yellow tang

Tommy10385 · Dec 3, 2014 10:40:00 pm

Hi

my yellow tang has for the last few days been rubbing himself against the glass at the bottom right of my tank he sort of swims against it, has anyone come across this before? any advice appreciated

Tom

HK_Fuey · Dec 3, 2014 11:03:47 pm

Does it have any white spots, or parasites of any kind on it? They often do this to try to rub off something that's irritating them.

T-Bone Tyrone · Dec 4, 2014 1:43:44 am

As above, is it a kind of flicking action?

Carol · Dec 4, 2014 7:40:16 am

Going off on another tangent has it got any black spots ? very very tiny ....Look at him under blue light if you have any on the tank , this often shows up things the main lights wont

Tommy10385 · Dec 4, 2014 12:07:34 pm

Yes id call it a flicking action sometimes? Unfortunately i only have 1 light setting and its 1 blue tube 1 white, i had a good look for any spots last night i couldn't see any white spots but its possible he might have tiny black spots that i didn't notice at the time i will look again later

Thanks

Mike · Dec 4, 2014 12:15:06 pm

Quote from: Tommy10385 on Dec 4, 2014 12:07:34 pm

i only have 1 light setting and its 1 blue tube 1 white

If it's easy to access you could turn the white tube quarter-turn to disengage it. Then it'll just be blue. Then re-engage it afterwards. If you do, make sure the unit is off while you're doing it.

Tommy10385 · Dec 4, 2014 12:54:12 pm

Good idea thanks i will try later :undecided:

T-Bone Tyrone · Dec 4, 2014 1:09:01 pm

Quote from: i-CONICA on Dec 4, 2014 12:15:06 pm

If it's easy to access you could turn the white tube quarter-turn to disengage it. Then it'll just be blue. Then re-engage it afterwards. If you do, make sure the unit is off while you're doing it.

great minds Mike!

T-Bone Tyrone · Dec 4, 2014 1:13:15 pm

Sounds like it could be a parasite, but not confirmed, so don't worry too much!
is the fish flicking just the one side of its body or both?
does it do it all day long or just sometimes?
is only flicking in one part of your tank or other areas too?

Carol · Dec 4, 2014 3:11:47 pm

If it is black cooties I got rid of mine as catching and dipping was out of the question , by buying some cleaner shrimps. Of course if it is WS this wont work, it may also just be something that is making the fish produce extra mucus,have you just done a water change ?

Only one thought on the tube dissconnect, sometimes they wont go unless both tubes make a circuit , tho you will find that out soon enough , just dont panic of they both go out

Tommy10385 · Dec 4, 2014 9:41:05 pm

Hi guys thanks for the advice it turns out you was right lily about the tubes but after a some messing about i managed to just have the blue light in the tank, i can deffo see at least 1 small black spot on hes body :lipsrsealed:.

It always goes to the same spot and although its about 90% on hes left side (where iv seen the spot) he also rubs the other side.

I do have a cleaner shrimp but my tang wont let him clean him possibly because hes not full grown?

I have a UV filter but not got round to setting it up yet due to the positioning, would this help?

Thanks

Carol · Dec 5, 2014 7:32:23 am

Sadly I dont think the UV will help as this only disrupts the DNA and there fore stops reproduction, of anything that passes thru it , tho i am not sure if these flukes have an immature free swimming stage and if so it would help to keep them down.

They are a perticular pest in Yellow Tangs , it could be that you cant yet see smaller ones with the naked eye.

What a shame the daft Tang wont be cleaned , size of the cleaner should not make much difference .

Can you catch the Tang?

I was going to suggest a freshwater dip , this is normaly done in RO water and make sure the pH is the same and the temp, it is a big shock to the fish and can be a risk , I am always wary of telling people to do this .

Id ask the others here what they do also as far as freshwater dips go as I am rather brutal and i wouldnt want to give advice that harmed your Tang.It can also be done in a very weak solution of Formaldehyde ,but im not going there i dont even know if you can still buy it ?

Note on the UV the dwell time , that is the amount of time the things you want destroyed by it spend under the light is very important too fast and it wont work . Obviously the dwell time is controlled by the flow rate. It does not kill larger freeswimming parasites , but rather disrupts thier DNA making them unable to reproduce.

Lots of people dont like them as they say they kill the good as well as the bad , I always say put one on a new tank and keep it on untill you have finished adding stock then you can turn it off if you want .It does keep a lot of nasty pathogens at bay as well as the parasite .I spose like most things its a double edged sword .

Tommy10385 · Dec 5, 2014 8:14:01 am

Thanks for the advice i appreciate it. Its the tang that is young so im just guessing because hes not full grown that's why he wont let my cleaner shrimp do hes job.
I might stuggle to catch him as hes always wizzing behind rocks but i recon i could get him eventually so maybe the fresh water dip is the best cure but as you say it does seem a bit extreme, however id rather him stressed for a day than getting really ill :lipsrsealed:

Carol · Dec 5, 2014 8:31:41 am

Well think long and hard about it , Tangs are very scatty in part because they live in the wild in shoals ,so thier a bit paranoid alone.

I am not the font of all knowledge

, so maybe some one else will have a much better idea .

Mike · Dec 5, 2014 9:21:15 am

As said a freshwater dip is very powerful, but very stressful too. And also it's not even guaranteed to work as the parasite could be completely engulfed in and so protected by the fish's mucus, depending on how deep it's burrowed.

To give it the best chance, you've got to make the experience as stress-free for the fish. It'll still be bad news for the parasite as it's the salinity difference that kills the parasite as it's osmotic processes can't handle it and it'll die through osmotic shock, so would the fish, eventually, but the fish can handle it far longer than the parasite.

If you use RO water, it's completely unbuffered, so the PH can go pretty much anywhere with very little encouragement, so match the ph, and buffer it a little. (sodium carbonate (baked sodium bicarb) will raise ph, sodium bicarbonate will raise alk). Get the temperature correct too, then introduce the fish. The fish will act normally at first, but then go pretty calm at the bottom and rest, might still breathe heavily. The duration should be up to around 5 minutes, but if the fish gets overly agitated or overly relaxed, I'd cut it short and move it back. Hold it in the net (or hand) gently under salt water before releasing it as it could be a bit dazed by the experience, when it's perked up it'll behave normally again and be keen to get away.

yellow tang

yellow tang

yellow tang

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