Chevron Tang Passing

[Joe M]

Two weeks ago I aquired a beautiful juvenile Chevron Tang (Ctenochaetus hawaiiensis) from my LFS. He had had the specemin for two weeks. The fish was quarantined along with two Black False Perculas. The fish was eating well, very active albiet shy, constantly grazing on the macro feather calurpa I placed in his tang and readily eating Formula Two and One flakes.
Last night I found him dead in the tank for no apparent reason. I did a quick check of the water and found about 20 ppm nitrate with no nitrite reading. The Q tank was about 15 gallons and the biological filtration was provided by a sponge filter. Although I suspect the water or an ammonia spike for some reason, can you folks out there share your knowledge of this species and possibly lead me to what I did wrong.
The fish was destined for my 4 month old 65 gallon reef tank.

Thanks for your help. Joe

 

[Anonymous]

How did you acclimate him?

Do you have enough surface agitation to provide proper oxygenation?

Have you added any meds or anything else to that Q tank?

Did the tang have places to hide in the Q tank?

My gut reaction is to lean toward a low O2 level.


Not that it matters, but IMO you couldn't pay me to put a $100+ fish into a 4 month old tank.

 

[Joe M]

Thanks for replying to my note.

The LFS kept his Sp. Gr at 1.014 and I duplicated that. I used the standard acclimation process of adding a small percentage of water to his delivery water every 15 minutes.
I added no meds to the tank and relied on the bubbles from the foam filter for agitation.
Several lava rocks used in an old tank were placed in the Q tank to provide hiding places and the fish enjoyed swimming in and out of the rocks.

As far as adding this type of fish, at what point in the life of the tank would you add a tang?

 

[Unarce]

Some LFS keep their SP GR low to control parasitic infestation. I wouldn't recommend that for any home aquarium unless you had the same problem. It might have been better to acclimate it to the proper 1.023-1.025 setting.

As Sharkky mentioned, fish with an activity level such as tangs require well oxygenated tanks. You may never really know exactly what went wrong. It just stings a lot because Chevron's are pretty pricy.

 

[Anonymous]

::nodnod:: My thought leans toward oxygenation, especially if he was eating and looking happy for awhile in the Q tank. Use up the available O2 and then he starts going downhill.

As far as tank maturity for a tang, it's not so much for a tang in my eyes, as such an expensive tang. ;-) I just know my wife would kick my arse if I lost a hundred dollar fish. At 4 months, a tank is cycled and running fine, but it's not mature yet. ::shrug:: It's a personal thing I guess, but I just don't trust a tank that young, that I haven't been able to watch for awhile. Once the tank has been up for a year or two, I know what to expect from it when I do anything to it, from rearranging rock to adding a fish.

 

[EmilyB]

I have never treated a Q Tank like a hospital tank. That is quite another thing in my mind.

I have a large fish in QT right now, complete with lots of live rock and a hang on skimmer, PLUS an airstone for extra O2. I would have to agree that 02 deficiency perhaps coupled with inadequate biological filtration may have been part of the problem.

That must sting all right. I paid $200 Canadian for my Chevron. They are actually very hardy fish as a rule. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Joe M]

Thank you all for your replies. I have been away for the last few days so this reply is a little late.
After reading your replies and reviewing my set-up, I think the lack of oxygenation is the culprit. The Q tank is actually a large clear tupperware container with a lid on it to prevent any foreign materials from entering the tank. Due to space limitations, I have had to locate the tank in the laundry room so the lid was viewed as a necessary precaution. When I look back, the lid and lack of adequate water movement probably hastened the fishes demise. What a thoughtless mistake, after all these years of keeping saltwater fish, I should have known better.
As far as the loss, while the fish was indeed expensive, it was one of the finest specimins I have ever seen and I was taking very seriously the husbandry aspects of the reef hobby in order to be successful. Failure, especially when it turns out to be avoidable, is painful and I cost this fish his life.
Rest assured I will redo my set-up and avoid this problem in the future.
Thanks again for the help. Joe