Yellow Tang stuck to PH intake

[pdwire]

Help When I came home from work today my Yellow Tang was stuck to the intake on my PH. I quickly cut the power and he swam off down into the rocks. Since that time he seems to be swimming around OK and ate when fed.

Does this happen to healthy fish? Should I be concerned that there was an underlying sickness that allowed him to get sucked in by the PH? I have had the fish for ~2months and he eats well and is very active. The reason I am thinking he might be sick is that he appears thinner now then when I got him. His ribs and backbone stiick out somewhat and there does not appear to be much flesh on him.

Other tank mates include a clown and a domino damsel.

Any suggestions appreciated.

 

[steve-s]

It is more than possible that the fish is just not strong enough and swam too close to the intake. Covering PH with prefilter sponges would be the best idea. Just be mindful that they are for aquarium use and do not contain fugalcides.

As far as the weight of the tang, what do you feed your fish, how often and do you suppliment with vitamins?

Cheers
Steve

 

[pdwire]

Thanks Steve. I feed them Nutrafin Flake, Nutrafin slow release morsels, or frozen brine shrimp. I feed once a day at about 5pm. I do not supplement with Vitamins. With all the warning on not overfeeding I am wondering if I am overdoing it on the underfeeding....suggestions welcome

 

[steve-s]

I would not suggest cutting back unless you feel the food is being wasted and uneaten. I would however discontinue the use of the brine. It is pretty much void of any real nutrition unless fortified with a vitamin. Flake foods as a rule are fine but I would suggest soaking the foods about once a week in Zoe, Selcon or other quality marine vitamin. I would also suggest switching to a marine based flake such as HBH, OSI or Ocean Nutrition that is high in spurlina algaes. There are many quality marine product available but I would not suggest the Nutrafin product line for SW animals.

Tangs are also constant grazers and need vegetable matter on a regular basis. Keeping some nori in a feeding clip or attached to something that is easily accessed by the tang would improve it's health quite quickly. After a few weeks (or less) of that, you should notice a big difference.

Cheers
Steve

 

[EMS503]

I would put freeze dried seaweed with a clip in the tank(My tangs always preferred the green type) This along with the flakes will plump your tang up pretty quick if he is not sick, add the seaweed in daily you can add a few drops of vitamins onto the seaweed. Good luck

 

[pdwire]

Update: Sadly the Tang died two days after being stuck to the pump. The rest of the fish are doing OK but the kids took it pretty rough. Thanx for the advice and I will definetly try the seaweed on the next Tang. I just to make sure it wasn't something I was doing wrong before introducing more LS to the tank.

 

[steve-s]

Sorry to hear about that. Sadly, sometimes there is absolutely nothing you can do to prevent these things. Providing the tang showed no sign of parasitic infestation you should be fine with additional live stock. I would wait a few weeks just to be sure though and make sure any new additions are quarantined first.

Cheers
Steve