New yellow tang dying!

[babyduke]

75G tank, all water parameter in healthy range

Got a yellow tang about 2 1/2 weeks ago. For the first week, it remained shy in between rocks and didn't eat. I learned this wasn't an abnormal behavior. Sure enough after a week, it became very active and started eating like a pig. 2 nights ago, I had to rearrange some live rocks and water became sandy. I also did a water change (20%) while I was at it. Last night I noticed, he was staying at the top corner of the tank and not feeding. This morning, I saw it was stuck in the blower so I thought it was dead. Took it off and it's floating around uncontrollably. Had to come to work so I'm sure by the time I go home, it would be dead.

What are some possible reasons? He's not getting bullied by any fish. He's young and looks completely healthy and vibrant. I use RO water and other than the tank getting stirred up, there was no adversity.

 

[rvareef]

sometimes stirring sand and liverock will release nasty stuff and im sure thats why hes not doing well. maybe do a water change and add carbon?

 

[babyduke]

But all others are doing great as ever.

 

[AcroNewbie]

How long has the tank been set up? How did you acclimate the fish? What are the specific parameters of the tank? (i.e. nitrates, phosphates, temperature, salinity, ph, etc)

 

[HobosReef]

I just dropped one in my 36G QT tang. It is just one data point, but he is eating well. The scary thing is my Nitrides just spiked and I am doing massive water changes to fix the problem. Even with the Nitrides it is still eating well.

 

[thegrun]

Tangs need a lot of water passing over their gills to get their required oxygen which is why they need larger tanks than most fish. I suspect the sand reduced the available oxygen and since tangs to not process the water for oxygen as well as your other fish it was the first to suffer. On a side note all fish should be quarantined before adding them to your tank, especially tangs as they are known to frequently carry disease.

 

[babyduke]

To my surprise, he was semi ok when I got home and even nipped at some food. But I still doubt he'll make it far.

Tank's been set up for 7yrs. I do water tests regularly and acclimate properly with dripping. Like I said, he was shy the first week then started doing great, eating like a pig for the next 10 days. Temp steady 76, 1.025, zero ammonia, nitrate,phos, etc etc.

 

[Marchillo]

Run some carbon as stated in the first response and try to increase oxygen in the tank. Another wc can't hurt either.