yellow tang acting weird

bearwithfish

WOW thats a great resource!!!!

reefsahoy

how big is the tang? it's recommended that you have at least a 75 gallon tank (on the small side) to keep a tang and yours is less than 1/2 that with 25 lbs of live rock gives little room for swimming and grazing for a tang. Now i'm not a tang police but if your tang is big that could be your problem. He may be stressing out from the limited space he has. if he's too big and you feel you have to keep a ang i'd suggest you trade him in for a baby tang at your local lfs. I've got a 100 gallon and when mine gets big i'll trade him out for a baby. i think the babies look nicer anyways.

bettababy

I was asked to offer my input in this thread, so I will do what I can. I willl 2nd the question about how big the tang is? Also, I didn't see a nitrate reading?
I notice that is quite a bit of fish in a 30 gallon tank, so I would expect that is having something to do with the problem, but without a photo, there isn't a whole lot anyone can do. A clear photo of the tang, a clear photo of the whole tank, and if you can get clear close up of the injured area of the fish and also the white spot you mentioned... that will tell a lot more and make for an easier diagnosis.

Are there any other symptoms? Eyes are clear? Gills are normal, not inflamed or irritated? Fins clamped? How do the other fish look and behave?
How large is the quarantine tank? Have you tried any medications or treatments thus far? If so, what have you tried?

As I said, I will do all I can, but need a lot more info and some photos to do much of anything.

thebigzone

Ya I do have a young one he is only about 2inches and he looks exactly the same as when I got him I just did water change tonight I like to test water day after I will let u know the results tomarrow
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reefsahoy

typically if you did something that remedied the problem you won't see the effects for quite awhile sometimes months. especially a sick fish symptom. just like when you get the flu and take medicine, you'll need at least a week to see the results and you know you're taking the right medicine and dose for that sickness. so we'll need to know the livestock list and order of which you added, detail info on your setup and routine maintenance, all parameters and how often you check, where are you getting your topoff water and is it ro or some type of filtered water, and type of food and how often you feed, then maybe we can make suggestions. When asking a question like that the more info given the better chance someone can help. Reef keeping is still somewhat a touch and feel hobby and no 2 setups are exact. you could have even gotten a sick fish to begin with.

thebigzone

Ok my nitrite no2 is 0 ph 8.2 ammonia 0 phosphate 5 calcium 280ppm carbonate hardness 214.8ppm nitrite no3 is 160 sslinity .o23 I do water changes once a week with tap water been doing this since got fish tank and I think my no3 is so high bc I just pick out a huge half eaten turbo snail before takeing watet samples
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reefsahoy

it could be because you are using tap water. even tho you remove chlorine there's alot of other chemicals in the tap. one that comes to mind is chlorimine, phosphate, silicates, etc. if i were you i'd top off with the minimum of distilled water if filtered water is not avail. phosphate and silicates may not be a prob now but it will accumilate and your tank will eventually get hair algae and all kinds of stuff thats almost impossible to control. just my .02 cents

thebigzone

So use like bottled water? Bc I think I have hair algae is it brownish redish? Bc that color algse its starting to take over back half of my tank
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reefsahoy

yup that tap water is an eventual killer. what happens is that phosphate and silicates are in the water and the live rocks absorbs both like a sponge. because phos[hate and silicate are present algae will grow. even if you use phosphate remover at this point the live rock will be leaching phosphate still causing algae to grow. eventually you won't be able to control algae until all phosphate in the live rock leaches out which could take several months. even if you start over and use the same live rock you'll have algae issues. i once had phosphate issues and tried a test because i couldn't figure out where the phosphates were coming from. i made new water and checked phosphate to be 0. then i added live rock and in a day or two i had phosphate in the water leading me to believe the live rock was leaching phosphate. i eventually used phosphate remover for months and then eventually there was no more phosphate. since then i have had no algae in the tank. btw the reason you are measuring only 5 phosphate, which is high, is beacuse your algae is consuming some and eventually the algae will continue to grow at a rapid pace consuming more until you measure 0. this doesn't mean there is 0 phosphate in the water, but it means the algae is consuming it as fast as it is leaching.

bettababy

280 is way too low for calcium. The animals, fish, inverts, corals... all need enough calcium for growth and organ function. Ideally calcium should read between 400 - 450. Without the proper amount of calcium in the tank, you are going to have many different kinds of issues, such as death, sick fish, dead/dying inverts...

And, as I mentioned in my last post, that is too many fish in that size of a tank. Waste issues are going to be a constant issue, even with daily water changes it will be more than the tank can handle, which is already apparent in your nitrate (no3) reading. Either a bigger tank or fewer fish is the answer to that.