Kole Tang, staying pale , months

[willpower]

Hello, I picked up a 4" Healthy Kole Tang about 2 months ago from a local member here. The transfer was moderately rough, but the fish was extremely well fed (fat) by the previous owner and made the trip.

The tang has slowly lost color and is now is a almost white in the mornings and turns barely red at night. There are no marks on the fish to indicate any disease or trauma and the fish does not seem to be harassed and stays in one place by itself at night. I feed pellets (NLS, Seaweed variants), mysis with vitamins, rods food (does not like), nori (does not like). I would say he eats well, fat belly, and swims around normally without any behavior.

Since I had a large die off of fish in August from Velvet / Ich, I have not lost another tank inhabitant. Most of my fish were qted, but I was unable to catch asymtomatic fish (this will not be possible without a complete tear down due to my rockwork) so I can only assume the ich/velvet is still present in the tank, although not active. My newest addition was about 1 month ago, 4.5" yellow belly hippo from divers den, and it has shown 0 signs of sickness and is doing well. The Kole was added with a Flame angel from the same previous owner, and the flame angel is doing well.

I had fed metrodinazole via focus binding to mysis for about 1 week and did not see any difference in appearance.

Anyone know what could be up? Thanks!

 

[MnFish1]

Hello, I picked up a 4" Healthy Kole Tang about 2 months ago from a local member here. The transfer was moderately rough, but the fish was extremely well fed (fat) by the previous owner and made the trip.

The tang has slowly lost color and is now is a almost white in the mornings and turns barely red at night. There are no marks on the fish to indicate any disease or trauma and the fish does not seem to be harassed and stays in one place by itself at night. I feed pellets (NLS, Seaweed variants), mysis with vitamins, rods food (does not like), nori (does not like). I would say he eats well, fat belly, and swims around normally without any behavior.

Since I had a large die off of fish in August from Velvet / Ich, I have not lost another tank inhabitant. Most of my fish were qted, but I was unable to catch asymtomatic fish (this will not be possible without a complete tear down due to my rockwork) so I can only assume the ich/velvet is still present in the tank, although not active. My newest addition was about 1 month ago, 4.5" yellow belly hippo from divers den, and it has shown 0 signs of sickness and is doing well. The Kole was added with a Flame angel from the same previous owner, and the flame angel is doing well.

I had fed metrodinazole via focus binding to mysis for about 1 week and did not see any difference in appearance.

Anyone know what could be up? Thanks!

A picture would be nice. BUT - fish can change dramatically in appearance overnight. It is hard to say - but if its eating, swimming normally, etc - I would not be worried.

PS - another thought - lighting - sometimes fish fade with light backgrounds (white sand) and bright lighting - as compared to where they were before. Could this be the case? Does he seem to darken when your lights dim at night (note - not when he is 'sleeping' - but does changing your lights have any affect?

PPS sometimes a stressed (less dominant) fish can have a lighter color.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

I’ve heard Selcom can help improve fish color. BUT I have no personal experience so please take it with a grain of salt.

 

[SDK]

How big is your tank?

Kole's can be skittish and stressed in smaller tanks. I had mine briefly in a 40B while I was building out a 90. It ate well but never really settled down or colored up properly until I got it into the larger tank. The 40 was well established with fish that were years old, so the environment it was in was otherwise healthy...

 

[MnFish1]

PS - https://reefs.com/magazine/aquarium-fish-the-venerable-scopas-tang/

 

[ChaosAquaculture]

Some fish dont handle moving as well as others. There is a chance he liked his other environment better and may not fully color up in yours. But if he is acting healthy otherwise and eating normally I wouldnt be worried. maybe your lights are too bright for him? - kali

 

[willpower]

Thanks everyone!

I have a 750xxl v3, so ~ 160 gallons 6' wide display.

I do run a good amount of lights : 4 80 watt Blue Blue Purple Actinic , then 2 Radion G5 blue ramping to 90% peak for 5 hours. I run heavy flow L/R of tank but the middle is sort of a low flow area.

I do have a really fast growing and healthy 4" vlamingi so perhaps the vlamingi and the blue hippo make it a bit stressful.

Thanks, makes me feel better that it is not necessarily a terrible thing.

 

[SDK]

I think you are good then. As mentioned, Koles seem to be high strung and take their time settling in. I've had mine for over a year. He is colored up now but still flips his lid when I am anywhere near the tank. Take good care of him. They disappeared when the Hawaii ban went into effect....