Need help with tangs!

[Kimberlylanders]

Salt water tank had been up and running for about 3-4 months. Currently what is in tank is 1 clown, 2 gobys, horse shoe crab, some red tip hermit crabs , 1 urchin, 1 brittle star.

Before there was one damsel, 2 clowns my first purchase of a tang was a sailfin tang it lived 1 week.
Next I got a yellow tang and a blue damsel, the tang died within 4 hours.

So I tried a different store and purchased another tang it did the same lasted a few hours. Thinking the one damsel was the problem, it liked to chase the others a bit. I got rid of that damsel. Then I came home to find one of my clowns the more dominant of the two was dead , the blue damsel had some scratches on its face so I took it back to the store and eliminated all damsels I tried another tang and it still didn't make it. I have brought my water into the store and had it tested plenty of times and all has checked out every time. Everything I put in my tank is fine but tangs. Can anyone help me??

​

 

[robertboukari1]

Salt water tank had been up and running for about 3-4 months. Currently what is in tank is 1 clown, 2 gobys, horse shoe crab, some red tip hermit crabs , 1 urchin, 1 brittle star.



Before there was one damsel, 2 clowns my first purchase of a tang was a sailfin tang it lived 1 week.

Next I got a yellow tang and a blue damsel, the tang died within 4 hours.



So I tried a different store and purchased another tang it did the same lasted a few hours. Thinking the one damsel was the problem, it liked to chase the others a bit. I got rid of that damsel. Then I came home to find one of my clowns the more dominant of the two was dead , the blue damsel had some scratches on its face so I took it back to the store and eliminated all damsels I tried another tang and it still didn't make it. I have brought my water into the store and had it tested plenty of times and all has checked out every time. Everything I put in my tank is fine but tangs. Can anyone help me??

​

What are you feeding the tangs?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SALTYwaterDOG]

Oh no so sad. :facepalm:

 

[Sk8r]

Stray voltage?
We need FAR, FAR more info. Tank size, pump size, skimmer, sump, heater type, actual numerical chemistry for alk, salinity, and such. Damsels generally take a 100 gallon tank to settle, tangs more than that. Anything under that size is going to have problems.

 

[Tripod1404]

What size of tank, what salinity, did you quarantined or acclimated? Death that fast makes me think you didn't acclimate and there is a big salinity difference between your tank and that of the lfs.

 

[pisanoal]

What are you feeding the tangs?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Unless, poster is literally poisoning the tangs, it has nothing to do with what he/she is feeding them if they are dying the same day.

To the poster, tangs are sensitive species, much more so than the fish that you said you have/had in the tank already.

Without knowing details, I think you need to look at how you are acclimating the fish. Your tank salinity (assuming reef with the inverts you have) is likely much higher then what your LFS runs their fish only tanks at. Fish are shipped at 1.018ish salinity to help with increased oxygen levels, and boost immune systems to help handle the stress of relocation. Fish can handle a rapid drop in salinity MUCH better then a rapid increase. Ideally you want to put the tang into a quarantine system that is matched to the salinity of the water you brought them home in. Then bring that up 1 or 2 points per day. Rapid rises in salinity can kill fish very quickly. Improper acclimation can also cause "mysterious deaths" of seemingly healthy fish days later.

I wont go into the fact that it is highly recommended to quarantine all fish and do something like tank transfer to prophylactically treat for ich, but you should look at the fish disease forum for more information. Tangs are highly susceptible to parasites, and if you are planning on housing them, you really should be looking into disease mitigation for your tank. Its unlikely that this is what is killing your tangs in just a couple of hours, but it sounds like some of your other problems could possibly be from disease, not necessarily physical damage from other fish ("scars"). Just a hypothesis there.

What size tank do you have? Stress could be a major factor, and tangs need bigger tanks (90+, depending on species).

Please do more research and be better prepared before purchasing more fish. These fish are pulled from their ocean homes to be pets in our tanks, and it is our responsibility to take care of them to the best of our ability. Its easy to forget that when you can go to the pet store and buy another one. Some of these fish can live for 15-20 years. Not trying to preach to you, people make mistakes. I've made a lot in this hobby and killed my share of fish/coral in the process. Anyone who says they haven't is most likely lying. The best we can do is learn from our mistakes and get better from them. Thank you for coming here for help and please continue to ask questions. People are very helpful here.

 

[Kimberlylanders]

The store told me that my watters solution is about the exact same to there's. I do the drip acclimation and the fish will seem fine and swim around just fine and will be fine for about 5-6 hours and then I find them dead. I never see what's happens that's why we figured it was the damsels running the tang and stressing it out. I'm fairly new at this and have been trying to research and ask the store questions but some of the workers are only so helpful or care to go into detail. Years ago my parents had this same tank and I loved it, they use to have tangs, triggers, puffers and never had the problems I'm having, my dad was the one who had the tank and he passed always years ago and I always had the interest in the tank, so I'm just trying to find more help then the fish store will give me... I asked about the water temp maybe my tank isint warm enough and they told me that wouldn't be it. Unless I had my ac on 24/7 which it's not the tank is at 75 degrees. I never got the chance to feed the tang I also asked them if maybe it was the food I was feeding they said that wouldn't be it either. My water was fine. I also asked about filters and the pump they said that was fine to do I am stuck.

 

[Kimberlylanders]

It's a 40 gal sorry thought I had that info

 

[robertboukari1]

It's a 40 gal sorry thought I had that info

I would try to slowly raise the temp. To about 78. Tangs are pretty sensitive so that might be the case. I'm fairly new to the hobby as well but I have three tangs who are all doing well. Good luck.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Kimberlylanders]

Is there away to attach images?

 

[Sk8r]

Your tank is too small, I regret to say: that is going to shorten up oxygen and swimming room and the swimming activity that helps oxygenate the tissues. One very small damsel in a 50 is ok, or a pair of clowns (also damsels) ---but a sailfin needs a 240 gallon. A forty would make gobies and blennies, basslets and small jawfish happy. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1946079

Now, do you have anything else going on with the tank? Stress COULD do it, but more likely it's a cause like electric shock or something in procedure that is setting this up. You may also have introduced a parasite. Standard procedure is to isolate new fish for a period of observation and treatment of whatever they might bring with them. If such get into your tank, it can mean a lengthy stand-down from fish (72 days) until it starves out. I'm very sorry you're having such disappointing problems, but step one is to change the species fish you're putting in there, and to be sure they're not bringing parasites with them. You cannot reliably depend on the fish store to run your water tests: you need tests for salinity---if you jump a fish upward in salinity more than .002 every 15 minutes, he can die several days later of kidney failure. You need a test for alkalinity: you want that to be a steady 8.3. You want a temperature of about 79. Again, steady. These fish are from the tropics, where things like this don't change much. Crabs larger than hermits are a risk of fish-killing. Green serpent stars are fish-killers. And do you have 8o lbs of live rock to handle the waste, or are you trying to run on a filter?

 

[heathlindner25]

Please do research on any future animals you wish to keep , that would include all animals...fish,cows,horses,chickens,dogs,emus, lizzards....whatever.

 

[Clowning_Around]

Hey guy, checkout liveaquaria.com it has quickstats on a large selection of fish and a short snipit about them, like if the mesh well with other of sme species etc etc. Its a good syarting point when considering different selections. There is also some online livestock compatibility charts and interactive softwares, a def worth checking out. Sorry for your losses but it sounds like tank size issue to me, fear not It happens. I learned the same thing with my 75 but that was before I bought a tang. Gluck.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

 

[Kimberlylanders]

Your tank is too small, I regret to say: that is going to shorten up oxygen and swimming room and the swimming activity that helps oxygenate the tissues. One very small damsel in a 50 is ok, or a pair of clowns (also damsels) ---but a sailfin needs a 240 gallon. A forty would make gobies and blennies, basslets and small jawfish happy. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1946079

Now, do you have anything else going on with the tank? Stress COULD do it, but more likely it's a cause like electric shock or something in procedure that is setting this up. You may also have introduced a parasite. Standard procedure is to isolate new fish for a period of observation and treatment of whatever they might bring with them. If such get into your tank, it can mean a lengthy stand-down from fish (72 days) until it starves out. I'm very sorry you're having such disappointing problems, but step one is to change the species fish you're putting in there, and to be sure they're not bringing parasites with them. You cannot reliably depend on the fish store to run your water tests: you need tests for salinity---if you jump a fish upward in salinity more than .002 every 15 minutes, he can die several days later of kidney failure. You need a test for alkalinity: you want that to be a steady 8.3. You want a temperature of about 79. Again, steady. These fish are from the tropics, where things like this don't change much. Crabs larger than hermits are a risk of fish-killing. Green serpent stars are fish-killers. And do you have 8o lbs of live rock to handle the waste, or are you trying to run on a filter?

The tanks the tangs were kept in at the store are the same size if not smaller then mine... what is the difference in that. Maybe I will not try any more tangs. What are some other fish I could keep in my tank that don't hide? The 2 gobys hide the clown fish is lonely with out its friend. If I got another clown would they get along? I bought them as a pair, I know the damsel was guilty of my clown.