Where'd my Blue Tang go?

[DougBushBC]

So I am not sure this is a "newbie" question or not, but I have (had?) a Blue Tang in my tank, he was scared and never really got into the routine with the rest of the fish, he wasn't sick (by appearance) and ate after the lights went out every night, but I have not seen him in several days.

Yesterday I decided to pickup the top rocks off my reef and search for him. No gotz. He is no where I can find in my tank.

I assume he's dead, so I have to assume that he is going to start decomposing and harming my tanks levels (right now, everything is PERFECT).

Anyone have any ideas about this?

1) How damaging will it be if I DON'T find him,

2) How can I find him?

3) Why would this happen?

[kau_cinta_ku]

what do you all have for a cleanup crew?

have you cheked the sump, overflow, floor around the tank? ect.

[DougBushBC]

checked them all, again nothing.

[Denbf58]

is the top of tank covered? did you look in back of the tank

[kau_cinta_ku]

what do you have for a cleanup crew?

[DougBushBC]

top of tank is fully covered and I have 20 or so turbos, 8 emerald crabs, 10 blue hermits, 1 serpent star, 2 nassarius snailsl, 1 sand sifting gobie, and one lawnmower blenny. oh and a blue tex urchin

[kau_cinta_ku]

well if it did die, depending on the size of the fish that cleanup crew would take care of the prob. fast and without problems to your tank.

hopefully it is just hiding real well but if not sorry for the loss.

[DougBushBC]

you think the crew could take care of him without me seeing anything floating? I did notice all four pepermint shrimp hanging out in the hole he used to live in, as well as the goby. maybe thats why they are there.

[kau_cinta_ku]

oh yeah they can clean a fish up in no time, you would be amazed. BTW fish don't float right away when they die.

[memorisa]

W/ my limited knowledge I would say that's a possibility.

However, w/ all teh casualties I've had, I am yet to see a floating corpse. When something passes away its usually my shrimp taking care of it. Sometimes I've seen the purple tang have a bite or two from it. My goby almost never touches a dead fish.

HTH

[DougBushBC]

OK, well lets hope they eat him up and I don't have to worry about the long term consequences.

Hopefully I can find a cool fish to replace. PBT?

[kau_cinta_ku]

a PBT would look nice but make sure to QT him for 4-6 weeks first as they easily get ich.

[DougBushBC]

Nice, thanks!

-D

[Shaummy]

How long did you have the Blue Tang in the tank before he disappeared?

Are you chalking it up to a substandard livestock death or is there something going on in your tank that may have caused him to hide?

The reason I ask, is that if you are even remotely considering a PBT, I have heard that they can be very sensitive/difficult to keep, so I'd hate to see that one have the same fate as your Blue Tang.

[DougBushBC]

I had him for 6 weeks, and I don't think it was interactions, I think he was a substandard specimen, none of my other fish react that way. My scopas tang always seemed to be helping the Blue out. I may not get another tang, we will see. Anyone have any experience with two tang interactions like this? My tomato clown is mean, but only to the foxface.

[yoboyjdizz]

What color serpent star do you have? How big was the blue tang?

[DougBushBC]

Harlequin Serpent Star, blue tang was roughly 3 - 3.5"