Dark Spot on Yellow Tang

Patti7dc

Patti7dc

Crazy Cat Lady
I need a little help guys and gals. I got this yellow tang last week and didn't quarantine him. I know how most of you feel about it, but the fish at the shop are kept in hyposalinity and after the long trip from their original destination it was recommended to me that putting them into a reef environment is the most like home for them and eliminates a lot of stress. Whatever your opinion on quarantine, the bottom line is that I didn't do it, so please don't lecture me.

So my current situation is this - a few days after I got him he started hiding a lot and I started to see some white spots that I was afraid were marine ich. My wrasse also looked to have the white specks. I wasn't sure if it was dust from me kicking up some sand or marine ich. The next day the white spots were gone, completely gone. I know that ich falls off but they don't all appear and dissappear at once do they?

Okay well aside from the white spots, which I haven't seen on either the wrasse or the tang in several days (and which I never saw on any of the other fish - which is why I don't think it was ich) - the tang has developed this dark brown spot on it's side. I know that they get pale at night and sometimes flash colors as camouflage, but this brown spot is still on the fish in the middle of the day with the lights on for hours.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51237545@N04/8754421433/" title="Untitled by Patti7dc, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7393/8754421433_964db9a301_n.jpg" width="320" height="272" alt="Untitled"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51237545@N04/8755543386/" title="Untitled by Patti7dc, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3719/8755543386_799c936b86_n.jpg" width="320" height="246" alt="Untitled"></a>
and the other side of the fish is fine -
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51237545@N04/8755542954/" title="Untitled by Patti7dc, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8113/8755542954_d132b579d2_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Untitled"></a>

I should mention that my readings are 0 for Ammonia and Nitrite and is 10ppm for Nitrate so I am doing a water change tonight. I just got a veggie clip yesterday because I wasn't providing him with algae to graze on throughout the day - could it be because of that?

I have a QT set up now so if I need to move him for treatment I will but I am not going to go through the hassle of catching him in the DT (a huge pain) and putting him in a QT with hyposalinity or doing meds if I don't have a diagnosis that is definite because I don't think it's good for the fish to medicate them with these chemicals and moving them around stresses them as well.

It could be nothing major.... he is being shy but he is still pretty new to the tank. He still swims around with the other fish and eats a huge amount of food and darts all over very fast.

Any ideas?
 
2 clowns, bicolor blenny, purple firefish, three green chromis.... pretty peaceful fish and he is the biggest in the tank, but it's possible I suppose.
 
Guess I miss read ( intrepid ) when you mentioned the wrasse and tang, sorry. Just grasping here but any anemones in the tank. ?
 
Not IME. It really looks like a bruise though ? Wow I've owned a lot of tangs in my time in this hobby ( 30 years ) and if its not a battle wound or sting its possible its a parasite ..
 
Well I will say that it definitely looks like a bruise from my perspective. If fish bruises look like human bruises then this is what I'd guess it would look like.. Maybe he ran into rocks or something... if there are no other ideas I'll give it a few days and see.
 
Sounds like a plan, if he looked fine and woke up with the bruise then yes it's possible he hit or scraped a rock. Keep us posted and good luck..

Greg
 
That white on his face and fins looks a bit of. Having only been in captivity for 10 days without a QT period, are we sure he doesn't have some kind of fungal infection?
 
Last night during feeding time he swam up to the surface so I thought maybe I could easily catch him, and I did. So I slowly acclimated him to a lower salinity and moved him to a QT tank with cycled live sand. Woke up this morning and he was dead.

:-(
 
Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear that. Be sure to watch your tank like a hawk the next few weeks for signs of disease spreading!
 
I honestly don't think I'm going to shop at Caribbean Forest anymore..... Half of what I get from there dies.....

Got 5 hermit crabs - within two weeks two were dead
Got 4 Nassarius snails - one was dead when I got home... so yeah, they sold me a dead snail
Got a Peppermint shrimp to eat some aiptasia in my tank - it died 24 hours later
Got a yellow tang that looked healthy and ate in the store - dead 11 days later

Now I am very careful with my parameters on my tank and acclimate the fish over the course of 45 min to an hour and a little longer with the inverts.... Even did a drip method for about 90 minutes with the shrimp. And for the record, I've bought 3 little chromis from Petco, 4 fish and a bunch of astrea snails from the reef shoppe, and 2 fish from CF that are doing great.... But the odds are definitely against CF.

Is it just me having a string of bad luck or has anyone else had similar experiences? The employees there have been nothing short of great whenever I go in there, and I've bought some coral frags from them that are wonderful as well. I'm not trying to knock them because I don't have anything personal against them.... I'm just out close to $70 at this point on livestock that didn't last two weeks. Not only is it bumming me out that they keep dying but $70 isn't a small amount of money to me.
 
When you acclimate, you're positive the parameters (temp and SG are biggest ones) are the same from either the bag or drip bucket, and the aquarium your putting the livestock into (After "acclimation" is over)? Inverts being especially delicate.

As for the yellow tang, they can be a bit tricky at first. Always best to quarantine them first.

Also you can't really compare chromis to a yellow tang in terms of whether they stay alive... even if they were from petco


edit: just saw this.

but the fish at the shop are kept in hyposalinity and after the long trip from their original destination it was recommended to me that putting them into a reef environment
Click to expand...

This would take a very long time to acclimate... more than :
Now I am very careful with my parameters on my tank and acclimate the fish over the course of 45 min
Click to expand...

Sorry for such bad luck :( losing fish is never fun. Take this as positive a learning experience so you're better prepared for your next fish :)
 
Have you tried contacting them about the livestock issues? I cant say for sure what the issue is (whether it's their fault or not), but if it might be worth a try.

Also, the best way to acclimate a fish from hyposalinity to reef salinity is to set a quarantine tank to the salinity they come in, and then slowly raise the salinity over the next 4 weeks they are in quarantine. A 45 minute drip acclimation from hypo to reef salinity can be rough on a fish.
 
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