Yellow Tang Tweaking Out?

Had him for many months now... Came home today and he is acting funny, he'll swim normal for a bit, then just take off in in a crazy line....sometimes straight, sometimes with a bunch of turns (happens really fast though). It's almost like something is scaring him, however all thank mates are leaving him alone? He ate very well tonight and it keeps going for the seaweed.

Tank parems:
Nitrate = 20
Cal = 420
Mag = 1200
dkh = 10
Phosphae = 0
SG = 1.026

I plan to do a water change tomorrow and over the weekend to bring the nitrates down a bit. I just started growing chaeto but that has not affected my nitrate levels yet.

Also, I've been running a UV sterilizer continuously for the past few days. Also have been trying to bring the Mag up so I've been add it for the past few days (no where near above 100ppm per day)

Any thoughts about what is making the tang so skiddish?

 

oh yeah....he looks like he is breathing on the heavy side too

 

It might be the nitrates, did you test for ammonia and nitrite?

 

don't have an ammonia test at the moment.

i'll check nitrite right now....

 

Im not 100% positive for nitrate, but ammonia and nitrite can cause heavy breathing and kill a fish because its basicly burning their gills from what I remember. Could be wrong though...

 

do you have a ground probe? How about check for electrical current? It's just a thought in case all other params are ok.

 

Sounds like something is bothering him. Maybe he has ich? Ich can cause heavy breathing and weird movements.

 

Yes, I do have a ground probe in the DT. Acutally, when I first bought this guy I didn't have a probe, and he was doing this same thing....but after the probe went in, he has basically been completely normal until now.


Nitrites = 0

 

yeah, I thought about this... I guess I just figure the sterilizer is killing any parasites in the tank right now. But I know those things aren't 100% affective.

 

I've heard sterilizers don't really help with ich....but I don't know much about them. If it is ich it will start popping up on his body or fins.