Powder blue going nuts!!!

[Drewl117]

I've had my powder blue tang for about 7 months and today I noticed him swimming frantically in 1 corner of the tank... Back and forth back and forth, he won't stop. Usually he eats like a pig but tonight he wouldn't eat anything. Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks

 

[mcozad829]

First things everyone is going to ask for are tank dimensions, other inhabitants, and params if you post all that you'll likely get a quicker answer. Hope it works out

 

[Drewl117]

Tank is a 6 ft 125 there is 2 small clowns, melanarus and red corris wrasse, 1lyretail anthias, blue throat trigger, desjardine sailfin and a yellow tang, blue lankia star and a cleanup crew.
Parameters are 1.025 salinity(refractometer), 8.2 ph, 0 ammonia, nitrate and nitrite all done with Hanna checkers and brand new Red Sea kits. I dose BRS 2 part and test with Hanna's so the calcium, alk and
Mag are all spot on.
55 gallon sump/ fuge
Sro2000 skimmer
Waveline dc6000 return
2 gyre 150's
Tank has been running for just over a year

 

[Nina51]

you have some aggressive fish in a relatively small tank. could he be stressed? have you noticed anybody picking on him?

 

[Drewl117]

No.... No one bothers him at all. They always all get along.
I do have a 210 that I am starting to build now. I have the tank already and I'm in the process of building a stand but that's beside the point right now.
It's just weird, I've never seen him do that before. I even put my face right in front of the glass to see if it was his reflection but he just kept doing the same thing... Back and forth back and forth.

 

[nuxx]

Hard to say, they are pretty frantic fish...

 

[Drewl117]

I've never seen him do this before. Tonight when I got home from work he seamed better Swimming around the tank and then go back to that same spot for a minute or two then Cruze around normally. I put some nori in and he did chow down with all the other fish which is good! I hope he's ok!!!

 

[Giovanni]

Is it possible he has noticed is reflection?

 

[Drewl117]

It could be possible... But I did go up close to the tank on that side a few times when he was doing it and it didn't seem to matter to him. I just fed some mysis and he's eating normally, so I'm happy he's eating again. Yesterday he didn't eat at all!

 

[dendrite]

I've had a bristletooth tang, a hoevens wrasse , and a copper band butterfly do the same thing for a period of time in my 180 reef. I assumed it was repetitive psychonuerotic behavior from a free swimming creature being so limited in range; much like a big cat endlessly pacing its cage in a zoo. They all seemed to get over it after a brief period

 

[slief]

While it could be a case of stress which is kind of likely given the nature of the tang and the size of the tank, I would check both gyre's power cords. There have been a number of cases where the cables are cracking where the cable enters the gyre motor. This could cause stray voltage would potnentially result in a fish skitzing out like you describe.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

Strange things happen. Had a flame back angel who one day decided to swim in loops around a powerhead. he didn't stop till I took him to LFS. You should try putting him in the sump for a day or two for a change and break the cycle.

 

[Drewl117]

While it could be a case of stress which is kind of likely given the nature of the tang and the size of the tank, I would check both gyre's power cords. There have been a number of cases where the cables are cracking where the cable enters the gyre motor. This could cause stray voltage would potnentially result in a fish skitzing out like you describe.

Thanks, I will check that tonight when I get home from work. I do have one of those ground probes in the sump that ground out stray electricity.
Thanks everyone

 

[Giovanni]

Thanks, I will check that tonight when I get home from work. I do have one of those ground probes in the sump that ground out stray electricity.
Thanks everyone

You might want one in the display also and not in the overflow. I once had voltage issues and found out you need it there.

 

[Drewl117]

Ok... I'll check that as well
Thanks

 

[Drewl117]

So, the powder blue went back to normal...pretty much. Once in a great while he goes to "his side of the tank" and swims around then back to his normal. I did check all my cords for cracks and did check for stray electricity and it all came up clean. Maybe it was just some nervous thing that he did???? He's been eating fine every day and acting good.
thanks for the help everyone! I will be watching him close!

 

[DOGGIE750]

Could be 1st stage of parasites attack. Mine was a velvet. Same behavior symptom as u described.
GL! Get the Hospital tank ready, just incase.

 

[Grkgod36]

So, the powder blue went back to normal...pretty much. Once in a great while he goes to "his side of the tank" and swims around then back to his normal. I did check all my cords for cracks and did check for stray electricity and it all came up clean. Maybe it was just some nervous thing that he did???? He's been eating fine every day and acting good.
thanks for the help everyone! I will be watching him close!

Tangs are very strange and skittish fish . Very weird ! I had my yellow tang do this after a while in my tank he did it for like a week straight ! Total crack head!
Most like reflection .

Now he does it when I'm close to the tank cleaning etc.

 

[Drewl117]

Could be 1st stage of parasites attack. Mine was a velvet. Same behavior symptom as u described.
GL! Get the Hospital tank ready, just incase.

I didn't want to hear that!! But I do have a 40b ready to use if I have to. I hope it's not a parasite, because I'm finally going to get started on getting my 210 up and running. He has no visual signs of any parasites on him.

 

[laga77]

What do you feed him?