stressed powder blue tang.

[trigger40]

my powder blue that i have had for a few months now is very stressed for whatever reason. it is darting around the tank and is breathing fairly heavy. i did add some new coral to the tank today, think that has something to do with it?

 

[sreefs]

What other fish are with him?
What size is your tank?
What flow do you have in your tank?
Can he see his reflection off of anything?

 

[trigger40]

its a 100g tank with a humu trigger, eibli angel, ocellaris clown, skunk cleaner shrimp, and a purple dottyback. the fish can sorta see their reflection in the glass. i have about 1500 gph of flow.

 

[FishN00b83]

PBTs LOVE to swim, and swim fast. I have one in a 125 and it loves to hit the gas and rip across the entire tank. I'll be getting a 180 soon and setting it up so all the live rock is in the middle of the tank. this will give everything a way to swim around the entire tank.

I've heard people say they wouldn't keep a PB in less than a 8' tank just because they love to swim so much. honestly if the tank is less than 6' I wouldn't even think about having one. they're just too active

 

[Dmorty217]

The 100g tank isn't helping

 

[trigger40]

i think the fish was just being aggresssive to its reflection. today my PBT is acting normal and grassing on algae and eating when i feed. the tank is 6' and dosent even use the swimming lane. it would rather hang out in the rocks eating algae.

 

[FishN00b83]

it's possible. mine went crazy towards its reflection lately, it finally calmed down. it did injure itself pretty bad though...it made a full recovery and is back to normal.

 

[trigger40]

yea i think thats what happend. was just in a bad mood...

 

[ca1ore]

If you do have a fish that is attacking its reflection, particularly if it is doing it in one spot, tape a piece of white eggcrate on the outside. I had a bimac anthias this do this to the point that it developed a large hematoma at the base of its head. A piece of eggcrate outside the tank was quite effective at stemming this behavior and the fish recovered. Obviously if the fish is attacking its reflection in multiple places this becomes a bit trickier.

 

[trigger40]

its alright now. i think it was just a fase.

 

[Betta132]

It may also be stressed due to the tank size. That could be contributing.