Achilles tang not eating

[Rams]

I got Achilles tang on last sunday, since then he was in Copper(fritz coppersafe) and i mixed kanaplex+metroplex in water(did water change too).He is not interested in eating any food, I gave mixture of reef frenzy+pellets with selcone & garlic so far.

Please help me.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Can you post a picture and/or video? Take a look at the link below my name here - that page offers hints about additional information about fish problems. It would help to know those things - water quality, tank size, etc.

Achilles tangs are normally fairly good eaters, so something is keeping it from eating.

Thanks,

jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

When placing photo or pics- please do under white lights . makes it easier to identify issues

 

[Rams]

Can you post a picture and/or video? Take a look at the link below my name here - that page offers hints about additional information about fish problems. It would help to know those things - water quality, tank size, etc.

Achilles tangs are normally fairly good eaters, so something is keeping it from eating.

Thanks,

jay

Thank you,here are the pics of him

 

[vetteguy53081]

Pics a little fuzzy but appears to be what looks like flukes on upper dorsal. Other possibility is Ich as achilles Tang fish are highly susceptible to contracting ich and can have problems also with HLLE. You mentioned having it in copper based tank, so it may be adjustment to new surroundings. With it not eating, note that unless you have real good water parameters, that It is sensitive to ammonia poisoning and has little tolerance to high ammonia.

Assure your tank meets the following conditions:

Temperature - not to exceed 80 deg
salinity 1.025-1.025
Ph 8.0- 8.3
ammonia .04
nitrate .03

Offer it low light being a new fish and a healthy diet consisting of:

Nori seaweed basted with garlic extract
LRS Herbivore diet
Formula 2 flake and frozen
Spirulina brine shrimp
mysis shrimp
small plankton

Add garlic extract to foods 2-3X per week for enticement to feed and immunity system and selcon vitamins alternating the other 2X per week

 

[Rams]

Pics a little fuzzy but appears to be what looks like flukes on upper dorsal. Other possibility is Ich as achilles Tang fish are highly susceptible to contracting ich and can have problems also with HLLE. You mentioned having it in copper based tank, so it may be adjustment to new surroundings. With it not eating, note that unless you have real good water parameters, that It is sensitive to ammonia poisoning and has little tolerance to high ammonia.

Assure your tank meets the following conditions:

Temperature - not to exceed 80 deg
salinity 1.025-1.025
Ph 8.0- 8.3
ammonia .04
nitrate .03

Offer it low light being a new fish and a healthy diet consisting of:

Nori seaweed basted with garlic extract
LRS Herbivore diet
Formula 2 flake and frozen
Spirulina brine shrimp
mysis shrimp
small plankton

Add garlic extract to foods 2-3X per week for enticement to feed and immunity system and selcon vitamins alternating the other 2X per week

Thanks for the reply,tank parameters are good and I tried feeding all you mentioned but no luck

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks for the reply,tank parameters are good and I tried feeding all you mentioned but no luck

Give it a couple of days yet. You could try anchoring seaweed to a rock or two in the tank and see if fish shows interest

 

[Reeffraff]

That tang looks to be a large, mature adult specimen. An achilles tang of that size is potentially 10+ yrs old. These fish are typically more challenging to adapt to captive conditions than smaller juveniles or young adults.

It also looks like you have the tang in a bare bottom QT tank. IME the problem with a BB QT tanks is that they require almost daily siphoning to remove waste and uneaten food in order to avoid degrading water quality. The daily maintenance can keep a fish from getting comfortable and feeling safe, which can keep it from eating. The flip side is that if you back off on messing with the tank, water quality can degrade quickly. What do you have for filtration? A BB tank will need some form of extensive external biological filtration to manage ammonia production.

What do you have for hiding places? Ideally you should have several places where the tang can fully retreat and feel secure. I like to use large diameter PVC or ceramic flower pots for this.

Also, the addition of medications can suppress appetite in many fish. My personal philosophy is to get all fish in QT eating before applying medication, and only medicating if there is an actual need (e.g. signs of ich).

I have had tangs (recently a naso) that only ate nori for the first 2 months. Frozen blood worms was the thing that got it to start eating frozen foods. People have also had great success getting finicky fish to eat with live blackworms.

Hoping for a positive result for you and the achilles!

 

[Rams]

That tang looks to be a large, mature adult specimen. An achilles tang of that size is potentially 10+ yrs old. These fish are typically more challenging to adapt to captive conditions than smaller juveniles or young adults.

It also looks like you have the tang in a bare bottom QT tank. IME the problem with a BB QT tanks is that they require almost daily siphoning to remove waste and uneaten food in order to avoid degrading water quality. The daily maintenance can keep a fish from getting comfortable and feeling safe, which can keep it from eating. The flip side is that if you back off on messing with the tank, water quality can degrade quickly. What do you have for filtration? A BB tank will need some form of extensive external biological filtration to manage ammonia production.

What do you have for hiding places? Ideally you should have several places where the tang can fully retreat and feel secure. I like to use large diameter PVC or ceramic flower pots for this.

Also, the addition of medications can suppress appetite in many fish. My personal philosophy is to get all fish in QT eating before applying medication, and only medicating if there is an actual need (e.g. signs of ich).

I have had tangs (recently a naso) that only ate nori for the first 2 months. Frozen blood worms was the thing that got it to start eating frozen foods. People have also had great success getting finicky fish to eat with live blackworms.

Hoping for a positive result for you and the achilles!

This is great,I will add few hiding places for him.yes he is huge and old tang.hoping for the best

 

[Rams]

Give it a couple of days yet. You could try anchoring seaweed to a rock or two in the tank and see if fish shows interest

Will try,thank you so much

 

[Rams]

Thank you all for responses,he gave up today morning by attaching him to wavemaker

 

[MERKEY]

So sorry for your loss, its never easy