New Juvenile Yellow Tang Fin rot?

MikeCHI · Aug 17, 2022

Hey guys just got a new YT a week ago. He is about the size of a quarter. One of the new captive bred Yellows, which according to my research is why he is very tan and hasnt really gotten his color yet.
He generally seems happy and social- he is interacting with other fish and eating a ton. A few suspect things- He relentlessly follows my wrasse around trying to get cleaned so I am wondering if he thinks he has a parasite. He does do some flashing and when he swims he seems to 'burst' around very quickly from place to place. I know they are very active fish but he seems to be swimming from place to place faster than other YTs even. He also seems to be swimming up to the front of the aquarium and presenting himself sideways to my face much like he does with the wrasse to be inspected, but maybe that part is just in my head. Anyway, when he was presenting to me, I noticed some fin damage on his tail. That possibly could have been there when I got him, but I'm not sure, Lets assume it wasn't. There is no chance of aggression in the tank. I've watched it for hours and there is zero aggression in the tank, and he is the biggest fish in it anyway.
Wondering if it could be flukes or fin rot or something? My tank parameters are normal. 0/0/~5ppm

Any ideas on what this is? I dont want to subject him to additional stress treating stuff if I dont need to, but on the flip side I dont want to lose a 250$ fish. Thanks

threebuoys · Aug 17, 2022

Appears to be a nip in the dorsal fin. You would be surprised how often and how quickly a tank mate can do this even when they are smaller. What other fish do you have?

MikeCHI · Aug 17, 2022

threebuoys said:
Appears to be a nip in the dorsal fin. You would be surprised how often and how quickly a tank mate can do this even when they are smaller. What other fish do you have?

There is more damage on the tail than the dorsal. His tail isn't turned away, its missing those bits. 2 half inch juvenile clowns. 3/4 inch 6 line wrasse. 1 firefish and 1 diamond goby. its a 32 gallon biocube and everything in it are very small juveniles. I specifically waited for the LFS's to have brand new tiny fish shipments before getting anything. Ive watched the tank a ton - even at night. They all sleep together and school together, more or less, all day really. There have been zero instances of even anything chasing anything else, let alone nipping. I'm very sure its not aggression

MikeCHI · Aug 17, 2022

MikeCHI said:
There is more damage on the tail than the dorsal. His tail isn't turned away, its missing those bits. 2 half inch juvenile clowns. 3/4 inch 6 line wrasse. 1 firefish and 1 diamond goby. its a 32 gallon biocube and everything in it are very small juveniles. I specifically waited for the LFS's to have brand new tiny fish shipments before getting anything. Ive watched the tank a ton - even at night. They all sleep together and school together, more or less, all day really. There have been zero instances of even anything chasing anything else, let alone nipping. I'm very sure its not aggression

Also if it helps. at Night when Blue only is running, I can see the area around the damage seems slightly brownish right next to it. I dont know if thats bacteria or something or if it just looks like way because its healing and more normal

Jay Hemdal · Aug 17, 2022

Do you know the travel history of the tang? If it spent time with imported fish, then yes, it could have picked up parasites. If it went straight from the breeder to you, then that is unlikely.
I wonder if the six line is the culprit?
Jay

MikeCHI · Aug 17, 2022

Jay Hemdal said:
Do you know the travel history of the tang? If it spent time with imported fish, then yes, it could have picked up parasites. If it went straight from the breeder to you, then that is unlikely.
I wonder if the six line is the culprit?
Jay

if anything it would be the 6-line, but the YT follows him all day long getting in his face sideways to be cleaned and watching that interaction happen 100x already ive never seen the 6-line go at him.

At the LFS he was in a tank with another YT, a 6-line (not mine) and a dwarf fire angel. I went back yesterday (a week after) and the fire angel was upside down nearly dead and the other Yt and 6-line were picking him apart. I mentioned that to the LFS and they moved the 90% dead fire angel to a hospital tank. The fire angel def had something - nothing visible I could see at the LFS but he pretty much had no fins anymore from the others tearing him apart. So im sure my YT was at least subjected to that. Everything looked normal when I bought him.