What's wrong with my Yellow Tang?

[gonpostal]

I posted this in the fish disease forum, but this forum seems to get a lot more traffic.
I ordered a tank raised Yellow Tang online 3 or 4 months ago, and when I got him, he was very skinny. He was acting normally and eating well, so I figured he would fatten up. I noticed pretty quickly that he had clumps of long stringy poop trailing behind him, but thought maybe some strands of chaeto made it out of my sump, and he ate it.
His poop stayed that way, and he never fattened up after several weeks, so I figured he must have worms. I treated with PraziPro in my DT (big mistake, but that's for another thread). It didn't help, so I set up a QT, and tried more PraziPro. After that didn't work, I tried treating the QT with Seachem Metro (3 doses: once every other day as per instructions). That didn't work, so I mixed the Metro with Seachem Focus, and soaked his food in it every day for 7 days. I also dosed the QT with Metro every other day while I was feeding it. I followed the instructions on the Prazi and the Metro carefully.
After all this, he's still very skinny and has long stringy poop. Other than that, he's eating well and acting normally. He's back in the DT, and I'm at a loss. Here are a few pics. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
Thanks.

 

[TripleT]

What are you feeding and how much? Any supplements?

 

[ChknWing]

Just looks like digested Chaeto to me

 

[gonpostal]

What are you feeding and how much? Any supplements?

I feed him Ocean Nutrition Green Marine Algae (has garlic in it) and Ocean Nutrition Formula Two. He also eats anything else I put in the tank: Rod's Food, Blue Zoo mix (from Blue Zoo Aquatics), Mysis. I normally feed once a day. I put a piece of algae in for him, and alternate between the other foods.

 

[125G Reefer]

WOW. Everything your doing seems to be great. That looks nasty though, don't look like chaeto to me though. Definatley malnourished. Feed twice a day, more algea sheet than other foods. Mysis is a good thing.

 

[gonpostal]

Feed twice a day, more algea sheet than other foods. Mysis is a good thing.

I'll try to feed more. I just can't figure out why his poo looks like that. I don't know if there's any other parasite that could have lived through PraziPro AND Metro??? He's been in the tank with the other fish for at least couple of months, and none of them show any symptoms. Weird!

 

[RotaryGeek]

I don't know, looks like dead cheato to me. But can he actually eat a long peice like that? I thought they just break off what the can fit and eat that. and i have had a yellow tang that ate cheato all the time and it doesn't look like that at all.

 

[TripleT]

Was he pooping like that in QT? Was there any chaeto in there?

I'd soak everything he's eating in Selcon or Zoe/Zoecon.

Have you tried contacting the place you ordered him from? Maybe they are running into this as well.

 

[Rockys_Pride]

Kinda looks like a medusa worm, that can't be it though. Following along.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[gooberz]

That looks like Chaeto to me too. All you can really do is feed him well and take care of him until this pases. Good luck!

 

[125G Reefer]

That looks like Chaeto to me too. All you can really do is feed him well and take care of him until this passes. Good luck![/QUOTE]

+1

 

[Phishguy]

Looks like cheato to me also. Like what my urchin was pooping out when input it in my fuge. Was it doing this in qt also?

 

[gonpostal]

Thanks for all the responses. He didn't do this in the QT, but it starts right away when I put him in the DT. Maybe it is chaeto. As far as him being so thin, could it just be that one feeding per day isn't enough? He eats the seaweed that I feed, and whatever I feed the other fish. Some of the other fish also eat the seaweed though, so maybe he's just not getting enough?

 

[gweston]

Tangs are constant grazers in nature... I guess it would depend on how much algae it can get from grazing live rock to supplement your regular feedings.

I'd probably think two feedings per day is good, with nori every 2 days or so. More if you like. Maybe try adding an auto-feeder to add a second feeding once a day in addition to your regular single manual feeding?

When I can't feed manually, I like to toss flake spirulina and flake formula 2 (omnivore). into the auto-feeder (2x/day). I also sometimes add cyclopeeze wafer/flake. I have had my fish do just fine for 2 weeks on that diet while on vacation. With the neighbor popping in every 3-4 days with a cube of thawed mysis spiked with vitamins as a treat.