Tangs keep dying.

[Piercy87]

I'm having trouble keeping tangs alive. I added a Naso tang a few weeks back and he died within in 24 hours without reason so I put it to stress. I got a kole tang on Sunday 2 days ago and now he's barely alive sat in a cave breathing heavily. There is no sign of ich or disease. I acclimated as carefully as I could and he was swimming around eating algae I of the rocks within 10 minutes. Making friends with the other citizens. Ammonia is 0 trates 0 salinity 1023 temp 24.5 all other fish happy and no problems. I'm at a loss should I just not get tangs? One intresting thing is my star blenny and fireball angel keep swimming over and looking at him in the cave?


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[tomtom14]

If there is no sign of disease and your water quality is good then I think it is how you are introducing them to the tank. Please can you specifically say how you acclimate your tangs?


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[Piercy87]

I turn off the lights float the bag In the tank and slowly add tank water until it's almost replaced the water from the fish shop then add the fish and slowly put the LEDs on when it's come out of hiding after about 10 minutes



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[Piercy87]

Also it was fine after adding to the tank and eating the green hair algae off the rocks


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[Piercy87]

Unless it's the green hair algae poising them for some reason?



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[Sniperhank]

Unless it's the green hair algae poising them for some reason?
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No, hair algae is a sign of excess nitrates in the water column. Even testing for them can then result in 0 as it is being consumed.

 

[Piercy87]

I know that that's why I keep manually removing the algae and have phosphate remover and being careful to not over feed. Also if it is nitrates then they are locked away in the algae and not there to harm anything


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[Piercy87]

The only thing I can think of is if the fireball and blenny are teaming up and bullying the fish to death



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[Sniperhank]

Maybe. Can you tell us more about the tank? Size of the tank maybe at play here, especially if you have fish that have already established their territory.
And what is a fireball?


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[Piercy87]

It's a 70 gallon tank with a 30 gallon sump got 3 large power heads and return from sump. The fireball dwarf angel is very territorial but have never seen him attack the tang as tang is twice the size.



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[Piercy87]

But this would be the 3rd tang I've lost and I have never lost a fish like this. Only reason I lost fish is because of a ich outbreak ages ago whiped put my tank. Oh also run ozone


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[Sniperhank]

Well, a flame angel would be more than able to kill a tang if it wanted.

What kind of tang are we talking about? Some of the open water swimming tangs won't do so well in a non 6ft long tank. A kole would be a great fit in there.


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[Piercy87]

It was a kole as I love them they look amazing. It would be the second kole first one dies of white spot. The other was a naso



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[Sniperhank]

So the 70 gallon has a flame angel and a lawnmower Benny in it? That's it?
Have you acclimated the fish to the new tank?


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[Piercy87]

No I have 3 chromis 2 Picasso clowns 2 chalk gobys fireball angel and blenny. And yes I acclimate them the same all the time and have never had a problem with another fish. Could it that it is more sensitive to ozone? I have turned off the ozone unit see if that makes a diff over night? I also have a bubble coral and a hammerhead could they have stung it?


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[Sniperhank]

No the coral wouldn't have messed with it unless it was sick and kinda fell into it.
As for the ozone, it isn't necessary to run on saltwater. What are you trying to accomplish with it?
As for stocking, I personally wouldn't be adding more fish to the situation. This is most likely the issue at hand. That regarding territorial issues. In my 55 reef I have 5 fish. Two of which are a coral beauty and lawnmower blenny. These guys are terrors in my tank. I'd expect similar.


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[Piercy87]

It must be the blenny and the angel. Ozone has made the tank crystal clear and haven't seen any nitrates since adding it also got it when I had a outbreak of white spot to help keep that at bay



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[carey]

I went though FOUR tangs for my 180g before I found one that fit in with the current fish. They all ate like pigs and looked to be capable of living in the tank. But none lasted more than four days. All the tangs I tried were naso tangs by the way. My water was fine, they were acclimated very well they just didnt make it. :-(

There isnt always "you did this wrong" issue....I believe alot has to do with how they are caught from the wild and where. I only had success when I added a white lined tang, (similar in looks to a mustard tang) who is still doing well in my 180g, six foot tank.

Keep in mind these poor fish are pretty much in transit for days before they get to your lfs so they are pretty worn out by then. ALso, do you know when you lfs got the fish in? I always wait at least a week sometimes more before I pick up a fish that has recently come into the store.
This is always a good question to ask the lfs, no matter what fish you are buying.

 

[Piercy87]

I think it was a couple of days in store. It's so frustrating to see them struggling and not bing able to do anything to help. The blenny and angel kept going over to where it was and staring at it. I might have to get rid of the angel if I can catch it. I will wait to make sure the fish last in the store from now on


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[tomtom14]

I think I have the answer. I have been told by quite a reliable source that most saltwater fish emit something like a scent when they are very stressed. Your tangs where most likely very stressed when you where acclimating them. So if you added the water that you where acclimating the tangs in to the tank this would have stressed all the fish in your main tank.

I am almost positive this is the answer if you did it. Did you add the acclimating water that each tang was in into the main display tank? Then if so this is why your tangs are dying or getting very ill.

The sent emitted when stressed is to warn other fish. It's emitted by most fish when they basically think they are going to die. All other fish will then sense this in the water and become stressed and far more territorial.

The stress alone could have killed you tang or it might have just swam too close to one of your other fish, it is amazing how territorial the sent makes all the other fish in the tank go.

This is why I empty the water into a net over the sink and then add the fish to the tank. Obviously after acclimating it.

The sent will fade but by then the damage can already be done. I have kept marine fish for about a year now and I only found out very recently. So it will not always make a difference in killing or injuring fish. Hope this helps.


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