Small Blue Tang not eating and hiding

[Validator]

Hi All, I got a small blue tang the other day.  It started out very shy and tried to hide in the wave maker when it was off.  I drove it out of there and kept the wavemaker on so it won't go in again.  Due to its small size, it was hard to tell if it was eating.  We would occasionally see him chase food but not sure if he caught it.  I eventually tried some nori in the water and it took some bites as it floated past.  Had it for a week todate and the past 2 days it was in hiding, wedged in small crevices in the rock work.  This evening it was tucked into a small cavity in the rocks.  Not sure what went wrong, it did not seem like it was struggling the time it was about swimming.

I don't have an isolation container so not sure what I can do now.

[Otaku Reefer]

is this your first few fishes after cycling? Not recommended to add a tang so early after cycling. They are prone to ich/velvet. Probably u can check for ammonia/nitrite first? can also check if u see and white spots. Try not to stress it further by driving it out of hiding spot, Most fish tend to go into hiding mode when first introduced. Will take time. U can try some frozen mysis to entice it. Hope it helps and gd luck bro.


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[Validator]

Yes it is.  In retrospect it was a stupid purchase.  My ammonia and Nitrate are low.  As the fish is very young it is hard to look see if there is velvet.  I made a make shift container and placed it in the sump where the current might not be an issue.  Hope that works for it.

[Validator]

Just as an update.  Unfortunately Dory did not make it.  It was a learning lesson for me that I should not get fishes at such young ages.  The rest of the fish I got that day are doing fine, save for the tang that is having some occasional turf wars with the cleaner shrimp.

[R0B]

Aww man. We've all made mistakes. Thanks for sharing this lesson.

[Validator]

Yeah I hope others will learn from my errors, but it seems that my problems continue with the loss of the other tang that I got see my newbie marine tank post.  I have a feeling I have a killer shrimp in my tank.

[sa1tfish]

I have almost exactly the same situation, bought 2 young blue tang, one has been hiding in the rock crevices for 3 days now while the other is active and eating pellet well.

[Validator]

For me I think the lesson was not to get such young one when I was just starting out.

[VERITAS]

here are some checklist for you

- tank mates (any fights going on?)

- if your water parameter are fine? (such as salinity / PH / temperature)

- you should get a isolation box if necessary, the box should be as big as you can, best if the isolation box can have a separator.  

- do not add anymore livestock into the tank until your tank is stabilize such as water parameters are in good condition. 

- never overfeed as this will cause more harm than good. 

- what are the types of filtration media that you are having right now? 

- to maintain a good system you have to do frequent small amount of water change which i still prefer and been practicing.

- Dosing of bacteria bi weekly will be good for you as well

google this up and you should be able to get a bottle of it from local fish stall  (TUNZE care bacter 0220.005)

[Steve Neo]

Apparently, these young Blue Tangs are so timid too. I bought one prior to overhauling my nano tank and it died of fright, I suppose when it reached home. Took the bag out, it went motionless, completely still stone cold. It was swimming and eating well at the fish shop. Packing was done properly too with newspaper covering the bottom portion. My only take is fright during the transportation where some bumpy road works I went through could have also contributed to scaring the Blue Tang. Just for info, tangs are also very timid