most of the ones under 5-6" do not acclimate to captivity, stress very easily, and usually die in the end. I do not buy any naso tangs smaller than 6" anymore, after losing three 4" ones. It's a great species and can be hardy given that it comes in a medium sized and acclimated well.

By the way, there's no such thing as "lateral line disease" killing a fish. head and lateral line erosion (HLLE) is a result of a few factors, most commonly dietary, high nitrate, stray current, use of carbon, etc.

 

[aleonn]

Sorry to hear. Noticed your pH was a little low. Maybe not enough aeration or surface water agitation that led to oxygen deprivation?