Yellow tang twitching? Is it normal?

[r0bin]

Is this normal behavior for a yellow tang? I recently noticed my yellow twitching some. I have had him for a year. He has never had ich nor has anyone in my tank and I havent recently added anything. My clownfish twitches so I am used to seeing him do it, but never really noticed the tang until recently. He isn't showing any signs of anything else. I just had heard this was a sign if ick, so was kinda worried.

[sunfish11]

No, I wouldn't call twitching normal for a tang. Normal for the clown though. If the fish never did it before than I would probably worry. Sometimes I see fish doing that in the LFS and I steer clear of them. Sorry I couldn't be of more help...

Lisa

[three-spot]

Mine did that when it was fighting off ich...

[tkeracer619]

it could be in his gill slits

[r0bin]

Well it just an occasional twitch not all the time. He has never had any signs of ich. Not when they got him in at the pet store or the whole time I have had him. I would find it hard to believe he all the sudden developed it, but I guess anything is possible. Guess I will just continue to watch him.

[nsreefer]

What's your temp? Maybe he's shivering ... i know it sounds really silly, but i had a 6" cichlid (freshwater i know.. but still) who would start twitching if my tank temp dropped a few degrees. :rollface:

[r0bin]

lol, it ranges from 78-80. I really am looking into other reasons, everyone jumps to gloom and doom, I just don't think it is ick. Thanks for your suggestion. My tank has never had ick or any of its inhibits. I always QT. What would be the purpose of QT'ing if a year later your fish could just break out with ick for no reason. I wont waste my time QT'ing anymore if thats the case.

[thecoralreefer]

QT's are still a good Idea.If you lfs does not do you may bring it in.
It could be that the tang just never really let it out before.
My understanding is that Ich is almost always present. Most fish fight it off like a cold virus and never show signs. Then when they do stress the Ich will thrive and the fish will succumb. Sometimes the food gets stuck in a gill plate and that wil make them twitch
too. Could be several things.

[r0bin]

Hey guys look what I found on wwm -

Twitching Fish 1/21/06
Hey, I have two 29 gallon tanks, one has mollies in it and the other has small cichlids. I noticed today that in both tanks they had a fish twitching. Both of the fish look in good health and have been eating well, just twitching a lot. Any advice? (there's no ich spots)
< Usually when my fish are scratching and twitching it means that the nitrate levels are up and the bacteria are starting to prey on my fish. Do a 50% water change, clean the filter and vacuum the gravel. Check the nitrate levels before and try not to let them get that high again. I try not to let them get over 25 ppm. Some fish can handle more , some cannot.-Chuck>

I know this was about freshwater fish, but am wondering if it could apply to saltwater. My nitrates have been high recently and they are now about 20, which is low for my tank. Sometimes they get as high as 80. Also my tang recently had red streake (septicemia, which I attribute to high nitrates), thought the red streaks are gone now. What do you think about this info I cam across. Heck it may help others too.