Help getting Tang out of DT

TeenyTank · 06/22/2013, 12:18 AM

First Post!

Hello everyone, I have graduated my 8 gallon nano reef to a 20 gallon nano reef. It has been set up for about 6 months now and I have 3 fantastic fish that I absolutely love! I have an tank bread Oscelleris clown hosted with frilly mushrooms, a yellow watchman goby and a sixline wrasse. I am afraid that I made a huge mistake and bought a tiny pacific blue tang without doing my research and he is now a sick little fish. He's probably about 2 inches now and has ich and probably a secondary fungal infection. If I would have known about stress, ich, and tangs, I never ever would have listened to my LFS owner. He told me he would be fine in my tank and I could trade him in when he got bigger but I now realize that the 20 gallon tank alone was enough to make him stressed and more susceptible to become sick. OK, I have admitted my downfalls and inexperience and now know my mistakes, huge ones! I have enough equipment to quarantine him and treat the secondary infections but do not have the equipment to cure the ich. (No refractometer or copper test kit so copper and hypo are out)

I need to get this guy out of my DT and back to the LFS so he can be cured and find an acceptable home. Here's my problem. He has a cave in the live rock and he will not let me catch him.

My saga: When the lights go out, he's in the cave, when they come on, he swims out. If he sees a net, he's in the cave, period. I tried the plastic bag trick, he can see the bag apparently, he won't take the bait. I decided to take the whole rock out and quarantine it until I could flush him out, but he would not come out at all! Does he have hands??? I picked up the rock, coral, emerald crab, snail and all and used a turkey baster to try to flush him out of the cave but there was no way, I finally put the rock back in the DT because there was no reason to continue to stress my inverts and the tang and my goby who used the rock as part of his burrow. Now I'm trying to figure out how to catch the guy. I know he's only gonna get sicker since I stressed him out with the quarantine. The cleaner shrimp is glad he's back! How sad.......anyway, I don't want to try the bait and hook because he's a tang! I don't want to get that thing stuck in my hand.

I have thought about another option. I could put his daily algae sheet on the other end of the tank and plug both entrances to his cave, then tear down the DT, go high and dry and net him. Stressful!

Does anyone have any other ideas? I hate to watch this poor beautiful fish die in my tank and I'm really running out of options.

I appreciate any input and if you wanna flame me for the inexperience, go ahead, I deserve it.....

bnumair · 06/22/2013, 01:39 AM

take most water out of tank and move some rock away its the best approach i have seen. less the water easier to catch.

EllieSuz · 06/22/2013, 01:48 AM

Your other fish have now been exposed to Ich and if you don't set up some kind of hospital tank, you could easily lose them too. Here's a link that covers all kinds of methods to catch fish.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=707656

TeenyTank · 06/22/2013, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EllieSuz

Your other fish have now been exposed to Ich and if you don't set up some kind of hospital tank, you could easily lose them too. Here's a link that covers all kinds of methods to catch fish.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=707656

I know the whole tank has Ich, I will be treating them eventually, I will buy a refractometer when I can and know about the whole fishless for 8 weeks rule. Right now I just need help with getting the tang the help he needs as soon as possible. Thanks so much for the feedback and link! I'll read it.

MrTuskfish · 06/22/2013, 10:48 AM

^^^^^Yes^^^^

Your whole system has ich, not just the one fish. Your LFS guy is an idiot. Arm yourself against people like this. Read a few good books on the hobby; you're jumping in with virtually no knowledge and you can't expect the RC forum to solve all of the problems that you've make along the way. . I know books are old-school; but you must learn the basics. The stickies at the top of forum sections are good sources too. A quarantine/hospital tank is vital, try Craigslist. You can probably find everything you need for a QT there; possibly from people that listened to your LFS guy.

TeenyTank · 06/22/2013, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bnumair

take most water out of tank and move some rock away its the best approach i have seen. less the water easier to catch.

Thanks for the high and dry input, this may be the best way, but I will have to plug his cave first, he doesn't care if there's water in it or not, he'd suffocate himself before he came out, he is stubborn!

TeenyTank · 06/22/2013, 11:14 AM

Thanks Mr Tuskfish, The LFS guy is an idiot. I do have a book on nano reefs, by Chris Brightwell, but he doesn't go indepth on QT or diseases. I'll buy a book on that after I buy a refractometer. I do have a QT tank set up, but I don't have the equipment to treat ich at this time. I understand the whole DT is infected and must go fishless for 8 weeks. Thanks again!

EllieSuz · 06/22/2013, 11:53 AM

Minimum 72 days, not eight weeks!

oscarinw · 06/22/2013, 08:55 PM

Could you match the parameters in the quarantine and move the entire rock he lives in? I'm sure the goby will find a different spot... Ive done it before; just pick the rock up, and dunk it in the new tank.
Good luck with things!

TeenyTank · 06/24/2013, 04:22 PM

Great minds must think alike! I actually tried that. The tang never came out of the live rock and I was worried about the corals after 2 days so I put the rock back. I tried to flush him out with a turkey baster but no go!

I have decided to use my mbuna cichlid tank as the QT since it's bigger. I have ordered the Cupramine and a copper test kit. I am gonna have to distract the tang during an algae feeding and snatch the rock he likes, then I can move all of the rock and get out all of the fish! I will post a new thread with my saga of curing my DT and fish of ich! And putting my display back LOL but it will be fine. And so will my fish!

Thanks everyone!

TimeConsumer · 06/25/2013, 02:05 AM

Or you can go fishing. Get a really small fishing hook and crimp the barb down. Bait it with a small piece of shrimp and hook the tang out.

Fizz71 · 06/25/2013, 07:44 AM

Did you get him out yet? I see this post started 3 days ago. I was going to suggest nori near the surface so he can't see the net until it's too late, but sick fish tend not to stray from their cave to eat so it may not help you. Nori IN the net might work too if you're patient, but again requires the fish's need to want to eat.

LowezAkar24 · 06/25/2013, 10:49 AM

Try catching him when he is still sleeping with dim lights. Fish can not see red so if you can get your hands on a red net and a red light that can help also. Gradually corner him with a net into a corner and scoop upward. A fish trap is another solution or if all else fails, remove a lot of your rocks. It sucks but sometimes you have to do that.

ag09g · 06/25/2013, 05:14 PM

Don't know if he's already been caught, but along the same lines as lowezakar. Wait until several hours after lights out (you also want the room to be as dark as possible for a while) and then turn your tank lights on. I actually just used this technique a couple weeks ago to catch a 1.5in dwarf angel in my 135g. Took maybe 5 minutes. The best part of all this is that not only will you be able to see well, but the fish will be momentarily blinded/disoriented and a lot of times will swim out into the open on their own. If they don't readily swim out, it's also very easy to gently chase them out with a stick/your hand.

Good luck!

TeenyTank · 06/25/2013, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TimeConsumer

Or you can go fishing. Get a really small fishing hook and crimp the barb down. Bait it with a small piece of shrimp and hook the tang out.

I'm way to scared of the Tang's tang! Don't want it in my hand. But thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fizz71

I was going to suggest nori near the surface so he can't see the net until it's too late, but sick fish tend not to stray from their cave to eat so it may not help you. Nori IN the net might work too if you're patient, but again requires the fish's need to want to eat.

He's still eating like a pig so this might work! I'll try it. Thank you for the idea.

And to LowezAkar24 and ag09g, Thanks for these ideas, I will keep them in mind. If all else fails, I'll be taking out the live rock and move them to the QT when it's ready.

r1racer · 06/26/2013, 05:39 PM

Ich is overrated IMO and even if you do QT all of your fish they may still have it (as was my case). I wouldn't bother trying to eradicate it. Just make sure your tank stays healthy and feed the fish what they need. The fungus/flukes maybe another story.

TeenyTank · 07/01/2013, 01:03 AM

I got him out, along with the rest of my fish! I started a new thread here. Please ride along!

06/22/2013, 12:18 AM	#1
TeenyTank Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Carmichael, CA Posts: 37	Help getting Tang out of DT First Post! Hello everyone, I have graduated my 8 gallon nano reef to a 20 gallon nano reef. It has been set up for about 6 months now and I have 3 fantastic fish that I absolutely love! I have an tank bread Oscelleris clown hosted with frilly mushrooms, a yellow watchman goby and a sixline wrasse. I am afraid that I made a huge mistake and bought a tiny pacific blue tang without doing my research and he is now a sick little fish. He's probably about 2 inches now and has ich and probably a secondary fungal infection. If I would have known about stress, ich, and tangs, I never ever would have listened to my LFS owner. He told me he would be fine in my tank and I could trade him in when he got bigger but I now realize that the 20 gallon tank alone was enough to make him stressed and more susceptible to become sick. OK, I have admitted my downfalls and inexperience and now know my mistakes, huge ones! I have enough equipment to quarantine him and treat the secondary infections but do not have the equipment to cure the ich. (No refractometer or copper test kit so copper and hypo are out) I need to get this guy out of my DT and back to the LFS so he can be cured and find an acceptable home. Here's my problem. He has a cave in the live rock and he will not let me catch him. My saga: When the lights go out, he's in the cave, when they come on, he swims out. If he sees a net, he's in the cave, period. I tried the plastic bag trick, he can see the bag apparently, he won't take the bait. I decided to take the whole rock out and quarantine it until I could flush him out, but he would not come out at all! Does he have hands??? I picked up the rock, coral, emerald crab, snail and all and used a turkey baster to try to flush him out of the cave but there was no way, I finally put the rock back in the DT because there was no reason to continue to stress my inverts and the tang and my goby who used the rock as part of his burrow. Now I'm trying to figure out how to catch the guy. I know he's only gonna get sicker since I stressed him out with the quarantine. The cleaner shrimp is glad he's back! How sad.......anyway, I don't want to try the bait and hook because he's a tang! I don't want to get that thing stuck in my hand. I have thought about another option. I could put his daily algae sheet on the other end of the tank and plug both entrances to his cave, then tear down the DT, go high and dry and net him. Stressful! Does anyone have any other ideas? I hate to watch this poor beautiful fish die in my tank and I'm really running out of options. I appreciate any input and if you wanna flame me for the inexperience, go ahead, I deserve it.....

06/22/2013, 01:39 AM	#2
bnumair Dr. Reef at ur service Join Date: May 2009 Location: Tulsa, Ok, USA Posts: 7,751 Blog Entries: 15	take most water out of tank and move some rock away its the best approach i have seen. less the water easier to catch. __________________ Water Quality: NO3 0,Phos 0,Cal 440,Alk 7.5,Mag 1300 "Reef Fast, You Crash, Reef Slow, You Pass" Mike's Reef 3:16 Current Tank Info: 350g DT,95g sump, 50g Frag tank, 4800gph return 4x Sea swirls. 6x AI Vega Color. 200# Pukani rock, dual recirculating skimmer, Biopellet, GFO Carbon rx's, Cal rx. Closed loop. 1.5hp chiller, genesis renew. Apex & RKE

06/22/2013, 01:48 AM	#3
EllieSuz Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Rochester, NY Posts: 3,858	Your other fish have now been exposed to Ich and if you don't set up some kind of hospital tank, you could easily lose them too. Here's a link that covers all kinds of methods to catch fish. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=707656 __________________ "You can't learn this hobby one question at a time." (Mr. Tuskfish) Eileen Current Tank Info: I'm out of the hobby, but used to have a60 gal. reef, refugium in sump, Internal Mag 9 return, SC 302 skimmer, two Maxi-Jet 1200's modded, four bulb T5 Lighting, Reefkeeper Lite Controller with three PC4's, Little Fishes GFO reactor.

06/22/2013, 10:48 AM	#5
MrTuskfish Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: The Wild Blue Yonder Posts: 8,887	^^^^^Yes^^^^ Your whole system has ich, not just the one fish. Your LFS guy is an idiot. Arm yourself against people like this. Read a few good books on the hobby; you're jumping in with virtually no knowledge and you can't expect the RC forum to solve all of the problems that you've make along the way. . I know books are old-school; but you must learn the basics. The stickies at the top of forum sections are good sources too. A quarantine/hospital tank is vital, try Craigslist. You can probably find everything you need for a QT there; possibly from people that listened to your LFS guy. __________________ If God didn't want us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of meat. Steve Current Tank Info: 180, 2-240 FOWLRs, 240 reef

06/22/2013, 11:53 AM	#8
EllieSuz Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Rochester, NY Posts: 3,858	Minimum 72 days, not eight weeks! __________________ "You can't learn this hobby one question at a time." (Mr. Tuskfish) Eileen Current Tank Info: I'm out of the hobby, but used to have a60 gal. reef, refugium in sump, Internal Mag 9 return, SC 302 skimmer, two Maxi-Jet 1200's modded, four bulb T5 Lighting, Reefkeeper Lite Controller with three PC4's, Little Fishes GFO reactor.

06/22/2013, 11:14 AM	#7
TeenyTank Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Carmichael, CA Posts: 37	Thanks Mr Tuskfish, The LFS guy is an idiot. I do have a book on nano reefs, by Chris Brightwell, but he doesn't go indepth on QT or diseases. I'll buy a book on that after I buy a refractometer. I do have a QT tank set up, but I don't have the equipment to treat ich at this time. I understand the whole DT is infected and must go fishless for 8 weeks. Thanks again!

06/22/2013, 08:55 PM	#9
oscarinw Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Western Massachusetts Posts: 1,091	Could you match the parameters in the quarantine and move the entire rock he lives in? I'm sure the goby will find a different spot... Ive done it before; just pick the rock up, and dunk it in the new tank. Good luck with things!

06/24/2013, 04:22 PM	#10
TeenyTank Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Carmichael, CA Posts: 37	Great minds must think alike! I actually tried that. The tang never came out of the live rock and I was worried about the corals after 2 days so I put the rock back. I tried to flush him out with a turkey baster but no go! I have decided to use my mbuna cichlid tank as the QT since it's bigger. I have ordered the Cupramine and a copper test kit. I am gonna have to distract the tang during an algae feeding and snatch the rock he likes, then I can move all of the rock and get out all of the fish! I will post a new thread with my saga of curing my DT and fish of ich! And putting my display back LOL but it will be fine. And so will my fish! Thanks everyone!

06/25/2013, 02:05 AM	#11
TimeConsumer Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: New Orleans, La Posts: 1,919	Or you can go fishing. Get a really small fishing hook and crimp the barb down. Bait it with a small piece of shrimp and hook the tang out. __________________ Steve - Retired from reefing, for now.

06/25/2013, 07:44 AM	#12
Fizz71 FragSwapper Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: West Lawn, PA Posts: 5,800	Did you get him out yet? I see this post started 3 days ago. I was going to suggest nori near the surface so he can't see the net until it's too late, but sick fish tend not to stray from their cave to eat so it may not help you. Nori IN the net might work too if you're patient, but again requires the fish's need to want to eat. __________________ --Fizz Current Tank Info: Current system is 8x2x2 240g peninsula setup with a single "chamber" 100g sump in the basement with an RDSB. All corals are 100% home grown from frags of fellow reefers (low natural reef impact).

06/25/2013, 10:49 AM	#13
LowezAkar24 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Long Island Posts: 23	Try catching him when he is still sleeping with dim lights. Fish can not see red so if you can get your hands on a red net and a red light that can help also. Gradually corner him with a net into a corner and scoop upward. A fish trap is another solution or if all else fails, remove a lot of your rocks. It sucks but sometimes you have to do that. __________________ I am no expert but simply an EXCELLENT BEGINNER! Current Tank Info: 90 Gallon Reef Tank

06/25/2013, 05:14 PM	#14
ag09g Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 274	Don't know if he's already been caught, but along the same lines as lowezakar. Wait until several hours after lights out (you also want the room to be as dark as possible for a while) and then turn your tank lights on. I actually just used this technique a couple weeks ago to catch a 1.5in dwarf angel in my 135g. Took maybe 5 minutes. The best part of all this is that not only will you be able to see well, but the fish will be momentarily blinded/disoriented and a lot of times will swim out into the open on their own. If they don't readily swim out, it's also very easy to gently chase them out with a stick/your hand. Good luck!

06/26/2013, 05:39 PM	#16
r1racer Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: MD Posts: 418	Ich is overrated IMO and even if you do QT all of your fish they may still have it (as was my case). I wouldn't bother trying to eradicate it. Just make sure your tank stays healthy and feed the fish what they need. The fungus/flukes maybe another story. __________________ 125g In Wall, Vertex Omega 150, Maxspect Gyre 150, Tunze ATO, 2-27" 16k Maxspect Razors, Red Sea Coral Pro, 33g QT, Mixing Station, Glass Holes 1500, BRS reactors & RO/DI 1.025/430ca/1300mag/9alk/80t

07/01/2013, 01:03 AM	#17
TeenyTank Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Carmichael, CA Posts: 37	I got him out, along with the rest of my fish! I started a new thread here. Please ride along!