Why does my blue tang look like this?

B

brittanysmith18

New member
I've had this yellow belly blue tang for almost 4 years. When I first got her, she had an awful ich outbreak within the first week (from the store's tank), and I saved her. Ever since, she's looked pretty bad, but she eats a lot. She scratched a lot when she was younger, but as she ages, it just looks like it's getting worse. None of my other fish have been affected, and they've been together for 3 years. I've treated her repeatedly, nothing works. I changed up her diet, but she's pretty picky and didn't take too much to seaweed or krill. What is this? What can I do?

http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a639/Basmith18/IMG_1443_zps6affa07a.jpg
 
OMG that fish looks very bad:sad1: you need to feed him a lot of spirulina and other greens.....multiple times/day....I feel sorry for the fish.
What exactly do you feed him then?
brittanysmith18 said:
I've had this yellow belly blue tang for almost 4 years. When I first got her, she had an awful ich outbreak within the first week (from the store's tank), and I saved her. Ever since, she's looked pretty bad, but she eats a lot. She scratched a lot when she was younger, but as she ages, it just looks like it's getting worse. None of my other fish have been affected, and they've been together for 3 years. I've treated her repeatedly, nothing works. I changed up her diet, but she's pretty picky and didn't take too much to seaweed or krill. What is this? What can I do?

http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a639/Basmith18/IMG_1443_zps6affa07a.jpg
Click to expand...
 
stuifbol said:
OMG that fish looks very bad:sad1: you need to feed him a lot of spirulina and other greens.....multiple times/day....I feel sorry for the fish.
What exactly do you feed him then?
Click to expand...

Agreed fish NEEDS greens in its diet. If you say that it won't eat the seaweed then you aren't getting it any sort of veggies? Try spirulina as mentioned, also there's seaweed extreme pellets hikari makes that Iv'e noticed most tangs even finicky ones love.
 
I've tried spirulina, frozen and flakes, I got a new nutritional flake with 55% protein, and that's her favorite it seems. She doesn't like the green food! :( What other veggies can I feed her?
 
try adding the nori attached to a rock with a rubber band instead of on a clip, some fish just don't seem to like the clip. As I said theres the hikari seaweed extreme pellets Iv'e used and my fish were crazy about them. Try soaking the food in garlic extract to help entice the fish to eat it. Just try pretty much everything you can until you find the right thing. Go raid your local fish store essentially.
 
I bought some garlic enriched pellets, and they just spit them out. I know she's ugly haha, but she's doing well otherwise! I didn't use a seaweed clip, the seaweed floated and my clownfish picked at it, but the tang wouldn't touch it.
 
Maybe she's just scarred and not actually unhealthy? She is actually a lot thicker than other tangs I've seen, she just has very poor coloring. But like I said, she had ich horribly when I first got her, and she actually was basically dead and wouldn't move, wouldn't breathe, and every time she breathed she would spit out the white dots. It was bad. She scratched a lot then too, so maybe the scratching just ruined her scales?
 
My hippo won't touch the green seaweed. We get the purple stuff in the silver package (blanking on the name) and he gobbles it up. Definitely try different brands and colors/flavours, but I would recommend purple based on my experience.
 
Are you running actived carbon,because that maybe the reason for the bad skin?
grtz
brittanysmith18 said:
Maybe she's just scarred and not actually unhealthy? She is actually a lot thicker than other tangs I've seen, she just has very poor coloring. But like I said, she had ich horribly when I first got her, and she actually was basically dead and wouldn't move, wouldn't breathe, and every time she breathed she would spit out the white dots. It was bad. She scratched a lot then too, so maybe the scratching just ruined her scales?
Click to expand...
 
I believe I am running active carbon, is there inactive carbon?? (because I didn't know and would definitely change). I know it looks bad, but sometimes she looks better, and others she doesn't. She LOVES spirulina though, but not seaweed. I'll try different seaweeds though, definitely..

Can you explain the active/inactive carbon??
 
Megatrev62 said:
Definitely don't enter it in any beauty contests, lol.
Not much you can do. Accept it for what it is.
Click to expand...

This comment is priceless, had a good morning LOL with my coffee..

My powder blue wouldn't touch any type of seaweed... red, purple, green, pellets, or flakes.
I rubber banded some to a rock on the sand bed instead of the clip.... still nothing. Soaked it in Kent garlic Xtreme, and American Marine Selcon. 3 days after shyly swimming past it, he was nibbling. A week later a full sheet of green mixed with purple in gone in a few hours. The kent garlic drops and Selcon helped on my end.
I also would like to add, I have a yellow tang. The yellow was the first to start eating the seaweed rubber banded to the rock. I would notice the PBT watching him as he nibbled. I think this also helped.... /shrug
 
Last edited:
Well at least its starting to bite at the seaweed thats a good start. Also are you rinsing off your carbon well before putting it in your tank? That could be the source of the problem as well.
 
there is no inactive carbon.....
I asked the question because there are studies that prove that skin from sensitive fish like tangs gets deteriorated from the use off carbon....and also cause Head and line erosion
I would say try a month without using carbon and see what happens with the fish's skin....
brittanysmith18 said:
I believe I am running active carbon, is there inactive carbon?? (because I didn't know and would definitely change). I know it looks bad, but sometimes she looks better, and others she doesn't. She LOVES spirulina though, but not seaweed. I'll try different seaweeds though, definitely..

Can you explain the active/inactive carbon??
Click to expand...
 
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