Yellow Tangs Keep Dying

I have a 90 w a yellow tang and he is about 2 now and GRADUALLY his dorsal fin is rotting away. No fungus or tail rot it just seems to be disappearing until only cartlage is left.....He eats and is very active. He is boss and biggest fish in the tank. Just some damsels and gobies in w him. Yes he gets mysis soaked in selcon and sea weed 2-3x's a week.
 
it is either lack of oxygen, is your aquariumopen at the top or closed with glass covers?

Also, the diet you mentioned might be the problem (correct me if im wrong) but yellow tangs will eat almost anything but they mainly eat algae? Maybe your tang did not get his veggies lol
 
Miller,

What is the relative size of the Regal Tang compared with both Yellow Tangs? Nobody thinks that Tangs are capable of ichthy homicide, and yet one of our local club members had a Sailfin tang go beserk overnight and kill half the stock in the tank in one fall swoop. This was in a well established 300 gallon tank, so even tank size was not as big a concern as one might initially guess.

As already mentioned, if you are going to stock heavy (and can't upgrade), you would be wise to drain the tank (store livestock in plastic tubs/garbage cans temporarily), drill an overflow if it doesn't already have one (see glass holes.com for one idea), put a cheap plastic tub or stock small aquarium in as a sump and get some circulation of any sort going initially in there. I would go with a Mag 18 or equivalent if you can afford it for that size tank. Otherwise in the meantime adding an additional powerhead in the tank and arranging all powerheads in the same direction lengthwise at the same end of the tank to create a gyre can improve your circulation (versus having multiple directions partially cancel each other out).
 
Lots of good info above. But losing 2 YTs is hardly a pattern. Some fish just die, maybe can't adapt to captivity, or who knows. The fact that you haven't lost any other fish says a lot. Sometimes things like this are just coincidence. A lot happens in this hobby and we never know why, I doubt you ever will with these 2 losses. BTW, that sure doesn't mean you shouldn't be looking for answers, just that you may never find one.
 
I've been recently restocking my 75 with fish. Tried 2 Kole Tangs that never were able to acclimate and dies. Weird as I've acclimated 2 triggers, an Angel, blenny and wrasse no problems...Something about those Tangs, although I had a very happy hippo in this system for 4 years before I crushed him in the rocks moving stuff around...
 
Back
Top