yellow tang... healthy @ LFS, red patch in quarentine

[jandree22]

hey guys, I just picked up a yellow tang for my 75gal. Where I bought him, he was in a tank with many other healthy looking yellow tangs, and I had the girl working there give me only the healthiest looking one. Caught it, put it in the specimin tank, and IMO it was one of the healthiest looking yellow tangs I've ever seen. NO red spots at all, I'm sure of it. It's about 2" long.

When I got it home, I was so proud of myself because this was gonna be the first fish I ever put through quarentine. It's a 10gal tank, piece of PVC for hiding, brand new sponge filter, and about 3lbs. of live rock to seed the sponge filter for about a week or two. Well, suddenly I realize that he's got the dreaded red patch that everyone talks about. It's between and above the eyes.

As I watch him swim about the 10gal. it breaks my heart because he's obviously in a prison! I feel for the lil guy. Considering he looks completely healthy other than the small red spot, maybe it's the right choice to put him in my 75 right away with my 2 clowns and 3 chromis? I'm thinking it developed from being stressed until he got home, and now cause he's trapped in that 10gal.

I just put him in quarentine a few hours ago and havn't fed him anything yet. I want to give him a mixture of Formula1/Formula2 pellets, what I'm trying to convert all my fish over to, as well as Nori to graze on. I only looked on one grocery store so far to find it and came up empty. Any suggestions where specifically to look for Nori?

Thanks

 

[Jolieve]

Long post... point by point.

You've already acclimated him to the quarantine, sounds like you went through all the appropriate steps to set it up properly. I'd probably leave him there for a few days, then do a partial water change, about a gallon.

Check the levels in the tank, particularly ammonia. I've left off my reading for a while, but I seem to recall that those red spots are a direct reaction to high ammonia content in the water, and tangs are dirty fish. Don't quote me on that, research it for yourself.

Lastly... Nori is easily obtainable from any asian food store. My grocery store carries it in the asian foods aisle.

Good luck, and keep asking questions!
J.

 

[Jolieve]

By the way... I'm tired. Check the levels in the tank first before doing anything else

 

[EmilyB]

A 10g is going to not support a tang for long, he needs to eat lots, poop lots, etc. If you want to QT, then you better be doing daily water changes on a 10g.

:wink:

 

[jandree22]

A 10g is going to not support a tang for long, he needs to eat lots, poop lots, etc. If you want to QT, then you better be doing daily water changes on a 10g.

:wink:

I was planning on small daily water changes. I'm hoping once I get something in there to graze on he'll maybe be a lil happier...

 

[Anonymous]

You can do up to 100% w/d's if the water's aged, matched for pH and up to temp. This is actually what I will strongly recommend, as it's very likely that you're seeing effects of high ammonia.

 

[elpescado]

What SeaMaiden said, but if you are not comfortable with, nor have the experience in doing 100% water changes then start with 50% and work tward 100% (well, close to it, the poor tang needs some water left in the tank so it isn't flopping arround on bare glass). Maybe 75% to 80%, but in any case the pH, salinity, and temp need to be the same. Calcium levels shouldn't be an issue unless there is a huge difference (it can affect potassium levels within the nervous system of the fish if there is a drastic difference).

 

[Expos Forever]

If you have the space get a big "Rubbermaid" container (15$) or a 29-30 gallon.

The tank would be better because you can observe your fish. The Rubbermnaid is good also because you can store 45 gallons of water or so temporarily and store/use it later when not needed, tank emergencies, future quarantines,etc... and help avoid the ammonia issues you are likely having.

IMO a 10 gallon will only stress out your tang and make the situation worse ie not feeding, etc...

 

[ereefic1]

Red patches are a bacterial infection generally due to poor water quality.

Please read this thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showt ... did=138705

 

[AnotherGoldenTeapot]

It's always struck me that ozone addition is a good idea in a quarantine tank.

Instant "cycling" of the tank - so long as the ozoniser doesn't break down. Given we're talking quarantine here that's not an unreasonable assumption.

Water optically good enough to drink and all nasties in it dead.

 

[jandree22]

Okay I'll be honest with you guys.... I just put him in my display tank I didn't have any larger tanks/containers available for QT and it was breaking my heart to see the guy in that situation. He's still very skiddish and hides in the rockwork when I approach the tank, but if I sneak up on the tank I can see that he does swim around really good now and seems A LOT happier. I offered some Nori, and I have seen him pick at it a lil bit, but mostly he's just pickin off the LR for now. Hopefully in time he'll over come his fears of big bad me and eat some Formula 2 when I offer it!

His red spot is still there, but it's getting better, not nearly as bright as it was in QT. There there's a plus