Yellow Tang curse?

[Tank Homer]

Hi, if there was ever a fish a wanted to have it was a Yellow Tang. At the begining of this year I finaly got one. All was fine for about two weeks then my Yellow Tang died within 30 min without any sign of sickness or strange behavior. All other fish and corals were just fine. So I waited a few weeks, just to see if some disease spreads out. Nothing happened. So I went and bought a new Yellow Tang. Yesterday after about two weeks it is flat on the ground and dead within a half an hour. Again all other inhabitants are just fine. Can somebody explain this? My tank: 75 g, spec. grav 1025, temp 80F, phosphat, ammonium, nitite 0, nitrate 25, alk 420

Thanks for any advice

 

[fort384]

What are you feeding your tangs?

 

[TheTodd]

Nitrate is a little high, but should not be killing anything that fast. Yellow Tangs are going to be much better off in a six foot tank. They like lots of room to swim. 75 is small and small tanks usually cause stress. Stress causes health problems, especially with Tangs. That may not be it, but its not helping anything.

 

[fort384]

I would challenge the requirement of a 6 foot tank. Bigger is certainly better, as tangs are active fish, but it shouldn't have this dramatic an effect on lifespan.

My bet would be on diet, or on another inhabitant causing stress/picking on the tang. What else is in the tank, fish and invert wise?

 

[TheTodd]

The tank size is absolutely not killing it within a day. For it to die within hours, its almost got to be acclimation, something extremely aggressive or parameters. Could be diet, but not in a day.

My point was more to reconsider the idea of having a yellow tang in a 75g moving forward. Try a Tomini or Kole or something better suited to a 75g.

How are you acclimating your fish?

 

[Tank Homer]

I feed my fish frozen Brine and Mysis Shrimp, sometimes flake food. In addition to that every other day I offer dried seaweed.
I acclimate always by using the drip-method.
As for the size of the tank. The fish where about the size of a silver dollar so I don´t think that this is really a problem.
Other inhabitants in the tank: two black ocellaris, one Kole Tang (also very little), three Blue-Green Chromis, one Scooter Blenny, one Banngai Cardinal (not one of these fish is aggresive in any way) Corals: Green Star Polyps, Frog Spawn, Kenya Tree, Alveopora, Green Polyps, some Zoanthus. Of course several snails and hermits as CUC, also an Emerald Crap and a Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp

 

[fort384]

2 tangs in a 75 would be a concern and a potential red flag. Even though they are different species, there very well could be aggression between them.

 

[TheTodd]

+1 to the two Tangs. Again, would likely not kill a Tang that quick, but probably not a good idea.

Everything else seems fine though. I do not see anything that screams trouble. Maybe it was just random bad fish? Did they look healthy when you got them? I've seen Tangs at places where they look starved.

 

[Tank Homer]

The second one definitely was a little bit starved but recoverd quick and was always the first at the food. Although It´s belly-section always looked a little bit "bumpy", but nothing to much out of the ordinary.

 

[Wendy8184]

I would say maybe bad timing (healthwise), along with something internal(parasitic) or maybe stress.