Powder Blue going downhill

[cbayer]

In the last few days, my Powder Blue tang started open-mouth heavy breathing, a lot like a dog panting. He's also lost a bit of weight. Until three days ago, he was an extremely active fish with a great appetite and tons of personality. He's still eating, just not as aggressively or as much as he had been.

The relevant details:

- I have had the 2.5" PBT for six weeks in my 10 gallon QT
- Feeding spirulina brine, mysis, pellets, and seaweed algae strips
- There are no signs of ich or velvet (I've read they're prone to)

Tank Parameters:
pH 8.1
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 10
Temp. 78
Salinity 1.023

I know he needs a bigger tank, but he just finished his 6 week QT and I'm not sure I should take a chance on adding him to the display. I've also never dewormed him (the display needs it and I figured I'd just deworm him and everyone else when I added him this week).

Has anyone seen something like this before or have any suggestions on helping him recover? He's a beautiful and personable fish, and I'd hate to lose him.

 

[snorvich]

In the last few days, my Powder Blue tang started open-mouth heavy breathing, a lot like a dog panting. He's also lost a bit of weight. Until three days ago, he was an extremely active fish with a great appetite and tons of personality. He's still eating, just not as aggressively or as much as he had been.

The relevant details:

- I have had the 2.5" PBT for six weeks in my 10 gallon QT
- Feeding spirulina brine, mysis, pellets, and seaweed algae strips
- There are no signs of ich or velvet (I've read they're prone to)

Tank Parameters:
pH 8.1
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 10
Temp. 78
Salinity 1.023

I know he needs a bigger tank, but he just finished his 6 week QT and I'm not sure I should take a chance on adding him to the display. I've also never dewormed him (the display needs it and I figured I'd just deworm him and everyone else when I added him this week).

Has anyone seen something like this before or have any suggestions on helping him recover? He's a beautiful and personable fish, and I'd hate to lose him.

Where was he acquired from? What are you doing in the QT setup?

 

[pinnatus]

Aeration?

 

[CoralsAddiction]

Sounds like you should do prazi pro treatment.

 

[cbayer]

Thanks, all.

- He came from the LFS - they concur with the Prazi treatment, which was pretty much where I was leaning, so thanks for the added vote, CoralsAddiction
- Aeration is HOB with an airstone added to it
- O2 levels with the Salifert O2 test are 8mg (test says O2 should be 7 at minimum)

Any reason you wouldn't put him in the display at this point? I need to treat it with Prazi anyways, so if the general consensus is just that the Powder Blue needs to be dewormed, might as well knock it all out at once. Unless I'm overlooking something more serious than parasites?

Thanks,
Clayton

 

[CoralsAddiction]

You are welcome! Wouldn't you feel better knowing you put a 100% healthy fish in your main tank? Wouldn't you hate yourself if something went wrong? Those are good enough reasons for me not to put the powder blue in your display right now.