Yellow Tang Acting Strange

[Yellow Jobber]

29gal

Last night I noticed my Yellow Tang was acting strange. He seemed very hyper and was breathing fast. His swimming was very speratic. He would shoot forward quickly and stop suddenly. Also, he would shake his tail almost as if it seemed like he thought something was attached to it. I didn't notice any injuries other than that it looked a little pink around the tail area. I did a partial water change as soon as I noticed this odd behavior. This morning he is acting the same way.

PH is normal at, 8.1
I tested my water parameters yesterday: Phosphate, nitrate, calcium, alkalinity. Calcium and alkalinity are fine. Phosphates are a .5ppm and I'm working on bringing down my nitrates which were around 100ppm. I highly doubt any test chemicals made their way into the tank because my other three clowns are fine. What should I do?

 

[lReef lKeeper]

i think this problem was covered in the other thread ... his tank is to small.

 

[Yellow Jobber]

He has just started doing this after three years. I know all about the tank size issue and am in the process of upgrading.

 

[Ziggy953]

Well something has him stressed out. Did you have a temp spike or drop in your tank? Do you have any ammonia showing in your tank? It sounds to me like it is getting to the point where you will need to upgrade to that larger tank or find the tang a new home. As was mentioned in the other thread I would get on those PWCs and do them every 3 days. Mix the SW up and let it sit (with a powerhead in it) for at least 24 hours before use. Getting those Nitrates under control will help things out. Also the type of substrate you are using is contributing to the problem. Get those Nitrates down and look into a larger tank.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

While nitrates in normal levels in tanks are not toxic to fish, I believe when you start dealing with elevated levels like you have (100 ppm) it does become a problem. Nitrates are bad... just not as bad as nitrites and ammonia. My guess is that it hasn't been a problem before because you've slowly been creeping your nitrate levels up over the years. Think you've finally hit the ceiling. (Yeah... there's the tank thing too, but you're aware of that!)

 

[melosu58]

The bioload for your tank is overextended for that tank because of the tang. Read this. It was answered by IMO one of the best.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=54268&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=10