Blue Tangs

[kgross]

I was just wondering if anybody else is having the same problems I am with blue tangs. It seems that for the last few months I have not had good luck with them. Most are dieing within 3 weeks. They will look healthy and eat well, then they hid and die. I am not having problems like this with any other species of fish, it is just the blue tangs. My only guess is some type of a stress reaction from something up the chain of custody or some type of an infection. I have been putting all blue tangs into a low salinity tank and feeding lots of garlic since this started happening, but it does not seem to have made a noticeable difference. I am planning on ordering from a different supplier this coming week to see how I fair, but I have good luck with most other livestock and like my current major supplier...

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

Can I just suggest checking for flukes? I have been seeing a lot of fish, mostly angels and surgeons, coming in to my shop with ridiculous amounts of flukes. This has been from at least 3 different wholesalers the infected specimens arrived from. Not sure how long they were in holding - these were not tranships. 2 batches from Ca, one from FL.

When doing a dip on regals I would suggest the first one be somewhat shorter since they seem to not handle it as well as some other fish - I've had a 4" that did a fw dip on and the fish dropped approximately 100 + flukes in under 3 mins in a bath.

 

[kgross]

I have not noticed any flukes on them. When we start noticing a problem we do FW dips and move them to a "hospital system" that has a salinity of 1.010, which does seem to slow down the demise but does not stop it.

Kim

 

[JennM]

1.010? That's brackish...

Where are the tangs originating from (ie what country?) Could be many different things - but it could also be capture method.

Jenn

 

[Anonymous]

1.010? That's brackish...

Where are the tangs originating from (ie what country?) Could be many different things - but it could also be capture method.

Jenn

You noticed, eh?

 

[JennM]

Yeah I find that a bit low

I've had no probs with ones that I've brought in lately - but I'm choosy The last batch I got in were smaller than I like - I find the super tiny ones are often fragile - but the last bunch I got in ate like pigs - we fed them well and they did just fine - I had one or two for 6 weeks before they sold, so well past the typical "keel over" period. I keep my FO systems about 1.021-1.023. Most of my customers keep their tanks around 1.023. No sense nurturing them along only to croak from osmotic shock if they aren't acclimated properly.

But hey, that's just me.

Jenn

 

[JennM]

As for flukes - we see those occasionally too. FW bath usually gets them and if we suspect a bigger problem, Prazi Pro (by Hikari) is a good treatment for a FO system (NOT a reef!!!)

Jenn

 

[Anonymous]

I was actually talking about the capture method. But, hey. The salinity he mentioned is what I would have used for helping fish deal with parasites, specifically Cryptocaryon and Amyloodinium.

 

[JennM]

I go low... but not that low. I think 1.014 is as low as I've been comfy going - in a q-system.

Jenn

 

[LargeAngels]

I can tell you as serious hobbiest I see so many flukes on fish that every single fish gets 2 treatments of Prazipro before they ever come out of QT. FW dips doesn't kill the eggs so the flukes just come back.

 

[kgross]

From some of the research I have done, a SG of 1.010 is OK on the fish and it will help with most if not all parasites and even help with most other external problems since the fungus's and bacteria's do not do as well in the low SG. Plus it is very close to the fishes internal SG so the fish has to work less to keep internal SG stable, so it has more energy for immune responses.

I just got a new shipment of fish this AM with some blue tangs from a different supplier and I am hoping that these tangs do OK. They are smaller than I would have liked, but so far seem healthy.

To acclimate them, I checked salinity and did a 30 minute acclimation to water with the same salinity until the bucket had 75 % new water 25% old. (wanted to make sure any ammonia was diluted with as little stress as possible). Then removed 1/2 of that water, and started acclimating to my tanks. They came in at 1.021, my tanks are at 1.025. Took another hour to drip to new level, then did 1 minute FW dip then into tank. Right now they are acting fine, but I will not know more for a while.

Kim

 

[JennM]

I like the name of your shop

Jenn

 

[kgross]

It was named after my wife Jennie.

Kim

 

[Anonymous]

I can tell you as serious hobbiest I see so many flukes on fish that every single fish gets 2 treatments of Prazipro before they ever come out of QT. FW dips doesn't kill the eggs so the flukes just come back.

Prazi doesn't kill every life stage of the flukes either. How are you doing the treatment? Are you treating the whole QT tank at a low level? Dipping the fish? If you dip, are you placing it into a new system afterwards?

 

[LargeAngels]

Matt: I do 2 full dose seven day treatments of Prazipro in QT, with a large water change between the two treatments.