Achilles Tang

Circular potato · Jul 20, 2016

Hi everyone I got an achilles tang a couple days ago. It is being housed in a 120 with a yellow tang, purple tang, magnificent fox face, and a few small wrasses. The achilles is larger than the other fish. It was bullied by the purple for the first few days, but aggression has settled down now. He picks at the rocks occasionally, but does not want to eat any of the food I feed.
I've tried
LRS
Mysis
Nori
Rods
Flakes
Pellets
Just about all the food I have and he doesn't seem interested in any of it.
Is there any one who has had a picky achilles tang that can chime in on this? I'm worried if doesn't gain interest that he might perish soon.

4FordFamily · Jul 20, 2016

First of all, I really sincerely hope your tank has never had ich in it, and that you e quarantined and treated all fish as if they did have ich.

Otherwise what you're going to learn the hard way is that unlike your other tangs, Achilles tangs cannot just adapt and fight it off and will slowly (or quickly) die as the life is sucked out of them.

That aside, three things allure my Achilles tangs and past Achilles tangs - live brine, red nori, and live black worms.

In that order. I would try all three. Rubberband red nori to a rock, since he's already picking at rocks. If he watches your other tangs eat, he is more likely to come around to eating.

The quarantine thing is by far the most important here. It didn't sound like you quarantined, I don't mean to be a Debbie downer but if my assumption is correct than this fish has much larger problems and I would be setting up the biggest quarantine tank you can afford up right now.

Keep us posted on his progress, and good luck!

Circular potato · Jul 20, 2016

My tank has never had ich. I know that Achilles tend to be very finicky when it comes to ich and their survival rate.
The LFS had this achilles in his show tank that he just broke down and it was healthy as can be in it. It had been in their for about 3 months and it ate fairly well. It just suddenly lost all of its appetite when I bought it, which is quite weird since I've never had this happen to me.
I've tried red nori before and he still doesn't seem interested.
In the past I had a regal angel that did the same thing and it didn't eat for a week then suddenly came around and ate like a pig. I hope the same happens with this one.

simbarocks43 · Jul 20, 2016

The same thing happened to me two months ago take him out and qt him the one i had beoke out with ich lost $1000 in fish i really hope you take him out i was lazy and said its not that bad well when you lose all your fish youll know

Circular potato · Jul 20, 2016

I'll keep a close eye on him.

eatbreakfast · Jul 21, 2016

Hunger strikes are frequently related to internal parasites, high nitrates, aggression, and a lot of activity outside of the tank. Determine if any of these are a factor.

Try feeding what it was eating at the store.

Unfortunately, their survival rate is dismal without proper qt protocol.

4FordFamily · Jul 21, 2016

eatbreakfast said:
Hunger strikes are frequently related to internal parasites, high nitrates, aggression, and a lot of activity outside of the tank. Determine if any of these are a factor.

Try feeding what it was eating at the store.

Unfortunately, their survival rate is dismal without proper qt protocol.

Agree entirely.

To reiterate - there are many tangs that can handle parasites. This isn't one of them. Almost every tang and angel you buy these days carries either velvet or ich.

SeaDweller · Jul 22, 2016

Couldn't agree more with what 4FF says, however I'm playing a chance game right now. The Achilles I currently have does have ich (or so it appears to be). It was cleared by TTM and observed for weeks before being put into my display. It has spots that do not go away, and my other tangs don't show it, although it's assumed they have it now too. Believe it or not, it wasn't another fish that brought it in, rather I feel it was an acro colony or frag plug.

That was months ago. I'm playing the chance game because as cliche as it sounds, there's little I can do about it. I don't like seeing it with what I assume to be ich, and I'll have to see how it goes/does, he's the only one affected so yes, they don't seem to adapt and build temporary immunity as well as their cousins do.

Back to your topic, my first achilles, which was put into QT to try to fatten up more than it was so that I could put it thru TTM, didn't eat for aout 1.5 weeks. It came in from the wholesalers with ich, and so I needed it to be healthy before I subjected it to TTM. Probably my fault it died because I didn't put it thru TTM quicker, instead of trying to get it to eat. Point being, it was plucked from the ocean and was stressed. Nothing you're feeding it is close to what it eats normally. It being an established fish... it may be just stressed that it's NOW in your tank. Give it some time and hopefully it eats. My first initial one only ate Green nori, BTW.

Circular potato · Jul 22, 2016

Great news now. He has finally gotten an interest in food. Eating red and green Nori now. It has minor scratches from the other tangs but no ich. I've also noticed that its stomach has been fattening up so I feel that it has a good chance.

Circular potato · Jul 22, 2016

Also what does ttm mean?
I've had many powder blues, brown, gold rim before and after they get nice and fat they aren't affected by ich anymore.

NeuroticAquatics · Jul 22, 2016

Be careful with trusting the LFS display tank fish. I lost everything in my 240g after not QTing a Passer Angel that had supposedly been in my LFS owner's home tank for years. Maybe the stress brought out something? I probably lost $1500+ in fish. I now trust nobody moving forward.

Glad to hear your Achilles is eating!

SeaDweller · Jul 22, 2016

Circular potato said:
Also what does ttm mean?
I've had many powder blues, brown, gold rim before and after they get nice and fat they aren't affected by ich anymore.

Tank transfer method

4FordFamily · Jul 22, 2016

Circular potato said:
Also what does ttm mean?
I've had many powder blues, brown, gold rim before and after they get nice and fat they aren't affected by ich anymore.

I've seen literally 2 dozen or more die to each one that survives 6 months to a year...

How long did you own these? How long have you been in the hobby?

As you'll find out, this won't work with Achilles and you would be the only person ever to have those three fish as you describe to fight off ich (more than one)

Circular potato · Jul 23, 2016

My powder brown and gold rim have been with me about 3 years now.
The achilles today is more active and alert. It took a nip at some mysis shrimp so I feel like it will adjust soon.