yellow tang - disappointing colour

[Sean Smith]

In my new tank one of my first purchases is a yellow tang… a big fellow (though not sure of sex). I now sort of regret buying him because he is an older/mature fish and only now I realise his colours are relatively muted. In other words he is not vivid yellow. Is it common for tangs to lose their colours?

I am half debating whether or not to return him to the LFS…. Minded against that though because I don’t want to traumatise him/her with another journey and he is otherwise active and interesting to watch. To be honest I do not relish the prospect of having to catch him either.

Pros – used to captivity, robust and active and fed from my live rock immediately.... apparently healthy

Cons – disappointed in his colour.

[fishfreek]

What kind of color did this tang have at the store? From reading your post about lighting I suspect that some of the dull coloration on the fish could be as a result of your lighting setup.

[Pineapple House]

Tangs will also loose their color when stressed, usually turning pale. During the night they usually turn paler than usual. At night thier matabolism slows down and this causes this lightening of color. But, since this sounds like this is even in the day, I put my vote in for stress issues here. What are your water parimeters? What's your lighting? Was it this color in the store? Exactly how old is your tank? What are you feeding him?

PH =)

[Pineapple House]

Well you should perhaps know that I am new to marine purchasing and this was my first fish…. So what I thought looked ok in the shop I quickly realised was a relatively dull fish. Put simply, this is not a bright yellow fish. The fins are but the majority of the body is a much paler yellow. I don’t think that the fish is unwell… I am speculating that this is because it is a maturer fish that the colour is not as vivid as in younger specimens……?

Now we are getting somewhere :)

Taken that your tank is only 3 weeks old, IMO, and only IMO, your tank is too young to be housing a tang. It is common to see pale tangs in the LFS, this mostly has to do with its diet, stress issues, or in rare ocations, lighting. I find Nori to be one of the tastiest treets for tangs. This, along with a mixture of meaty foods as well as grazing algae, can lighten up even the dullest tang.

PH =)

[Sean Smith]

It is common to see pale tangs in the LFS, this mostly has to do with its diet, stress issues, or in rare ocations, lighting.

I think the LFS is the root cause problem and I sort of suspect it is a combination of the size of the tank he was kept in - since he was used to a big tank with his previous owner + lighting + diet (he did not get "meaty" food at the LFS.

I have only had my Tang in the tank for three days now. During this time his colour has improved. So there's an improvement over the LFS straight away and i am very much encouraged. He's a good feeder - wolfing down flake and constant grazing on my live rock.

I accept your experience and wisdom and concede I could well have put him in too soon. But my water parameters are all good... the smallest amount of nitrate that the test kit can detect... ammonia and nitrite zero. PH/salinity correct, temperature 80 degrees. No phosphates. I know the cycle has all but completed because I had the expected spikes as my dry rock died-back. I added two yellow tail damsels two weeks ago. The parameters have held steady since.... The live rock and substrate seems to have worked miracles.

what is Nori please? What meaty foods could I try? I would really like to get this fella back to top form.

[Zack]

I would if i were you try this stuff. http://www.fishbowlauctions.com./item.php?id=2f589c6dc42378efa698cb8318e8a667 good luck my tangs loved it and I am sure yours will to.

[Pineapple House]

Nori is a type of kelp, you could usually buy this in little paper sized peices. I feed my tangs a mixture of brine, blood worms, squid, shrimp, kelp, nori, krill, and some flake food. Both are full of the brightest color, and have never gotten any diseases :) Try to vary the diet; one day feed Brine, blood worms, and nori, the next feed krill, kelp, squid, and so on... I have had great experience with this. But, that is great that it is slowely regaining some of its color :-D

PH =)

[DANNY]

sean hi.
i had this problem with a tang i had i purchased calupra from a dealer here started growing it in my sump and harvesting it and feeding it to my tang and my rabbit fox face. there is also a sight called pacific sea farms that sales a tang heaven food that alot of people rave about. also i add garlic elixer from kent that helped my tang when he got the black ick on him.
danny

[fishfreek]

I know of a site on the net that allows you to get 50 sheets of NORI for like $10.00 before shipping.

Its not all that bad tasting for human consumption also.

Here is the health food store I got mine from

http://www.rawhealth.net/catalog.htm

On a side note I have to say I did not even think about diet at first but it makes sense as I have seen this first hand with my PBT. Its colors where rather drab before I started feeding NORI but now its colors are very vibrant during the day.

I think their colors also fade at night as a natural camafloge.

[Pineapple House]

Its not all that bad tasting for human consumption also.

Couldn't agree with you more fishfreek. I already went through 2 boxes of Nori in the past couple of months. They're actually quite good with crackers and salt :wink:

PH =)

[fishfreek]

Couldn't agree with you more fishfreek. I already went through 2 boxes of Nori in the past couple of months. They're actually quite good with crackers and salt :wink:

PH =)

You should really check that link above then. Not a bad price for 50 sheets.

[Sean Smith]

thanks for the advice chaps... I will try all of it. The colour has improved by about 10% over the 5 days I've had him/her. I hope that over say three weeks with an enhanced diet and as he becomes more settled I should see more.

Just one interesting thing to note... when I mentioned to my LFS pineapple that I was going to try a meatier diet, the owner said "no... meat causes Tangs liver damage". I have no reason to think that advice is right ; but just though I'd pass that on to you. :roll:


I'll let oyu know how I progress
BTW - how you sex a Tang?

[fishfreek]

I would like to reply to the talk of liver dammage in this way.

Drinking beer can cause liver damage. Do you see everyone who has ever had a beer with liver desease? NO. Why? Because its all in the individual and how much is consumed.

I feed my tang a staple of nori with a suplment every few days of frozen brine, flake, and Reef Complete (frozen cubes with squid, and other seafood mixed up).

[Sean Smith]

thanks for the input chaps.

[Fugly]

Its all about the vegetables! Give him some plant based flakes and some leaf algae and that should sort it out. Had same prob with my regal tang (blue faded) and this was my solution.

[Sean Smith]

I'll let you know how I get on.
So far I am feeding him:

flake
cucumber
scalded lettuce
seaweed.
Then of course he is grazing on algae.

Any advice on quantity/frequency?

[Pineapple House]

I have never used cucumber before, so I won't give you any comments on that. My recomondation would be to get some meaty foods. Mine loves Blood worms and small peices of krill, as well as ocational feedings of brine shrimp.

This might be of some help, but this article was written by Jess Hull (not me!):
Needed Supplies
1. Blender
2. Cutting Board
3. Chef’s knife
4. Ice cube tray

Ingredients
1. Raw jumbo shrimp (found at fish market)
2. Sea scallops (found at fish market)
3. Squid (found at fish market)
4. Silversides (found at local fish store or asian fish market)
5. Krill (found at fish store)
6. Mysis Shrimp (found at fish store)
7. Brine Shrimp (found at fish store)
8. 2 cups of clean tank water (from your fish tank)
9. 3 teaspoons of selcon or zoecon (found at fish store)
10. 2 sheets of seaweed selects or nori (found at fish store or asian market, if buying nori buy unseasoned unsalted)

Steps of preparing fish food
1. You must take the two cups of water from your tank, making sure to not take up any debris, and mix that with the 3 teaspoons of selcon or zoecon in the blender. I recommend you dedicating a cheap blender for the purpose of making your fish food.
2. Clean the squid buy pulling out any ink sacs and removing the beak if your fishmonger has not done so already. Then take the body of the squid and scrap off any skin that has been left on it.
3. Clean the shrimp by peeling them and removing the tail and any swimmerets. You can opt to leave the shrimp unpeeled if you are preparing this for larger fish.
4. Take your cleaned shrimp and squid and place it in the blender along with the rest of the ingredients.
5. Now add the seaweed selects or nori, ripping it into smaller pieces.
6. Now pulse blend the mixture making sure that you leave chunks and pieces of the seafood but still well mixed.
7. Now take the “mush” and place it in the ice cube tray. Tap it down against the counter to release any trapped air bubble too ensure good consistency.

This is a very healthy and very easy alternative to the commercially available prepared saltwater fish foods.


PH =)

[Sean Smith]

I must have a choosy tang. I have tried Nori and Krill and he is not impressed.... though he wolfs down flake and cucumber. I've got some other meaty treats to try and tempt him.