Gem Tang Issue... What would you do???

BlingityBling · Mar 31, 2023

Hello All...
I have a serious issue with a struggling Gem Tang due to a bad shipping experience. I recently ordered four fish that a Fed Ex package got delayed twice in transit and took over two days to arrive in not the best condition. Normally, I would have gone to my LFS for such things as the owner and I are friends, however, being in a small town, he said he could not get these through his suppliers.
So the issue is from the package being roughed up and delayed, the four fish arrived in what looked like dead condition. No movement in the box.
The shipping water tested
26ppt salinity
0.5ppm ammonia
ph7.6

I matched salintiy of QT and sped up acclimating to get the temp up. Obviously they were all stressed badly but two that I thought were truly DOA started swimming (not well) but swimming none the less. The other three fish have recovered and are eating within the past two days. All four are currently in my QT for observation and recovery before considering any medications.

The Tang was moving but not well, It was obvious he was alive but not a given for how long. He is about 6" and plenty fat from being well fed BUT he is clearly struggling to swim and working hard just to keep himself upright. He's the only one that has not attempted to eat... Both Red and green nori in the tank along with a variety of frozen as well as yesterday fresh mussel, oyster, and shrimp. I have not seen him able to get off the bottom since having him. His fins are sligthly degraded and he is starting to show slight white spot on the tips of his fins. Over the past two days I have sligtly risen salinty. Current QT parameters today are:
29ppt salinity
0 Ammonia
ph7.9
and Temp held at 78-79F
both yesterday and today I have done a 50percent water change matching the tank salinity and temp to keep water as proper as I can.
Keeping room lights off so daytime brightness is probably half of normally.

I can't seem to get a video to upload but here are some photos showing his lethargic states and the best he does upright on the bottom. He has yet to swim up into the water column, not even to go over the pvc fittings.

Could his swim bladder be injured? I've been keeping fish 15 years, reef tanks for 4... currently have other tangs yet I've never seen a fish struggle like this behavior before? Clearly the causes are a bumpy ride with ammonia spike and temp drop. He has kept himself verticle better as salinity has gone slightly up... should I keep slowly increasing it? Or, salinity is a non issue and he just needs some healing time?

Thoughts or recommendations very appreciated?

Jay Hemdal · Mar 31, 2023

Seems like shipping damage to me. Not much you can do to help a fish overcome that aside from good water quality and dim lights. I wouldn’t raise the salinity any higher right now, it just makes the fish work harder to stay in balance with its blood.
You could try posting a video to YouTube and then linking it here.
Jay

BlingityBling · Mar 31, 2023

Jay Hemdal said:
Seems like shipping damage to me. Not much you can do to help a fish overcome that aside from good water quality and dim lights. I wouldn’t raise the salinity any higher right now, it just makes the fish work harder to stay in balance with its blood.
You could try posting a video to YouTube and then linking it here.
Jay

Thank you...

MischiefReef · Mar 31, 2023

From my experience with tangs, they can be tricky to get to start feeding, especially if stressed from something like delayed shipping. Keep an eye on his feeding, it’s usually not a good sign if tangs of any sort refuse feedings beyond a two week stretch. On the plus side you note that he’s fat, so that buys you some extra time. If you really want to go a drastic route and try force feeding, and really this is last ditch, a method I have used in the past is with one of the clean syringes from Salifert test kits attached to about 6 inches of air pump tube, make a paste of mysis, nori and selcon and feed. Make sure you insert the tube past his gills into his throat so you don’t drown him in food. As mentioned this is a last resort! As Jay mentioned keeping your parameters stable and letting the fish adjust is probably your best course of action! Hope it doesn’t come to force feeding and hope your gem tang pulls through.

vetteguy53081 · Mar 31, 2023

BlingityBling said:
Hello All...
I have a serious issue with a struggling Gem Tang due to a bad shipping experience. I recently ordered four fish that a Fed Ex package got delayed twice in transit and took over two days to arrive in not the best condition. Normally, I would have gone to my LFS for such things as the owner and I are friends, however, being in a small town, he said he could not get these through his suppliers.
So the issue is from the package being roughed up and delayed, the four fish arrived in what looked like dead condition. No movement in the box.
The shipping water tested
26ppt salinity
0.5ppm ammonia
ph7.6

I matched salintiy of QT and sped up acclimating to get the temp up. Obviously they were all stressed badly but two that I thought were truly DOA started swimming (not well) but swimming none the less. The other three fish have recovered and are eating within the past two days. All four are currently in my QT for observation and recovery before considering any medications.

The Tang was moving but not well, It was obvious he was alive but not a given for how long. He is about 6" and plenty fat from being well fed BUT he is clearly struggling to swim and working hard just to keep himself upright. He's the only one that has not attempted to eat... Both Red and green nori in the tank along with a variety of frozen as well as yesterday fresh mussel, oyster, and shrimp. I have not seen him able to get off the bottom since having him. His fins are sligthly degraded and he is starting to show slight white spot on the tips of his fins. Over the past two days I have sligtly risen salinty. Current QT parameters today are:
29ppt salinity
0 Ammonia
ph7.9
and Temp held at 78-79F
both yesterday and today I have done a 50percent water change matching the tank salinity and temp to keep water as proper as I can.
Keeping room lights off so daytime brightness is probably half of normally.

I can't seem to get a video to upload but here are some photos showing his lethargic states and the best he does upright on the bottom. He has yet to swim up into the water column, not even to go over the pvc fittings.

Could his swim bladder be injured? I've been keeping fish 15 years, reef tanks for 4... currently have other tangs yet I've never seen a fish struggle like this behavior before? Clearly the causes are a bumpy ride with ammonia spike and temp drop. He has kept himself verticle better as salinity has gone slightly up... should I keep slowly increasing it? Or, salinity is a non issue and he just needs some healing time?

Thoughts or recommendations very appreciated?

I have had delayed fish which happens to be tangs and they are very forgiving and can recover however Im concerned when you state you sped up acclimation to get the temp up. I did the opposite with a sailfin and in the past Purple and warmed cold bags over 1 hour and then measured salinity and ph of the bag water. I then made up some water in a clean container that had exactly the same measurements as the bag readings and move the fish right over to this bucket, then added a cup of tank water to bucket every 15 mins 6 times (almost 1.5 hours)
Then you want to check salinity in bucket and compare to tank. If no match or very close, add a cup of water every few mins until you've reached salinity and trap fish in same cup and pour off water and release into display. Release under LOW light before lights out.
with rushing, fish in shipped bags produce carbon dioxide and ammonia. The carbon dioxide lowers the pH of the water in the bag, That in turn makes the ammonia non-toxic to the fish. When you acclimate them, if not done correctly, you drive off the carbon dioxide faster than you are diluting the ammonia. That raises the pH of the water in the bag, and that in turn, makes the residual ammonia very toxic to the fish.
This may have been the case with the gem. Dont be too occupied with its ability to feed as getting it relaxed and acclimated to its new tank. Adding under very low light is very helpful to keep it relaxed and addition of air stone also delivers added oxygen.
As jay indicated, salinity too can wait.
Having a couple dozen tangs, they are the easiest I have found to eat and making a food paste is a way to contaminate water for new arrivals. They will easily adapt to brine shrimp and Mysis shrimp along with TDO pellets and even flakes