White striped racing tang?

[Mark Henry]

Hello everyone!

I added a small Hawaiian yellow tang to my 60g reef tank last week and
he seems to be doing well (eats well, very active, etc). However, he
tends to run and hide deep in the rock crevices anytime someone walks by
the tank - which, since it's in a highly trafficed area happens often.

Today while I was servicing the tank I noticed that he's suddenly got
two very pronounced white stripes down his left and right sides. They
appear about 3-4mm in height and run the length of his body from right
behind his gills to just before his tail begins.

I sat and watched him for some time to make sure that these wern't
surface parasites, or some kind of gill worm laying flat to his body.
These stripes are definately a change to his body coloring - gives him a
kind of racing stripe look.

I'm wondering if these could be abrasion marks from his darting into and
out of the rockwork? Maybe he's actually worn the color off from his
scales/body? It's certainly not ich, or anything that I've seen before
from freshwater.

Any help would be most appreciated.

tia,

mrark h

[Charles Spitzer]

"Mark Henry" > wrote in message
...
> Hello everyone!
>
> I added a small Hawaiian yellow tang to my 60g reef tank last week and he
> seems to be doing well (eats well, very active, etc). However, he tends to
> run and hide deep in the rock crevices anytime someone walks by the tank -
> which, since it's in a highly trafficed area happens often.
>
> Today while I was servicing the tank I noticed that he's suddenly got two
> very pronounced white stripes down his left and right sides. They appear
> about 3-4mm in height and run the length of his body from right behind his
> gills to just before his tail begins.
>
> I sat and watched him for some time to make sure that these wern't surface
> parasites, or some kind of gill worm laying flat to his body. These
> stripes are definately a change to his body coloring - gives him a kind of
> racing stripe look.
>
> I'm wondering if these could be abrasion marks from his darting into and
> out of the rockwork? Maybe he's actually worn the color off from his
> scales/body? It's certainly not ich, or anything that I've seen before
> from freshwater.
>
> Any help would be most appreciated.
>
> tia,
>
> mrark h

nighttime colorations of fish can be drastically different than their
daytime colorations. they sometimes switch when becoming frightened.

[Michael Lawford]

I agree I have a regal tang that looks almost white in the am when the
lights go on but soon brightens up after that!

~m

"Charles Spitzer" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Mark Henry" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Hello everyone!
>>
>> I added a small Hawaiian yellow tang to my 60g reef tank last week and he
>> seems to be doing well (eats well, very active, etc). However, he tends
>> to run and hide deep in the rock crevices anytime someone walks by the
>> tank - which, since it's in a highly trafficed area happens often.
>>
>> Today while I was servicing the tank I noticed that he's suddenly got two
>> very pronounced white stripes down his left and right sides. They appear
>> about 3-4mm in height and run the length of his body from right behind
>> his gills to just before his tail begins.
>>
>> I sat and watched him for some time to make sure that these wern't
>> surface parasites, or some kind of gill worm laying flat to his body.
>> These stripes are definately a change to his body coloring - gives him a
>> kind of racing stripe look.
>>
>> I'm wondering if these could be abrasion marks from his darting into and
>> out of the rockwork? Maybe he's actually worn the color off from his
>> scales/body? It's certainly not ich, or anything that I've seen before
>> from freshwater.
>>
>> Any help would be most appreciated.
>>
>> tia,
>>
>> mrark h
>
> nighttime colorations of fish can be drastically different than their
> daytime colorations. they sometimes switch when becoming frightened.
>