Sailfing tang won't eat

R_C · Jul 17, 2016

Hello everyone,
Just as the title says tang won't eat. I got him Friday from Petco (he was still in the shipping bag) and decided to take him home. Got him home, aclimated and put him in my 20 long quarantine. Tried to feed after a few hours and nothing. Tried early Sat morning and night and nothing. I've tried frozen and nori. In the morning I'm going to get pellets to try.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Diesel · Jul 17, 2016

Oh boy Petco.............

@Humblefish @melypr1985

SeaDweller · Jul 17, 2016

Sometimes it takes days or weeks for the fish to eat. Remember you're feeding it things its not used to seeing. Give it some time.

Also, if you're putting it in a qt, I hope you have a solid qt regimen for your fish?

vortex · Jul 17, 2016

My blue tang took about 3 days too eat the nori just give it time. Also try spot feeding it

Diesel · Jul 17, 2016

A healthy fish need to start eating in a day or two, it might not be the food you present to him/her as there's should be enough in the tank for it to do so from the rocks.
If after a few days it won't eat and the belly caves in you don't have a healthy fish, fish might have worms or a parasite.

jsker · Jul 17, 2016

Is there anything in the QT tank for the fish to hide in? Yes the fish is stressed and not eating, possibly due to issue as @Diesel mentioned.

melypr1985 · Jul 17, 2016

Is it in a QT? how was it acclimated and for how long? If it was in the shipping bag still then the salinity was probably around 1.019 which means a longer acclimation is needed. Fish can't go up in salinity as easily as they go down - or as quickly. This also means that the ammonia in the bag is worrisome and needs to be dealt with during acclimation. See where I'm going with this? If he went up in salinity too quickly or was sitting in ammonia shipping water for too long during acclimation, then I can see why he wouldn't want to eat, as these things can cause problems for the fish. Baby him and try adding a bit of garlic to the food to help entice him to eat.

R_C · Jul 17, 2016

There are places to hide.
Since it is a quarantine there are no rocks.
Acclimated for about 30 minutes.
This is my first fish to add to quarantine so no full regimen yet.

jsker · Jul 17, 2016

melypr1985 said:
Is it in a QT? how was it acclimated and for how long? If it was in the shipping bag still then the salinity was probably around 1.019 which means a longer acclimation is needed. Fish can't go up in salinity as easily as they go down - or as quickly. This also means that the ammonia in the bag is worrisome and needs to be dealt with during acclimation. See where I'm going with this? If he went up in salinity too quickly or was sitting in ammonia shipping water for too long during acclimation, then I can see why he wouldn't want to eat, as these things can cause problems for the fish. Baby him and try adding a bit of garlic to the food to help entice him to eat.

Good points.
this is what I feed along with frozen.

melypr1985 · Jul 17, 2016

R_C said:
There are places to hide.
Since it is a quarantine there are no rocks.
Acclimated for about 30 minutes.
This is my first fish to add to quarantine so no full regimen yet.

Did you check the salinity in the bag before acclimating? Was the QT set to the same salinity before hand? I'm asking, because if you acclimate a fish too quickly to a higher salinity it can cause "osmotic shock". If it doesn't kill the fish, it can certainly make them sick. It's been my experience that if acclimated too quickly the fish will refuse to eat, start acting listless, heavy breathing and resting on the bottom then death. It's kind of a downward spiral that can happen quickly or slowly. Sometimes a tuff fish can recover with care, but I haven't been able to bring back one that was over that line that separates the severe and the mild.

R_C · Jul 17, 2016

Unfortunately I did not check salinity of the bag. There is no heavy breathing but it is kind of sitting on the bottom.

Humblefish · Jul 17, 2016

melypr1985 said:
Did you check the salinity in the bag before acclimating? Was the QT set to the same salinity before hand? I'm asking, because if you acclimate a fish too quickly to a higher salinity it can cause "osmotic shock". If it doesn't kill the fish, it can certainly make them sick. It's been my experience that if acclimated too quickly the fish will refuse to eat, start acting listless, heavy breathing and resting on the bottom then death. It's kind of a downward spiral that can happen quickly or slowly. Sometimes a tuff fish can recover with care, but I haven't been able to bring back one that was over that line that separates the severe and the mild.

^^ This. Odds are the fish was in SG 1.019 or less. What was the SG of your QT? Did you drip acclimate him or float & release?

cloak · Jul 17, 2016

Did you see the fish eat anything at Petco before you purchased it? If so, try those foods first.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/ft/index.php

melypr1985 · Jul 17, 2016

cloak said:
Did you see the fish eat anything at Petco before you purchased it? If so, try those foods first.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/ft/index.php

He bought it while still in the shipping bag. they had just received it and hadn't yet acclimated it to their system, sounds like.

R_C · Jul 17, 2016

Floated bag for about 20 minutes then drip for about 30.
Never saw the fish eat since it was still in the bag.
QT tank salinity 1.025

Humblefish · Jul 17, 2016

R_C said:
Floated bag for about 20 minutes then drip for about 30.
Never saw the fish eat since it was still in the bag.
QT tank salinity 1.025

Probably osmotic shock. One of the advantages of QT is you can set it to match precisely the SG of the bag water the fish is in. There's nothing you can really do now, except wait & see what happens. I wouldn't dose any medications until he recovers and begins eating.

Its a lesson learned, we've all made the same mistake at one point. I've learned over the years to acclimate all incoming fish by following this protocol: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-acclimate.192300/

melypr1985 · Jul 17, 2016

So, buying a fish while still in the shipping bag can be a good thing. It has it's plusses and pitfalls. It cuts out an acclimation into an unknown system with unknown problems and also cuts down on the stress they go through. It also means you dont know what your buying. This fish might have come in sick, it might not be eating. It also is usually shipping in a low salinity. I receive tons of fish every week and always test the water in the bag. It's always between 1.018 and 1.020. This requires a longer acclimation which presents it's own problems. As soon as you open the bag the PH in the bag will raise which causes the ammonia that has built up to become toxic again. To combat this a little prime and an air stone always help. You'll drip acclimate for as long as it takes to bring them up to the salinity that your Qt is at. A better solution is to make your QT match that shipping water salinity. It's faster and easier on the fish to just float and release or drip for a short period of time. I hope this helps with future purchases. In the mean time, just keep trying to get this fish to eat. You could try a methyline blue dip to help heal any damage to the gills, but that's up to you... I wouldn't

R_C · Jul 17, 2016

Thanks to all for the advice. I will keep you posted

R_C · Jul 18, 2016

Today he was moving around a little more than yesterday. Fed him but no luck. I'm going to try to get some live brine today from somewhere here in central FL. Anyone knows where I can get some today?