Powder blue tang questions/help..
 

i just bought a powder blue tang yesterday, he's about 3". He looks good, no bones sticking out, pretty fat. The only problem is he hasn't moved.. he just swims right infront of my koralia powerhead..?:headwally: is this normal? There are no vertical stress marks or anything... Another thing, i've tried flakes, pellets, cyclopeeze, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, rods, nori.. NOTHING! Doesn't even pick on the rocks. This is day 2, when should i start to worry?

BTW.. Nobody bothers him. No signs of diseases.

My tang does that others in qt I think they like it.

im out of ideas

Also i tried "guiding" him away from the powerhead with a pad on a stick, but he just swims back to the powerhead in matter of minutes!

Like I said mine like it because it's like a treadmill for him he will stop with time.

Try live algea it will help them intice the tang to eat.

Powder Blue, Brown, or Grey Tangs sometimes have trouble adjusting to Aquarium Life.Sometimes they don't ever eat, to the point of starving themselves to death.My Tangs never Swam In front of the Powerheads for hours on end, they would on occasion for a few seconds, but got tired of it.Try turning the Powerhead off for a little while and see if it goes swimming for a while.

Is the tank big enough for it to swim around, or is that the only swimming it can do?

It could just be a reaction to the stress of acclimation, but also make sure to look very closely at its breathing and gills. My fish have liked swimming in front of the powerhead from time to time when I first get them; they probably feel better with the extra water washing over them and the additional oxygen from the water flow over their gills. I would be concerned that your fish is having difficulty getting enough oxygen due to a disease if the swimming in front of the powerhead continues constantly and for a long time.

It sounds like the fish is in your DT and not a separate QT, right?? Pbts require a lot of oxygen. Do you have an air pump you could use with an airstone to oxygenate the water further until the fish settles in and starts eating?? Do you have a protein skimmer and some water surface open to the air (e.g., the tank or your sump)?

What size tank, what other occupants, and are your water parameters right (particularly ammonia at 0)?

It could be ich.

It's in a 6' tank 125gish. he's just swimming on top of the tank... i think he's not going to make it... no interest in food what so ever, no signs of ich. What throws me off is he literally looks perfect..

It may have been damaged in collection or transport. You might offer some live brine shrimp.

Try treating for flukes and ich.

Well i FW dipped him for about 15 mins.. saw lots of junk and maybe a few worms? How long should it take him to recoup? Its been 5 hrs since the dip.

i would also treat him with Prazipro for flukes.

I agree.

Prazi can be done in the DT but treating for ick should be done in a separate hospital tank. I would start with Prazi and do two or three treatments back to back. If everything is better then you should be good to go, but if the behavior continues treat for ick.

Any update?

I agree with the hospital tank for treatment. You will be able to treat for diseases as well as put him at ease from the other fish so he won't have to compete for food. Good Luck and keep us up to date!

Good news, he's swimming around like a normal fish. Today i've tried brine, nls finicky formula pellets and nothing.. then i tried a bar of cyclopeeze and wallah! that did the trick, but im afraid cyclopeeze isn't going to do much for such a fast pace calorie burning fish. I do see him constantly picking on the sand bed. It doesn't look like he's dropping weight and no signs what so ever of ich so thats good. Today is day 4. *knock on wood. I'll try and get some pics but he's camera shy.

After the FW dip, its almost like a day and night difference in its behavior. Anyone have any food recommendations? Has anyone tried artic pods?

I got a perfect pbt from live aquaria about four to five inches long. Had the exact same behavior. Swam directly in front of my vortech for two months. He never ate too well and by the time I noticed he was skinny he ha ick and died a day later. I don't think he adjusted to tank life. Good luck to you

What else is in your tank - what fish and what inverts? A number of people, including me, think the next step is to treat with PraziPro (2-3 rounds of treatment) for flukes/worms. As Reefing Newbie says, that can be done in your display tank.

I would continue to offer frozen mysis, frozen and live brine (frozen brine enhanced with spirulina will be good), Rods and nori. The fish should start eating, particularly after a couple of days of PraziPro so get right to treatment.

If the fish doesn't start eating well after the PraziPro, you will need to treat for ich or other parasites in a separate hospital tank.

You may want to consider getting garlic extract. Soak the foods you are feeding in that and you should get a feeding response from the tang. Selcon and VitaChem are also good things to add to the food to give it more nutrients(vitamins and minerals) which will help keep the fish from becoming too vuldernable to any more diseases. At least do 2-3 rounds of PraziPro to rule out worms and flukes as a culprit(should have said it is safe in the DT if you don't mind not having worms like feather dusters in the tank). If it doesn't work then a HT is in the needs where you will treat with hypo, copper, or the tank transfer. I prefer copper because it kills ick and velvet(the latter being quite deadly).

I'm not real comfortable adding chemicals to my DT.. I'll wait it out for a day or two. If i dont see any improvements then ill dose prazi.