kole tang

[SteveNMegz]

Hey guys.

So we picked up a kole tang 2 days ago, we've been observing him at the LFS for the last few weeks, so we did not quarantine the fish.

We acclimated him and put him in the display. Day 1 he found a cave that he basically lives in now, but he was also taking short little journeys around the tank while picking at the rock.

now day 2 we've seen him come out maybe 3-4 inches out of his cave but thats it. We haven't seen him eat any of the food we provide to the other fish, but the dried seaweed we put on the food clip is gone everynight (no one else eats it except for the blenny we have, and he doens't eat that much)

we've come to see a lgihter colored blotches on his face, we're thinking it stress related, we've been trying to stay out of the room the tank is in so he feels safe to come out of the cave.
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg22/MegznSteve/016-2.jpg

you can kind of see lighter blotches on his face in this pic (which was taken on day one, and are a little lighter now)

any ideas??? should we just be patient. water params are all in check

[Earl111]

I haveone that wouldn't come out for about 2 weeks. THey can be very shy if they are recently caught. It's good that he's eating though, mine didn't eat for the first week and a half good luck

[SteveNMegz]

well we haven't actually seen him eat yet (besides when we first introduced him into the tank) but we've also been steering clear of the tank to limit the amount of stress. (also another reason for not quaranntining due to our 10G QT)
Thanks for the reply

[captainobvious]

Probably just need to give him a few days to adjust. I'm guessing that he is the one pigging out on the algae clip. I really like the Kole tang, and I'll probably end up with one in my 75g as I dont want a yellow or tomini in there, and none of the other tangs really seem suitable.

[SteveNMegz]

yah they really are nice fish, even better in person.
well jsut turning my head (tanks in the computer room) I saw him run out to nibble on the rocks, but retreat quick again.

and the huge peice of algae is gone off the clip

[SteveNMegz]

some updated pics from today (3 days after we got the fish)

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg22/MegznSteve/006-9.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg22/MegznSteve/010-2.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg22/MegznSteve/019-2.jpg

hes definatley swimming around and looking for food more, but still relies on his cave.

[SteveNMegz]

you can see int he first 2 pics the dicoloration we were talking about on his face, could this be stress related, we haven't beena ble to find anything about color blemishes leading to disease for these tangs.

[jubjub]

last weekend i got my first tang. i couldnt decide between a kole or a yellow decided to go with the yellow wanted some more color basically...

but he's doing the same thing your kole is doing. found a cave seems to munch on the clip every night and only ventures out a little bit then runs back in the cave...

gorgeous fish though makes me wish i went with the kole now..ha

[SteveNMegz]

thanks!
yah we went through the same decision a kole or yellow. We wanted the yellow because of the great color they have, but after seeing a kole tang in person we just had to have one lol

how long have you had the yellow for now?

[SteveNMegz]

sorry jsut reread " last weekend" haha

ours seems to be doing a lot more exploring today finally but we're still worried about the light spots on his face

[drparker]

Mine spent a few days hiding to close to the Royal Gamma's hiding spot and would get an open mouth charge from her every once in a while. Now that they get along the discoloration has gone away.

[SteveNMegz]

hmmmm well our cleaner shrimp has always lived in that cave most of the time(where the tang is now living), and we have seen the cleaner trying to jump onto the tang and sometimes making it, but he kind of waves around until he falls off.
perhaps this could be the problem???

[SteveNMegz]

to our amazment he has been out of his cave for about 25mins grazing on the LR, but we still haven't seen him eat any algae off the clip. anyway to get him to notice it? or will we jsut have to wait until he comes upon it.?

[Mare100]

Glad to hear your tang is venturing out a bit more! He's really cute. We have a Kole Tang in our 120 for almost a year now. He STILL hides alot. I think it's just his nature. Very shy. He doesn't often eat nori off the clip. Sometimes when he sees the other tang going at it, he'll come out and grab a little. He mostly grazes on the rocks and eats the food we drop in the tank. He likes the Formula 2 frozen and he loves to go after Algae wafers.
How are the light streaks on his face? Any better? One thought I had since you said he was spending alot of time in the cave. Could it be scrapes from the rock? Our Hippo tang often gets light "scrape" marks from trying to squeeze herself into rock spaces where she doesn't belong. Good luck with your Kole!
M

[OkR33Fer]

Have you tried krill yet? My scopas and lopezi both went for krill before they would eat the algae from the clip. The lopezi is pretty bold but the scopas who is larger hides a lot but is definitely a healthy eater.

[DarthSimon]

My Kole Tang did the same thing for 2 weeks. After that he became a crazy, wild and non stop, never sit still fish. I think he has a personality disorder. He picks at every rock in my tank, glass, corals, ect.. Never sits still for a second... Once lights go off he becomes a scaredey cat...

Yours looks sknny... Lots of the greens like your feeding will help...

[macronut]

I'm saying this kindly not to cause another posting war....To me your Kole looks like he is fighting some sort of disease or parasites. His coloration is pale indicating to me that he is under stress or sick. If your cleaner shrimp is trying to catch a ride it would be an indication to me that he is trying to remove parasites. Cleaner shrimp are not known to be agreesive toward fish.

Koles are great fish! Try adding some garlic gurard or garlic extreme as directed on the bottle to the tanks food.

[SteveNMegz]

thanks everyone! the light streaks on his face acutally look a little bit better tonight (darker anyway) perhaps hes getting more used to the tank now.

I don't think the white streaks on his face are from the rock (might be though) I'm pretty sure the redish areas on his sides are from the rocks though, hes trying to get into some pretty tight spots lol.

we'll have to pick up some different types of food this week and try them out.

what kind of disease or parasites do you think he may have? thats what we originally thought when noticing him in the cave so often, but after researching he didnt' really have the signs of any diseases (that we read about at least), so we then thought it was stress

[SteveNMegz]

our cleaner shrimp trys to jump on anyhting that moves to though, thats why we never thought anything of it, whether its other fish, snails, hermits, us, anything lol

[SteveNMegz]

well the white blotches on his face have turned a bit darker today (almost a purplish color again)

still haven't seen him eat the seaweed off the clip but it gones every morning lol. we have some grape caulerpa growing on a peice of LR should we snatch a peice off and try putting it on the food clip also?

[tbar]

My K-tang had some white dots for the first week or so then went away. Had hin for about two months now. I feed him and the foxface garlic soaked nori twice a day plus what ever the other fish get they eat too. He is great I have about 6 or 7 tunnels or arches in my rock that he is aways swimming in and out of. Like someone else said seems to have some sort of hyperactivity disorder.

[OceanSpray]

My Kole Tang is like DarthSimon's...never still for a second. He is the most unskittish fish I have. Always cruising the tank from one end to the other, front to back. Yours will probably become calmer after a few more days. I wouldn't worry about watching him eat. Mine picks at my glass rocks etc..non stop. I seldom see him eat anything else, and he's fine. Best of luck with him!!

[demonsp]

I would mix his diet more.With flake and other sources.Makes a better balanced diet.

[SteveNMegz]

today hes way better, he still gets a little skitish when someone walks quickly by the tank. but he was out pretty much all day today picking at the rock, glass, snail shells. Its good to know that thats what they do all day because we were getting a little worried haha. and his face is back to that nice medium dark purple

we've been putting a;gae on the clip everyday just so he knows its there. then we've also been feeding flake and brine shrimp.
but we're going to pick sum more options up this weekend.
well get a pic on here tomorrow

[Mare100]

Funny you mentioned the word "Skittish"! That's exactly how our Kole Tang got its name........."Skittles"!

Glad to hear yours is doing okay. Try the Algae wafers if you haven't already.

[SteveNMegz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12302834#post12302834 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mare100
Funny you mentioned the word "Skittish"! That's exactly how our Kole Tang got its name........."Skittles"!

Glad to hear yours is doing okay. Try the Algae wafers if you haven't already.

haha thats a good name!

[drparker]

Mine likes the formula two soft pellets with garlic. She'll also eats formula one flakes and Rod's frozen mix.

Our's is named Jolie.

[SteveNMegz]

we've tried brine shrimp and formula 2 flakes, and he doesn't go after them at all. I gues were jsut going to have to keep trying and figure him out haha

[Tswifty]

I read through the thread pretty quickly...

Has anyone suggested using a rubber band and attatching the algae to a rock?

I had a Juevenille Blue Face Angel, that wouldn't touch the algae on the clip... But would go nuts for it when it was attatched to a rock.

Just a thought.

[petoonia]

It took my Kole tang a couple of months before he started eating off the clip. Now he is an absolute pig. My Kole Tang has a very bold personality, he's never still for a moment!!! Give your tang sometime, but keep a close eye on him. His coloration doesnt look so good. Once you get him eating, he will probably wont stop!!!

Try soaking the food in selcon, or vita chem as well. My Kole tang loves Nori, Mysis, Spirulina enriched Brine shrimp, Cyclopeeze flakes, spirulina flakes, formula 1 or 2 flakes. Every once in a while I chop up some fresh seafood for the tank, and the tang goes nuts for it.

[petoonia]

Here's a pic of my tang. So you can see what I mean about the coloration being a little off.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l259/petoonia1979/Fishy%20pics/DSCN8799.jpg

[kudora]

my kole tang ignored the nori when it was on the clip on the glass, i put the clip on the rocks and he finally noticed it.

[SteveNMegz]

nice kole! ours is definatley not that dark yet, but is better than the first pics. I think we're gonna try putting some food in the rockwork and we'll let you know how it goes!