Twitchy Tang Behavior after Tornado

MarineFishGuy · 08/26/2007, 09:34 PM

We had a Tornado touch down within two blocks of my apartment yesterday afternoon. Most of the fish in my tank weathered the storm without incident.
However, my Kole Yellow Eye Tang was very unnerved by the event.
During the storm the Tornado sirens where going off for 30 minutes. The Tang seemed to either sense the change in pressure or did not like the sirens. It appeared whitish pale in color compared to it's usual deep purple banded appearance. It also began swimming laps around the tank at top speed. I was upset to my stomach during the event, so I have no doubt the fish could sense the change in pressure.

So here is the issue. The Tang has an abrasion on it's forehead (just above the eye), I believe from coming in contact with the rock during it's high speed maneuvers. It also has a few scrapes on it's side as well.
My main concern is that now it is swimming somewhat erratically. It will do a lap and then stop and back up and twitch a few times, then run and hide in the rocks.
To me it seems as if it may have a concussion, am I crazy?

I am concerned the for my fish and want to do whatever I can to help it out, but I am not sure what I can do. It is eating and appears normal most of the time, but does this erratic swimming behavior every 5 minutes or so. It usually does it in the same corner of tha tank. So I put an obstacle in that corner. It stopped for a while, but then started doing it in the front of the tank an hour later. When the lights went out it seemed to stop for now.
It never did this before the storm. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Ken
PS Has anyone else seen fish behave strangely during thunderstorms? This one passed very quickly (25 minutes) but was very intense.

Sk8r · 08/26/2007, 09:54 PM

I don't know about fish, but I've been through a tornado close pass---it's possible it's suffered a secondary infection from scrapes gotten during the incident, #1 possibility. #2, possibly an eye or such strain due to pressure change.. 1. is easier to treat, a little antibiotic. I don't think it's concussion, but possibly a pressure strain on the eyes. I know when I was underneath one for a few minutes, I had a heck of an ear problem for the duration that bothered me for a few days afterward. Sort of like a bad airplane depressurization incident.

Fish Filet · 08/26/2007, 09:59 PM

Sounds like the exact same behavior my yellow eyed kole displayed a few years ago. I was living in MS at the time, and the day after Katrina I noticed my kole tang had lost all of its color, and looked almost white/greyish. As I was watching, it began to swim erratically, and all of a sudden shot straight up towards the surface of the water, jumped out and hit the glass top so loud I heard a literal THUD. It then started doing laps and swimming sideways. Under the circumstances, there wasn't much I could do to save her. It was so frustrating. All the while a Purple Tang I had in the same tank was just fine. Couple of hours later, the kole was dead. Here's a couple of pictures.

Sorry I don't have much in the way of advice to offer for your situation, just sharing an experience. I hope your guy gets better. Best of luck.

MarineFishGuy · 08/26/2007, 10:25 PM

Thanks for sharing. I feel so helpless to do anything for it. It is so difficult to watch it suffer.
It was darting for the surface before I stuck the obstacle in the corner, similar to what you described Fish Filet. I was afraid it was going to make it into the overflow so I stuck my claw in the way (it is afraid of "the claw").

I have a tall fully enclosed hood so it cannot make it out of the tank unless it has excellent aim (there is one hole large enough where a fan used to be).

I have the QT setup, but it is too fast and scared to catch at the moment. so far I don't see any signs of infection on the abrasions, but it may be too early to tell. I am keeping a close eye on it though.
Thanks for the thoughts Sk8tr. It does seem like it's vision may have been affected.
Crossing fingers it makes it through the night,
Ken

ricsreef · 08/26/2007, 11:32 PM

It's stressed,hope it pulls out of it.IMO a 75g is not big enough for any type of tang anyway.Especially if you have a few other fish.They need more swimming room than that.Normally when the pressure rises or drops suddenly it triggers the fish to want to get to deeper water,to safety.When it cant go deeper,it feels trapped and gets stressed.It should be ok in a couple days after it settles down.

JetCat USA · 08/27/2007, 12:00 AM

I live in Enterprise, Alabama which I'm sure most of you heard about after the March 1st tornado this year that killed 8 in the high school just a few blocks over from my house. my tangs never missed a beat and there was a significant pressure drop felt in my home. i do not have a Kole but the only thing that slightly stressed the ones i do have was the power going off, they were in the middle of lunch when it hit and they don't like interruptions of their meals.

MarineFishGuy · 09/02/2007, 07:56 AM

Nice Tank JetCat.

I am not sure what caused it to stress out, it may have been the siren going off (it is very close and loud) instead of the pressure drop.

Either way Kole (Blink) has made an excellent recovery. His forehead has healed up fully (it looked bad). The scrapes on his side and slice near his tail have also healed. His swimming patterns have returned to a more graceful and flowing movement instead of the jerky twitchy movements after the storm.
It was 3 or 4 days of twitchy behavior though, and it was a stressful time for Deb and I.
Fortunately he never stopped eating and we target fed him to make sure he would get enough food to heal.
We also left the 4 VHO lights off for two days.
We ran pure actinics only the 2 days and then added the 130w PC 10000K the 3rd day. THe lower light seemed to help keep him much calmer.
His eye also looks better now. Maybe it was our perception, but he seemed to have a "crazed" look in his eye for several days.

To address the comment about tank size. Since I only have room for a 75g in my apartment, I made sure to arrange my rockwork to leave swimming channels underneath. I elevated the live rock on columns and left large holes so the Tang could swim through. He likes to make laps around through the rock, then out front and then back underneath.

Here is a FTS from yesterday. Thanks for the comments and concern. I wanted to post a follow-up so people could know that he pulled-through OK.
Ken

JetCat USA · 09/02/2007, 08:10 AM

08/26/2007, 10:25 PM	#4
MarineFishGuy Capn Jack Sparrow Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Central Oh-io Posts: 804	Thanks for sharing. I feel so helpless to do anything for it. It is so difficult to watch it suffer. It was darting for the surface before I stuck the obstacle in the corner, similar to what you described Fish Filet. I was afraid it was going to make it into the overflow so I stuck my claw in the way (it is afraid of "the claw"). I have a tall fully enclosed hood so it cannot make it out of the tank unless it has excellent aim (there is one hole large enough where a fan used to be). I have the QT setup, but it is too fast and scared to catch at the moment. so far I don't see any signs of infection on the abrasions, but it may be too early to tell. I am keeping a close eye on it though. Thanks for the thoughts Sk8tr. It does seem like it's vision may have been affected. Crossing fingers it makes it through the night, Ken __________________ The Salt Life! Current Tank Info: 75g Mixed Reef, 40g Refugium, 100 Gallon sump, DIY Dual Recirc 12" x24" skimmer, 2x175w Halides.

09/02/2007, 07:56 AM	#7
MarineFishGuy Capn Jack Sparrow Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Central Oh-io Posts: 804	Nice Tank JetCat. I am not sure what caused it to stress out, it may have been the siren going off (it is very close and loud) instead of the pressure drop. Either way Kole (Blink) has made an excellent recovery. His forehead has healed up fully (it looked bad). The scrapes on his side and slice near his tail have also healed. His swimming patterns have returned to a more graceful and flowing movement instead of the jerky twitchy movements after the storm. It was 3 or 4 days of twitchy behavior though, and it was a stressful time for Deb and I. Fortunately he never stopped eating and we target fed him to make sure he would get enough food to heal. We also left the 4 VHO lights off for two days. We ran pure actinics only the 2 days and then added the 130w PC 10000K the 3rd day. THe lower light seemed to help keep him much calmer. His eye also looks better now. Maybe it was our perception, but he seemed to have a "crazed" look in his eye for several days. To address the comment about tank size. Since I only have room for a 75g in my apartment, I made sure to arrange my rockwork to leave swimming channels underneath. I elevated the live rock on columns and left large holes so the Tang could swim through. He likes to make laps around through the rock, then out front and then back underneath. Here is a FTS from yesterday. Thanks for the comments and concern. I wanted to post a follow-up so people could know that he pulled-through OK. Ken __________________ The Salt Life! Current Tank Info: 75g Mixed Reef, 40g Refugium, 100 Gallon sump, DIY Dual Recirc 12" x24" skimmer, 2x175w Halides.

08/26/2007, 09:34 PM	#1
MarineFishGuy Capn Jack Sparrow Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Central Oh-io Posts: 804	Twitchy Tang Behavior after Tornado We had a Tornado touch down within two blocks of my apartment yesterday afternoon. Most of the fish in my tank weathered the storm without incident. However, my Kole Yellow Eye Tang was very unnerved by the event. During the storm the Tornado sirens where going off for 30 minutes. The Tang seemed to either sense the change in pressure or did not like the sirens. It appeared whitish pale in color compared to it's usual deep purple banded appearance. It also began swimming laps around the tank at top speed. I was upset to my stomach during the event, so I have no doubt the fish could sense the change in pressure. So here is the issue. The Tang has an abrasion on it's forehead (just above the eye), I believe from coming in contact with the rock during it's high speed maneuvers. It also has a few scrapes on it's side as well. My main concern is that now it is swimming somewhat erratically. It will do a lap and then stop and back up and twitch a few times, then run and hide in the rocks. To me it seems as if it may have a concussion, am I crazy? I am concerned the for my fish and want to do whatever I can to help it out, but I am not sure what I can do. It is eating and appears normal most of the time, but does this erratic swimming behavior every 5 minutes or so. It usually does it in the same corner of tha tank. So I put an obstacle in that corner. It stopped for a while, but then started doing it in the front of the tank an hour later. When the lights went out it seemed to stop for now. It never did this before the storm. Thanks in advance for any suggestions. Ken PS Has anyone else seen fish behave strangely during thunderstorms? This one passed very quickly (25 minutes) but was very intense. __________________ The Salt Life! Current Tank Info: 75g Mixed Reef, 40g Refugium, 100 Gallon sump, DIY Dual Recirc 12" x24" skimmer, 2x175w Halides.

08/26/2007, 09:54 PM	#2
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	I don't know about fish, but I've been through a tornado close pass---it's possible it's suffered a secondary infection from scrapes gotten during the incident, #1 possibility. #2, possibly an eye or such strain due to pressure change.. 1. is easier to treat, a little antibiotic. I don't think it's concussion, but possibly a pressure strain on the eyes. I know when I was underneath one for a few minutes, I had a heck of an ear problem for the duration that bothered me for a few days afterward. Sort of like a bad airplane depressurization incident. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

08/26/2007, 09:59 PM	#3
Fish Filet Moved On Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: NYC Posts: 282	Sounds like the exact same behavior my yellow eyed kole displayed a few years ago. I was living in MS at the time, and the day after Katrina I noticed my kole tang had lost all of its color, and looked almost white/greyish. As I was watching, it began to swim erratically, and all of a sudden shot straight up towards the surface of the water, jumped out and hit the glass top so loud I heard a literal THUD. It then started doing laps and swimming sideways. Under the circumstances, there wasn't much I could do to save her. It was so frustrating. All the while a Purple Tang I had in the same tank was just fine. Couple of hours later, the kole was dead. Here's a couple of pictures. Sorry I don't have much in the way of advice to offer for your situation, just sharing an experience. I hope your guy gets better. Best of luck.

08/26/2007, 11:32 PM	#5
ricsreef Moved On Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Louisville Posts: 138	It's stressed,hope it pulls out of it.IMO a 75g is not big enough for any type of tang anyway.Especially if you have a few other fish.They need more swimming room than that.Normally when the pressure rises or drops suddenly it triggers the fish to want to get to deeper water,to safety.When it cant go deeper,it feels trapped and gets stressed.It should be ok in a couple days after it settles down.

08/27/2007, 12:00 AM	#6
JetCat USA Moved On Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 2,847	I live in Enterprise, Alabama which I'm sure most of you heard about after the March 1st tornado this year that killed 8 in the high school just a few blocks over from my house. my tangs never missed a beat and there was a significant pressure drop felt in my home. i do not have a Kole but the only thing that slightly stressed the ones i do have was the power going off, they were in the middle of lunch when it hit and they don't like interruptions of their meals.

09/02/2007, 08:10 AM	#8
JetCat USA Moved On Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 2,847