Why can't I keep Tangs alive?

[Devan Petersen]

So my tank has been up for about 4 months. I have 2 Clowns, 1 Ruby Red Dargonet, Cleaner Shrimp, Arrow Crab, CUC and a bunch of coral.

I had a yellow tang in there for about 2 months and one day he just died. i replaced him with a sailfin tang and he lasted about 7 - 8 days and he died....

They were both bought from different LFS and both were eating good until the day before they croked... acclimation period was about 4 hours for each fish.

It is a 55 gal tank with 20 gal sump. the fish were both 1.5 - 2 inches.. I have no idea what is going on and why they keep dying.

 

[Highgrade]

Tangs are Ich magnets. Any signs of ich? Also were you feeding any seaweed/veggies? Any signs of HLLE, if so are you running carbon?

 

[lion king]

Tangs that small are very difficult, they need a tank with an abundance of mature rock to graze on or be acceptable to graze on nori. point is they need to eat constantly, you could also do several feedings a day including an algae food like hikari mega algae. It also not a bad idea to treat for possible parasites, I use prazi pro in a qt that seems to work well for me; you can also use a metroplex/focus mixed in with food.

 

[Devan Petersen]

Tangs are Ich magnets. Any signs of ich? Also were you feeding any seaweed/veggies? Any signs of HLLE, if so are you running carbon?

No ich. they ate mysis and were getting algae off the rocks. i would toss in some Chateo as well that they ate. Yes, i usually have a bag of carbon in the filter sock. I'm a noob so i dont know what HILLE is. thanks for the reply.

 

[Devan Petersen]

Tangs that small are very difficult, they need a tank with an abundance of mature rock to graze on or be acceptable to graze on nori. point is they need to eat constantly, you could also do several feedings a day including an algae food like hikari mega algae. It also not a bad idea to treat for possible parasites, I use prazi pro in a qt that seems to work well for me; you can also use a metroplex/focus mixed in with food.

Maybe i am not feeding enough variety.... well crap. they both looked good until about 24 hours before they dropped....

 

[Highgrade]

Maybe i am not feeding enough variety.... well crap. they both looked good until about 24 hours before they dropped....

Smaller Tangs are difficult. HLLE- Head and Lateral Line erosion. Cheap Carbon can cause this. If the tangs died that quick it could be a number of things. If it happened that sudden it could possibly be velvet. Any before and after pics?

 

[lion king]

Sailfins tend to be pretty hardy but sadly yellow tangs are treated like a dime a dozen. I've seen lfs get in bunches and bunches, they lose half within a day or two. So don't beat yourself and do some more research to plan your next tang with a plan.

 

[Gil03]

I wouldn't worry about carbon, I've had a plethora of tangs throughout my years in the hobby and have always run carbon and never had any issues due to it. If you could see the ribs on the tangs then they probably starved to death which believe it or not is not all that uncommon and in some cases you may not even see it that skinny but it can still starve. Keep fresh nori in a clip daily as that is their main diet to stay fat and happy. Also make sure they're not stressed out by other fish particularly of the same species (being chased around constantly).

 

[Devan Petersen]

Smaller Tangs are difficult. HLLE- Head and Lateral Line erosion. Cheap Carbon can cause this. If the tangs died that quick it could be a number of things. If it happened that sudden it could possibly be velvet. Any before and after pics?

no i didn't take an after pic...., but i remember with both of them thinking that they looked normal...dead, but other than that, normal.

 

[njtiger aquariums]

does sound like they might not been eating enough. When I had tangs I would do two feedings of nori (morning before I left for work) and when I return from work. I would also do my normal daily feeding (for all my fish once a day).

 

[Devan Petersen]

I wouldn't worry about carbon, I've had a plethora of tangs throughout my years in the hobby and have always run carbon and never had any issues due to it. If you could see the ribs on the tangs then they probably starved to death which believe it or not is not all that uncommon and in some cases you may not even see it that skinny but it can still starve. Keep fresh nori in a clip daily as that is their main diet to stay fat and happy. Also make sure they're not stressed out by other fish particularly of the same species (being chased around constantly).

unfortunately i'm starting to think that both deaths are by my hand. I don't think i was feeding them properly.... thanks for all the quick replies! This is the best Reef forum out there.

 

[biomek]

I've got a sailfin and kole in my 220 they were healthy but weren't fattening up much until i added some anthias and wrasse and upped the amount i was feeding. Now they are eating machines. mine love a variety of food. i feed a mix of formula 1, prime reef and brine flakes, NLS pellets, seaweed and a blend of mysis, cyclops and rods reef. 2 small feedings per day and 1 larger one in the middle. keeps everyone happy and fat. don't give up on tangs, they're great fish. just plan accordingly.

 

[Devan Petersen]

I've got a sailfin and kole in my 220 and they are eating machines. mine love a variety of food. i feed a mix of formula 1, prime reef and brine flakes, NLS pellets, seaweed and a blend of mysis, cyclops and rods reef. 2 small feedings per day and 1 larger one in the middle. keeps everyone happy and fat.

When i get another Tang I'll give something like that a go...now i feel stupid for killing 80$ worth of fish.. at least it was not the Chevron Tang that i was going to get.. Thanks for your input.

 

[charlesk]

Try to use Larry's frozen fish food. It's been one of the best. Go to the website to find a distributor close to you.

 

[HB AL]

I dont feed my yellow, purple, blonde naso and hippo tangs any algae sheets. I feed them Hikari seaweed extreme pellets and a mix of Hikari mysis, spiraluna brine, mega marine, and ocean plankton frozen food. In between feedings they graze the rocks all day, although they keep the rocks algae free. I run carbon 24/7. I think you want to make sure your water quality is impeccable and that you keep them well fed. All my tangs and for that matter all my fish are nice and solid, they definetly don't look like they have missed a meal. If your water quality is excellent and you feed them a lot and a good variety you shouldn't have any issues going forward.

 

[GoVols]

My tangs have always loved sally's seaweed salad strips and they need veggies in their diet over the long haul for their health.

@ReefFrenzy 's -LRS - Herbivore Frenzy is a wonderful choice too
http://www.larrysreefservices.com/herbivore-frenzy.html

 

[Highgrade]

When i get another Tang I'll give something like that a go...now i feel stupid for killing 80$ worth of fish.. at least it was not the Chevron Tang that i was going to get.. Thanks for your input.

Please don't put a Chevron in a 55gal. You'd be setting yourself up for failure.

 

[Devan Petersen]

Please don't put a Chevron in a 55gal. You'd be setting yourself up for failure.

I didn't, I wanted to tho

 

[Highgrade]

I didn't, I wanted to tho

Good call!

 

[RedoubtReef]

It dosen't sound like you are using any quarantine process. It's great you took time to acclimate but if you are not using a QT process, you are going to loose more than a new fish. You could end up loosing everything in your tank. You don't need anything fancy. It could be as simple as a 20 gallon tank with a sponge filter and a couple medications. There is a good chance to catch and correct health issues before you expose your whole tank to something that could have been prevented in QT.