New PBT QT

[cham]

Hello all,

Last week at the LFS they had a rather large (about 4") powder blue tang in their tanks. I see them all the time but this one struck me. He was in a very small "cell" about 18"x18" and happy as a clam. Came up to the glass to greet me, stayed close while I was there and he has an extremely calm disposition. I watched him for half an hour and he wasn't rapidly pacing, eyes were normal and no flashing.

I've kept PBT's sucessfully (until I introduced a fish with flukes that took him out) before and I've always wanted another. It just so happens I've had a 26' bow front with a Deltec skimmer (rated for a 300g tank) set up for a couple of weeks with a bunch of rock that I was going to take down (change of heart on a second tank) so I thought "this is great timing, I can use that as a QT".

The store has had him for a week and he was eating the red formula 1 pellets like they are going out of style. So I had the LFS hold him for another week. I've checked up on him over the past week and today the week was over so I went to check on him again and brought along some formula 2 pellets and red nori soaked in garlic. He ate a few of the forumla 2 pellets and a few free floating pieces of nori but spit more than he ate. But as soon as the formula 1 went in he went formula 1 (vroom!) on them.

So I decided to bring him home. I did notice 2 or 3 flukes on his chest in the white areas but no visible ich. So when I got him home I started by giving him a 50 minute acclimation combined with formalin 3 in the acclimation water. After the acclimation I took the skimmer offline and put prazi pro in the QT.

I'm not really a fish guy, more of a coral guy, so I'm looking for some tips, "watchouts", ideas etc during the QT process. I know this is a controversial subject but I'm not really treating for ich since I have ich in my DT and I've kept a PBT (along with the hippo tang I have now and some other sensitive fish) with ich in a tank. I believe (flame suit on) that an extremely healthy, mature and well fed tank can keep ich in check but I do want to make sure he is clean otherwise.

My plan is to leave him in QT for a minimum of 2 to 3 weeks or longer until he looks good, eats well and has regained his strenght. My display has about 12,000 gph moving through it so he'll need to be strong. After the QT I plan to dip him once more in formalin 3 before introduction to my display. All the fish I have in my display are very clean (I never see it but I know ich is in there) and have been there for coming up on 2 years so I want to keep the garbage out.


For fun, here is my old PBT. He had a very similar dispotion to the one I picked up and loved attention and to be fed by hand.

 

[cham]

I turned my skimmer back on but turned it all they way down so it won't skim to keep O2 levels in the tank high.

 

[cham]

Update

She has been in my QT for 2.5 hours and I put some nori soaked in Zoe and garlic. She will not eat any off the clip but if I break up smaller pieces that float into the water column she is eating them.

She is also picking at the rocks and a small diatom bloom and appears to be eating that as well.

I'd like some advice on additional medications (if nessesary) before putting her into my DT in a few weeks.

Thanks
Charlie.

 

[cham]

Update


Four hours in my QT. I've seen a number of flukes that have fallen of her face but there seems to be about 10 or 15 more still attached. I'm guessing they're flukes, they are opaque and attached on one point of the fish and what would be the "tail" of the fluke is flapping in the current.


She has started to eat from the nori clip now in very small bites, when she gets too big of a bite she spits it out. But when it hits the power head and breaks into a bunch of little pieces she goes right after them and eats them.

I have a 1,300 gph power head in there and she loves it, spends a lot of time in its stream and fighting her reflection in the glass. I moved the power head to blow across the top so she could rest tonight and she went into a cave and didn't come back out until I brought the stream back down where she could swim in it.


For now I'm glad she's eating veggies. Since the QT is still only about 2 weeks old I have decided to do daily 5g water changes (roughly 20%) and add 1.5ml of prazi pro to keep the saturation in line for at least 7 days.

Wish me luck

 

[zac312]

those are my favorite fish i had one and he did very well for the first 2 months then i woke up one morning and he was covered in ich and died 3 days later i plame it on me not having light timers and buying one that was mising part of his back fin due to a shipping problem

 

[cham]

That stinks

I know they're hard to keep. Most of them I see at LFS are super stressed. Eyes dialated, pacing the tank and in general just not happy. It may sound corny but after you've spent some time in the hobby you can tell happy fish from stressed/upset ones.

This one caught my eye because of it's demeanor. I shop a few LFS stores and I don't usually buy fish from this guy because I'm not satisfied with his new fish procedures but seeing the disposition of this fish and how well he was eating I took a risk. Turns out this fish loves power heads.........man did he find the right reefer, my tank has crazy flow.

Right now he is eating very well and it seems like there are much less flukes on him than when I got him. I'll keep this thread updated.

 

[cham]

24 hour update:

She is swimming nicely, fighting with her refleciton quite a bit and all but 3 or 4 flukes have fallen off (hopefully not to return). She is eating nori from the clip now and her colors seem to have greatly improved (is that possible in 24 hours?).

Keeping fingers crossed.

 

[cham]

36 hour update:

I can not see any more visible flukes. I'm changing the filter sock daily and doing 25% daily water changes until the prazi pro treatment is over since I can't use my skimmer. I've decided to leave the live rock in since prazi is reef safe and she enjoys the caves (tank is bare bottom). If I have to move on to copper or another medication I will remove the rock (hopefully only after the prazi is done so I can skim) and put PVC in.

I'm still dosing vitamin C, zoe and garlic in the nori and she is eating well. I'll take pics soon.

 

[MrTuskfish]

If I read this right, you're putting a PBT into a tank that is known to have ich. If that is the case, all I can add is "good luck".

 

[cham]

You read it correctly

 

[Drewbaby]

If a tank has had an ich outbreak and you treat it, from what a majority of sources state the parasite will continue to live in the aquaria lurking in the dark waiting for a fish to become weak or stressed. PBT are known as ich magnets, but they are also kept in most cases in tanks that are too small or overcrowded

It sounds like you should be successful with your adventure mainly based on your patience to QT and the fish's personality

 

[cham]

If a tank has had an ich outbreak and you treat it, from what a majority of sources state the parasite will continue to live in the aquaria lurking in the dark waiting for a fish to become weak or stressed. PBT are known as ich magnets, but they are also kept in most cases in tanks that are too small or overcrowded

It sounds like you should be successful with your adventure mainly based on your patience to QT and the fish's personality

Agreed

My tank has had ich outbreaks before (early on in the tanks life) but I have not seen any in over a year, but I know it is still there. In my novice humble opinion ich will often kill weak, malnurished, overstressed & unhappy fish. Very healthy & happy fish seem to be able to fight it off.


Day 2.5 update:

All visible flukes are gone and the fish continues to get darker colors. I estimate the fish has darkened 3 or 4 shades since treatment. I have no idea if this is possible or not (maybe I had too many beers last night?).

She also had a minor pinched belly that has filled in nicely. After some more reading I went and picked up New Life Spectrum pellets and I'm soaking them in zoe, garlic & Kent Vit C along with the nori. She is eating well & I am feeing two to three times a day with daily water changes, filter sock changes and ammonia testing.

I'll try and get some pictures today although with the algea on the glass I'm not sure how they'll turn out. I have chosen to allow any & all algea growth as an extra assistance to nutrient export while my skimmer is offline due to prazi pro treatment.

 

[cham]

From a few minutes ago, sorry for the dirty glass. The belly was very skinny when I got him, he was only eating meaty pellets from the LFS but now I have him on almost all nori with some pellets every other day.

I'm happy with his recovery so far, it's hard to see but the belly is very full and bulging a bit. I'm working now on getting some meat on his bones. I'll start feeding fatty foods much more often in 4 days when the first round of prazipro is done. My plan from then is to feed extremely heavy and skim for 5 days then do another 5 day round of prazi.

 

[cham]

This might be a better photo. The first one was taken in direct sunlight and it made it look like his ribs are sticking out but they're not. He does need to fatten up though.


The white spot by his eye is just dirty glass. I'll clean it once my skimmer is back online.

 

[BADGUS]

Nice looking fish,i have yet to keep one successfully.

 

[cham]

Day 4 update:

She is eating agressively now. When I put nori on the clip she goes right after it and tears it up. I'm happy to see that.

I see two new white spots on her face, I don't think they are ich spots but a parasite of some kind. I'll try to get some pics but she doesn't like my camera.


Any ideas on what the parasite could be that doesn't mind prazipro?


Edit: I saw them earlier when direct sunlight was on the tank and on her. Now I can't see them any more. They seemed white (not clear) but I don't seem any more. I opened the window right next to the tank to let a lot of light in along with the 55w PC that is over the tank but still nothing. They were much smaller but similar to the ones I saw when I first got her. Could they be new hatches that only lived a short time?

 

[cham]

I've been able to view the fish in direct sunlight again and I don't see them anymore. I'm guessing they were new hatched flukes that didn't last long. I'll keep a close eye out for additional flukes.

 

[cham]

Nice looking fish,i have yet to keep one successfully.

Really? Did you QT?

 

[cham]

Day 11 update

The fish continues to eat well. I'm still feeding nori daily soaked in garlic, zoe & Vitamin C as well as NLS pellets twice a day.

I did a full 7 days of prazi followed by 3 off (ran lots of lignite carbon) and back to a second 5 day cycle of prazi (already 1 day on the second round of prazi).

Overall she looks healthy but has gotten shy of me peering in at her. Thought that was weird. She retains her reserved demeanor, no crazy swimming or pacing or eratic activity. Very normal and calm swimming.

 

[cham]

Few interesting observations

At day #8 (first day without prazi) I noticed a parasite on her face that went away on day 9. Not sure what that was about, I didn't think any could be alive at that point.

I haven't cleaned the glass since setting this tank up a month ago and that seems to be an added plus. The glass is covered in a brown algea that she likes to pick at and I also see tens of thousands of little pods there that I'm sure she's getting some of. She also can no longer see her reflection and that has stopped her from fighting with herself.

I bought a new bottle of prazi for this second round and for whatever reason it is not overflowing my skimmer. Makes me worry that the medication in it is no longer valid. I leave my skimmer on (allowing it to overflow) for this fish since she is so oxygen dependent.

She prefers NLS pellets to nori but does eat nori so long as it has been soaked in garlic. If it has not been soaked she won't eat it. Her weight has grown very rapidly. This is a 4-5" fish and she had a pinched belly when I got her, I estimate her waist band to be 3/4" now. Sorry for calling you fat ol gal!



My plan at this point is to wrap up the second round of prazi and give her 1 to 3 additional weeks after that of just massive feeding. This will give me a chance to fatten her up to handle the high flow, populated DT tank and I will also be able to keep an eye out for any additional parasites. As long as she is happy in the QT (she appears to be happy) I will leave her there. Before her final transport to my DT I will do a one hour acclimation with a second and final formalin bath to make sure I got everything.