Gem tang not eating

bahamasmls · Mar 5, 2020

Hi, i got a 4inch or so gem tang last week. He has not eaten a thing including algae on the glass or rocks which is bizarre. He looks pretty healthy besides pretty stressed out from the travel to get here the first day i had him. Each day he gets Skinnier and skinnier

I have tried nori on a rock
mysis
brine
flakes
3 different types of pellets
food in garlic

My next guess is that he has to have some sort of parasite. Nothing is visible besides the symptoms of not eating. I did do a fresh water dip for 5 minutes the first few days of receiving him.

Any ideas on how to get this guy to eat? I do not have a qt tank setup or the medicine on hand. All my parameters are inline.

zapbap99 · Mar 5, 2020

i mean they can go a while without eating is there algae in your tank?

ca1ore · Mar 5, 2020

Not necessarily a parasite, probably just stressed and maybe bullied. QT not just for disease but also a non competitive environment to get a new fish eating.

bahamasmls · Mar 5, 2020

zapbap99 said:
i mean they can go a while without eating is there algae in your tank?

yes

zapbap99 · Mar 5, 2020

bahamasmls said:
yes

just let it graze on that, i just kept chucking new life spectrum pellets in and eventually ate took few days after other fish started eating it my tang caught on

bahamasmls · Mar 5, 2020

zapbap99 said:
just let it graze on that, i just kept chucking new life spectrum pellets in and eventually ate took few days after other fish started eating it my tang caught on

yes i am surprised he hasnt even been grazing. After owning tangs for ages this has to be the most difficult tang ever. I do have new life spectrum. will keep trying

smalltimereefin · Mar 9, 2020

I am in the exact same boat. Just picmed up a gem tang freshly imported from Madagascar. Beautiful fish, no visible parasites or even stress blotches, also did a freshwater dip. This fish is staying in the front corner of my tank and hasn't eaten yet, today being the 3rd day having him. Tried marine cuisine, mysis, blood worms, half shell clams, seaweed, spirulina flakes, spiruline tablets, and macro algae from my refugium. Not a bite of anything, have you had any luck?

bahamasmls · Mar 9, 2020

Well ive had him for over a week now and hes still alive. Hes taken over a cave which he protects and attacks any other tang that comes near. So hes feeling more comfortable in the tank but is still pretty shy with me. The first few days he was a mess and bumped into corals etc.

He is still pretty skinny and not visibly eating. Hes gotta be eating something since hes still alive and not bone thin. Probably just eating to stay alive like someone mentioned above. My guess is that he was on live food or a type of food i haven't tried yet, Or he doesn't like to eat in front of me.

I just ordered a bunch of new pellets and different types of nori to try. Keep trying and dont give up.....

I am hoping he will just one day decide he wants to eat and fatten up.

bahamasmls · Mar 9, 2020

and still not visibly grazing

Reef AquaCult · Mar 9, 2020

Have you tried live brine, live white worms, live macroalgae like ulva or red ogo. Do you have any aggressive fish? Lots of caves? Lots of flow?

AcroNem · Mar 9, 2020

It is likely just stressed, but I didn't see anything about quarantine so also watch out for parasites or other infections, that's an expensive fish to just plop in with other tangs. There is probably aggression and competition with other fish as well. I've had new fish take a week or more to get eating, keep an eye on it and keep trying.

bahamasmls · Mar 9, 2020

i do not have access to live food where i live. No aggressive fish and yes plenty of flow and caves.

Reef AquaCult · Mar 9, 2020

You can rubberband some nori to a small rock and place it next to his favorite area so he doesn’t have to venture far to eat. Bonus to soak nori in garlic

TerraFerma · Mar 9, 2020

Gem Tangs (and all tangs) are eating machines when healthy. A week in a decent tank is more than enough time to get over shipping stress. And a healthy gem should be eating shortly after it gets out of the bag.

Where did you get your Gem from and did it come with any sort of guarantee? If it’s not eating for you chances are it wasn’t eating for the vendor either.

The quality of gems coming in has been all over the map quality wise. If he’s not eating he may have internal parasite issues which are unfortunately hard to fix with medication if they aren’t eating.

MERKEY · Mar 9, 2020

Could we get a picture of the tang?

bahamasmls · Mar 9, 2020

tried that several times. no dice

Dfrost · Mar 9, 2020

Have/can you contact vendor and ask what they were feeding? Dosent mean it was eating it, but ask anyway.
Was it skinny when recieved?

Martyd · Mar 9, 2020

Mine took a close to a week to really start eating. He was bone thin when I got him and didn’t think he was going to make. I broke the golden rule and after a quick dip, put him in my display tank, where he eventually came around. Is he in QT? What other fish are with him?

Kzang · Mar 9, 2020

bahamasmls said:
Hi, i got a 4inch or so gem tang last week. He has not eaten a thing including algae on the glass or rocks which is bizarre. He looks pretty healthy besides pretty stressed out from the travel to get here the first day i had him. Each day he gets Skinnier and skinnier

I have tried nori on a rock
mysis
brine
flakes
3 different types of pellets
food in garlic

My next guess is that he has to have some sort of parasite. Nothing is visible besides the symptoms of not eating. I did do a fresh water dip for 5 minutes the first few days of receiving him.

Any ideas on how to get this guy to eat? I do not have a qt tank setup or the medicine on hand. All my parameters are inline.

Have you rubber banded different types of nori to a rock?

smalltimereefin · Mar 9, 2020

Plenty of caves and flow here also. My yellow eye kole is smaller than the gem but is keeping him in his corner, I isolated the other bristletooth (unable to catch the kole) in a trap hoping to cut the bullying out since they seem to work as a team. Now its just the gem, kole, clown, cleaner wrasse, and fairy wrasse in the tank so i'll see if the gem gains some freedom. Still refusing food like a copperband though. Gem was fat when I got him and still looks pretty healthy, getting a little skinner around his stomach as expected. You guys saying its taken a week for new fish to eat is reassuring. After all, a glass living room box is far from the oceans of Madagascar, stress is understandable. I'll attach some pics of mine, sorry not trying to hijack your post here.