Naso Tang not eating

[dieselkeeper]

I recently brought a blonde naso tang. It's pecking at the rocks and over flows where I think he is getting some algae. I've tried filling the water with nori seaweed twice a day, he still does not eat any. My purple tang loves the stuff. What else should I feed him, or should I not worry since he is pecking at the rocks?

 

[sean48183]

Try collard greens from the grocery store and formula 2 flakes. Mine ate both of these for months before he would try anything else. Still doesn't care for dried seaweed much even now.

 

[tangers]

tie the nori to a rock (or rubberband it). Provides a more "natural" look to them. He/she may think they're just grazing off the rocks as opposed to eating "prepared' food.

 

[sunfish11]

There have been a lot of posts lately about naso that wont eat. I wonder if they are starting to become a candidate for the difficult/special care species list?

+1 on the rubberband/rock method

Naso's generally eat everything once they are eating. I read a study also where they were heavier planktivores than many other tangs and that gut contents indicated a high percentage of meat in their diets. Try various frozen like mysis, krill, ocean plankton, and Rod's Food. If you can get some live adult brine shrimp that may help as well. Feed small feedings frequently throughout the day. If it starts eating feed it as much as you can until the stomach is filled out nicely.

I have had my naso for about 2.5 years and twice she has suddenly stopped eating on me. This is not uncommon with these fish. I was lucky enough that both times she came out of it. The first time she was clogged up with Cheatomorphia and couldn't get it pooped out. I quit letting her eat that. The second time was a year later and she stopped for no apparent reason. She also started again for no apparent reason.

A good friend of mine, and an expert reefer/fish keeper, had a large naso for many years that quit eating and died over the course of a few days. Another friend of mine bought a nice blonde naso that died a week later. It was a fat fish but the naso wouldn't eat, developed a pinched stomach in the first day, and died. That fish was eating before she brought it home.

My conculsion, not just from the experiences that I listed, but from many posts stating the same type of things, is that when a naso won't eat it is a very bad sign. They require copious amounts of food and should be very full bodied fish. A shrunken stomach is a bad sign and refusal to eat is a very, very bad sign.

Lisa

 

[BigJay]

I lost two blonde naso here due to not eating. I offered plenty of foods, meaty and vegetable. Has there been a change in collection practices?

 

[dones20]

sadly enough this is the case with alot of in coming nasos for some reason or another probroably poor shipping and handeling the majority of them never accept aquarium fair and eventually just perish and if they do they sometimes only take greens like romaine or spirulinia or nori and no other supplemnets to go along with the greens and inturn after a few months of looking healthy and fat just parish due to malnutrition, offer him live brine and plenty of greens to go with it good luck also i would soack the nori and all the greens in vitamins to ensure optimal nutrition

 

[mgny]

I picked up a blonde naso a few weeks ago to control a valonia problem. He immediately went after the valonia but would eat nothing else. After 2 weeks he cleared all the valonia he could find but still would eat nothing else i offered,, i tried everything. He was starting to get pretty thin so i hand collected any valonia i could find in the overflows and in areas he could not get into and hand fed him as often as i could to keep him going. After another week i tried some mysis and he finally went for it. He is now eating everything. I should mention in case you dont know what valonia is, it's the bubble algea that can resemble a marble. If you dont have any see if any fellow reefers or a lfs can give you some. Hope this helps, Mike

 

[sean48183]

I agree with sunfish in that these fish should be under the hard to keep species. I had to work my butt off to try to get mine to eat and I am pretty good at getting most things to eat. One thing I disagree with is the meaty stuff. My naso will eat the meaty stuff and pretty much anything I throw in the tank now but if I go a week without collard greens his stomach pinchs in. I have seen these fish in the wild and they are constantly grazing on the rocks and they eat a tannish brown type algae that grows on it. And because they get big they're metabolism is probably pretty fast meaning they have to eat alot of it.

The reason I say collard greens is they carry way more nutrition then regular romaine lettuce and for some reason really tend to fatten up my naso. If I go a week without giving him collards his belly will begin to pinch in regardless of how much meaty or frozen foods he eats. I only keep my collards for about 6 days then chuck it and go buy new stuff. It's only about $1 so it's not expensive. IMO growth seems to be better with collards. I feed one to 2 medium portions per day.

 

[sunfish11]

I do feed mine seaweed sheets everyday as well as frozen meaty foods. I feed red, brown, and green algea. She also loves valonia that I pull out of the overflows. The Naso needs to eat a lot of seaweed and meaty foods to stay fat. One day of not eating and their stomach starts to pinch up. When talking about the meaty foods, I was indicating not to feed seaweed exclusively and to try some to get the fish to eat something. I don't use any type of lettuce or collard greens for my fish, although, I do believe the Rod's Food contains broccolli. Try some brown algea (Seaweed Selects, or Sea Veggies) as well because as indicated, they eat a lot of brown algea in the wild.

Lisa

 

[dieselkeeper]

I got ya'lls suggestions. Couldn't find collard greens, so I settled on romaine lettuce instead. He started eating it almost as soon as it hit the bottom. Thanks.

 

[dones20]

this is good but not greatas romaine has very little if not close top no nutritional value for fish....DO NOT give him alot of romaine lettuce as i have experinced the hard way it creates an intestinal block and the fish becomes very bloated and dies after continuose feedings long term

 

[sean48183]

How's your naso doing?

 

[matt 76]

sean48183 How much is a medium amount of collard greens?
Do you do anything special? I am having the same issue with my blonde naso, I went and got the organic greens last night and he's nipping at it today. I was just making sure you didn't dry it out first or do something special to it before putting it in the tank.
I've tried mysis, brine, plankton and nori so far.

 

[FOSELONE]

i think hell be allright...just give him some time...my black tang did the same...only picked at the rocks at first...now he loves brine & mysis...just keep feeding

 

[91yota]

when i had mine, she ate everything i put in the tank, grew probably 3-4 inches in a year... i had 3 tangs (all 6"+) at the time and fed a whole sheet of nori daily along with mysis, cyclopeeze, formula one, and formula two....

 

[matt 76]

Ihope he will be alright. I'm not sure how much time it takes before they actually starve to death.