sailfin tang got pale

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bobothefish

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jul 15, 2009
Messages
60
I did a water change and stired things up a lot to clean the tank. I blew debris off LR with my powerhead to filter out. an hour later i came back and he turned pale. what happened? is he sick?
Help...
 
Just a first question, what size is your tank.. because sailfin tangs need a minimum size tank of 125G..

Anyways, what you did was a bad idea. You really shouldn't be cleaning anything yourself, besides algae or corraline on the glass. There is no need to blow anything off of the rocks or sandbed, whichever you have that makes up the bottom of the tank. That is what clean up crews are for. Snails, hermit crabs, some fish, crabs, and other inverts that are sold as clean up crews for aquariums, all eat decaying matter, detritus and any stuff on your rocks. You shouldn't even have to mess with the live rock after you have put it in the tank. Unless you have aptasia and you need to kill it. Doing stuff like blowing debri off rocks, or the sandbed, could bring harmful decaying matter up in to the water column.. which could make your fish sick.. I would not suggest doing that again.
 
I guess I was miss informed by lfs. my tank is 55 gal. I cant believe it, i would never bought a fish I couldnt keep. Again lfs sold it to me knowing what size tank I have. I got cuc of snails, hermit crabs, brittle stars, some worms, SF tang, chromi, peppermint shrimp and little fansworms all over. We got sand bed with fl keys crushed coral. Also got some mermaids green wine glass that came with our rock but its getting eaten and is not thriving. Maybe due to our poor lighting system, which is what Im getting tommorow. water tests show good w/0amonia,0nitrites,ph 8.4 and nitrates holding steady at 20 even with weekly water changes. Thinking about some macro algea, what do you think? Also, what other water parameters should I test for?
thanks for the advice.
 
Well everything in your tank sounds pretty good to me. The only thing i would get rid of is that sailfin. They get to be over 1 foot in length.. so keeping him in a 55G tank would be stunting his growth, and would ultimately shorten his life. Assuming that he was able to live it out, and didn't get something like ich from being so stressed in a cramped space.

Macro algae is a good idea. It will lower nitrates and phosphates, and remove some of the other excess nutrients in your tank that could cause multiple types of bad algaes.

As long as you do not have any corals in your tank, testing for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and pH, should be all you need to test for. When you delve in to the realm of reef keeping, then you will need to test for things like phosphate, calcium, and carbonate hardness. Testing for those extra things when corals are present, will ensure that you coral are happy and healthy.
 
I routinely blast clean my LR. Usually use a turkey baster but if I'm in there w/ a PH for some reason, that would get used too. My inhabitants tend to stir up the sand at times and it ends up accumulating on the rock work. Those who feed on what is loose on the rocks will find it where it lands.

Fish change coloration all the time. I wouldn't sweat it unless it stays that way. Grab a saltwater test kit and use it. Or look at what it comes w/ and get individual tests for those test. IM O you need to test for more than A/N/N/PH on a somewhat regular basis.
 
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Lol, so your saying that if decaying matter and detritus is blown up into the water and stays there, unless you turn off your powerheads and let is settle back down, it won't cause your parameters to go a little off? And it won't affect the quality of the water? I have to disagree. In FW tanks when people change from gravel to sand, or from gravel, to just new gravel, any dirt and grime and waste that is kicked up could cause problems in the fish.. I've seen it happen before, when people change over from gravel to pfs, and there fish get sick from all of the toxins being released in the water. I hardly doubt that this situation is any different.
Maybe it isn't that bad to blow SAND off of your rocks.. but in my opinion, i still wouldn't take any chances with nasty decaying stuff getting pushed in to the current and floating around the water all day. I feel that if you have the clean up crew to do it.. they will get rid of any junk on your rocks.. At least mine do.. I had a large rock striped off all its decaying matter and decaying vegetation by a couple of snails. Came back the next day and the rock was completely white.. so.. yeah.
 
I agree with the captain. Get a test kit and post your water test results. Lets rule water conditions out first.
 
great news

The Cap was right, the color came back. He looks very happy. I cant believe sailfins get to be so big? this guy must be a wee lad. Ive grown to really like this guy so Ive decided to get a bigger tank and Ill use this 55 as refugium. My water looks great too because I got rid of all the excess material that usually floats around. I made sure o get new filter media as to maximize filtration. Still ill think twice about really stiring things up to clean. Just a little at a time. I think what happened was that when the lights go out they might tend to go alittle pale. Dont know for sure. But for now Everything is alright.
since I do want to get into reef keeping my next step is to get some good lights, maybe something I can use for 2 years just to get things growing nice and stable. Id really like for the coraline to grow on my newer rocks. But I suppose that is a discussion for a new thread. Ill keep this thread going for updates on my sailfins health.
Thanks guys
 
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