Dead Yellow tang:(

Sorry to hear it. Yellow tangs sure are wonderful fish. Karma for ya pal.

 

Another dead yellow tang - help?

Hi. I'm new to this too. I've got a 75 gal display with 20 gal sump, skimmer, 110 lbs live rock that "finished" cycling 6 weeks ago. Amm, nitrite, nitrate are stable at 0,0, 10 ppm, ph 8.4, ca 375 (working it up with an additive slowly). 4 weeks ago I added 5 snails and 2 fire shrimp over a 7 day period. These have settled in well, and have really cleared the brown hair algae that was on the rock. red and purple coralline algea are starting to show and ?grow.

My question is this. I got a yellow tang from a reputable regional coral and marine supplier that happens to be down the road. I quarantined him for 2 weeks. he ate all supplied nori daily, and swam about but didn't ever seem very curious. I put him in main tank yesterday. Immediately the fire shrimp jumped on his side and picked at his body - i (now i think mistakenly) thought they were cleaning him. This morning tang was stuck to the overflow box. I turned off pump, gently freed him, and then started cleaning up and re-establishing Q-tank. Within the hour, tang was dead and sinking, before I could get Q-tank running.

So, basically, anybody have an idea why tang died? I thought my tank seemed pretty stable. could it be the tank mates, and if so, do i need to get rid of the shrimp before i get another fish? could it be a poor tang to start with, but didn't a 2 week Q-tank run help this?

thanks in advance

 

It died from the stress it got from being stuck to the intake of the PH. I say this with out knowing how your water is. Luna

 

I am trying to picture any way a fish could be stuck to a overflow ? Especially a fish as powerful as a tang .. How was a pump able to pin and hold it there ? .. I'd correct this problem as it will not be the last fish you loose to this overflow design it seems you have . Cause of its death was the fish was drowned or suffocated depending on how it was pinned or held to the box.

 

I am reaslly sorry for your loss..
Are your water parameters(ph, sg, temp, etc..) the same as your QT tank?
The stress of moving a fish from one tank to another is highly stressful in itself, but then being put into water that is not of the same makeup of the QT water will certainly cause much more stress..

 

i'm using a csr siphon overflow rated for 800 gph, and a blueline 40 hd pump, with a ball valve tuned so that the system is running at about 700 gph. the shrimp are able to swim by the overflow intake without getting sucked in, and the snails regularly crawl over it. I think the tang was weak and got sucked onto it, and then things got worse from there.

 

I never really liked the way they where designed myself , Its been a while since I have had to deal with or see one I guess they still make them the same ? In that the in tank portion of the box is just cut on a slight angle to allow water to flow in over the rim . And not made adjustable with a level rim where weirs are made to allow water and not fish to get into the front box. CPR came up with the box design and then I'm sure others are making their knock off's of them ? But I'd add me some type strainer to the top rim of it if they are still made the same way ?

 

tangster, thanks. the csr i have is level, and has a screen (came with it). tang was suctioned up against the screen on its side. i appreciate everyone's comments.

 

Given your description of the setup I'm having a hard time believing a healthy tang would end up on it's side stuck the the grate. Seems to me something must have had the fish weak before that happened. Doesn't help any with your mystery of what happened, but my guess would be something prior to the PH incident.