I;ve got this fish 3 weeks ago. It looked ok, active, good color. Fish spent 1 week at the fish store before I got it (they had records). The fish is about 4 in long. I put him in the quarantine tank (10G) for observation. I did not treat with anything since the fish did not show obvious signs of any problem. The fish spent about 2 1/2 weeks in the quarantine, he was eating but started losing color. He was very shy fish, always hiding from me under the rock in the quarantine tank. I even had to set up webcam to see if he eats and swims about. He did. I thought he was losing color because of the stress in the small tank and given that I could not see any sign of disease, I moved him over to the big tank. Display tank is 180 G, hosts not too many fish and this Kole tang is actually bigger in size than any other fish I have. There was no aggression towards him as far as I could see and he was eating too. The color started to return. Until today he was in the display tank for only 3 or 4 days.
This morning I have noticed change in his behavior, he was just sitting in the center of the tank swimming in a small circle and not go away when I approached. It was still kind of dark and I did not want to scare him so I did not turn on the light. I thought I could see edges of his fins being little ragged and may be some cloudiness in his eyes. So I caught him and put him back in the quarantine. Actually, the fact that I could catch him tells me a lot since I could never catch any of my fish in this tank - its too big and there are too many hiding places. This Tang, on the other hand, did not try to swim away or hide and I caught it with fish net on the first try.
Now it is in the quarantine, seems listless, swims a little but mostly either sits under the rock or is near the surface. He does not eat. The color seems to be almost normal although there are some spots. Spots seem to be because of the variance in coloration, I can't detect any film such as from bacterial or fungus infection. Edges of fins look little ragged to me.
About the quarantine: its small, just 10G, has some rock and sand, of the equipment it has a heater and a powerhead. No filter and no skimmer. I do 20% water change every other day but can do it daily. Test kits show no sign of ammonia or nitrite (using Salifert). I use water from the display tank for water changes. Basically, 2 G of new water into display, 2 G from quarantine to the drain, then 2 G from display into quarantine.
I have little experience with fish disease diagnostics and treatment. I am looking for any advice you can offer to help me try to identify what is going on with the fish and possibly treat him if necessary.
Thanks !
Vadim
This morning I have noticed change in his behavior, he was just sitting in the center of the tank swimming in a small circle and not go away when I approached. It was still kind of dark and I did not want to scare him so I did not turn on the light. I thought I could see edges of his fins being little ragged and may be some cloudiness in his eyes. So I caught him and put him back in the quarantine. Actually, the fact that I could catch him tells me a lot since I could never catch any of my fish in this tank - its too big and there are too many hiding places. This Tang, on the other hand, did not try to swim away or hide and I caught it with fish net on the first try.
Now it is in the quarantine, seems listless, swims a little but mostly either sits under the rock or is near the surface. He does not eat. The color seems to be almost normal although there are some spots. Spots seem to be because of the variance in coloration, I can't detect any film such as from bacterial or fungus infection. Edges of fins look little ragged to me.
About the quarantine: its small, just 10G, has some rock and sand, of the equipment it has a heater and a powerhead. No filter and no skimmer. I do 20% water change every other day but can do it daily. Test kits show no sign of ammonia or nitrite (using Salifert). I use water from the display tank for water changes. Basically, 2 G of new water into display, 2 G from quarantine to the drain, then 2 G from display into quarantine.
I have little experience with fish disease diagnostics and treatment. I am looking for any advice you can offer to help me try to identify what is going on with the fish and possibly treat him if necessary.
Thanks !
Vadim