Bristletooth Tang QT Plan

re76 · Mar 21, 2017

Hey everyone,

I plan on getting a 4-5" white tail bristletooth tang sometime this week. I plan to try a hybrid TTM/Copper approach that I have seen @VJV use and thought it was quite smart.

My plan for QT is as follows:

Receive fish on Thursday into a 10 gallon tank without copper, Let's call this tank A. Let him spend 1-2 days there to get comfortable and start eating.
After he is eating well. Start slowly ramping up the copper in this tank (A) over 3 days using Chelated Copper. In the meantime set up a second 10g copper tank that is already at therapeutic levels for Chelated Copper, this will be tank B.
Once tank A is at therapeutic levels of Copper I will then do a transfer to tank B, theoretically only transferring trophonts into tank B which is already at therapeutic levels of copper.
Leave fish in tank B for 10 days so that all trophonts are given a chance to drop off the fish and die.
After 10 days transfer to my 30 gallon hospital tank without copper.
While in the 30gal tank, do two rounds of Prazi along with observation for any other symptoms.
After prazi is complete transfer to display tank.

My main concern is: is a 10 gallon tank big enough for a 4-5" bristletooth tang during QT?

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

melypr1985 · Mar 21, 2017

Sounds like a pretty good plan, though i would watch the new fish in the 30 gallon tank for two weeks to be sure nothing else pops up. A 10 gallon might be a little cramped for him, but if he's the only one in there, then it could work.

re76 · Mar 21, 2017

melypr1985 said:
Sounds like a pretty good plan, though i would watch the new fish in the 30 gallon tank for two weeks to be sure nothing else pops up. A 10 gallon might be a little cramped for him, but if he's the only one in there, then it could work.

Yup, he will be the sole occupant of all of these tanks.

Humblefish · Mar 21, 2017

melypr1985 said:
Sounds like a pretty good plan, though i would watch the new fish in the 30 gallon tank for two weeks to be sure nothing else pops up. A 10 gallon might be a little cramped for him, but if he's the only one in there, then it could work.

+1 And be sure to take aerosol transmission into consideration when housing these different tanks: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/aerosol-transmission.190292/

re76 · Mar 27, 2017

So I now have the tang, he seems pretty healthy. Now the problem is he seems extremely scared/shy and as far as I can tell has eaten nothing or maybe just a very small amount when I wasn't around. I got him last Thursday, so it has been almost 4 days now.

Is this common for tangs? I have a large 4" PVC Tee in there with him and I have never see him outside of that PVC. When he sees me he tries as hard as he can to not be seen. I wrapped at towel around the tank to try to help calm him.

I'm going to hold off on any prophylactic medication and just focus on getting him eating and less terrified.

I'm considering moving him from the 10 gallon he is in now to the 30 gallon that I had eventually planned to move him into for observation. My thought is once he calms down and starts eating again I can then resume my original QT plan in the two 10 gallon tanks.

Humblefish · Mar 27, 2017

What foods have you offered thus far? I would try rubber banding some nori to a small rock, as grazing on a rock mimics their natural feeding behavior.

re76 · Mar 27, 2017

Humblefish said:
What foods have you offered thus far? I would try rubber banding some nori to a small rock, as grazing on a rock mimics their natural feeding behavior.

I have tried the following:

PE Mysis
NLS 1mm Pellets
Ocean Nutrition w/ a clip
Ocean Nutrition glued to a rock (only the corners)

I have come to the conclusion that the chances he will eat when I am standing there watching are near zero. So I usually put the food in and then check back in a few hours. While I can't prove that he didn't eat, based on the amount I am sucking out of the tank with a turkey baster, if he did eat anything it was a very small amount.

With the Ocean Nutrition, it is hard to tell. There was some missing, but I am attributing most of the missing bits to the powerhead blowing it away or it just disintegrating from the flow in the tank.

I'm willing to go see what kind of live foods my LFS has on my way home today. Are there any preference for a certain type of live food?

Humblefish · Mar 27, 2017

re76 said:
I'm willing to go see what kind of live foods my LFS has on my way home today. Are there any preference for a certain type of live food?

Live brine, live blackworms. Also look for Nutramar ova and Reef Nutrition ROE.

re76 · Mar 28, 2017

Fish is still acting very scared and from what I can tell is not even going after the brine shrimp.

At this point I am going to assume there is something wrong with him. My guess might be flukes? Is there anything else that doesn't show any visible symptoms but causes fish to hide constantly and not eat?

I think I am going to try a fresh water dip and see if that shows anything. Thoughts?

Humblefish · Mar 28, 2017

re76 said:
Fish is still acting very scared and from what I can tell is not even going after the brine shrimp.

At this point I am going to assume there is something wrong with him. My guess might be flukes? Is there anything else that doesn't show any visible symptoms but causes fish to hide constantly and not eat?

I think I am going to try a fresh water dip and see if that shows anything. Thoughts?

Velvet will make a fish light sensitive, which generally causes them to act reclusive.

I think the FW dip is a great idea. If flukes show, treat with Prazipro. If no flukes show, assume parasites and treat with copper or CP.

Maritimer · Mar 28, 2017

The only thing I could add to the excellent advice you've received so far would be to place any immobile food _just_ outside his PVC, so that he doesn't have to come very far to get it. (And maybe use garlic or some other appetizer with the food - though that doesn't work _every_ time . . . )

How big is the PVC in relation to the fish? Relatively open, or a pretty snug fit? He may prefer a different size pipe fitting . . .

~Bruce

ngoodermuth · Mar 28, 2017

Just want to add in here, this specific tang (white-tail BT) has a rap for being more delicate and tougher to adapt to aquarium life than other bristletooth tangs. He may certainly be ill, but it could just be the fish

Can you contact the vendor to see what/if any he was eating prior to purchase?

re76 · Mar 28, 2017

He did really good with the fresh water dip. No signs of flukes though.

My gut tells me though that I should still hold off on any treatment. He is not flashing or displaying any signs of a parasite. If it was velvet I imagine he would be a goner already.

I'm starting to think that he is just a really skittish fish. He seems healthy, just having a very hard time adapting.

re76 · Mar 28, 2017

ngoodermuth said:
Just want to add in here, this specific tang (white-tail BT) has a rap for being more delicate and tougher to adapt to aquarium life than other bristletooth tangs. He may certainly be ill, but it could just be the fish Can you contact the vendor to see what/if any he was eating prior to purchase?

Yes, this is what I am starting to think. I'm beginning to think I might just take the risk here and get him into the DT sooner rather than later. He has no outward signs of parasites or infections, and the FW dip didn't show anything.

I got him from LiveAquaria. I can try emailing them to see what if anything he was eating.

ngoodermuth · Mar 28, 2017

If you are able to spare a piece of live rock for him to graze on, that might help him settle in. Obviously, just make sure you take it out before giving meds and don't put it in your display after. I did this with my leopard wrasse, it took him almost a week to start really chowing down.

ngoodermuth · Mar 28, 2017

re76 said:
I'm beginning to think I might just take the risk here and get him into the DT sooner rather than later.

I wouldn't. It's easier to "train" picky eaters in QT. I would just keep trying different foods, maybe flake? Other frozen foods? Clams? Smaller or bigger pellets? The trick is finding ONE thing they will eat and then expanding from there.

I've heard of people making "nori burritos" for tangs, rolling frozen foods up like fresh sushi [emoji23]

re76 · Mar 30, 2017

Update:

So I have been wanting to get a Nest Cam for a while now, and this experience prompted me to finally pull the trigger. I set it up right next to his tank so I could put some food in the tank and watch him remotely to see if he was eating.

Before I went to work today I put a clip on the bottom of the tank with the Ocean Nutrition Seaweed select in it. Putting it on the bottom of the tank makes it sort of float and sway so that it looks like actual seaweed.

I am happy to report that I am sitting here at work, watching him pick at the seaweed via the Nest camera. Definitely one of the coolest gizmos I have bought in a while...

Humblefish · Mar 30, 2017

re76 said:
Update:

So I have been wanting to get a Nest Cam for a while now, and this experience prompted me to finally pull the trigger. I set it up right next to his tank so I could put some food in the tank and watch him remotely to see if he was eating.

Before I went to work today I put a clip on the bottom of the tank with the Ocean Nutrition Seaweed select in it. Putting it on the bottom of the tank makes it sort of float and sway so that it looks like actual seaweed.

I am happy to report that I am sitting here at work, watching him pick at the seaweed via the Nest camera. Definitely one of the coolest gizmos I have bought in a while...

Nest Cam sounds like a good investment.

re76 · Mar 30, 2017

I think next I might try a nori burrito like @ngoodermuth suggested. I think I will stuff it with some LRS fish frenzy and put it in the clip at the bottom of the tank.

Hopefully that will encourage him to try eating some frozen...