Something wierd with yellow tang

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Adam Kasycz

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Jun 11, 2003
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Hi there i have a yellow tang (obviously) Ihave had him for about 2 months now he is growing and eating and all that just like he should but its like hes lost his color in some spots mostly around his eyes its just sort of patchy white there are no little spots or rips or tears on his fins just this white and its not like a growth that is petruding or anything its really wierd all my water parameters are fine so i really dont know whats going on if you guy's could help me out it would be great


Thanks Adam Kasycz
 

kreblak

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Mar 13, 2003
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I had a yellow tang exhibit the same symptoms. He had patches of color loss around the face. The yellow just sort of faded to white over a couple of weeks. My problems were high nitrates, and lack of vitamin C in the tang's diet.

I did a 50% water change to lower nitrates, and got a skimmer, which helped a lot. For vitamin C, I found that I didn't not have sufficient macroalgae growth in the tank to meet the tang's requirements. Thus, I bought some dried out seaweed from my LFS and a sticky clip for the glass. I would attach a couple of 4x4 inch sheets of seaweed and let him graze during the day. He usually consumed both sheets within 24 hours. After that, he got better and the color returned.
 

g. mcclean

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tang

I have found that color fading around the face is usually diet. In the case of the tang they are vegetarians so need high quality vegetable food. We use spirulina flakes, Nori strips, romaine lettuce, and a frozen meat type food occaisonally. It seemed to help a lot.
 

Adam Kasycz

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i use the spirulina flakes to but he seems to wait untill the nightime to really eat them. and they also like to eat algae off the rocks but for some reason as soon as i got my skimmer all the algae went away i had like stuff that looked like hair except green and im not sure if he ate it all or if the skimmer skimmed it how much romaine lettuce do you feed your guy i put some brocoli in there but he doesnt seem interested just yet. I hope this all works out i spent like 60 bucks on him and he like totally makes the tank with his color.


Adam Kasycz
 

kreblak

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$60 for a yellow tang?!? You paid too much my friend! Sorry, I just had to say that. I think mine was $39.99 for about a 3 inch fish.

Anyway, if all your algae has disappeared, then that might be the problem. Tangs must graze constantly on algae. They can't eat a couple of meals and be okay like meat eating fish. They have to constantly be eating. That may be the problem with your tang. He exhausted the supply of macroalgae, and with the skimming going on there wasn't enough nutrients in the water for the algae to regrow quickly enough to keep feeding the tang.

Sadly, my tank doesn't have that problem. I have enough algae for 12 tangs, I think. ;) It's getting better, though. Oh, and I have heard that broccoli and spinach help, as well.
 

Adam Kasycz

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60 Dollars is alot but i bet you live in the united states where all this aquarium stuff is way cheaper i pay 12.99 a pound for live rock. Snails and hermits are 10 dollars each and ive yet to see a salt water fish for less than 20 bucks. So ya up north here its quite the expensive hobby. But a well its worth it.

Anyway's is there any way that i can help get my algie growth back i put 30 more wats on the tank i thaught that might help now there is 60watts on a 50 gallon think thats enough


Adam Kasycz
 

ChilDawg

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Dec 26, 2002
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Plus 60 Canadian dollars are like 35 American dollars...it's not that big of a discrepancy between prices at that point.
 
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