Blennie eating olive tang

[joannea]

[glow=red,2,300]Im heart broken[/glow]! My blennie (blue spotted) is chasing after my olive tang and eating chunks out of her. She is miserable (as you would be) and i dont know why he is doing it.

Can anybody PLEASE!!!! help me- i dont want to get rid of either fish- they are equal favourites.

[Birdlady]

Hello and Welcome!

While I can't answer your question, I am on line and I know what everyone will ask....

Can you let us know you tank specifics, like what size, filtration , lighting etc and put that under you profile under Sig....that way, everytime you post, it will be right there to refer to.

then can you post how long you have had these fish and any other things that might be pertinent...such as new additions, feeding, water parameters...etc...

Hopefully someone will come in soon that can help...I am as yet, a newbie

[joannea]

I have fixed all that up now. It should attach itself with this post.

No new fish have been added recently and I have had the blennie for about 6 months and the olive tang about 5 months.

All water parameters are perfect (i have a JBl full marine test kit).

i usually feed marine tetra bits, today they got some live brine shrip and they usually get frozen food as well. They get fed at least 4 times per week!

He has only been attacking occasionally up until today and she is quite injured. I couldnt bear to loose her.

[Jason McKenzie]

I would really try and catch the Tang. *Then the blennie. *The Tang needs to go in a hospital tank and I would think the Blennie needs to go back to the LFS. Sorry didn't read you wanted to keep both fish. Is this a new behavior or has it been going on since they were introduced?

How many Gallons is your Tank *as 4' can be a 75, 90, or 120G thank?

J

[joannea]

My tank is 4ft X 18in x20in. Not sure how many gallons. I would love it if you could tell me. The blennie has been caught and is living in the overflow for the moment, he will be making a rather long term visit to the LFS.

The tang is in hiding. I have turned the lights off so she can rest and given her some melafix (cajeput Oil 9.23g/L). The bottle says it is suitable for marine tanks.

[Gresham]

Roughly 74.8051948 gallons ( using inches.... length x width x height / 231 ). Thats OD though, so it's a 70 gallon basicly, minus rock and sand (if you have any, I have sigs turned off, so I can't see whats in your tank )

Melafix is ok for non reef tanks, but it really doesn't seem to do a heck of a lot. I tried it in both retial and wholesale settings with minimal effect.

Keep your lighting schedule the same, put a little shade clothover it if you have to, but don't go messing with its internal clock, that won't help.

The blue spot blennie, is that a lawn mower blenny (algea blenny)?

[Matt Rogers]

When you said it was eating chunks out of it, do you really mean this literally or are there just marks on the tang? Can you give a little more detail here?

Got a camera?

[da colts]

some bleenies are known to eat the slime off of some fish( the red lip blenny comes to mind)so it is possible that you have one of the blennies that do this.