sick yellow tang???

[tktodd]

I got my new yellow tang about a week ago. Just today he seems sick because he is just swimming around the tank very slow and staying close to the top at an angle. He also looks a little powdery or chalky (best way to describe it). He still eats, but not as much as he did. All levels in the tank are good. below is my setup.


10 gallon nano
15 lb live rock
white ocean sand
Marineland penguin 150 power filter
1 yellow tang
1 sand sifting star
6 turbo snails
2 more fish coming next week

 

[leebca]

Bad news here. The Yellow Tang is not a candidate for that sized aquarium, even if it is 'small' and looks 'cute' in the nano. That fish needs a lot of swimming space which the nano can't provide. I have no idea what more fish are 'coming' but they better be suitable for a nano AND about the size of a baby pea, because right now, your nano is overstocked with fish. Think for a moment on how much water is left in your tank for the marine life after the rock and sand takes its space?

The small tank is a stress inducer on this fish, which is stress heaped on the 'normal' stresses of capture and transfer. A fish can take so much and it may just be responding to a variety of stresses just now 'catching up on it.' So, this final stress could or could not be the cause. It might even be suffering from the stress of a poor, deficient acclimation.

Tangs have a rather poor mucous membrane/coating. If yours has gone discolored (whitish) there is something wrong with the Tang, the water, or the tank. This could be disease. This could be that the nano water (being small in quantity) isn't stable enough and of high enough quality, for this kind of fish. But without more info, I don't think anyone here can help much more than to make the above general observations.