Yellow Tang, red mouth

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Corty

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Sep 24, 2004
Messages
601
Location
Chicago
Eesh, it's everything at once isn't it? FW Angels & the Tang decide to stress me out in the course of a few weeks. Great, little fishies, great.

ANNNYWAY, my Yellow Tang has a red rimmed mouth, and seems to be breathing a little faster than usual, but I can't really tell. Water is fine (Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate was well under 40), and I haven't seen him bump into any rocks or anything to obtain injury.

I recall reading something about this a while back, but Google isn't turning up anything. He seems to be eating as much as usual.

Can anyone help?
 
Red area's on the fish will be the result of either bacterial problems or low pH issues. In either case, multiple large water changes with well aged SW over the next week or so will usually do the trick. Make sure feeding consist of vitamin fortified foods high in [acronym="Highly Unsaturated Fatty Acid"]HUFA[/acronym] and there's a regular supply of nori or other spurlina algae.

FWIW, a tang does not do well in such a small tank and given their large appetites and need to graze, the 55 may not be large enough to sustain the bioload as well as it's need for swimming room.

Cheers
Steve
 
PH is fine, I guess bacteria is the cause. His diet consists mainly of Nori and live Macro Algae, with an algae wafer every now and then (he loves those things). The live Macros are always out, so he can graze whenever he likes.

I've heard that the Yellow is the exception to the rule, and heard of many cases of success. He only shares it with a Firefish, and is only four inches, so I'm not particularly concerned about bioload. I do plan on moving him to a larger aquarium when I have a house (six months down the road or so), but for right now, I don't want anything bigger than a 55 in my apartment.
 
Corty said:
I do plan on moving him to a larger aquarium when I have a house (six months down the road or so), .
(y)

A tang is a tang. A yellow may be a bit more accepting of certain conditions and often labeled as an "easy care" species but I would not give it any less consideration than than any other.

Remember: less than optimum conditions = stress = lowered immune response.

Not meaning to leacture but we should strive for the optimal environment not the minimal. :wink:

Cheers
Steve
 
Not a problem, I don't mind a lecture when it comes to the health of my fish.
 
Pardon me for jumping in here... but I've opened a thread regarding the loss of a firefish and a very unhealthy yellow tang. I'm preparing change water right now, but not sure how long I need to 'age' it Steve? I'm not able to make more than 10 gallons at at time and don't want to wait too long...

:?: What is the minimum amount of time one should age SW?
 
The minumum mix time should be 12 hrs but preferabley 24. Newly mixed salts can be quite stressful and damaging to many marine animals.

If your having a similar problem, the fish should be fine for the day it takes to mix the water. 10 gal at a time in a 46 gal tank is still quite healthy. Do the water change after the first batch is ready, remix some new stuff and do another a day later. Be sure nitrate is reduced as much as possible. DOC is the main contributor to the bacterial infection if that's what it is.

Have you checked the pH and at what time was the reading taken?

Cheers
Steve
 
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