Two questions

smccart22

smccart22

New member
My first question has to do with my powder blue tang.... I bought him after having observed him for two+ weeks at my lfs and seeing no signs of ick or distress of any sort, my tank is about 9 and a half years old but has been completely empty except for the LR and sand bed and of course water for the past 4 years so there shouldnt be any chance of there being any ick present in the rock or sandbed....I added the tang about two weeks ago and when added he was eating and picking at the rocks and supplemental strips of algae without hesitation. Over the past week i have noticed him not eating at all that i have seen and rubbing his right side on the rocks that my gobie is under.. Again no signs of ick or distress in any of my other fish which consist of two clowns a gobie and an algae blenny.. Any thoughts or ideas? My second question pertains to a neon green toadstool leather i picked up from nico on wednesday, just curious as to how long in everyones experience that it take a ts leather to attach itself to a rock? it was added wed and blocked with some rubble to keep it from moving freely around the tank but it is still slumped over and doesnt seem to be attached or expanding, polyps still are extending somewhat but not much more than that, everything else is looking good though.. Water params are as follows, mg-1470, ca-480, ph-8.14, alk-11 and no3 and po4 are undetectble... Just wondering what your thoughts are on the matters presented, thanks,
Shawn
 
1. The fish could be carrying ich. You always need to qt fish as I am not sure what lfs you got it from but most put copper or something in the water to help fih stay ich free. Powder blues are a fish that alott of people have a hard time keeping because they are know ich magnets.
2. neon toadstools depending on if its the true neon can take a month a few weeks who knows it depends on how healthy and happy it is.
 
I had the same issues with the Hippo I got. He was hiding... rubbing... eating then not eating. But from what I was told... these fish are stressed very easily. Just keep feeding them lots of mysis. Mine was very shy but now its more comfortable and comes out a lot now. I've noticed from all the fish I've own.... this one is the most temperamental. They love to eat.

A fat fish is a happy fish!
 
if he snt showing yet maybe he just has an itch personally i would soak some mysis in garlic and see if he will take that
 
My food consists of brine, mysis, blood worms and cyclops all soaked in the garlic guard, he hasn't shown any signs at all other than not eating and rubbing but it just happens to be on the rock that my goby has made a home under, probably just a coincidence... Unfortunately I don't have a qt which is why I watched him for a couple weeks before buying him, just the risk I have to take I suppose without a qt, would the leather attach quicker if I put the two liter with holes in it over the rock I'm trying to get it on? I know they like flow which is the only reason I haven't yet, and it's the neon leather that nico was selling
 
Mine was rubbing for 2 + weeks. I see him rarely rub around the rocks. How long has he been in your tank?
 
he has been in the display for about three weeks now, when i first put him in after drip acclimating him he was eating everything in sight including the strips of algae and anything he found on rocks including the food mix i was putting in for the first week but the last two weeks i havent noticed him eating at all really
 
I would start raising your tank temp one degree per day until you reach 85-88F. It speeds up the life cycle of the ich. Don't be too worried about the fish not eating. I had a Blonde Naso with ich not eat for ten days straight once, and then on the eleventh day he went nuts on the food. I would also throw a $20 cleaner wrasse in your tank. Saltwater Paradise always has them and they've done a great job in my experience. Good luck.
 
My temp has been steady from 77 to 80 at the highest right before my halides go off, I'd be a concerned with raising my temp that high when I have sps and lps in the tank also? In my other experiences acros don't like the water getting up to the upper 80's I guess I will just have to wait and see what happens, if I notice any changes possibly just get him out of the tank without tearing down all my rock, and a cleaner wrasse and cleaner shrimp are on my list for next Wed
 
I can't help with your fish issue, however do not raise your tank temp past 80 with SPS. Things go downhill around 82+
 
yeah that was my past experience that i had before my tank crashed and oddly enough the temp was one of the main factors in my crash i believei went on vacation down to our cottage for the last week in july and my dad was supposedly watching the tank, little did i know i wad the notifications turned off on my ac jr software and my dad ended up shutting off my fans and air conditioner, long story short as i could make it, i came home to a tank with the temp of 108 and to find that my main pump failed and a quarter of my water was gone, aka bubble bath time and i ended up losing thousands of dollars in randys acans and bigger ora and limited sps and lps, it broke my heart lol
 
While raising the temperature will speed up the life cycle of ick, it's really only effective if your using medications such as copper. Copper will only kill free swimming ick, but not eggs or cysts on the body. The faster the life cycle, the faster it's killed by the meds, preferably in a QT tank.
I probably wouldn't raise the temperature on a fish that's not eating since it increases metabolism and the fish will loose weight faster and get weaker.
 
so we're talking about correcting a problem (Cryptocaryon) that hasn't even been observed yet? Don't change a thing! Is your Powder Blue "kissing" the rockwork or glass? (eating microalgae). It's normal for a Tang 'flash' (rub itself against something) every now and then. Flashing isn't necessarily a sign of ich. I would try feeding Powder Blue an herbivore food. I don't like this menu for Tangs: brine, mysis, blood worms and cyclops all soaked in the garlic guard. Hit 'em with nori instead of brine shrimp. No need for blood worms with the fish you have and IMO/IME soaking in garlic is a waste of both time and money.

How large is the PBT's aquarium?
 
and it has been posted on here in the past that cleaner shrimp and fish dont get rid of ich for fish either.
 
I wasn't buying a cleaner shrimp for that purpose, and yes Gary, the pbt has been picking at the rocks and glass along with the strips of algae I've been clipping to the glass, but I havent seen him doing it recently, all my other fish are fat they are eating so much and the diet soaked in garlic is more for the clowns but the goby also comes up into the water column to eat, I only feed a small amount 2x a day
 
I was more looking for opinions because I haven't observed any signs at all that there is ich and couldn't find anything in my books that's consistent with what's going on other than the flashing
 
watch PBT's gut area. It's directly above and around it's pectoral fins. Make sure it's gut isn't getting 'pinched'. Make sure it's kept fat.
 
That's the original problem that I tried getting opinions on but the thought of ich has overshadowed that and everyone has jumped on that as being the conclusion with no apparent signs of it, possibly a symptom or two but no signs, the pbt just stopped eating and I haven't found anything to support why so I turned here for more knowledgeable opinions
 
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