Powder blue tang swimming in circles, twitching

[Mishri]

I've had it almost 2 years now. I recently lost my skunk cleaner shrimp while I was on vacation... about a month ago... Nothing new has been added to the tank in the past year.

The only visible signs of anything is he has been running into rocks, and recently gouged up his face and side. He twitches stopped eatting, swims in circles. it doesn't look like glancing, more like he can't seem to control his swimming. He can't seem to turn left.. he is no longer an ambi-turner.. it looks like he tries and then he twitches a bit and then goes right. Fins all look normal. breathing is rapid.

other tank mates are 2 ocellaris clownfish that are still eating and behaving normally.

Any thoughts?

I'm considering a fresh water dip just to see if something does shake loose.

I feed ocean nutrition premium flake food, green algae strips, and frozen mysis daily.

 

[Mishri]

just now he went berserk.. hitting the aquarium lid repeatedly, hitting the rocks, swimming top speed.. I didn't see a left turn in there either.

I'm leaning toward some sort of parasite the skunk cleaner had been keeping in check.. when he first started showing symptoms he was trapped in the rocks where the cleaner used to hang out.. (wedged himself in there I guess looking for the shrimp)... this was the post where I added the cleaner due to a parasite..

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2520904

 

[Dmorty217]

Sounds like flukes to me. Not sure how you got them but I would treat PP and see if behavior changes

 

[Mishri]

water parameters:

salinity: 1.025
PH: 8.4
ammonia: possibly .25, but I think it's closer to 0ppm
nitrite: .50ppm - this is surprising.. I did a water change last night.. wonder if I stirred something up? (still not enough to harm it)
nitrate: 15ppm

I've got some prazipro from last time i treated last year.. I'll give it a whirl.

edit: apparently I don't.. looks like I'll get a saturday delivery from amazon.. $9 for shipping.. gotta love it...

 

[Dmorty217]

Obviously I don't know if it's flukes for sure but Ich typically won't cause fish to stop eating

 

[BigBlueTang]

Could it also be stress from tank size?

A picture could help.

 

[Dmorty217]

Could it also be stress from tank size?

A picture could help.

I thought this too but it's been 2 years now and typically they will attack and kill tankmates before it gets to be a problem

 

[Mishri]

yeah he leaves the clowns alone. I've been looking for a bigger tank. There aren't a lot in MT. Considering building a plywood tank. I'd like something around 200-300 gallons... but if i'm taking the time to build the tank I might as well go around 500 gallons... prazipro still hasn't arrived.

edit: wow.. just found a 300 gallon acrylic for sale.. gonna go take a look.. it's fw though.. might need to find a home for a 2' pacu


the weird twitching and not eating at all made me think it wasn't just stress...

 

[Mishri]

well.. I just bought a 300 gallon acrylic tank.. it's not drilled though... but, if it is stress from being in a tank 2' too small for it then this should cure it.. 8'x2'x2.5'.. Now when I buy more tangs I'll have to worry about what a bully he will be...

 

[Mishri]

Well it's ich visible signs now.. And I realized how he got it. When i cleaned my aquariums I did my 40g first, which has a maroon clown it that was never given TTM or CP. I've had it for I think 6 months.. no visible sign of ich. Then I used the same algae scraper and vaccuum hose, still wet, in my 75 gallon.

although.. I think he was showing symptoms before.. maybe ich was still in the tank and he lost his immunity from stress? weird...

well.. I'm dosing CP, we'll see what happens.

 

[Mishri]

and... he died.. I think freaking out and ramming into things was the primary cause he didn't survive the infection, he got the point where he had exposed skeleton from running into things... looks like i'll be doing a new round of QT before I move anything to my new tank... shame though, he was eating from my hand and was very healthy before my mistake... I feel bad... had him for 2 years, he was tiny when I got him..

 

[Deinonych]

Bummer...sorry for your loss.