Why am I having such a hard time with Tangs?

welll before anyone can truly be beneficial to ansswering this question the main evidence that we need is this, what fish have you tried to keep in the tank, the size and health these fish had, did they die from a disease, did they go through periods of ick? etc. for instance if you tried to keep like an achilles tang, or a powder blue or brown or clown tang, there all really different, but if you tried a healthy yellow tang and still not able to keep it, then there has to be an underlying issue involved.

 

you're not skimming or running carbon?

 

not skimmer could be an issue but he only has two other fish, i dont think not running carbon is too much of an issue considering i dont and i have 5 tangs.

 

I only run carbon every now and again but if your not skimming then that is what I'd blame it on, with that much rock in this setup and 2x55g tanks assuming their conjoined somehow thats only like 70-80 gallons of water tops with the amount of poo a typical tang produces without skimming everytime they poo it's going to cause all the parameters to go crazy and that is what I'd blame the issues on

I've got 3 tangs in my 90 gallon with no issues but if you saw the stuff my skimmer was pulling it'd make you sick straight biological isn't enough with the larger fish imo

 

^^ couldn't agree with you more

 

I also never had problems with Tangs. Always had a skimmer though. The other question I would have is what are you feeding the tangs. I usually supplemented dried seaweeds and algae.

CA

 

Stop dosing with iodine immediately! Tanks normally do not need supplementation of iodine and if you are not testing iodine levels you are poisoning them. Not sure if that is effecting the tangs or not, but dont dose anymore iodine!

 

I mostly dose with iodine for my clams, however i do intentionally underdose so as to avoid any possible risk of overdosing, I had 3 yellow tangs 2 of which died in two days or less (however i think that they may have died due to the lack of tank maturity and parameter issues) i then waited a few months and the third seemed fine but then got trapped up against a rock due to a powerhead and didnt make it, after that i swore off tangs but i recently tried a clown tang who was fine the first day but then went into hiding and now i cannot find him, and i am fearing for the worst, i stated what i feed in the first or second post but I make sure there are plenty of veggies

 

If everything is stable, I would try another yellow or maybe even like a hippo tang. Tangs really in all honesty are not the easiest fish out there to keep, but those two are some of the easier tangs. Clown tangs are very difficult.
And I second stopping the iodine dosing unless you have a test kit. Even doing 1/4 doses you can overdose the tank.

 

Well the feeding is not an issue since they died so fast. Also I did miss the feeding part in your first post. If the other fish are not a problem and your clams are fine I don't really see why you would be having a problem with a yellow tang. I would think your wrasse would go before the tang. If you really think it was the fact your tank was not mature I would go for another yellow. The fact you have clams in there living your tang should not be an issue. I used to dose with iodine for my corals and had no issues with my tangs.

I did however have a strict testing routine and again had a skimmer which as other people said (you think your tank water looks clean until you get a skimmer).

ca