Why did my Yellos Tang Die?

mcarroll · Jan 18, 2017

rodbuilder said:
Yes, a local retailer that actually advertises here as well. I have lots of choices where're to shop, and this guy keeps his stuff spotless. Many stores have lots to s choose from, but the level of care is seriously lacking...

Any idea how long the retailer had this guy (ballpark)?

What was your QT like? (Size. Layout. ~~Feeding~~. Everything else you can think of that's relevant.)

It looks like he might be 4" form snout-to-tail...can you confirm?

mcarroll · Jan 18, 2017

It would be hard to say that the food choices caused a massive internal bacterial infection severe enough to kill him, but immune systems do have a monumental task to uphold....so if his was compromised by diet and/or otherwise (i.e. midnight damsel attacks are not out of the question), anything can really happen.

That said, pellets and more pellets along with some dry seaweed is not a great booster diet after being brought home to a new tank.

Use fish oil to soak those dry foods every time, and if possible use dry foods less than whatever whole-frozen critters you choose to feed. Whole-frozen mysis are good, but anything similar too. DIY foods like whole-intact shrimp or clams work too. Not cleaned, deveined or cooked, irradiated, etc. Even processed into chunks or pieces is not as good. (@Paul B shows how he prepares clams in post #412 of his "discussion on immunity" thread. You can look up his design for his blackworm keeper too, or read about it in his book.)

If you can find a way, squeeze some kind of live food into their diet as well.

Live blackworms are popular becuase they are easy to order online if your LFS won't order them for you (maybe they already carry them, so ask!) and they are easy to care for at home. Oh and pretty much all fish appear to love them.

rodbuilder · Jan 18, 2017

mcarroll said:
Any idea how long the retailer had this guy (ballpark)?

What was your QT like? (Size. Layout. ~~Feeding~~. Everything else you can think of that's relevant.)

It looks like he might be 4" form snout-to-tail...can you confirm?

No idea how long the store had him. I didn't measure him, but I'd guess he was between 3"-3.5". QT is a 20 gallon tall, with aquaclear 30 HOB, a couple pvc tee's, kept at 78* like the display. No carbon, just floss, and a softball size piece of rock. Started cycling both the QT and display at the same time, back in September. Each finished cycle almost to the day of each other. Took a bit over a month using raw shrimp method, along with biospira. Added 5 damsels to QT, three at first, then two more about 2 weeks later. All went into the display after a total of 5 weeks. One of the yellow tails was killed by the others shortly thereafter. There was (and still are to a lesser degree) lots of territory disputes. While they were certainly aggressive toward each other in QT, it seemed to get worse in the display. The tang went into QT a couple weeks after the damsels were moved, and spent 3 weeks in, with a prazi pro regime for the first 2. Water is RODI from a well, tap TDS is 120, after RO <5, and 0 after DI.

rodbuilder · Jan 19, 2017

Thanks for all the replies. Active forums are a gem for any hobby. I can understand the bacterial infection possibility, what I don't get is how he took the turn so quickly?

melypr1985 · Jan 19, 2017

rodbuilder said:
Thanks for all the replies. Active forums are a gem for any hobby. I can understand the bacterial infection possibility, what I don't get is how he took the turn so quickly?

gram negative infections can kill quicker than velvet. It's tuff to diagnose and treat in time to ward one off. Gram positive infections tend to be much slower.

mcarroll · Jan 19, 2017

Bacteria multiply at a geometric rate, so once the host's immunity is surpassed things can potentially go very very quickly.

The food could have been better, the tank was also very new AND that there are no bite marks or torn fins does add some mystery, but I'm still thinking midnight attacks from the damsels.....he may never have been able to rest at night. It's also possible that he'd been nursing a minor internal infection...maybe from being caught and moved (this time, last time, time before, etc)....and "nothing really happened" with you....it only took some additional stresses.

Hard to say for sure, unfortunately.

ZoaCollector · Jan 19, 2017

bios said:
Maybe uronema marinum

Actually looks like septicemia.

This is caused by gram negative bacteria that grows quickly in QTs.

Also I've had experience where prazi pro accelerates gram negative bacteria.

Using furan 2 stunts gram negative bacterial growth.

I always use this in qt. Sometimes mixing with half dose kanaplex. Depends on what I'm treating for.

I would ditch the prazi pro and buy praziquantel powder and boil water to break it down. You'll need to filter through a fine micron sock while adding to qt so the particles don't float around tank.