Sucess With Achilles Tangs

[4FordFamily]

I dont think I consider a few months a short period. It only takes a few days to stress a fish which could lead to the fish to stop eating, which spells the end of your journey with that fish.

Again,

All of my expert level fish went through small qt's - regal Angels, copperband butterfly, moorish idols, Achilles tangs, powder blue tangs, leopard wrasse, and a plethora of other tangs, large and dwarf Angels, etc.

 

[4FordFamily]

Oh ok. That's not bad in size

With Achilles the smallest I would buy is 4". Juveniles and smaller struggle more. My hardiest Achilles was 8" and lived one year with ich present until it finally succumbed and stopped eating as the parasite sucked it dry of nutrients.

 

[Humblefish]

All Acanthurus Tangs have a very thin mucous coat, which makes them very susceptible to ich and other parasites. By comparison, a Zebrasoma (ex. Yellow Tang) has a thicker slime coat and is better protected from attacking theronts. But what makes an Achilles even more sensitive to ich is that most specimens are collected from crest zones where oxygen levels are high. If theronts attach inside the gills and fluid build ups around them (a defense mechanism), an Achilles can literally suffocate to death.

 

[melypr1985]

Achilles tangs are very difficult. QT is a MUST with these guys. It's not just important to QT that one fish but to be sure they are going into a tank without ich or velvet in the system. You achieve this by QT'ing every fish that goes into that system and even your corals in inverts if you want to be doubly sure. They just can't defend themselves from ick with such a thin slime coat and such a small box to live in compared to the ocean.

Putting any fish in a 20 or 30 or even 40 gallon tank for 6 weeks is much better than them dying in the first couple weeks in your display because you didn't want to take the time to treat them.

 

[Kehaulani]

With Achilles the smallest I would buy is 4". Juveniles and smaller struggle more. My hardiest Achilles was 8" and lived one year with ich present until it finally succumbed and stopped eating as the parasite sucked it dry of nutrients.

Thanks for all the advice. I'll kept that in mind if and when I purchase mine. This has been very helpful.

 

[Kehaulani]

All Acanthurus Tangs have a very thin mucous coat, which makes them very susceptible to ich and other parasites. By comparison, a Zebrasoma (ex. Yellow Tang) has a thicker slime coat and is better protected from attacking theronts. But what makes an Achilles even more sensitive to ich is that most specimens are collected from crest zones where oxygen levels are high. If theronts attach inside the gills and fluid build ups around them (a defense mechanism), an Achilles can literally suffocate to death.

Is it possible to do anything that helps them gain a thicker slime coat such as feeding them a certain nori or food? Or is this just something that is natural for the specimen of fish?

 

[4FordFamily]

Is it possible to do anything that helps them gain a thicker slime coat such as feeding them a certain nori or food? Or is this just something that is natural for the specimen of fish?

Not really, no. I hypothesize that they didn't need much of a slime coat because they swim and cover so much distance each day that parasites find it hard to "catch" them until night time, which is often a different roost each night.

I've fed mine to the point where their stomachs look like they swallowed a golf ball almost. May make them last another month or so but that's it in an ich management environment rather than proper treatment and preventative

 

[Humblefish]

Is it possible to do anything that helps them gain a thicker slime coat such as feeding them a certain nori or food? Or is this just something that is natural for the specimen of fish?

Stress Coat and some of the herbal remedies are supposed to thicken a fish's slime coat. But you'd have to dose it every day for the rest of the fish's life. That seems like an impractical strategy to me. Better to just provide them with a parasite free DT.

 

[Dreadnaught]

Here is another good read on Tangs. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tang-aggression-understanding-and-combating.215698/

 

[Kehaulani]

Thanks for all the advice and help guys. I appreciate it all

 

[ca1ore]

The AT is without question the most ich-suceptible of any tang I have ever kept - and that includes powder blue and hippo. The AT will be the first fish to tell you that your tank has the ich parasite. QT is an absolute must with this fish, but you may discover that if you've not also done QT on all prior fish that you have latent ich and didn't know it. That has happened to me on two separate occasions.

AT requires plenty of swimming room and tons of flow. I've kept individuals that were quite mellow to other fish, and others that were Sohal-like.

 

[Kehaulani]

Bump for more advice and experience with these tangs.

 

[deerhunter06]

Since you made this thread I purchased a 4 inch "conditioned" one. Set up a new qt with all new water and it still came down with Ich. No matter where u get it from just be prepared have the meds u need before u buy it. Not only meds but have a variety of foods on hand to entice eating if you can get a fish to start eating with Ich that buys you a lot of time to defeat it with meds.

 

[Kehaulani]

Did it get better

 

[deerhunter06]

Yep so far anyway only been a few days

 

[SeaDweller]

I've had two. First was a beautiful specimen, was getting conditioned to eat before TTM. Died 7-8 days in.

My new one, is about 3-3.5" and is a terror in my tank. Used to be beat up and now beats up all fish. From larger sohal to bimac Anthias, Labouti... Nothing is safe from it.

The eyes don't lie on this fish. The blue ring means don't *** with me!!!

 

[SeaDweller]

My Achillies story defies many of the rules. I only bought it because of a great sale on Live Aquaria. I had credits and was able to purchase at 119. He came in fat and healthy as most fish from Live Aquaria do. I've had him since March 2nd 2016. I do not have a QT. My tank is 90 gallons and he lives with a Blue Hippo and a Yellow Eye Kole tang. He is only aggressive when the nori on the algae clip starts to get scarce. When I unpacked him, I did a six hour acclimation. After that, I put him in a social acclimation box for a few more hours. Once the fish ignored him in the social box, I released him. I also treated the tank with Mardel Parashield. This product has helped me get through Ich on a few occasions. It's not a solution but imo, a good preventive measure. He has had Ich on a few occasions but he always eats, swims and acts normal. While my story is probably the exception to the norm, I do think it should be shared. This fish is the most active fish in my tank.

You're lucky your 6 hours acclimation didn't kill it. Usually for shipped fish, you want to match temperature by float, match the salinity of the tank to the bag water and release. That long of an acclimation could cause a dangerous rise in ammonia and kill a fish.

Congrats on your success though!

 

[cowboy]

In the past I have had my run with achilles tangs as its my absolute favorite. It has proven to be one of the hardest fish to start but seriously be prepared once going good the are a total terror at feeding time and we'll when ever they get in a mood. The best way I have found to deter this behavior is a constant supply of nori. Take great care on everything added cause I promise it will catch any parasites and treatment is a booger with them. This includes coral make sure to QT coral as well now this enough about the bad. The good is they are an absolute beautiful specimen and are shy at first but once past that front and center wanting to show off. Here's a pic of mine after QT eating very well loves the little broccoli bits in the LRS Reef Freeway and red nori attached to a rock won't touch it on a clip.

 

[Woolleson]

I recently purchased a similar tricky tang the gold rim. The purchase came from a lfs that holds its stock in hyper salinity drastically reducing parasite infection. Also I'm a big believer of letting the fish fight the disease rather than chemicals.

Buy a fat healthy specimen that is feeding. Then reduce the stress when introducing, also feed the best quality food. Mines on live my sis and brine plus nori and red macro algea. Fat healthy and no ich.

 

[4FordFamily]

I recently purchased a similar tricky tang the gold rim. The purchase came from a lfs that holds its stock in hyper salinity drastically reducing parasite infection. Also I'm a big believer of letting the fish fight the disease rather than chemicals.

Buy a fat healthy specimen that is feeding. Then reduce the stress when introducing, also feed the best quality food. Mines on live my sis and brine plus nori and red macro algea. Fat healthy and no ich.

How long have you had the goldrim?

Sorry but this strategy may work for other genus of tangs, but not this one.

Even the best "no chemical" or "ich management" members here don't keep acanthurus tangs, particularly powders, Achilles, and goldrim long term. This is no coincidence.