Tang is acting spaztic

[hank]

Hope someone can help. I have a 72g with 9 fish, water quality is good with the exception of Phosphates. Today I took a sample to the LFS, they said it looked like 2 !! I got Phoban reactor going today . The other fish are fine, but the BristleTooth is swimming erratically. He keeps lunging as if he is gulping food, but there isn't any?

Hank

[leebca]

9 fish in that sized aquarium may be okay, if they are very small.

A Tang in that sized aquarium is not right. A Tang needs no less than a tank that is 6 feet long (a standard 125, or a 180 for example).

Have you done any investigating as to the source of the phosphates. You just want to be sure you aren't adding any 'extra' phosphates into the system, yourself.

I'm not familiar with that kind of behavior in a fish. Might the fish be 'coughing?' If there isn't any other symptom and the fish is still eating, then I would assume it is just a temporary anomaly. Without knowing much more about your system and the fishes and other marine life you have in the system, I can't say much more than this. You can more or less see if water quality is the issue (even though your numbers are good) by performing a very large (80%) water change and see if the fish stops this action or not within the following 24 hours.