Yellow Tang is dying?

[reefnoob88]

Last night before my lights went out i noticed my Yellow tang sort of bobbing off the sand at the bottom. I thought since the lights were going out and i also read that tangs will sleep on their side on the sand sometimes that it was normal. I watched the tang all night having trouble keeping itself upright and knew something was up. The lights came on like normal but she never lifted herself up off the sand thats when panic set in. I grabbed my net gently netted and moved the fish to the specimen container and hung it on the tank. I went to my local fish store, they have been great and very helpful, for suggestions. Just to be sure i also brought some water from my tank and everything tests perfect. Their advice was to watch the tank and the fish probably has either a parasite or other internal malady? I also checked the tank with a voltmeter which was also recommended by the fish store and nothing?

My tank is a 55G cube tank and the tang was very small, I added the tang with a 2hr drip acclimation exactly a week to the day. The tang was eating and taking to the tank perfect looked stress free. The tank has two very small clown fish about 1/2 inch and a very small rainford goby. All other tank inhabitants are at this time in perfect health. Currently doing a water change and keeping my eye on the other fish. Anything I could have done or should have done? The tang was wild caught and my fish store claims to quarantine everything but i noticed this one about a week ago in the store and then he said it was ready?

Parameters:

Amonia=0
Nitrite=0
Nitrate=0
Salinity=1.026

 

[SAT]

At this point you would need an autopsy for an accurate diagnosis. It is unfortunately common for fish to have fatal injuries or diseases that show up a few weeks or even months after acquisition. It would not be surprising for the fish to have been fatally wounded during capture or transport but survive for a few weeks. For instance, it used to be very common practice (maybe still?) for cyanide to be used to knock out fish for capture... those fish rarely lived longer than a month.

My own cold-hearted philosophy is to not get emotionally invested in a fish I haven't kept for at least 3 months. Even experts experience a high degree of mortality during the first month or so.

Many suppliers offer a keep-alive guarantee of at least 30 days. If your LFS does not, I suggest looking for another one.

The advice to use a voltmeter basically means the person at the LFS had no clue what was wrong. It's a good idea to ground your tank, but that's to protect you from stray voltage, not your fish.

I see you didn't use quarantine yourself. I know some fish stores claim to quarantine so you don't have to, but typically they don't have the resources to do a proper job. I don't know your LFS, so I may be off base, but there is a pretty good chance they are making exaggerated claims, in which case you should go to another store. Avoidance of Cryptocaryon (marine Ich) takes a minimum of 12 days of active treatment (tank transfer method or copper). If all you do is observe the fish without treatment, you should allow a minimum of 30 days for symptoms to show -- some advise much longer. It's very expensive for a fish store to hold inventory for this long without sale.

 

[reefnoob88]

At this point you would need an autopsy for an accurate diagnosis. It is unfortunately common for fish to have fatal injuries or diseases that show up a few weeks or even months after acquisition. It would not be surprising for the fish to have been fatally wounded during capture or transport but survive for a few weeks. For instance, it used to be very common practice (maybe still?) for cyanide to be used to knock out fish for capture... those fish rarely lived longer than a month.

My own cold-hearted philosophy is to not get emotionally invested in a fish I haven't kept for at least 3 months. Even experts experience a high degree of mortality during the first month or so.

Many suppliers offer a keep-alive guarantee of at least 30 days. If your LFS does not, I suggest looking for another one.

The advice to use a voltmeter basically means the person at the LFS had no clue what was wrong. It's a good idea to ground your tank, but that's to protect you from stray voltage, not your fish.

I see you didn't use quarantine yourself. I know some fish stores claim to quarantine so you don't have to, but typically they don't have the resources to do a proper job. I don't know your LFS, so I may be off base, but there is a pretty good chance they are making exaggerated claims, in which case you should go to another store. Avoidance of Cryptocaryon (marine Ich) takes a minimum of 12 days of active treatment (tank transfer method or copper). If all you do is observe the fish without treatment, you should allow a minimum of 30 days for symptoms to show -- some advise much longer. It's very expensive for a fish store to hold inventory for this long without sale.

Thank you for the reply certainly makes me feel a little better.

 

[keithw283]

How big is the tang and how long is your tank? IME tangs need lots of horizontal swimming space. Especially a yellow tang. I had one in an 88 thinking it would be good but it eventually didn't make it. My parameters were all in check and everything else in the tank was fine so I chalked it up to my tank being too small.

 

[ca1ore]

Fish die, new fish more often, and tiny new fish even more often. It could be anything. Stress, capture/transportation injury, some disease problem ...... No way to know really. While your tank IS too small for a tang, that's unlikely to be the immediate cause.

 

[pfan151]

Many suppliers offer a keep-alive guarantee of at least 30 days. If your LFS does not, I suggest looking for another one.

Where do you shop? I've been in this hobby for about 25 years and literally never heard of any local fish store, online fish store, or wholesaler that offers a 30 day guarantee.

 

[Mr. Eel]

http://www.liveaquaria.com/ 14 day guarantee on moderate to easy fish here, but still nowhere close to 30.

 

[pfan151]

http://www.liveaquaria.com/ 14 day guarantee on moderate to easy fish here, but still nowhere close to 30.

They actually give 14 days on everything they sell, hard species or not, which is pretty incredible to me.

 

[SAT]

Liveaquaria is the one I was thinking of... incorrectly remembering the actual duration for this. However, it's been my experience that a good LFS will often replace an animal that dies quickly without explanation, whether they offer an official "guarantee" or not.