Yellow Tang Blind Suddenly..Any Ideas Please?

michellejy · May 22, 2016

You are awesome! Great job!

Robbo · May 22, 2016

Thanks you Humblefish for your analysis and kind words.

Robbo · Jul 29, 2016

The whole process has now concluded with aggresive yt back in with the now fully recovered yt. The tables turned for about 10 minutes and the recovered yt was a little aggresive at first and thankfully now the pair are inseparable and graze and swim together. Been a long journey for my sick little mate, with a great ending. From initial stroke i believe, to teaching him how to eat in a very confined isolation box to dealing with neutralising aggression from the other yt. Lesson is always ensure you have quarantine tank ready to go, acclimate new fish properly to avoid osmotic shock. Be prepared and determined if issues do occur. Thanks for helping me everyone and i hope these lessons help other fish and people out there.

Humblefish · Jul 29, 2016

Glad to hear there was a happy ending!

4FordFamily · Jul 29, 2016

Wow what a fantastic story, you are really honorable and that fish is so lucky to have you!

Damien Buckley · Dec 6, 2016

Wow, glad I found this. Almost exactly the same thing happened to my yellow tang - fine in the tank for over a year and then suddenly started hiding and stopped eating - appeared like he couldnt see. I managed to net him out and into my QT last night - very little resistance - the other fish were beating up on him.

I wonder if mine had a stroke or something similar. I did notice today that one of his eyes appears to have haemorraged with a red ring around the bottom of it. Otherwise he looks healthy - just not really responding to stimulus or eating.

I'm hoping having separated him from the other fish etc and strong currents in the DT will give him a chance to recover.

I really have no idea how old he may be but I suspect he's OLD - he came from an established (10 year old) tank break down but I dont know if he was a long-term tenant or not, so its just guesswork bur he is a good 3-4" so must be a decent age.

He's just bobbing around on the bottom (upright and swimming) and wandering in & out of the pipes in the QT at the moment.

Its super-sad as he's a stunning fish & was the life of the main tank before : (

Any advice?

Humblefish · Dec 6, 2016

Can you post a closeup photo of the affected eye?

Damien Buckley · Dec 6, 2016

The eyes weren't like this until today so that could be due to being netted & moved?

Image 1 - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ct3b4xh25131rkz/IMG_2095.jpg?dl=0
Image 2 - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ywa0uuuibroq7rs/IMG_2102.jpg?dl=0

melypr1985 · Dec 6, 2016

I'm sorry for your tang troubles! I'm not sure about the eye, but it could be due to an injury... I do, however, see some redness on his dorsal fin that would indicate infection in that area. Is he breathing heavy? was/is he flashing or scratching, yawning? The answers to these could, maybe effect what's going on with eyes.

Damien Buckley · Dec 6, 2016

Thanks. I think the redness appeared later. He did have some reddish patches on his torso but that was months ago and went away on its own.

He wasn't flashing or scratching but he's appeared to be breathing more heavily for a few weeks.

The only thing that changed in the tank was that I increased my NOPOX dose from 6ml/d to 7ml/d. When I noticed that the YT was breathing heavily, I reduced it again. I think that may have been coincidental however and none of the other fish were affected in any way.

I think the eyes developed that way after I moved them to the QT so it could have been the experience of being netted or he could have drifted into corals and been stung prior to that.

The heavy breathing and apparent disorientation has been going on for a week or so. I don't think he can see. He doesn't appear particularly thin or emaciated but I also don't see him feeding…

Its all a bit weird really.

vhoang2 · Jul 11, 2021

Robbo said:
Thanks you Humblefish for your analysis and kind words.

My Yt has exact symptom now. Humblefish is helping me on the other forum. Would appreciate any insight to fight this. Thanks in advance

Screwgunner · Jul 11, 2021

I had a clown fish do the same thing to me I held a cube of frozen brine in front of him and he ate well for about a month then he took off like nothing happened.

vhoang2 · Jul 12, 2021

Screwgunner said:
I had a clown fish do the same thing to me I held a cube of frozen brine in front of him and he ate well for about a month then he took off like nothing happened.

My YT passed today. :-(