Yellow tang

Manuel935 · Sep 29, 2019

Hi, I recently purchased a yellow tang from my lfs, at first the fish was perfect, he would attack food and he was active but after I had an issue with my nitrates he became extremely shy and has become a bit skinny, I recently talked to the lfs who sold it to me and they told me it could be because he is stressed due to the nitrate problem, I already took care of the problem but he is still extremely shy, is there anything i can do or does anyone have any suggestion as to what the problem may be apart from the nitrate issue.

foxt · Sep 29, 2019

Manuel935 said:
Hi, I recently purchased a yellow tang from my lfs, at first the fish was perfect, he would attack food and he was active but after I had an issue with my nitrates he became extremely shy and has become a bit skinny, I recently talked to the lfs who sold it to me and they told me it could be because he is stressed due to the nitrate problem, I already took care of the problem but he is still extremely shy, is there anything i can do or does anyone have any suggestion as to what the problem may be apart from the nitrate issue.

How big is the tank, what else is in there with the tang. Any other changes? How long has it been in your tank?

Manuel935 · Sep 29, 2019

Well its a 75 gallon tank I have 2 clownfish, 1 very small blue tang its about 2 inches long, 1 fiji foxface, and 1 bicolor angel, I purchased all the fish around the same time except the angel who i purchased yesterday, I bought all the fish about 2 weeks ago, and all fish but the yellow tang are eating like beasts.

foxt · Sep 30, 2019

Are there any signs of disease or parasites? Flashing, white spots, heavy breathing? On any of the fish? Usually, in that mix, the yellow tang might be the most aggressive fish, but just in case, are you noticing any aggressive action from any of the other fish?

Fishnut · Sep 30, 2019

I doubt that it has anything to do with nitrates. You may have over-loaded the bio capacity when adding too many fish at one time. Check ammonia levels. You may be having a spike and if so start with a water change. I have a FOWLR tank with tangs and angels and the nitrates are 180 and all fish are fat and happy. Did you QT? Stress of going into an established tank could have cause the tang to be more exposed to attack from parasites.

Manuel935 · Sep 30, 2019

foxt said:
Are there any signs of disease or parasites? Flashing, white spots, heavy breathing? On any of the fish? Usually, in that mix, the yellow tang might be the most aggressive fish, but just in case, are you noticing any aggressive action from any of the other fish?

Fishnut said:
I doubt that it has anything to do with nitrates. You may have over-loaded the bio capacity when adding too many fish at one time. Check ammonia levels. You may be having a spike and if so start with a water change. I have a FOWLR tank with tangs and angels and the nitrates are 180 and all fish are fat and happy. Did you QT? Stress of going into an established tank could have cause the tang to be more exposed to attack from parasites.

The yellow tang is definitely the king of the tank, every other fish knows what his place is so no one picks on him, and i have checked my ammonia and its fine i made sure that before i added any heavy livestock i always pour a 1 ounce bottle of fritz turbo start to get that bacteria, also the tank has only running for around 3 months and he was probably the first fish i got after I tested the water using a clownfish, who survived, I also see him very active when there is no one close to the tank which makes me think he is just really shy.