Unknown problem with Yellow and Hippo Tangs

argo

Premium Member
I honestly don't know what happened to my healthiest and fattest Yellow and Hippo tangs. First off, my 90G is a reef tank with nearly perfect specs - RO + double DI water, minimal temp fluctuations; excluding one coral (AEWFS) everything is thriving and growing. Feeding regimen is a concoction of prepared foods including fish caviar (once a week), CP, assorted marine meats plus nori for tangs. Both Hippo and YT were in my tank for almost a 1.5 now and grew from about an inch for Hippo and 2" for YT to about 5 inches (both).

Recently I bought CB Butterfly and bought some live brine shrimp to get him started. For three days everyone looked fine. On the forth day Hippo stopped eating and before the lights out I noticed that he had a pinched stomach at around its anal fin. The next morning he wouldn't come out from his hiding place. At the end of the 5th day YT developed the same exact problem.

Today both breathe heavily and remain in one spot. Both tried catching some food but can't swallow it. The rest of the fish: mated pair of clowns, pseudochromis, 2 blue chromises, six-line wrasse and CBB are doing great.

I always “wash” live brine shrimp in a bit of tank's water then strain them into the feeding cup to avoid adding LFS water into the tank.

Is there anything I can do to help those two and what could possibly cause this problem? P.S. YT tore a nori sheet apart a night before it developed that problem. Could it be internal parasites? I’d hate to see them perish.

Thanks, Art.
 
Did you quarantine the butterfly? I am leaning more towards a parasitic infestation right now. The problem is, several begin with a refusal to eat and rapid breathing.
 
The LFS quarantined the CBB for me for about 10 days - in an isolated tank. The CBB itself is the healthiest I've seen - ate prepared food the first day in my tank.

Onto the sad news - Hippo was swimming very erratically last morning, then in the early afternoon he was swimming vertically with its mouth above the water's surface. He died the same day.

YT is still hanging in there and even swam a bit this morning. I just can't understand that of all the fish I have only tangs got affected by this unknown malady.
 
Here's another question: if CBB looks healthy, eats and swims like a champ and (IF) it infected both tangs could CBB be immune to its internal parasites? Just doesn't make sense.

BTW, YT has gone to fish haven a few hours ago.

Anyone else had a similar problem? Could it be live brine shrimp that caused some sort of indigestion in both tangs.
 
I don't think the problem is intestinal parasites or from brine shrimp. Much more likely, it is ich or velvet or something else in the gills and the copperbanded butterflyfish was a carrier with some level of immunity.

I never trust any LFS. I also quarantine my own fish after purchase. Plus, ten days is not nearly long enough.
 
Thanks for your reply, Steven Pro. Both tangs are gone, the rest are perfectly fine. Live and learn. Also pinched stomachs of both tangs is still a mystery.
 
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