Purple Tang Dying

chaseg89

chaseg89

New member
My mom texted me this morning about our purple tang, she said she thought it was dying. I just got home from work and it is very pale in the face area and very emaciated looking? He looked perfectly healthy and his usual color when I left for work at about seven last night. He is also having trouble swimming...could something be wrong with his swim bladder? any suggestions on what could be going on or is there anything I can do? Thanks
 
Post pics and water parameters.

What size tank?

Other fish? How are they?

What have you been feeding, and how much?

If you suspect water quality in the slightest, start mixing new water asap.
 
It's a 55 gallon, other fish are happy as can be... about the water parameters and food I couldnt tell you exactly because I dont live at my parent's house where the tank is... I know my dad usually gets our LFS to test the water and they said it was fine last week, but who knows. I believe it's too late now hes lying on the sand gasping...any way I can put him out of his misery? thanks for the reply though TripleT. still planning on doing an immediate water change anyways.
 
If the fish looked emaciated, I would guess that improper nutrition is to blame.

Need to find out what is being fed, and how often.

If this was a Purple Tang in a 55 eating poor quality flakes, for example, the odds were stacked against him.
 
I can assure you improper nutrition is not to blame i know they were fed New life spectrum Thera A regular formula pellets once a day and also fed cyclopeeze and rons fish eggs at least once a week along with the corals. but thats the thing he was not like that at all last night. He was his healthy plump self about twelve hours ago.
 
I just got word that there is a possibility he nipped at a nudibranch my mom found in the tank and removed yesterday... could he have possibly gotten poisoned? Still dont know if thats the case or if he would even be interested in nipping at it?
 
ok so I did a quick small water change and hes back up swimming again, but still very unbalanced and he still is not looking great...any other suggestions?
 
He needs macroalgae. Algae is this fish's primary food. Get some Selcon and some Formula 2 food. Get him healthy and trade him back to the fish store. This fish belongs in a tank about 6 feet long and over a hundred gallons. His muscles are not getting exercise and his diet does not contain what he most needs.
 
Chase -

As much as I'm sure it stinks to hear it, I think the consensus you will find is that your fish is not doing well because he is in the wrong environment and it's just a matter of time. You should try to trade the fish back to the LFS for credit and get some more appropriate species for the size tank you have and the care regimen you or your parents are willing to follow.

Keeping your tang in that tank and feeding him what you feed him is like keeping a dog locked in a bedroom and feeding him only celery. It just doesn't make sense for the animal.
 
Stress of any kind may cause a Tang to turn pale. As far as the swimming issue, I bet he's just trying to keep his side against a surface even if it is the bottom. That's another Tang habit when stressed. If he can't wedge himself in between a couple of rocks, he'll lay against something. He may also appear to be breathing heavily. +1 for trade him in. 55 gallons is just not big enough. If you keep him, Sprung's Purple Seaweed or even Nori can fulfill the fiber requirement of the algae he would normally eat in the wild.
 
I think we have determined nudibranch toxicity to be the cause of his troubles... we emt'd him to the LFS and they are trying to revive him, but it looks and sounds like hes not going to make it
 
That "could" be part of the problem although an extremely small chance of that no matter what they told you at the store. All of the advice you have been given in this thread is a MUCH more likely cause of its issues..I wish you luck.
 
I appreciate everybodys advice, but I believe that given the SUDDEN (overnight) decline from being perfectly healthy to clinging to life it makes more sense that he got poisoned. I think we would have seen more of a gradual decline in his health if his environment was the cause. We all have opinions and that's what makes a place like this great. However my opinion given the circumstances makes the most sense to me. And for a fully grown adult tang yes I do think a fifty five gallon is too small, however for an 1.5-2" long purple tang I do not believe that the tank size had much to do with his overnight crash given the fact that he has been happy and healthy the whole time we've had him. But once again thanks for chiming in everybody.
 
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