Convict Tang

[dalelew123]

I found my new Convict Tang lying on the sand this morning. I have only had him for 3 days, he seemed fine until today. He has been eating and active. All of my other fish seem good. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I found my new Convict Tang lying on the sand this morning. I have only had him for 3 days, he seemed fine until today. He has been eating and active. All of my other fish seem good. Any help would be appreciated.

By chance , is this a 2.5-3" tang ? I ask because there has been a large number of them shipping especially from California and I am in question how theyre being caught (net, chemical, etc) as they seem to be VERY short lived. It seems those with LONG acclimation stand half a chance but I have lost two and I dont lose fish and know of at least 9 persons who also got convicts to have them looking great and eating and by day 5 watching them become lethargic with no distress signs - good breathing rate, swimming behavior and no blemishes, etc
Then the mouth appears to have swollen lips as yours shows in video then moribund sets in.

Is yours still eating ?

@Jay Hemdal - anything you know may be going on with capture, tranship, cyanide, etc with this particular species ?

 

[dalelew123]

By chance , is this a 2.5-3" tang ? I ask because there has been a large number of them shipping especially from California and I am in question how theyre being caught (net, chemical, etc) as they seem to be VERY short lived. It seems those with LONG acclimation stand half a chance but I have lost two and I dont lose fish and know of at least 9 persons who also got convicts to have them looking great and eating and by day 5 watching them become lethargic with no distress signs - good breathing rate, swimming behavior and no blemishes, etc
Then the mouth appears to have swollen lips as yours shows in video then moribund sets in.

Is yours still eating ?

@Jay Hemdal - anything you know may be going on with capture, tranship, cyanide, etc with this particular species ?

It is 3” and he was eating as of yesterday. This would be day 4 for me. Thanks for the reply.

 

[vetteguy53081]

It is 3” and he was eating as of yesterday. This would be day 4 for me. Thanks for the reply.

having someone else chime in also

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

It is 3” and he was eating as of yesterday. This would be day 4 for me. Thanks for the reply.

Convict tangs are a bit of an enigma to me. Now that Hawaii is closed down, I don't know where they are getting them from. Certainly, they are coming from SE Asia, and that means a lot longer supply chain. In turn, I suspect they aren't as strong.

However, this fish suddenly not feeding is a major symptom. Combine that with the rapid breathing, and it points to some gill disease. The trouble is that the fish is "on the bottom" and probably will not respond to any treatment. You could try a 3 minute FW dip, but it might prove fatal. At this point, you'll want to go into damage control mode - just in case this fish brought some contagious disease (like velvet) into you tank. Watch the other fish closely for rapid breathing and be prepared that you might need to treat them all in a hospital tank with copper (ugh, I know that is a big step!).

Jay

 

[dalelew123]

Convict tangs are a bit of an enigma to me. Now that Hawaii is closed down, I don't know where they are getting them from. Certainly, they are coming from SE Asia, and that means a lot longer supply chain. In turn, I suspect they aren't as strong.

However, this fish suddenly not feeding is a major symptom. Combine that with the rapid breathing, and it points to some gill disease. The trouble is that the fish is "on the bottom" and probably will not respond to any treatment. You could try a 3 minute FW dip, but it might prove fatal. At this point, you'll want to go into damage control mode - just in case this fish brought some contagious disease (like velvet) into you tank. Watch the other fish closely for rapid breathing and be prepared that you might need to treat them all in a hospital tank with copper (ugh, I know that is a big step!).

Jay

The fw dip did prove to be fatal. I am setting up a tank for copper just in case. If the Convict Tang did bring any disease, what would the time frame be of noticing? Thanks for the help.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

The fw dip did prove to be fatal. I am setting up a tank for copper just in case. If the Convict Tang did bring any disease, what would the time frame be of noticing? Thanks for the help.

It is tough to say exactly how long it might take for a disease brought into a tank to manifest itself with the fish already in the tank. typically though, the time window is 3 to 21 days.

Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

The fw dip did prove to be fatal. I am setting up a tank for copper just in case. If the Convict Tang did bring any disease, what would the time frame be of noticing? Thanks for the help.

Sorry to hear but as mentioned, the fish may become moribund which I suspected was approaching and while FW dip can be effective, can also stress a fish further.
Its a mystery but many are dropping like flies and there has to be a reason.
Frustrating on my behalf is i ordered 5 1/2" twice and kept getting 2.5" and knew upon arrival what was next.
Is it so hard to decipher between 2 and 5 inches?