I have had a 55 gallon saltwater tank running since December, live rock put in in January, a yellow tail damsel two weeks later and now after many tests completely satisfied with my levels I finally bought a yellow tang yesterday. I was a little nervous about how the damsel and the tang would do together but for the four hours that I watched them, absolutely no problems, the tang was a little skiddish, hiding in the rockwork, but other than that, seemed ok. Well this morning the tang was dead. I have tried to do everything by the book with this tank, protein skimmer, wet/dry filter, perfect circulation, I gave the tank cycling time and before I left to purchase the tang I tested the water and ammonia and nitrite were zero, nitrate was almost zero, specific gravity 1.022 and temp 78. Could someone please tell me what could have caused this fish to die.
Unexplained Tang Death
- Thread starter wgallt
- Start date
I placed the bag in the water for about 15 minutes to get temp right, opened and added 1/2 cup of my water to bag every 10 minutes or so, emptied half the bag and did it again, then netted him and put him in the tank. Now that you mention it, when he was in the bag I did notice a few white spots on him, i thought it was just something on him that had been floating in the lfs water.
Also be aware that a 55 gallon tank really isn't large enough to house a tang, they do get rather large. There are plenty of hardier and better choices for your tank size.
Right, someone mentioned that tangs can survive in a 55 gallon, but can't live in a 55 gallon. Later in their life, or even early on, depending, the size of the tank can, and most likely will, cause stress to the tang.
