New Kole Tang, is he breathing heavy? (video)

[Glasswalker]

Hey, so got a new Kole Tang, we picked one up some time ago (some of you may remember the thread) and unfortunately he was pretty sick and didn't make it. It was sad, but we learned some valuable lessons.

This time we think we found a nice healthy fish, he's active, and eating already, and looks healthy (more plump, not nearly as thin as the other one was).

Anyway, he's been in the QT for 24h now, and my wife pointed out she thinks he might be breathing heavy. He does seem to be breathing (mouth opening/closing, and gills going) quicker than some of our other fish do... But he's also very active.

I think he's ok (hope so) but we didn't want to take any chances since we had a hard time with the last one, so I thought I'd post a quick video of his behavior and hopefully those with more experience could confirm if all is well

Anyway, I'm very happy with this new little friend in our tank, and want him to be happy and healthy. Any suggestions/feedback welcome.

General info:

• Tang is fairly small, not sure if he's Adult or not, he's about 2.5" to 3" long in total right now much smaller than other specimens (including the last one we had).
• No noticeable marks, lesions, abrasions, or discolorations on the fish anywhere
• Stomach isn't sunken at all, he's relatively plump (still a little skinny, but that's fairly normal coming from the LFS).
• LFS had him for 2 weeks, one week in a QT system running copper, and another week in an isolated tank with only inverts and 2 other tangs. (by the time I bought him, he was the only one left)
• In the LFS he ate in front of me, and was eating a live plant they had in the tank (on the live rock) as well.
• QT is 30gal long with oversize HOB filter (Aquaclear rated for 100+gal) running only foam and live rock rubble as filteration (no carbon/etc).
• One small powerhead for additional circulation (though the HOB makes a fair bit of circulation on it's own)
• There are 3 fair sized live rocks in the QT
• QT has been established for several months now (likely 5-6 months) and has plenty of pods, and some sponges, etc growing now. Ammonia/nitrite are zero, salinity is low (1.021, but intentionally so, I dropped it to match the LFS water, to make acclimation easier, now am letting evap slowly raise it to 1.025 to match my display where I'll maintain it during the remainder of the quarantine).
• Currently Nitrates are a bit higher than I'd like, but that shouldn't bother the fish (30-40 ppm, I'll be doing a large water change once he's settled for a couple days to bring this way down)
• Actually hoping the higher nitrates will help grow some algae for him to graze on
• No other life in the tank other than pods/small life on the rocks. (no other inverts or fish).
• Last fish was in the tank about 3 months ago, been fallow since then. Been ghost feeding to maintain bacterial culture (which is why the high nitrates right now) and that fish was healthy and had no problems at all (and is now in DT).
• Lights have been running dark during the fallow period, so unfortunately not a lot of algae in the tank right now for him to graze on (a little film on the rocks likely, and some patches on the glass of a tiny bit of film I can see)
• Lights are LED on a timer roughly synced to my DT cycle (but without the fancy ramp up and down cycle)

We're planning on keeping him in QT minimum of 6 weeks, possibly longer, we're doing work to replace our Sump in the display right now, so we want to both give him a long enough QT for standard QT protocol, but also give the Display (and current community) time to settle down and stabilize after replacing the sump.

Here is the vid (in the thumbnail it looks like he's got whitespots, it's not on him, it's the glass lol, there is remnants of a sticker there, and some salt drips on outside of the glass, not to mention some minor algae film on the inside, this is apparent if you watch the video and see him in motion):


Any feedback/confirmations/warnings/suggestions or any other response is both welcome, and greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[Mel 2038]

I read through the post and watched the video. I believe your doing really good so far. I like the way he's swimming around, and also the way he tried to pick up/eat some detritus. That tells me he has a appetite, and that's a good thing. As far as the breathing goes, its hard to tell, but looked ok. He just looks a little skittish, probably from the new transfer. Good Luck!

 

[justingraham]

I think ur kole looks good.mine breaths the same way urs does and mine is Parisite free. I think u have a good looking fish there and a great buy.

 

[Deinonych]

Seems to be healthy and active to me.

 

[Glasswalker]

Thanks for replies everyone

Yeah he's still nice and active. Less skittish now, but still not "comfortable" but that's normal after being transferred to a new environment. Pretty disruptive lol. And it's only been a couple days.

I fed him flakes and saw him eat 2-3 of the flakes, but he mostly ignores them (and just picks one or two), so we're trying to feed tiny amounts frequently.

In addition I put in some Nori on a clip, and he ignored it (but I did see him nibble the end of a strand once at least, indicating he knew it was food). So I was a bit worried he wasn't eating enough, so I left the nori in, planning to clean it out the next day, and came down the next day to see it was entirely gone... No sign of it (not in the pump intake, not stuck in the filter, just GONE) lol... So I suspect he ate it all once he was alone. So I put another sheet in (I cut it up into thin strips but not all the way through, like a grass skirt, then fold it up and clip it, this makes it have thin "strands" like seaweed that move around slowly in the flow).

Will also try wrapping a sheet on a small piece of rock later, to see if he'll go after that.

But yeah so far so good Very happy with this little guy, he's an awesome looking fish, will post updates over the coming weeks. Here's hoping all goes well!

 

[Deinonych]

IME Kole Tangs are pretty shy when they are in QT. Mine would never eat while I was in the room, so I would feed him then peek around the corner to make sure he was eating. Once he transitioned to the DT his personality completely changed, and he confidently went after food like he owned the place. I've had him for two years now and he's doing great.

 

[4FordFamily]

I agree with what's already said, looks good so far!

 

[Glasswalker]

So far so good, just a quick follow up question, is it normal for kole tangs to change coloration? He was a fairly darker purple when we got him, and now he seems paler in color. Could this just be adaptation to lighting conditions? (The led in that QT tank kinda sucks lol)

Or is this something that might indicate the beginning of something we need to deal with.

Here is a bad cellphone pic that you can compare to the video (taken on same phone, he is just always swimming so hard to get a clear picture lol)



Actually looking at that pic and the video again it might just be a trick my eyes are playing.

Thanks again!

 

[Deinonych]

Yes, their coloration does change. They get very pale when they are stressed, but yours looks fine in that picture. They will also change coloration when they are showing dominance or aggression (eyes darken and their stripes get brighter). As they get older, their coloration darkens to a deep violet-brown.

 

[Glasswalker]

Ok, so coloration overall seems fine, but late last night and today I noticed a small "patch" of discoloration a little ways behind the right eye. My Wife is pretty sure it was there on day one, and may be a mark from an old wound or something. Today I was able to photograph it, unfortunately that previous pic I posted was blurry because it would be visible in that pic.

I'm bringing it up now, (and may cross-post in fish disease forum to be safe) because the last Kole that we bought was quite sick, but he showed similar symptoms (though it covered more of his body, and spread rapidly). He didn't survive. So hoping this isn't something similar.

Anyway, here is an updated pic, I'll cross post this as well just to be safe as I said.

Thanks again for feedback. I'm always such a worrier every time I get a new critter for the tank, hopefully I'm not driving everyone nuts lol.

Here is a couple pics showing the "spot":


Thoughts?

 

[Deinonych]

Hard to say, really. I would keep an eye on it for the time being.

 

[Glasswalker]

Yeah, definitely keeping an eye on it, just figured I'd lean on the side of caution and post it early, worse case I'm being paranoid lol.

FYI in other thread was suggested to try some more protein for food as well, I honestly hadn't even though of it, was so focused on veggie foods... So I threw in some Spirulina Brine which he went absolutely bananas for lol... So I'll be feeding him some of those daily now as well, which makes me 100% sure his appetite is good, and he's eating enough.

Thanks again!