Are Yellow Tangs difficult to quarantine?

[gwhiz]

I just had a Yellow Tang die in the quarantine tank while I was out of town. He'd been there a week. He was a bit pale when I got him, but had regained his color, although I hadn't seen him eat.

I didn't get to examine the yellow as he'd been disposed of before I got home. My wife had found him laying on the bottom--no visible ich, wounds, etc. I tested the water when I got home and it's fine (Am 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 5). It orignally came from my display tank.

The Regal Tang that was in with him is fine as well, although he's still scared of his own shadow. Although there are no visible signs of ich, I noticed him flashing, so I added copper last night.

This is the 2nd Yellow that's died in quarantine--the first time around it was a Yellow and 2 small Ocellaris in QT together. The Yellow died--the Ocellaris were--and are--fine.

 

[jefft]

I've had no luck with Yellow Tangs or Blue Hippos!

 

[linda lee]

We had a period of significant fish loss early on in the hobby (suspect Brook) and while this was going on, we put our yellow tang into a 20g hospital tank. The fish was extremely skittish with no cover, so we made sure he had hiding places. Even then, it seemed like the stress was so much worse in the small tank, so we ended up putting him back into the display. He's been a healthy fish ever since.

I've read that tangs in the wild swim many miles per day (some say 30-50), and confinement to a small tank is detrimental to a tang's health. I also read that swimming affects metabolism which in turn affects eating. Not enough swimming cuts down on the amount of food the fish will eat and leads to nutrient loss. I've read that for this reason, a tang in an aquarium environment, even a large tank, will have a much shorter overall liespan than in the wild (where a tang can live to be 45 years old).

How big was your Q/T? Maybe a 10g or 20g is just too small for these fish for a long period of time? Could he have starved to death? Also, since these guys are primarily grazers, do you offer them plenty of greens in Q/T?

 

[jhutto]

Had my YT for a year and he is growing and thriving so far. I give him plenty of greens that he loves. He is a very bright yellow.

 

[kwl1763]

I qt'd a number of them over the years with no issues. I use a larger tank then most though as it's a 29 hex. A simple 4" PVC tube is all I put in for cover. Keep up with water quality and you should be fine. Getting fish to eat is sometimes very difficult and you sometimes have to really work at it.

Some fish do just die. Unfortunately. It should be very often at all but sometimes they either just won't eat are have issues you can't diagnose in time to fix.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

George, I can not say I have really ever lost a yellow QT. Now, they tend to not take copper as well as other fish... For treating a yellow I would be doing Formalin dips over copper, but that is just my opinion.

 

[gwhiz]

Xyzpdq0121;122257 wrote: George, I can not say I have really ever lost a yellow QT. Now, they tend to not take copper as well as other fish... For treating a yellow I would be doing Formalin dips over copper, but that is just my opinion.

I didn't treat with copper until after the YT was gone. The QT has never been previously treated either.

The QT is a 12 gallon with sheet algae on a clip and some grape calurpa available. He wasn't particularly thin when I got him and I doubt that he starved in a week.

 

[drnecropolis]

Like said, sometimes fish just perish, don't think I would have added copper just for flashing, I prolly would have waited until ich was confirmed..

 

[cameron]

Lost a Yellow in QT myself. It is what stopped the process for me actually. Some fish don't seem to care about QT, but I have lost several fish in QT and practically none by comparison in my main tank.