Help! Powder Blue Tang looks like it is dying :(

H

hotdamn

New member
Help, I just noticed that my Powder blue Tang is just lying in the corner of the tank breathing very heavily.
I do not know what is wrong, but it looks like it is dying.

I do not see any signs of sickness on it. no ich, no scars, no bumps, it looks perfectly fine.
But it is lying in the corner breathing heavily and cannot swim.

It has been in my tank for about a year along with the Yellow Tang and the Sailfin Tang and the Maroon Clown.

It has been eating very very well as far as I can remember and I feed it three times a day and always have a nori on clips for it to graze on.

The other tangs are around it trying to get it to swim with them, but he's not strong enough to swim with them, he would try and then just fall down again.

I have no idea what can be causing this.

Here are my parameters:

Ammonia: 0.0
Nitrite : 0.0
Nitrate : 5ppm
Salinity : 35ppt

Anyone have any ideas on what I can do to help it? I feel so sad and helpless not to be able to do anything.
The only thing I can think of is that he might have been stung by the GBTA that is in the tank. The GBTA has been growing very big and is about 9" opened up and could have stung him as he was swimming by.

Do you think this is a possibility? If so, can a fish recover from an anemone sting?

-Helpless :(
 
Tangs are not stupid enough to get stung and killed by a GBTA if they are healthy and lived there for one year like you claimed.

-was the fish new????
-yellow tang and sailfin tang harrassment.
-added anything new to the tank? (possible disease/ parasite)

It will eventually die if you leave it there, take it out, put in QT tank.. monitor and look for signs of sickness.
 
can you post a pic?
are all filters clean and functioning properly...
is there enough oxygen in the tank?
make sure the surface is really being broken...they need highly oxygenated water...
just some thoughts...
very sorry...good luck...
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys..

Sanchoy,

He is not new, he's been in the tank along with the other tangs for about a year. No harrasment from the other tangs and nothing new has been added to the tank. I don't have a QT setup as I have had no plans to add any new to tank. I will get it setup for it though. Currently it is temporary in a little clear container with a mesh top submerged in the tank. I put him in there to keep the other fishes and invertebrates away from it. I think I will leave him in that container to monitor him, as I think its less stressful than moving him to a QT tank. If I see any disease or parasites in that container with him, then I will have to start the QT process for all the inhabitants, but I don't see any reason why there shold be as nothing has been added to the tank for the past year or so. Hopefully he will recover.

Humaguy,

I will try to post a pic. Thanks for the tips, there's no filters, I just run a sump and refugium, but I do not run any media filters. There should be plenty oxygen in the tank, the water falling into the sump and also the protien skimmer should provide plenty of oxygen as well as the surface of the tank is agitated with the return from the sump as well.

Regards,
 
following along,
I had a PBT also and it looked fine one day and the next day it was dead. I had it for almost 1 year and still have no idea what happened. Hope you have better luck than I did.
 
Yeah, no filter socks, and the temp is 78 degrees.

He's in the container now on his side and breathing heavily. Let's see if he pulls through tonight.
 
Well, you have a LOT of potentially aggressive fish in a 90 gallon tank. Perhaps one of the other large tangs wiped him out.
 
He passed away last night. :(

There was no agression from teh other tangs in the tank.
There are also no marks on the body as well to indicate either disease/parasite or agression.

Thanks everyone for your input and assistance.
 
hhmm smething is not right, now my Henochious Butterfly fish is showing the exact same symptoms as my Tang. only thing is that he is in a completely different tank that doesn't share anything with the tank the Tang is in. Yesterday and this morning he was eating like a pig, now he's in the corner breathing heavily..
 
sorry....
some sort of cross contamination....
what do they share and how is the temp?
been hot lately...
 
hmm.. there's two things in common, the frozen mysis shrimp, and the 20% water change I did for both tanks on Saturday. I also put in a new RO/DI filter unit because the TDS reading on my old one was not good. The water change was made with the water before I switched out the RO/DI unit. I think it has to be one of the two. Temp is a constant 78 in both tanks.

Param for both tanks are:

Ammonia : 0.0
Nitrite : 0.0
Nitrate : 0.5
Salinity : 35 ppt
Temp : 78F
 
well, I wouldnt use that food again, but am skeptical that is the reason...
sure the wc was done before swapping out the nrodi system?
 
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