Yellow Tang Still

[Nigel35]

Just yesterday I transferred 25-30 lbs of cycled rock to my display tank. The yellow tang soon afterwards wasn't darting around the tank as usual but slowly drifting in the middle of the tank and moving around just slightly.

This morning I found him landed on top a few rocks breathing rapidly and fins flapping quickly. I Put him in an acclimation box with and airstone to help recuperate. He wouldn't even move despite putting a net next to him or even me gently putting him into the acclimation box.

He has been eating extremely well still on the slim side but appeared ghastly skinny this morning. I've fed nori, brine mysis, pellets etc. regularly. Can't seem to figure out whats wrong here.

Just an hour before the new rock came in and I changed the aquascape he starts to lose it. ALL other fish are happily swimming around the tank and eating well, no issues whatsoever. My guess would be flukes or something along those lines but it came so quickly and the fact that I made a big change to the tank makes me inclined to think otherwise. I just can't let this guy go... It would make me sick to let such a beautiful part of the ocean perish...

Salinity is 1.026
Ph: 8.2
Temp: 77.8

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Okay, so let's get some more information here.

Where did the cycled rock come from that you added to your display?(detailed please)

How long is the display been active? And did you disturb the existing rock and sand bed? Did moving the sand cloud the tank for any length of time??

How long have you had this fish in your possession and when was the last time you added a fish to the system?? Were previous fish quarantined? And do you have any active pathogens in there that you know of??

Do you have a reliable way to test ammonia? Not api test.


How big of a water change are you prepared to do right now??

Since you have your little guy in an exclamation box already, can you get us a video under white light at least 30 seconds long so we can check the respiration?

 

[HenryJoel]

Okay, so let's get some more information here.

Where did the cycled rock come from that you added to your display?(detailed please)

How long is the display been active? And did you disturb the existing rock and sand bed? Did moving the sand cloud the tank for any length of time??

How long have you had this fish in your possession and when was the last time you added a fish to the system?? Were previous fish quarantined? And do you have any active pathogens in there that you know of??

Do you have a reliable way to test ammonia? Not api test.


How big of a water change are you prepared to do right now??

Since you have your little guy in an exclamation box already, can you get us a video under white light at least 30 seconds long so we can check the

I had been cycling the new rock for six months. Display active for 5 years. Was very careful not to disturb the sand bed too much. There was minimal disturbance…slight sand cloud for 45 min. No added fish for 1 year. No known pathogens. Some rocks were removed from the display tank but kept wet during rearrange. I don’t have a precise ammonia test kit

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I had been cycling the new rock for six months. Display active for 5 years. Was very careful not to disturb the sand bed too much. There was minimal disturbance…slight sand cloud for 45 min. No added fish for 1 year. No known pathogens. Some rocks were removed from the display tank but kept wet during rearrange. I don’t have a precise ammonia test kit

And to be clear above when you said he started losing it before you made any changes, You mean that he already appeared lethargic skinny and not well prior to you adding or disturbing the tank, correct??

 

[Uncle99]

Everyone else fine….can’t be water.
Change in your rock scape and elimination of his/her territory?
An attack by another for new territory?
YT is the more timid of the tang group.
Mine goes pale when frightened and looks terrible under blue.
What’s he look like under white.

 

[Jekyl]

Shot in the dark here... was the new rock still being cycled using RoDi water with same conditions as the tank? Heated, circulated, proper salinity?

 

[Nigel35]

And to be clear above when you said he started losing it before you made any changes, You mean that he already appeared lethargic skinny and not well prior to you adding or disturbing the tank, correct??

No that is incorrect. He was quite healthy and vigorous before the change. During the change he started to slow down and seem quite shocked. Unfortunately the YT kicked the bucket just a few minutes ago...

Chemistry doesn't fit into this one. The fact that everything else is doing incredible just doesn't make sense.

 

[Nigel35]

Shot in the dark here... was the new rock still being cycled using RoDi water with same conditions as the tank? Heated, circulated, proper salinity?

Rock was cycled using pre made saltwater and topped off with RO. A little while ago I ran into some salinity issues but balanced it out. The cycle was heated and well circulated with plenty of available oxygen.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

No that is incorrect. He was quite healthy and vigorous before the change. During the change he started to slow down and seem quite shocked. Unfortunately the YT kicked the bucket just a few minutes ago...

Chemistry doesn't fit into this one. The fact that everything else is doing incredible just doesn't make sense.

I'm very sorry to hear that..

Did you attempt a large water change?

IF he was perfectly healthy, you messed in the tank and he went down hill in hours, this is very likely chemistry based. Be it toxic levels of something, something you introduced... Even with other fish being ok.

 

[Nigel35]

Everyone else fine….can’t be water.
Change in your rock scape and elimination of his/her territory?
An attack by another for new territory?
YT is the more timid of the tang group.
Mine goes pale when frightened and looks terrible under blue.
What’s he look like under white.

Agreed it doesn't make sense if it's chemistry. The yellow tang was more of a vagabond to be completely honest. He was the most docile tang I have ever owned. The only other competitor with him for territory would be a flame angel.

 

[Nigel35]

I'm very sorry to hear that..

Did you attempt a large water change?

IF he was perfectly healthy, you messed in the tank and he went down hill in hours, this is very likely chemistry based. Be it toxic levels of something, something you introduced...

No water change attempted as their were NO signs of ammonia spikes or toxic waste trapped in the sand bed.

If it was indeed chemistry why aren't my inverts all dead? Or my fish for that matter? Chemistry just doesn't fit the bill. Maybe there is something I am missing (I hope so) but the evidence doesn't align.

 

[Nigel35]

Could it just be a combination of the YT not being fat and fit enough and when the rock work was rescaped it just gave up on life?

 

[Nigel35]

Obviously there is an entire 10 hour period which I can't take into account for, maybe a territorial skirmish or what not?

 

[Vested]

If he was healthy before adding the rock and all the other fish are fine id assume your tank has something (could be flukes like you said) and the new scape was a stressing event that pushed the yt over the edge of whatever it is. Id keep a very close eye on your fish and maybe even do a few freshwater dips to see if you can find flukes.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

No water change attempted as their were NO signs of ammonia spikes or toxic waste trapped in the sand bed.

If it was indeed chemistry why aren't my inverts all dead? Or my fish for that matter? Chemistry just doesn't fit the bill. Maybe there is something I am missing (I hope so) but the evidence doesn't align.

Ammonia isn't the only thing to be worried about. You could have very well transferred something into the water on your hands, some sort of chemical.

Correct. It should not be localized to one fish, but it can be especially if this chemical had a short half-life or dispersed quickly. I'm going on the information you provided that it was extremely healthy prior to changing the rock work. That amount of stress should not kill any fish unless it is already very sick. Fish don't just give up on life when you rescape the tank.

Do you see any damage to the fish?? Flame angels can be jerks but they're going to leave marks. It looks to me like it's fins were all intact and I didn't see any terminal damage on the body.

Performing a water change should have in my opinion been one of the first attempted life-saving measures after getting it into an observation box. There are very few variables that don't include water chemistry overall.

Nothing that can be done now unfortunately.

 

[Nigel35]

If he was healthy before adding the rock and all the other fish are fine id assume your tank has something (could be flukes like you said) and the new scape was a stressing event that pushed the yt over the edge of whatever it is. Id keep a very close eye on your fish and maybe even do a few freshwater dips to see if you can find flukes.

Im not sure how something like that could come though. I haven't had any fish added to the DT for more than a year. To complicate things each fish was quarantined and properly medicated. This is quite puzzling.

 

[Nigel35]

Here is the fish currently:

 

[vetteguy53081]

Could it just be a combination of the YT not being fat and fit enough and when the rock work was rescaped it just gave up on life?

having several yellow tangs, You may have seen that they startle and stress easily. I suspect it may have freaked out and ran into glass.
If youve had this guy for quite a while, it is apparent water management is good. I would say. . Increase aeration, lower white lights to calm it and Step up the diet. Mine as you see below are filled and proportionate. For diet, I highly recommend:

-Spirulina brine shrimp
- LRS Herbivore diet
- mysis shrimp
- small plankton
- Nori seaweed basted with garlic extract
- Hikari Marine cuisine
- Formula 2 flake and frozen
- Hikari veggie marine

Add selcon vitamins to the foods 2-3X per week and on alternating days, garlic extract for stamina and immunity health

 

[Nigel35]

Visual inspection would indicate that there wasn't a fight in the middle of the night...

 

[Vested]

Im not sure how something like that could come though. I haven't had any fish added to the DT for more than a year. To complicate things each fish was quarantined and properly medicated. This is quite puzzling.

That is really strange, sorry to hear this.. id lean towards some other ideas then, maybe like what @vetteguy53081 says possible internal damage that we cant see?