Orange Shoulder tang swimming into Powerhead

subnet88 · Nov 22, 2020

Hi all,

I introduced an Orange shoulder tang into my tank 3 weeks ago. I of course didnt quarantine. Since I added it, it has been swimming into the current of a powerhead all day long. He comes out of his flow in the morning and evening to pick algae off rocks, and eats LRS Reef frenzy whenever offered. I see no spots on him, so am not thinking its velvet. What are everybody's thoughts?

subnet88 · Nov 26, 2020

Billldg · Nov 26, 2020

@HotRocks , @4FordFamily , @Jay Hemdal any ideas?

subnet88 · Dec 4, 2020

Billldg said:
@HotRocks , @4FordFamily , @Jay Hemdal any ideas?

Bump. It's still alive. Could this just be his behavior?

@Humblefish Thoughts?

Billldg · Dec 4, 2020

@Jay Hemdal , any thoughts?

Redfoxtang · Dec 4, 2020

Does he have heavy breathing? My sailfin does this assuming she likes the high flow.

Redfoxtang · Dec 4, 2020

Usually heavy respiratory and swimming into a power head could be symptoms of velvet.

artieg1 · Dec 4, 2020

Of course, that is the classic symptom of velvet. But we're what, two weeks into this behavior? That survival does not sound like velvet. So I would just observe. I don't see any point in trying to treat anything prophylactically, and no sense in removing the fish (if it has parasites, they are in the DT already).

I do sometimes wonder about bonkers behavior that large fish exhibit in the confines of a tank. Maybe this is like running on a treadmill for him?

Jay Hemdal · Dec 4, 2020

Sorry folks, I missed the OP...

Marine fish handle oxygen deprivation differently that freshwater fish do - freshwater fish gasp at the surface, in order to extract oxygen-rich surface water. Reef fish can't do that - predators would eat them. Their only option is to breathe more rapidly, swim faster (ram ventilators) or head into a current.

Can you get me a respiration rate for this fish? Try counting gill movements for 15 seconds and then multiply by four to get beats per minute. It sometimes works better to video the fish, then get the count from the video. Using that rate, I can compare it to my data set to see where it is, relatively speaking.

As others said, if this were velvet, it would be dead by now. Could be flukes, could be low dissolved oxygen that is just showing in this fish.

Finally, it could just be behavioral - what size tank is it in? This is a wide-ranging species that swims all of the time as an adult. It may be heading into the current to simulate swimming.

Jay

subnet88 · Dec 4, 2020

Jay Hemdal said:
Sorry folks, I missed the OP...

Marine fish handle oxygen deprivation differently that freshwater fish do - freshwater fish gasp at the surface, in order to extract oxygen-rich surface water. Reef fish can't do that - predators would eat them. Their only option is to breathe more rapidly, swim faster (ram ventilators) or head into a current.

Can you get me a respiration rate for this fish? Try counting gill movements for 15 seconds and then multiply by four to get beats per minute. It sometimes works better to video the fish, then get the count from the video. Using that rate, I can compare it to my data set to see where it is, relatively speaking.

As others said, if this were velvet, it would be dead by now. Could be flukes, could be low dissolved oxygen that is just showing in this fish.

Finally, it could just be behavioral - what size tank is it in? This is a wide-ranging species that swims all of the time as an adult. It may be heading into the current to simulate swimming.

Jay

Here is a minute of his activity, he repeats essentially the same circuit over and over throughout the day.

The tank is 8ft long by 36 wide, and 24 deep, so there is plenty of swimming are he isn't using, yet he spends all day in front of a stream 3 at full power.

Unfortunately he is doing this at the very back of the tank, so the viewing pane is etched from coralline.

vetteguy53081 · Dec 4, 2020

Generally SW fish demonstrate this when irritated from flukes or parasite
I have work meetings shortly as I want to get out of here for the weekend
Start with a freshwater dip which offers temporary relief and see if this changes behavior
Look for what looks like sesame seeds on bottom of container- those are flukes
Make sure freshwater is same temperature as tank it came from
What is ammonia and nitrate levels in tank? High levels would lower oxygen warranting a water change

Jay Hemdal · Dec 4, 2020

subnet88 said:
Here is a minute of his activity, he repeats essentially the same circuit over and over throughout the day.

The tank is 8ft long by 36 wide, and 24 deep, so there is plenty of swimming are he isn't using, yet he spends all day in front of a stream 3 at full power.

Unfortunately he is doing this at the very back of the tank, so the viewing pane is etched from coralline.

I couldn't get a true respiration rate on it, but it does seem to be breathing faster than the other fish. I think this is behavioral, and the fish is doing it to get better water flow over its gills. As @vetteguy53081 and I said, this could be flukes. As he said, you should try to do a FW dip - to see if flukes drop off (but gill flukes are really small and hard to see without a microscope) and then, to see if the FW dip provides any relief the next day. Then, if flukes are suspected, you should dose the whole tank with praziquantel - 2x, or better yet 3x, spaced a week apart. You could forgo the FW dip (that's going to be hard to do on that fish!) and just dose with prazi, but there are risks (and costs) associated with that so it is better to know for sure if there are flukes involved.

Jay

vetteguy53081 · Dec 4, 2020

One meeting over
As @Jay Hemdal mentioned if effects from prazi .... it lowers oxygen and may even curb diet of given fish

subnet88 · Dec 4, 2020

subnet88 said:
Here is a minute of his activity, he repeats essentially the same circuit over and over throughout the day.

The tank is 8ft long by 36 wide, and 24 deep, so there is plenty of swimming are he isn't using, yet he spends all day in front of a stream 3 at full power.

Unfortunately he is doing this at the very back of the tank, so the viewing pane is etched from coralline.

Here is the fish from the front doing its laps.

subnet88 · Dec 4, 2020

Jay Hemdal said:
I couldn't get a true respiration rate on it, but it does seem to be breathing faster than the other fish. I think this is behavioral, and the fish is doing it to get better water flow over its gills. As @vetteguy53081 and I said, this could be flukes. As he said, you should try to do a FW dip - to see if flukes drop off (but gill flukes are really small and hard to see without a microscope) and then, to see if the FW dip provides any relief the next day. Then, if flukes are suspected, you should dose the whole tank with praziquantel - 2x, or better yet 3x, spaced a week apart. You could forgo the FW dip (that's going to be hard to do on that fish!) and just dose with prazi, but there are risks (and costs) associated with that so it is better to know for sure if there are flukes involved.

Jay

I'll give prazipro a shot. Thanks.

Jay Hemdal · Dec 4, 2020

Just checking - I see in this new video that your tank has a lot of flow. That will certainly increase swimming activity in the fish, but it also causes them to expend a lot of energy. Like a true reef - you need to ensure there is some "slack current" time, long enough to give the fish a break. What happens when you cut all flow? Does the tang's behavior change at all? Do you have a programmable system where you build in slack time?

Jay

HB AL · Dec 4, 2020

I wouldn't over think it, he just likes swimming into the flow. Alot of my fish do the same thing. Now if you were seeing parasites on the fish then that would be a whole other reason. Just sit back and enjoy your tank.

Qasimja · Dec 4, 2020

its been 2 weeks and you havent seen any parasites or anything on the fish i think he just like swimming into the flow if it was velvet he would already be dead so i think it will be fine

subnet88 · Dec 6, 2020

Jay Hemdal said:
Just checking - I see in this new video that your tank has a lot of flow. That will certainly increase swimming activity in the fish, but it also causes them to expend a lot of energy. Like a true reef - you need to ensure there is some "slack current" time, long enough to give the fish a break. What happens when you cut all flow? Does the tang's behavior change at all? Do you have a programmable system where you build in slack time?

Jay

If that particular powerhead goes off, he swims around the tank and picks at rocks.