need help with my tang

[caz]

my yellow tang is breathing rapidly. is this normal for these guys? he hides alot... all parameters are fine though, did a 13 gallon watter change today, dont know what else to do...HELP!

[caz]

im assumeing that its some sort of diesease, are there any all purpose meds that can safely go in my main tank? i have no corals

[OrionGirl]

No, it's not normal. Yellow tangs are usually very bold, so if yours is hiding, I'd suspect something is wrong. Could be unhappy (what size tank is this?), or it could be a parasite. Look for small black or white raised bumps onthe fish.

[caz]

its a 75 gallon. hes not very big either. my lfs duped me into buying a bi colored angel, to get the tang to come out of hiding. i know its probably stupid, but i figured id have a better chance of spotting a disease on two fish. but now, they both hide..., there is a little discoloration on the tangs dorsal fin. other than that, nothing.

[caz]

i still think that it is marine velvet though

[OrionGirl]

If it's velvet, you'll need to treat. Not sure if the Kent RxP is good against velvet--should be, as it's a skin parasite similar to ich. If you can remove the fish for treatment, there are several medications that will be effective, but many of them shouldn't be used in your main tank.

[caz]

thanx orion girl, im going to call my lfs when he opens this morning, and bring in my fish(he offered to treat them in one of his spare tanks if something went wrong) i dont see any signs of it on the angel, but im sure it will progress. basically all my fish have had similar signs though, the tang has a brownish spot, and heavy breathing, the first clowns that i had always had heavy breathing, then there mouth wouldnt close. the firefish goby did have white spots though.

[caz]

where would i find out if kent rxp can be used to treat marine velvet? i went to there website, but nothing there said what it was for.

[OrionGirl]

That's why I'm not sure--I can't find anything that specifies if it is effective against the velvet parasite. Since it is a parasite, it should work, but I can't confirm that.

[caz]

i think im gonna give it a shot, and see how it goes. im gonna take out my brittle star, and let my lfs take him till the treatment is done though i think

[caz]

i copied this from another site i found while surfing, what do ya think?

By not having sufficient plant life consuming ammonia, phosphates, nitrates, and carbon dioxide, You can have many problems. Additionally, the plant life will filter out toxins and even heavy metals. The brown algae bloom is simply because you do not have plant life consuming the nutrients the brown algae is consuming.

It is obvious to my looking back that my new fish were basically sufficating. Because there was not enough plant life consuming the carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide also leads to ph drops.

I highly reccommend you establish a thriving plant life to stabilize, filter, and establish high quality water for your fish. Besides, the tang will really really appreciate some live gracilaria or caulpera profilera to graze on.

Sure protect the plant life. use a refug or even culture it in another container. But get the plant life controlling the aquarium. In short take care of your plant life and it will take care of your system

worth a shot?

[OrionGirl]

If you have adequate surface agitation, CO2 won't remain dissolved in the water, but will gas off at the surface and remain in equilibrium with the atmosphere--if you aren't gaspng, neither will your fish. Adding lots of plants actually does the opposite--they add O2 during the day, but need it at night just like the fish, so while day time levels are stable, it can cause a huge shift in pH after lights off.

[caz]

ok no plants then. :) i think im gonna try and treat tommorrow with kent rxp, what do ya think?

[OrionGirl]

You may want to chat with gbolton about it--he used it successfully, but didn't follow the instruction precisely--he adapted it for his inverts.

[caz]

ok, i set up a hospital tank. its only a 10 gallon, but i guess it will have to do, the tang is small, maybe 2.5 inches. i have an air pump for it, which has nice surface agitation, and a small rock from the old tank. i filled the tank with water from the main tank. is this suffice? what temp should i keep it at?

[OrionGirl]

I'd keep it at the same temp as the tank. Raised temps are effective against ich, but I'm not sure about velvet, and it may stress the tang to move it around and have massively different temps, too.

[caz]

ok. any other advice on the QT? its my first one, and i wanna do it right. my lfs told me to just get something to move the water around, a small heater, and a lid with some lights, which i already had. he said i didnt need substrate or live rock, maybe a few peices to let them hide, but thats it.

[loyalty]

i've got a friend that has the same problem. his yellow tang hides all the time, and when it does venture out, it gets startled and bolts to his hideout. It's the only fish in his tank, as well as the first fish he's gotten. Also, it doesn't seem to be eating, and sticks to one side of the tank, which is evidently atypical of tangs. The whole situation has me turned off on tangs, I'm gonna stick with clowns when my tank is ready for fish

[caz]

i thought tangs were pretty bold, or supposed to be. the first yellow tang i had was great. best fish i have ever had, sw or fw.

[caz]

update: after almost 24 hours in the QT he seems to be more brave, except when my girlfriend comes around (shes scary!!) hehe. he looks a little better. i havent seen him eat any of the bigger flakes, but i have seen him nipping at the bottom. i fed a bigger portion of seaweed, and attached it to the veggie clip. im gonna check in a few hours to see if there are bit marks out of it *crosses fingers*

[caz]

how often do i do a water change in the QT? and do i add more copper when i do a water change?

[loyalty]

how's the little guy doing?

[caz]

his breathing has slowed, hes not as skiddish, but i havent seen him eat. and ive tried to feed him everything under the sun