Scopas tang

[Broken reefer]

Just noticed my scopas tang swimming with his head down and sideways. Ideas,is he dieing?

 

[griss]

If you can post a short (1 minute or longer) video, under white light, showing both sides of the fish @Dr. Reef and @leebca should be able to provide some advice. You can upload the video to YouTube and link it here.

 

[leebca]

Just noticed my scopas tang swimming with his head down and sideways. Ideas,is he dieing?

The behavior you mention is not a good sign. It usually indicates the fish has one or more problems. Without back ground information, like history, how long have you had the fish, where did the fish come from, other marine life in the aquarium, etc. it is difficult to provide any help.

If this behavior has been going on for some time and the fish isn't eating, then the prospects for recovery is low.

 

[Broken reefer]

I've had him for 90 days, I have a hippo,starry blenny,diamond goby,2 spotted manderins,6 chromis,pair of clowns. He was fine then it was like it happened in a moments time. Nothing has changed,peramiters are In check. I think he's just dying. I tried to catch him to feed to my long tenticle anemone in another tank but he's elusive.

 

[Brian60077]

hopefully he will recover. they are nice fishes.

 

[Broken reefer]

hopefully he will recover. they are nice fishes.

Thanks

 

[Brian60077]

My blue tang sure knows how to cause heart attacks. The first night as soon as the light dimmed to the moonlight setting he totally disappeared, couldn't find him with a flashlight, so overrode the light timer and a few minutes later he came swimming out from under a rock and looked at me like he was saying what do you want, I was SLEEPING..... Now if I inspect him as soon as he comes out to swim around in the morning, he looks like he has white spots on him until he swims for awhile and they fall off, he gets sand stuck to him being under the rock. 5 minutes of swimming around he is perfect and I saw it falling off of him.... Maybe the key is don't inspect him until he has been swimming for a bit....

 

[leebca]

I've had him for 90 days, I have a hippo,starry blenny,diamond goby,2 spotted manderins,6 chromis,pair of clowns. He was fine then it was like it happened in a moments time. Nothing has changed,peramiters are In check. I think he's just dying. I tried to catch him to feed to my long tenticle anemone in another tank but he's elusive.

Sorry to hear this. Some wild caught fish don't handle the stress very well. My primary concern is that there may be a parasite involved. Was the fish quarantined before put into the display aquarium?

A stressed fish will sometimes have difficulty breathing. Count the number of breaths the fish takes in 15 seconds. Multiply that number by 4. If the number is at or above 140, there may be a parasite involved.

 

[Broken reefer]

My blue tang sure knows how to cause heart attacks. The first night as soon as the light dimmed to the moonlight setting he totally disappeared, couldn't find him with a flashlight, so overrode the light timer and a few minutes later he came swimming out from under a rock and looked at me like he was saying what do you want, I was SLEEPING..... Now if I inspect him as soon as he comes out to swim around in the morning, he looks like he has white spots on him until he swims for awhile and they fall off, he gets sand stuck to him being under the rock. 5 minutes of swimming around he is perfect and I saw it falling off of him.... Maybe the key is don't inspect him until he has been swimming for a bit....

Thanks

 

[Broken reefer]

Sorry to hear this. Some wild caught fish don't handle the stress very well. My primary concern is that there may be a parasite involved. Was the fish quarantined before put into the display aquarium?

A stressed fish will sometimes have difficulty breathing. Count the number of breaths the fish takes in 15 seconds. Multiply that number by 4. If the number is at or above 140, there may be a parasite involved.

Thanks for the information on counting the breathes. Very good material. The scopas was stuck to my wave maker this morning so I feed him to my long tenticle anemone. It took about 4 entire seconds before it disappeared. I wish I would thought to take a video.Thanks again.