Naso tang looks boney !!! Help?

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Jeffrock

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Feb 4, 2012
Messages
52
Location
Minnesota
hello, i have been testing my water and everything is good. ammonia-0, nitrite-0, ammonia-10, and ph-8.0. my naso is looking very boney, he seems to be eating and has been moving around the tank. i have not noticed any funny behavior, im just concerned for him being awefully thin. I want him to be healthy and happy !!!!! not sure what to do? i feed frozen mysis, frozen emerald algea, and a pellet food. alternating each for nutrient supply. hope someone has a suggestion!
 
I hope you mean you have 10 nitrate and not ammonia! LOL

What size tank and what are his tank mates? does he eat alot or graze on the rocks during the day? How old is the tank?

I feed my tangs frozen mysis, brine, bloodworms, then sprilina flakes and I always try to have a clip with seaweed on it in the tank.
 
oh, im sorry, that is nitrate. im a little tired. it is a 125g amd i have 2 clarkii, 2 pep shrimp, 1 fire shrimp, 2 emerald crabs, 1 hermit crab, sea hare, pencil urchin, LTE, and a sailfin tang.
 
Skinny Naso

oh, im sorry, that is nitrate. im a little tired. it is a 125g amd i have 2 clarkii, 2 pep shrimp, 1 fire shrimp, 2 emerald crabs, 1 hermit crab, sea hare, pencil urchin, LTE, and a sailfin tang.


Naso Tangs are usually eating most of the time. They also need some protien in their diet as well. I've witnessed them eating feeder guppies intended for Anthias that were in the same tank. You should keep a supply of food always available so that the fish can eat when it wants and not just when you want to feed it. As mentioned above, you may want to keep a clip of Romain or seaweed in the tank at all times and add some form of protien as well to your food.

One other possibility, you say you have a Sailfin Tang in the tank as well. Sails and almost all rounder Tangs can be more agressive than your elongated surgeonfishes such as Nasos. Make sure that your sailfin is not harrassing the Naso when you feed or at any other times. This could be related to the amount of food he is actually getting when fed and causing his mal nutritioned appearance. You might need to separate the 2 fish if this is the case (at least until the Naso has packed on some body weight).

Hope this helps...(y)
 
My yellow tang also has this problem I feed seaweed but I'll always try to put some in
 
Surgeons and Tangs

My yellow tang also has this problem I feed seaweed but I'll always try to put some in

Most all Surgeons and Tangs are constant feeders. I've found that the biggest problem people have keeping them is keeping them full. A Tang out in the wild always has a full belly. It doesn't fluxuate. If yours gets thin in the belly and thin behind the head, you're not feeding enough. If his belly is full and he's losing weight in the shoulders, he's prbably got an internal parasite that is robbing the nutients from the food he's eating or some other digestive issue. The key is the shoulders first. If there is plenty of meat, he's eating enough.
Make sure there is a constant supply of foods available for about 1 month and see if he gains any weight.

Best of luck...(y)
 
Andy Sager said:
Most all Surgeons and Tangs are constant feeders. I've found that the biggest problem people have keeping them is keeping them full. A Tang out in the wild always has a full belly. It doesn't fluxuate. If yours gets thin in the belly and thin behind the head, you're not feeding enough. If his belly is full and he's losing weight in the shoulders, he's prbably got an internal parasite that is robbing the nutients from the food he's eating or some other digestive issue. The key is the shoulders first. If there is plenty of meat, he's eating enough.
Make sure there is a constant supply of foods available for about 1 month and see if he gains any weight.

Best of luck...(y)

I'm gunna always try an keep food in there for him
 
i would suggest adding mysis shrimp to the diet of the tangs (i use a IM syringe to add vitmins into the mysis shrimp before feeding). I hand feed all my fish to insure that each one gets food. I always provide them with nori each day (but sunday -.^...my predators are on a different feeding scheduled), because there is not much algae due to my CUC.

watch the poop...usually if a fish has a parasite their poop looks different than normal
 
Watch your water quality. Don't sacrifice it for the fish, or you'll be sacrificing the fish.
I don't feed my fish constantly and they are fine. As a matter of fact, some are fed only twice a week, and show no signs of malnutrition.
If all the other fish are fine and you are witnessing the naso eat with them, I would look to something besides the food.
A parasite is more likely, as mentioned.
 
It goes without saying that more intake equals more output :brows:
That's why you need to have a good filtering system in a tank of Tangs.

While Mr X might have a good balance of fish that only need suplimental feeding 2x a week, there may be natural food in his tank(s) for his fish to eat and suppliment his feeding routine. 1 malnurished tang amongst a tank full of fat fish does not always add up to disease. It all depends on what types the other fish are in the tank.
As mentioned before, most tangs in nature are constantly nibbling on food and have a high metabolism. Just because you've taken that fish and put him in a tank does not mean that he changes his feeding habits or requirements. I once saw an Atlantic Doctorfish down in the Virgin Islands who was missing almost 1/2 of the flesh on one side of his body. He was swimming in a school of other Doctorfish. Surprised to see a fish with that much muscle damage still alive, I couldn't help but notice how fat his stomach was. I'm telling you, they are always eating.:blink:

Just keep your eyes on your protein skimmer and water quality during this feeding schedule. (y)
 
There is no natural food in the tank I am speaking of. No algae at all, because of feeding only 2 x a week. two 4" tangs, a 5" foxface, a 4.5" maroon clown, and a 3" flame angel, all fat and showing no signs of malnourishment.
 
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With all due respect....

There is no natural food in the tank I am speaking of. No algae at all, because of feeding only 2 x a week. two 4" tangs, a 5" foxface, a 4.5" maroon clown, and a 3" flame angel, all fat and showing no signs of malnourishment.

I don't want to get into an argument about this. All I'm suggesting is that your comment about the fish having a parasite because he's eating with the other fish and getting skinny only has about a 50% chance of being correct. Case in point, your maroon clown and flame angel are "low energy" fish with the foxface not too far behind. Your tank can not be so sterile that there is no other food source for your two tangs unless, of course, you are keeping them in an empty tank devoid of any decorations and surfaces for organic materials to grow and you have no light source or an equal amount of light to nulify brown, green, red, black or any other colored algae that's found in the sea from growing.
These tangs of yours never touch the surfaces of your sterile tank? Come on! I've been at this too long to know this is not true. :brows:
The point is Naso's and most surgeons are continuous eaters as opposed to other fish like clownfish, gobies, groupers, lions, anthias, etc. that are opportunistic feeders. Give these posters a break and let them try the most likely solution first before scaring them into thinking there is something wrong. It will save them the costs of medicating, isolating and anxiety over a maybe problem. If my suggestion fails, as it might because I can only be 50% too, at least the fish has had a constant food source to derive whatever nutrition it can get daily as opposed to using it's own flesh to keep itself alive.
You can feel free to dicuss medicating without my interference if I'm wrong ;)

Best of luck (y)
 
You offered your opinion, as did I. I'm not the only one on this forum that doesn't feed constantly, and I have had no reports of fish starving to death as of yet. It's a mistake to overfeed a closed system. It's a great way to get frustrated battling nuisance algae and get out of the hobby prematurely.
 
With all due respect...

You offered your opinion, as did I. I'm not the only one on this forum that doesn't feed constantly, and I have had no reports of fish starving to death as of yet. It's a mistake to overfeed a closed system. It's a great way to get frustrated battling nuisance algae and get out of the hobby prematurely.

I thought this was called aquarium ADVICE and not aquarium opinion! :banghead:

My advice was being directed to a single person with a single situation in which my advice was an action that I've used many times before to eliminate this particular situation in a closed system. Anyone else having this same situation would be better informed as to how to fix this situation. A single leaf of seaweed or Lettuce always available for the fish to eat should not be overloading your biological filter and causing algae to grow.

You are entitled to your OPINION however in this fish's case it's detrimental to his health. If your opinion is based on what you are doing with your current tank and bioload, you should state that in your posts because it truly does not fit every situation.

My advice (not opinion) is based on over 35 years of practical Saltwater fish keeping experience and husbandry. It comes from knowledge gained by maintaining fish from all around the world in systems as small as 1 gal and as large as 25,000 gallons and every size in between as well as personal experience in watching these fish in their native habitats and not just in a fish tank. I think I'm qualified to answer the call for help.(y) (FYI: My Veterinarian comes to me for fish keeping advice ;))

As for constant feeding in a closed sysytem, my OPINION is that if your biological filter can't handle it, you need a better filter. My ADVICE would be to get more surface area for your nitrosomas and nitrobactors to adhere to and a bigger/better protein skimmer.

As I've said before, I'm not looking to argue with people on this site. I have a wealth of experience that I like to share to help perpetuate the tropical fish keeping experience. If you don't like what I have to say, don't read it. If you want to correct me, just make sure you're 100% right. That's all I'm asking. In this case, you only came up to 50%.
Have a nice day (y)
 
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Soooo back to the OP's issue. :-D

Is it possible to separate the fish and work on a feeding schedule that way? That kinda will kill two birds with one stone won't it? I'm having some difficulty feeding a butterfly right now, just too slow and not as an aggressive feeder as the rest. I've been continually feeding but that can't go on forever in a large tank or water quality would suffer.

My tangs constantly are eating seaweed from the clip and some mysterious algae that I can't see from the rocks lol I would grab a chair and just sit and watch during a feeding. is he getting beat out? maybe he is getting enough food maybe not. I would watch him like a hawk a few times. Just back away from the tank and see what happens.

In the meantime. those algae sheets and a varied diet are the way to go. In my opionion. ;-)
 
As far as feeding goes I only feed say every other day(and trust me this Is alot for fish) every fish in my tank is nice and plump. What I would recommend for the tang is start putting in algae sheets every other day for him to graze on, if there are multiple tangs in the tank place algae clips on each side of the tank to allow them all to feed without aggression. After a few months he should be nice and fat. As a side note some fish in the ocean go week without eating, and this can be proven by reading carys thread on her watchmen goby that survived for 8months in the filter, now honestly how often to you thing he was eating down there lol
 
That's quite impressive Andy. You are a benefit to the forum for sure.
I have a little bit of experience also. Not quite as extensive as yours, but I think I can offer some help.
In my time on internet forums, i've noticed that there are 2 major complaints. the second most common is killing fish due to not properly cycling tanks. The first, is algae issues. Cyano, Bryopsis, you name it. While having a massive amount of live rock and a giant protein skimmer would certainly help out with excessive feeding, not everyone can afford to have a system such as this and most go with the pound to a pound and a half per gallon and reasonably priced skimmer setup. This setup is not bullet proof and can be fouled by overfeeding. I've seen it countless times on this forum alone.

I'm under the impression all the other fish are fine, and there was no aggression witnessed. This would lead me to believe it's not a lack of food issue.
You cannot be sure that my advice is detrimental to the health of the fish. It's a guess.
Thank you for your input.
 
Back to the beginning...

Soooo back to the OP's issue. :-D

Is it possible to separate the fish and work on a feeding schedule that way? That kinda will kill two birds with one stone won't it? I'm having some difficulty feeding a butterfly right now, just too slow and not as an aggressive feeder as the rest. I've been continually feeding but that can't go on forever in a large tank or water quality would suffer.

My tangs constantly are eating seaweed from the clip and some mysterious algae that I can't see from the rocks lol I would grab a chair and just sit and watch during a feeding. is he getting beat out? maybe he is getting enough food maybe not. I would watch him like a hawk a few times. Just back away from the tank and see what happens.

In the meantime. those algae sheets and a varied diet are the way to go. In my opionion. ;-)

In the case of a butterfly not being able to eat, you have a different situation than a skinnyTang. If your butterfly is too slow to mix with the other fish at feeding time, you have a couple of choices: 1- feed your fish at different spots of the tank so that they are not all forced to be at the same spot at the same time and see if he eats. 2- Move him to a separate tank for fattening or in with more docile fish.
Depending on the type of butterfly, the only type of "continuous" feeding I would do would be to put a small, opened clam such as a side neck , cherrystone or middleneck, etc. in to the tank on the same side the 'fly is when you feed the fish on the other end. (We also used flame scallops but they are way too expensive to do that with now.) This way the fish can nibble as he sees fit. This of course depends on what other fish are in the tank with him and if they too will eat a clam. That's if you keep him in the main tank.
If you decide to move the 'fly into a separate tank until he fattens up, you may still find that he will not be fast enough to get fed if he goes back into your other tank. This then becomes an issue of improper mixing of fish and you'll need to rethink either keeping him or keeping him in THAT tank. Butterflies, in general, are slower more docile fish compared to say Tangs, Larger Angels, Thalasoma type wrasses, etc. I've seen them get along better with groupers than with Tangs because they have different food requirement and don't challenge each other for the food.

Hope this helps...(y)
 
Absolutley...

As far as feeding goes I only feed say every other day(and trust me this Is alot for fish) every fish in my tank is nice and plump. What I would recommend for the tang is start putting in algae sheets every other day for him to graze on, if there are multiple tangs in the tank place algae clips on each side of the tank to allow them all to feed without aggression. After a few months he should be nice and fat. As a side note some fish in the ocean go week without eating, and this can be proven by reading carys thread on her watchmen goby that survived for 8months in the filter, now honestly how often to you thing he was eating down there lol

This is the difference between an opportunistic feeder vs a continueous feeder. Some fish only eat when they can find food and their metabolism is adjusted for this lifestyle. Others, like surgeons and tangs, can always find food because there is always algae to eat. They have a higher metabolism and need more food. The opportunistic feeder is more of a sedentary type fish and the continueous feeder is usually a constant mover. That was my point, each case is situational.;)

Hope this better explains it (y)
 
I humbly disagree...

That's quite impressive Andy. You are a benefit to the forum for sure.
I have a little bit of experience also. Not quite as extensive as yours, but I think I can offer some help.
In my time on internet forums, i've noticed that there are 2 major complaints. the second most common is killing fish due to not properly cycling tanks. The first, is algae issues. Cyano, Bryopsis, you name it. While having a massive amount of live rock and a giant protein skimmer would certainly help out with excessive feeding, not everyone can afford to have a system such as this and most go with the pound to a pound and a half per gallon and reasonably priced skimmer setup. This setup is not bullet proof and can be fouled by overfeeding. I've seen it countless times on this forum alone.

I'm under the impression all the other fish are fine, and there was no aggression witnessed. This would lead me to believe it's not a lack of food issue.
You cannot be sure that my advice is detrimental to the health of the fish. It's a guess.
Thank you for your input.

I just reread the original post and the OP explains that they saw no odd behavior from the fish and that it was eating but still getting skinny. This says to me that it IS a feeding problem. A fish with internal parasites twitches and scratches which I would think would be an odd behavior. Since the fish is eating and getting skinny, I surmize it's not getting enough food. Similar to you eating only 100 calories at each meal. You'd still be getting food at every meal but not enough nutritionally to sustain your body mass thereby causing you to get skinny. Not having more food available for him to eat IS detrimetal to his health.

As for algae problems, this hobby has come a long way from my humble beginnings. In the old days, I always encouraged my customers to grow algae as it is THE most natural filter out there. Water from an algae filtered tank would always read better and cleaner than from one that was "clean." Today, with all the mixed tanks of inverts and fish, you just need to mix the right fish together to keep the algae under control or now, there are refugium filters and the like to grow the resources that use the same nutrients as those micro algaes so they are kept under control. Because it makes algae in a tank is a poor excuse to not feed your fish properly. IMO ;)

As for non cycled tanks, I can only blame that on the person who sold the setup to the hobbyist and the hobbyist themselves for not learning about the life they are trying to keep alive. There is a book I always made my customers buy before I would sell them a SW setup. The title was :The marine aquairium in theory and practice." It not only explained what to do but why you needed to do it. If the customer was too disinterested to read a $20 book before spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on a setup, how interested do you think they would be in the hobby when they spent their hard earned money on fish and they never lived? It's what's wrong with the internet as the "go to source" for information. It doesn't tell you what you need to know, it only tells you what you asked for. But that's a WHOLE other topic and I don't have my soapbox:D

Every person who wants to have a SW fish tank should be advised to create the best system that they can afford and not the biggest that stretches their dollar and makes them skimp on necessities. I had a 1 gal tank with 13 living organisms in it and kept it going for 5 years. The only thing I replaced in it was the 3 damsels when they got too big. I kept swapping them out for other tiny damsels that I caught. Why could I do this? Because I set the tank up correctly right from the beginning. If everybody else isn't doing that, they are only fooling themselves that they are going to be able to maintain a healthy system. There is a setup for most every budget. If your budget doesn't allow for the proper setup, then you should be socking away some money until it does. Once again, this is my humble opinion. :banghead:
I believe I have commented on all your issues.
Thanks for the welcoming (y)
 
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