Yellow tang - red along back spine

[Cajun Reefer]

I have a 1 year old Yellow tang that is about 4 inches long. Over the past few days, I have noticed a red color along the base of its back spine. It is getting around fine and eating well.

Does anyone have any idea what this may be?

It is housed in a 90 gallon along with a blue damsel and 2 clownfish, no corals yet only hair algae! It is the king of the tank with no one causing any aggression towards it nor does it pick on the other fish.

pH= 7.9 - 8.1
SG= 1.023
temp= 78'-80' F

Sorry about the picture quality. They really don't do it justice. The red is very obvious.

Thank you for your assistance!

 

[julianp]

It is likely just a small bacterial infection. I've had red splotches show up on my yellow tang during a period in which water quality dropped a bit. It's a pretty common happening among tangs (and shows up best on yellows because of their color).

Do some tests and make sure your water quality is still in the normal range (e.g. 0 for ammonia and less than 10ppm or so for nitrate)

I did a water change, upped the amount of nori I fed and started making sure to always soak food in selcon/vitamin supplement. The red blotches left within a week or so.

 

[Cajun Reefer]

Will do! Thanks...