Sailfin Tang not moving.

[Maddoggvup]

Went to check on the tank before I went to bed. My Sailfin Tang was laying on the sand bed panting. Now it's not moving. Any input? Phosphate ammonia nitrite nitrate are all testing zero. Salinity is at .026. Tem-78

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Pictures? Is it still breathing? If it's dead you'll need to remove it before it spikes your ammonia. I'm hoping you missed the 1 and your salinity is not actually .026.

 

[Maddoggvup]

I think he a goner. The Nassarius snails are already on him. Man those suckers are fast. Good at what they do. Yes the salinity is at 1.026.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Still has a lot of color for a dead fish, but if snails are on him and he doesn't move if you touch him, it's probably a safe bet he's gone. Any other fish in the tank? Has he been flashing or acting erratic lately?

 

[Maddoggvup]

All other fish and coral and even a clam all seem to be fine. Has been in the tank for over a month with all the same fish other than a green Mandarin that has been in the tank for a little over a week. Seem to be getting along with everyone. No aggressive fish. Happened out of nowhere.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

No way to for me to tell for sure what happened. Do you QT your fish? I would pay a very close eye on your other fish for the next few weeks. Look for any signs of twitching, flashing, swimming in one place into the current, hiding from the lights. Any of that and you might have a serious situation on your hands.

 

[Maddoggvup]

Have not seen any of those signs or anything out of character for any of the fish at all. I'll keep an eye on everything.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Sorry for your loss... sail fins are so pretty. I can't see any signs of parasites in any of the pictures, but they may not show up either. Good luck with all the other fish.

 

[Maddoggvup]

Thank you.

 

[aykwm]

Sorry for your loss, It looks so thin to me, tangs have high metabolism and should be fed constantly especially that they are very active fish. It mightve starved to death as i cant see other visible symptoms.
Did you notice any weird behavior lately?

 

[SashimiTurtle]

It looks so thin to me

I noticed this as well.

 

[GHsaltie]

Did you ever notice white stringy poo? That was a very thin tang. Sorry for the loss .

 

[Humblefish]

^^ The fish is very thin. Probably got too weak to swim.

He either a) Starved to death b) Had intestinal worms

If he had intestinal worms, you should have noticed white stringy poop coming out of him.

 

[Maddoggvup]

All fish were fed no more than a few hours before this. It's definitely not from a lack of feeding. Never noticed anything out of the ordinary. Swimming just fine. No white stringy poop.

 

[melypr1985]

He really is very thin. If he was eating well the entire time you had him then something else was going on with him that he wasn't able to absorb the nutrients and put on weight ( I also favor intestinal worms for this). Were you feeding nori every day?

 

[TheFishGuyKW]

Feed him some seaweed with garlic. Doing so can get him up and moving and seaweed will help immune system

 

[4FordFamily]

That fish unfortunately looks like it never ate at all.

Tangs need A LOT of food and have very high metabolisms, as mentioned. They need lots of nori/algae to thrive. You'll need to provide algae sheets. A healthy tang should look fat/plump in the belly.

Sorry for your loss!

I agree if it was eating, it had intestinal parasites... but I'm guessing it didn't eat enough, or enough of the right stuff.

 

[McDrummondJ]

Hey everyone I'm having the same issue with my sailfin he was fine yesterday and this evening I found him at the bottom of the tank panting everything seems to be fine. He always ate well but he's been thin if it's intestinal parasites what can I do

 

[McDrummondJ]

 

[NoahLikesFish]

What are those worms covering your rock