Yellow Tang question:

[Swimfins]

Soleil Moon Fry (ya I know!) has arrived (unexpectedly early) and is presently making him/herself comfy in my 65g tank.
The fish has been all over the tank, picked at th rock, picked at some romaain lettuce, and then went after some shredded cockail shrimp I fed to the others. So, he seems to be ok (cautiously optimistic)

My question is: He is brilliantly yellow with a slight rosy tint to the sides and top fin (very slight) I know they loose their yellow color if stressed and show striping or will show blood red marks if water conditions are poor.
Should I worry?

Happy New Year too! :rolleyes:

[Swimfins]

The pinkness is apparently a normal part of things and is just blood showing under the transluscency of the yellow skin. He's a marvel and has not stopped prowling and has staked out a niche but is forever poking between rocks and polyps for bits of algae. Fingers and toes still crossed. :)

[mrsdorothy]

My fingers are crossed for ya.

[Swimfins]

So far so much gooder :)

[mysis]

Due to the sudden insurgence of YT's with red streaking I'm just going write one answer all post on the subject that should solve everyones dilema

Red streaks or blotches in Yellow Tangs is due to bacterial infection. This is often due to water quality or shipping conditions if the tang is a recent import.

Often just a series of water changes to improve water quality, along with an examination of the filtration system and necessary improvements for long term stability, is sufficient to clear this up in several days.

However, should the above steps not cause improvement in the tangs condition within 2 or 3 days or the redness appears to get worse than it is time to break out the antibiotics. Generally it is best to treat in a seperate Quarantine Tank (QT) as antibiotics could negatively effect filtration in a FO tank and are certainly not good to use in a reef tank. The best antibiotics for Red Streak are usually Nitrofuran or Kanacyn IME. For those using Spectogram without any results I would suggest switching to Kanacyn as Nitrofuran is an ingredient in Spectrogram.

[Swimfins]

ok thanks, there is no change in the pinkness today,as I said a very faint tinge to the topfin (not streaks or blotches).
I don't believe its illness, might be stress, he's quite new to the tank but otherwise looks fine, swimming and eating well.

[kobeSumo]

I agree Swimfins. It's probably just the translucency of the yellow that shows the veins through the skin. It's probably nothing since the tang is acting normal, with no signs of illness.

[Swimfins]

Tonight he's just great, the pink might be from consumption of red slime algae as well from his other home. My lawnmower has a red topfin too and I suspect it is consumption of algae that also had red slime in it.
Thanks Kobe :)

[mysis]

Seen and heard that tangs act normally with that type of bacterial infection, just keep on top of it incase, OK. :)

[Swimfins]

Yes thank-you I'm watching. Gonna waterchange tomorrow too :)