Starry Blenny issues

[Angelajean]

Last Saturday, we picked up an awesome starry blenny. Now my kole tang has 2 sets of blenny lips on her. He also went after my 6 line. I think I am going to need to catch him and return him to the store.

Has anyone ever seen this?
Am I overreacting?
Any ideas how to catch him without taking my whole tank apart?

I wish I could label and point them out but I think you can see them they are fish lips shaped.

Thanks for any help.

 

[little_fish]

I would honestly be astounded if that was actually from the blenny, because blennies are not great swimmers and tangs are. However I wouldnt be surprised if your blenny is taking to defending his territory from two fish that are well known for harassing other fish.

My suggestion is to let everyone calm down over the new addition.

 

[Angelajean]

I would not have believed either and I didn't. I was sure my son was exaggerating. But a little bit ago, I saw it with my own eyes. He has multiple spots he likes to hang out. He was sitting on the rock at the end of the tank where she slows down to go between rocks and he popped up from the rock and bit her. I could not believe it.

I have not seen the kole bothering the blenny. Of course, I can't possibly see everything my children do. LOL

The fish store said he would take him back and give me store credit. Now how do I catch him. He is so cool and he eats algae sheets as well as algae off the rocks.

I would honestly be astounded if that was actually from the blenny, because blennies are not great swimmers and tangs are. However I wouldnt be surprised if your blenny is taking to defending his territory from two fish that are well known for harassing other fish.

My suggestion is to let everyone calm down over the new addition.

 

[little_fish]

Its not easy to catch any fish, but I would try and trap him on side of the tank and then net him out

 

[Angelajean]

Maybe I should wait. Do you think it will calm down between them?
Thanks,

 

[little_fish]

How long ago did you add the blenny?

 

[Angelajean]

Saturday so 5 days. I am concerned because my poor Kole tang Dory has been barbed by the bigger yellow and now this.

The barb spot from the YT healed and the spot I posted is healing. I have another picture of the other side that's worse.

 

[Angelajean]

Here's the other picture

 

[little_fish]

Fish are really resilient, she will recover from this. You could try a few days of lights of out to help everyone calm down

 

[Angelajean]

That sounds good. Do you feed your fish when you go lights out? I have several level in my lights so I could go minimalistic.

I really like the starry blenny. He is so cool. He likes to hang out in my large toadstool and we moved the algae sheets from hanging out on that rock to avoid territorial issues. I also moved a couple of rocks around,

Thanks for the help.

 

[little_fish]

No, but they will be fine if they dont get fed for a few day. Or you could keep the lights on for a very short amount of time.

 

[Angelajean]

Thanks I'll keep you posted. Hopefully this will resolve itself.

 

[Angelajean]

We are still having biting issues with the starry and the kole tang. We had the lights out except for feeding for 3 days. I have rearranged rocks and still it continues. Now the starry is jumping rock to rock just to bite the kole. He is a persistent annoying brat. How long will this go on? How long is reasonable?
Thanks

 

[little_fish]

I think you have waited a reasonable amount of time

 

[Angelajean]

Tropical Fish Hobbyist - April 2013

I think I discovered the problem between the starry blenny, Neptune and my kole tang, Dory.

I was reading this article today as a part of my son's Marine Bio class. I started addressing this last night with feeding a smaller amount of algae sheet once in morning and then the afternoon.

Sometimes blennies will attack other fish, especially tangs because of the food source. Dory tends to pick on rocks much like Neptune does. Fortunately, Neptune loves algae sheets. Problem seems to be solved.
Thanks

 

[little_fish]

Yay!!!

 

[FishyReef]

I notice the only fish my tang goes after is my blenny and I think its for the same reason, they are the only two herbivores in my tank. Glad to hear things are better! If for some reason they get worse again you could try hanging two sets of algae sheets, one near the blenny's area and then one on the opposite side of the tank for the tang.

 

[Angelajean]

UPDATE:
The starry blenny as much as I liked him is now in the sump. He has Dory my kole tang bit up so bad and she got where she would avoid eating and hide so she is skinny as well. I am hoping she recovers she looks so pitiful right now. She is eating but is afraid of the algae sheets on the rock now I am going to try to see if she'll eat off the clip. The blenny box worked but he still would go after her and get her on her side. Yesterday after I finally got the starry out of the tank. The kole hid all day and at one point was sitting in a cave swaying back and forth. Today she won't eat algae sheets off the rock (YT prefers rock over clip), but she ate some formula 2 and is now swimming and pecking off the rocks as well as letting cleaner shrimp clean her. Here's crossing my fingers and saying a prayer for her recovery. Thanks for the help. I'll let you know what happens.

 

[2XAl]

well, you certainly gave it the A+ effort. Here's hoping to a speedy tang recovery.

 

[Angelajean]

UPDATE: My starry blenny returned to the LFS. They gave me 100% store credit after 3 weeks. Dory doesn't look to good. It think there is probably a 1in 3 chance she'll make it. She looked better yesterday. She is so thin and doesn't have much of an appetite today. She is stying the the rockwork/cave much more today. Overnight, she also developed a dark spot on her side. She has come to the cleaner goby to clean her a couple of times. I hope it isn't too late. She was my first big fish. I am kind of fish shy. I think after my last few experiences. I will steer clear of buying anything for awhile. My hubby is saying buy a school of chromis, at least they're cheap.