Is my yellow tang ok?

[asanc30g]

Oki doke, this is my first post ever and I’ve had my 32 gallon bio cube running for 3 months and I’m going to upgrade to a 100g in a month or so. Yesterday I went to my local fish store and got a juvenile yellow tang (3.5 inches), I’ve noticed that my tang (whom I named Venus) will suddenly swim in short bursts. I’m a little worried because Venus has been swimming down to the sand and rubbing against it on both sides. Venus eats well and is really active but I’m concerned because I don’t know if it’s hyperventilating or not. Venus’ little gills flap like 5 times per second and I don’t know if that’s normal or I’m just overreacting. Please lay your wisdom upon meeeee!!!!

Venus has also been hanging around my green mandarin dragonet all day and shows no signs of aggression. Idk what it means but I’m happy as long as they aren’t aggressive towards each other.

 

[najer]

Welcome to R2R.
@ReefSquad

If it is breathing hard point a powerhead at the surface for better aeration and add an air bubbler if you have one.
Do you have a set of water tests we can look at please?
How did you acclimate the fish?

 

[Flame2hawk]

Welcome to R2R! Your YT looks nice and yellow in the photo so lets see what we can do talk help. Perhaps more up close pictures would be helpful as it could be many things. It doesn’t appear that he’s in a QT tank so treating will be a bit more challenging. Can you set up a QT tank? Any white spots? With the description it could be ick, velvet, gill flukes (is he scratching around the gill areas?) etc. Most likely a parasite of some sort....different suggested treatments for particular parasites.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Was fish erratic at store?
Do you notice any salt looking grains or black dots on its body?
What is tank temperature snd salinity?
Age if tank?
Lastly- ammonia level?

 

[Ribo15]

If he’s eating then add some enriched vitamins too his food, as najer said try to increase aeration and see how he does over a couple days. He looks healthy imo

 

[Formidableone14]

Sounds like something is irritating the Tang, could be water or parasites otherwise he looks super healthy! Heck maybe he has an itch? My tang and Mandarin were best buds, no lie. Where ever the Mandarin went the Tang followed. Sadly my Mandarin jumped ship one night, the only time I have ever forgotten to put my screen lid back on. Best of luck!

 

[OrionN]

The yellow tang behavior suggest that he has parasite of some kind. His skin is itchy and her want to rub them off. You may want to have a cleaner shrimp in the tank with him. Some people would recommend a fresh water dip.

Neither of you fish will do well in a 32 BioCube. You should set up your 100 gal now, or return them both the the LFS until your tank is up and running. Unlikely that your mandarin will last 3 months unless you spen a lot of money buying "live pods" for him.

Welcome to R2R.