Yellow Eye Tang Sick

RoyalT

Reefing newb
My Tang is laying at the bottom of the tank. He still gets up swims for occasional food. Is this normal?
 
how big is the tang? a 35 gallon tank is waaaay to small for any tang. he is probaly stressed big time! tangs are extremely prone to ich and other parasites. stress will weaken him and allow these things attake.
 
how big is the tang? a 35 gallon tank is waaaay to small for any tang. he is probaly stressed big time! tangs are extremely prone to ich and other parasites. stress will weaken him and allow these things attake.

i agree, that tank is WAY to small for any tang !! if he is doing ok in the morning try to take him to a LFS for credit or give him to someone with a bigger tank.
 
rigo lost his tang recently and i used to have a tang and it got ich by a to smalll of a tank i think you need a minimum of at least 45 to krrp tangs
 
Hello and welcome! You need AT LEAST 100 gallons to keep a yellow eye tang! They are fish that need to swim a lot, need a lot of dissolved oxygen, and have a very high metabolism. The small tank is what is probably making him sick. Get him out of there ASAP, and next time do some research before you buy an animal that is totally inappropriate for your setup.
 
I did research it. This is what all websites told me as well as LFS. See below is this not true? i now believe I killed it due to stressing it out from adding new Tonga Rock and stirring up to much sand. Is this possible?

Hawiian Kole Tang
[SIZE=-2]Ctenochaetus strigosus
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
kole.jpg

[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Description:[/SIZE][SIZE=-2] This species is reddish-brown with lighter lines running down the body and a yellow ring around the eye. It is an active species that will graze on microalgae growing on the aquarium glass and décor. It is a passive tang that makes a great community fish. Very popular as a "maintainance" tang.
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Recommended Tank size: [/SIZE][SIZE=-2]requires a 30 gallon or larger aquarium with a number of hiding places and plenty of room to swim.
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Food and diet:[/SIZE][SIZE=-2] Herbivore, provide with a varied diet that includes frozen and flake foods for herbivores as well as dried algae sheets.
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Reef Compatability: [/SIZE][SIZE=-2]Great for a reef tank.
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2]Level of Care: [/SIZE][SIZE=-2]Easy[/SIZE]
 
I think you got some majorly bad information there. In fact, that information is so bad it verges on being irresponsible. What website did that come from? I wouldn't really trust what the LFS says either, remember they are in it to make a sale. And if your fish dies, you will come back to them and buy another one. Not all LFS are like that, but many of them are, and you have to be careful of salespeople that will give you bad info in order to make money off of you.

Marine Depot Live:
Minimum Tank Size: The Yellow Eye Kole Tang prefers a tank of at least 100 gallons with plenty of places to hide & swim.
Yellow Eye Kole Tang - Ctenochaetus strigosus

There is no way you could possibly keep a yellow eye tang in a 35 gallon tank. I highly doubt it was adding rock and stirring up sand, that would not have stressed it out. But being in a small tank would.
 
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That site is commonly referred to as AquaCON. Just a warning, people that have ordered things from them have ended up being ripped off, I wouldn't trust any info from that website and would never order from them.

I didn't mean to seem like I came down hard on you -- a lot of what we do in this hobby is based off of info from others. It can be hard to sift through the good and the bad advice.

In a 35 gallon tank with a blue damsel, you have several options for fish. But no tangs :). There are plenty of smaller fish that are cool -- like firefish, a royal gramma or purple pseudochromis, a sixline wrasse... Just to name a few.

If I were you, I would try to catch and remove the sand sifting star. It will quickly starve to death in your tank.
 
Oh, what kind of equipment are you running? You want to add some more live rock, aiming for 1 to 2 lbs per gallon is good, so in your case 35 to 70 lbs total. This will aid in the filtration of your tank.
 
I'm not a tang expert but I had to see for myself what size tank a Keyhole is recommended for.The lowest from reputable place,Liveaquaria,has them for 70 gal. and up.I definitely would never use that site,its hard to believe 35gal. could house any tang.
 
Man, I just looked at that website, holy crap! They have several tangs listed as min. of 20 gallon tanks. Thats insane, I havent seen a site that has a min. listing of 100 for most tangs. My friends dad has 2 tangs, a yellow and a blue of some sort (but not a blue tang, some wierd name) in his 75 with 6 or so other fish. He's had his tank for 15 years and hasnt had any problems with them. He thought I could house a smaller tang in my tank, just wondering what you guys think? I really like the yellow tang he had, it was cool watching them peck at the lettuce he put on a clip in the tank. He did say his blue tang got some sort of parasite or ick some times, but his cleaner shrimp pick it off for them.
 
You could keep a small yellow tang in your 50 gallon. BUT it would outgrow it and you would have to catch it and move it. Tangs are very susceptible to ich and disease. If they are in too small of a tank, they will get stressed and they will get sick.
 
you have picked up some really good advice. Hope you feel welcome here!

-Dr Marco :sfish:
 
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