For any of you feeding Tangs or other "Herbivores," please learn from my expensive mistake.

Do not buy Prepared lettuce in a bag from any store. I used a bag of "Dole Heart of Romaine" lettuce to feed my tangs, and now I have no tangs.

4 Tangs, 3 weeks, and easily $100 later, I wish that I had done something different. I can't confirm this, but since they were all healthy one day, and suddenly died one-by-one, the only thing I can assume is that it was the lettuce. Has anyone else had a similar catastrophe?

I'd like this to be the official first post of the "Do not try this at home" section of this forum.

Man am I bummed.

Ryan

I attribute romain to be my savior.  Back in the days (10 years ago) many people could not keep a tang alive.  I was one of those people.  But, once i learned of romain, I have had trouble killing tangs. 

I'm a big believer in romain, but I'm not narrow minded by any means.  I would believe chemicals on the lettuce (you really do need to rinse it well first) could be the problem. 

Sorry, to hear that. 

Adam

Actually Adam, I changed my mind about the Romaine.... After talking with someone on the phone about my dilemma, it appears I may have another problem. Not sure what it is, but they assured me it was likely not the romaine. They suggested it might be the High Calcium levels I've been experiencing? I just don't know... First receding corals, now "receding" fish. I'm confused...

Any ideas?

Ryan

I agree with Adam (and whomever you spoke with on the phone).  I don't think it is the Romaine Lettuce.  Almost all wholesalers use romaine to feed their herbivores.

I have no specific knowledge in the effect of high calcium on tangs, but I do know that they are sensitive to other factors including heavy metals and medications.  My guess is that the high calcium levels could have a bad effect on tangs, but I have no data to back up my stance.

So I guess I agree with both.

Is 505 really that high of a calcium concentration though? I know 400-450 is ideal, but 505? I wonder if it's more than that, like maybe a side effect of using the Kalkwasser, or how my reactor is dosing it, or something...

I don't know.

Ryan

Jake, you very well could be right...

Ryan, I don't really know, but I doubt 500 ppm Ca would cause harm to anything in the tank... my concern was from a precipitation perpective.  Have you stopped using the kalk reactor?  Give it some time to see the effects, but keep your alkalinity steady with an alk supplement.

Re: Tangs... others besided you have described problems with using Romaine (suspected pesticides/herbicided sprayed on the lettuce).  I've fed tangs lettice many times, never had a problem.  I don't use it often, because I doubt it has all the nutrition that the fish needs (I more often feed Nori).