Whats wrong with my tangs

[rlculver09]

Hey everyone,
I wanted to ask a question about my new brown tang, every time I get a new tang it acts likes it starves itself and then dies. First I had a yellow tang It lived a long time then it died, then I got a yellow eyed tang and it died in about 2 weeks,last week I thought I would try one more tang it is a small I think the man called it a brown tang but it has yellow and purple on it to,I have had it about 1 week and a half and it is beginning to look unhealthy now.It's in my 55 gallon with a couple of small black and white damsals, a scoother blenney, and a sand golby a peperment and cleaner shrimp and some soft corals.I use rodi water,have the right amount of live rock,skim 24 hours a day and have a good water flow could someone please help me.I test my water every every week and it is always at the right level.
Thanks,
Robin

 

[Reef Pets]

Hello Robin - You have come to the right place to get great information...... Unfortunately, I know very little about fish, I am more of a coral guy or of course I would offer my opinion.
You coral should be arriving tomorrow!
By the way, welcome to R2R!!

 

[aquafrags]

most people under feed tangs. Also you need to look at where you are buying your fish from?

My TANGS get fed____ Nori,artic pods,mysis,brine,cyclopeeze,reef nutrition flakes and pellets THEY ARE FAT!!!

 

[bluebeltreefer]

ive noticed that when my tangs wouldnt eat, something was bothering them or they were stressed. do any of the fish chase or stress them out? also, does your tank have ich?

 

[rlculver09]

WHere Do you get that kind of food?
Thanks,
Robin

 

[rlculver09]

Hey I wanted to tell you that I did get my corals this morning, earlier than when we shipped express mail, They all look great, the pink ones we off the plug so I glued them back and they are find, although I dont think the green emeralds are going to make it they smelled when I opened them and now they just look slimmy, any suggestions.Thanks I will order from you next time and I really really want some of those starfire zoas.
Thanks,
Robin

 

[rlculver09]

No my tank doesnt have ick, but i have this little blue and yellow damsal and I think he might be chasing everyone I had to move every rock out of my 29 gallon because he was chasing my firefish,i am going to try to catch him and give him back to the pet store.
Thanks,
RObin

 

[miyags]

I have a powder brown and yellow tang. I feed them brown seaweed,brine shrimp,and veggie flake food. you might want to try to add some garlic xtreme to your seaweed. it helps stimulate their appetite. you can get brown seaweed at petco, petsmart, lfs.

 

[AlexStinson]

55 gallon is small for tangs... but some tangs just come in bad, I have 4'x4' tanks full of caulurpa and tangs will still go in there and never eat and just waste away over a number of weeks

 

[bluebeltreefer]

i agree with above. i frequent the LFS in my area, and i have seen tangs come in bad and never eat, for no apparent reason.

mabe the next tang you get, you shouldQT to make sure he eats before you add him to the display.

good luck

 

[laskopyre]

I've had a few tangs, and either they get ich, or just don't eat. I currently have a juvenile Atlantic Blue Tang. It's doing fantastic. I've had it for over 8 months, and it eats like a pig. I feed it nori seaweed (can get at an oriental food store, or most large chain grocery stores), and seaweed from ocean nutrition. I also feed my tank spectrum pellets, frozen mysid, frozen brine, and flakes. The tang eats it all. Very healthy and happy.

 

[aerius007]

I also have had some problems with tangs in the past. Everything else is healthy but the tangs just seem to have a shelf life for some reason with me. A few months ago I bought a small vlamingi tang and thought I would do everything I can to keep this guy thriving. Since ive gotten him Ive been feeding the tank like crazy. Mysis usually 2-3 times a day, some small pellets when I walk by, greens on the magnet 1-2 times a day, basically what most people would call over feeding. Well that tang has tripled in size, seems super healthy and is the only thing in the house fatter than me. So, considering my recent success with him I bought a purple tang and powder blue about 2 weeks ago. They are doing great so far and eat everything I put in the tank. So maybe just try feeding more with a good mix of stuff.

Another tip I just thought of, I bought a tea-strainer off ebay for around $6 with shipping. I will put a couple cubes of mysis in there, let it soak in a cup of tank water to thaw, and then rinse it off. Once I do that I pour out the now cloudy tank water from the cup and add a couple drops of garlic extract to the mysis. Ill let it soak in the food for a couple of minutes and then release it into the tank. From what I hear garlic is great for their immune system.

 

[rlculver09]

What kind of greens are you talking about, I'm going to the pet store today and i need to know what to get to help him,
THanks,Robin

 

[kass03]

Go to the Oriental food store and get Nori. It's the sheets of green algae that they wrap sushi in.
I've had many tangs live for years and I feed them nori every day along with flake food and occasionally frozen.
You can use many methods to feed them this. I recently bought those magnet clips from Doctor Fosters and put a plastic tube in it. I rubberband the nori to it. It works great.
Heres a pict. of it but I did'nt have any nori in it lol.

kass

 

[Eggs]

Some people question the nutrional value, but my tangs and rabittfish's love romaine lettuce; and Prime Reef flakes for dried food.

With your 55g tank, the other fish might be harassing any newly introduced fish.

 

[grimis444]

I have 2 tangs in my 55. i have a blue hippo ans a valamigni(might be speeled wrong) but if u are haveing problems u should try garlic extreme i think it is arounf 15 bucks. soak that with some pe mysis and if they don't eat i don't know what to tell u. that stuff works wonder. Selcon is another soak that works great. Damsels are very aggressive to, they could be messing with them. but i would say try the garlic. yangs also love seaweed. try some purple seaweed, yangs love seaweed.

 

[Cuda]

Lets keep this simple.
#1 Too many tangs in small tank bad. Powders need lots of room. Ick magnets.

#2 Tangs are easy,except powders. If they die,they are bad to begin with or your killing them.

#3 Check salinity on new fish. They are offten kept in copper and or handed to you in .016 salinity.

#4 Feed them Spectrum Thera +A small pellets and stop with the brine and keep frozen food to a min . once in a long while as a treat. Messes up your H2o

#5 I never had a tang starve. I get them small and raise them to be large and keep them for years and get rid of them the day they decide to eat corals.

#6 Purple Tang = Mean
Blue Tang = Easy can be mean
Powder Blue = Ick ,
Yellow Tang = Easy,will loose a fight to all the above the same size
Nasa need = vegies ,picky

#7 Garlic extreme is good for treating ick and helping get a fish eating for short term use.

 

[rlculver09]

I got the garlic extract and some mystis and have be soaking the food in it and I have seen the tang eating in the last two days, so we will see I have also been feeding more than once a day,and he doesn't seem to look so skinny now, I am about to ugrade to a 75 gallon drilled tank so maybe he will have more room. Thanks For all the advice it problely just saved my tangs life. I am going to try and find some nori also but there are no orential stores around here.
Thanks,Robin

 

[AlexStinson]

the nori is the same stuff more or less that you buy at your LFS as algae sheets. It just cost less buying it from the grocery store.

 

[bluebeltreefer]

i think once you get them to eat, you are on your way to being succesful. in my tank, ive been able to house every kind of tang, except for convict tangs. for some reason, they would not eat anything, despite everything i tried. other than that, ive never had a tang die on me, the only reason i dont have some of them is because i got rid of them because of their mean-ness.