Powder Blue Tang died today. I don't know why?

[fltekdiver]

My 180 SW tank has been up and running 2 months now. I added the Powder Blue at the same time 4 weeks ago with a yellow tang. I had two clowns in the 180, they were the first fish introduced to the 180 after it cycled. My clowns came from my 120 tank , put into QT, while I built my 180, and treated with PraziPro

Next added were the yellow tang. Powder blue.

A week later I added a one spot fox face, waited 2 weeks, and added 3 cardinals yesturday. Today my Power Blue was barley able to swim, laying on the sand. The yellow tang was nipping at him, and beating him up with its tail. I pulled the powder blue, and put him in my fuge right away once I noticed what happened. Within a hour he was floating on the top of the water, with no movement, except when I netted him to flush him.

If your wondering why I add the fish directly to my DT from the LFS, they run a hydro Salinity , and run Para Guard through their system.

I do have a 29 gallon QT tank, but all the other fish in my tank show no signs of being sick, or anything.

Last week, I did add 80lbs of Live Rock in my 180, and redid all the aqua scaping

Maybe he got to stressed and broke his immune system down?

My water parameters are perfect, PH 8.2 , Ammonia -0 , No2 = 0 , No3= 5ppm

SG = 1.24

Any suggestions ? Yesturday he was swimming fine, eating , no issues.

I even bought the water to the LFS today to test. Everything's good, so I bought a baby hippo, only 1" long

 

[shaginwagon13]

Yellow and Powder Blue Tangs are both pretty territorial. Was the yellow larger than the Powder?

Most likely, the yellow was stronger and wore down the power blue until it wasn't able to fight anymore.

Maybe post some pics of the tank. With enough hiding spots both should have been alright, but like I said, sometimes tangs don't get along and one of them has to go which is always the weaker one. You added them at the same time, which was the correct move for two tangs that are aggressive, but sometimes thats just not enough. Don't beat yourself up over it, this stuff happens sometimes.

 

[fltekdiver]

Ok thanks, I'm going crazy to figure out what happened

Both were same size. I figured adding both at the same time, would be better then adding one later

I should have added the yellow tang in the tank last. That's a noob mistake on my part.

Even after spending hundreds of hours reading, and asking questions, I got excited when I saw them two, and bought them together.

Here's a few pics of the tank :

 

[shaginwagon13]

To be honest, I would have added them both at the same time as well. I used to have a Yellow, Power Blue and Naso in my last tank.

I added the Naso first, then the powder blue and yellow at the same time and all three of mine got along just fine.

Honestly, no matter how much you read, some fish and their personalities do not get along together. Especially if you saw the yellow picking at the powder blue, the yellow was simply stronger and wore the powder blue down. Maybe they both had the same favorite hiding spot.

Don't beat yourself up over it.

 

[fltekdiver]

Yes, that's funny you mentioned that

They both tried to share the same corner since I got them

That was the reason last weekend to add all the extra live rock. I tried to add more caves and hiding spots for a less stress full tank

It just dawned on me as well, the one spot fox face swims right next to them both, and sometimes has his dorsal fin on top up, and changes colors, meaning he's mad. For the most though, the three of them were always next to each other

I'm just wondering if he got stung by mistake by the fox face

 

[shaginwagon13]

Ya maybe. In the future if they share or seem to like the same cave or area, move the LR completely around. It makes them find new spots to hide that most likely wont have each other in them. Its sometimes a pain in the butt, but it ensures they will get along.

 

[btmedic04]

please dont take this the wrong way, and im very new to reef tanks, but i think 8 fish being added within 8 weeks after setup may have had something to do with it. are your water parameters still good? if so, then im wrong lol

fwiw im taking it nice and slow on my tank being that its my first sw experience, so maybe im just overcautious

 

[ca1ore]

I should have added the yellow tang in the tank last. That's a noob mistake on my part.

Not necessarily! The Powder Blue has a reputation for being a very aggressive fish and conventional wisdom is actually to introduce one last. They are also quite tricky fish to keep (notice that they have their own dedicated thread within the 'difficult fish' thread in the Reef Fishes forum), so the problem could have been any number of things such as nutritional deficiency, loss of weight, internal parasites. If the Yellow was bullying it, then you would likely have seen physical damage.

While moving rocks around to reduce aggression can work, it isn't always practical. You have a big tank, and might want to consider an acclimation box. I built one myself and it has proven to be quite effective.

 

[Nanook]

[moved]

 

[fltekdiver]

please dont take this the wrong way, and im very new to reef tanks, but i think 8 fish being added within 8 weeks after setup may have had something to do with it. are your water parameters still good? if so, then im wrong lol

fwiw im taking it nice and slow on my tank being that its my first sw experience, so maybe im just overcautious

No trust me, I do weekly water changes using Rea Sea Pro Salt, and water parameters have been spot on since I started this tank up. If anything was outta wack, I would have slowed down.

After adding them ( Powder Blue and Yellow Tang ) a month ago, I only added the One Spot Fox face. Only Saturday I added the 3 Cardnials, which are small

 

[fltekdiver]

Not necessarily! The Powder Blue has a reputation for being a very aggressive fish and conventional wisdom is actually to introduce one last. They are also quite tricky fish to keep (notice that they have their own dedicated thread within the 'difficult fish' thread in the Reef Fishes forum), so the problem could have been any number of things such as nutritional deficiency, loss of weight, internal parasites. If the Yellow was bullying it, then you would likely have seen physical damage.

While moving rocks around to reduce aggression can work, it isn't always practical. You have a big tank, and might want to consider an acclimation box. I built one myself and it has proven to be quite effective.

Wow, I did not know this, thank you!

I read and read, somehow I missed this thread

I'm not going to add another one knowing this now

Thanks for your help, and everyone's responses

 

[mpjones]

While moving rocks around to reduce aggression can work, it isn't always practical. You have a big tank, and might want to consider an acclimation box. I built one myself and it has proven to be quite effective.

What size of box did you make?

 

[ca1ore]

What size of box did you make?

About as big as I can reasonably fit in my tank (as needed, obviously) - 12" tall x 16" long x about 7" wide. The bottom is white acrylic, ends are eggcrate and sides are clear acrylic. Won't work for really small fish, because they will be able to swim through the eggcrate holes, but works for all others.