Yellow Tang Dorsal Fin

[AxelG]

My Yellow Tang's dorsal fin isn't looking good.
Instead of opening up as one nice unit from head to tail, like a fan, it seems to open only near the top of the head. There doesn't appear to be a break in the fin. Could nutrition be an issue? Other than this my Tang is fine.

[tdwyatt]

My Yellow Tang's dorsal fin isn't looking good.

I would be interested to know the feeding habits for this fish over the last 6 months. I have seen tangs that were raised on totally flake that had problems with the fins much as you have described. There are tons of posts here on adequately feeding your tangs (their diet, not just the quantity) involving the use of sea vegetables (dried nori, Julian's product, caulerpa from IPSF, etc) as the anchor of their dietary needs. Supplementation with HUFA is recommended as well (Selcon, etc). This is often a hanging point for many hobbyist, if Flake has been the staple diet of this fish, it is DEFINITELY THE PROBLEM. Without knowing more about your situation, however, this is just speculation...

[AxelG]

Thanks, flake and Brine Shrimp. I've been trying of late to get him/her to eat brocolli because I had read a paper written by an aquarium, can't remember where or who, that talked about brocolli being excellent for Tangs. I'll go get some sea veggies, hope I can find some. I'll check out the previous posts on this subject though I'm finding the format changes to this board have made it much harder to navigate around.

[tdwyatt]

Sorry to have to get you to search the bbs, but I am getting ready to leave now, just checking in. I am sure there are plenty of folks here that will give you some direction on feeding tangs, special tip... look in the sushi section/oriental foods for dried nori (like they wrap sushi rolls in). You gan get a bunch for around $4.00, much better buy than a lot of the products in the lfs. Might try ordering some tang heaven from our sponsor in Hawaii, If you keep it in a refugium, you will have enough to supply you and all your friends' needs for quite some time.

Back in 2 weeks!

[nisom88]

Nori is definitely the food of choice for tangs. I either soak mine in Zoe supplement or rub garlic paste on it maybe 10 minutes before feeding. I feed him a decent sized peice (enough to span the length of the veggie clip, leaving maybe 1/2" hanging off the clip) two to three times a day and my tang looks gorgeous. Once in a while he gets flakes with spirulina and about once a week he gets brine shrimp as a treat. I don't know about feeding marine fish vegetables...how often do you think tangs in the wild encounter brocolli?