Ideas why I lost my PB Tang?

[SOARnTACO]

I had a powder blue tang in well established 55gallon qt tank for almost 3 weeks. It was about 4 inches eating well. All water was good. The salinity did jump probably for one day when I was working for two days late. Feed twice a day flakes and sea veggies. I thought it did have some ich it got a full treatment of ich x over a week earlier.
We did see it swimming in front of the power head more and more over his last three days. Was that a sign and we did not know?

 

[SOARnTACO]

The salinity jump was .024 to .026

 

[RobW]

I had a powder blue tang in well established 55gallon qt tank for almost 3 weeks. It was about 4 inches eating well. All water was good. The salinity did jump probably for one day when I was working for two days late. Feed twice a day flakes and sea veggies. I thought it did have some ich it got a full treatment of ich x over a week earlier.
We did see it swimming in front of the power head more and more over his last three days. Was that a sign and we did not know?

Like swimming into the current? They tend to like that.

 

[jpas]

Sounds like velvet if it was hanging out in front of your powerheads.

Velvet looks much like ich & kills very fast. Tangs have thin slime coats & are prone to ich & velvet.

Ich-X is also not an effective treatment

 

[RobW]

Sounds like velvet if it was hanging out in front of your powerheads.

Velvet looks much like ich & kills very fast. Tangs have thin slime coats & are prone to ich & velvet.

Ich-X is also not an effective treatment

What's the reason for hanging out in front of the powerhead?

 

[jpas]

As the parasite builds up in the gills of the fish it struggles to get enough oxygen, so the added flow of the power head helps.

Was there any fin damage after it was dead?

 

[MnFish1]

It sounds like a parasite - Not sure that Ich X works. Tangs seem more susceptible to parasites - though others say the opposite. Did you QT?

 

[RobW]

As the parasite builds up in the gills of the fish it struggles to get enough oxygen, so the added flow of the power head helps.

Was there any fin damage after it was dead?

Gotcha.

 

[SOARnTACO]

No fin damage and yes it was in qt

 

[Pbh-reef]

It sounds like a parasite - Not sure that Ich X works. Tangs seem more susceptible to parasites - though others say the opposite. Did you QT?

+1 on this
I’m so sorry your fish died, especially when you were trying to qt it.

Ich-x isn’t a reliable medicine for ich or velvet. It can suppress the disease but it isn’t reliable as a cure. It’s very possible the PBT had either. If you noticed any head twitching it may have had flukes, which can kill in that time frame. My advice is to get copper power and general cure for your next qt. Take a look at the first post in this thread for a more reliable qt procedure

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-current-qt-process.483371/

 

[Jesterrace]

It was likely velvet if it went that fast and ich x may be somewhat effective for freshwater ich but is basically useless for saltwater and certainly not useful for velvet. Copper based medications are very effective at dealing with both marine ich or velvet as are a few other options (ie tank transfer method).

 

[4FordFamily]

Velvet. A few issues at play here---

1) Your tank is too small
a) Powder Blue tangs swim several miles per day in the wild and I don't recommend them for tanks less than 180 gallons (although this is still small relative to the wild, I am not filling my house up with water to keep them lol)
2) Ich X does not work
3) You cannot manage ich on powder blue tangs, they're far too fragile and susceptible to parasites
4) Velvet kills quickly, and leads to fish swimming in to powerheads

You'll need to run your tank fallow for 76 days and treat all fish with copper power, I'd use a hanna copper checker and keep copper at 2.0 PPM.

Sorry for the loss, but in a 55 you're limited to smaller bristletooth tangs, or perhaps a yellow or scopas tang.

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

I guarantee it was velvet and tbh if you are going to keep these fish they need to be treated with copper in QT (cheleted preferably).

A PBT should be in a 180G tank or larger.

 

[Tait]

My main concern would be oxygen level of the actual tank. You said "the" powerhead, is there only one and what is the strength? As stated before this species travels far daily, and also enjoys oxygen rich, high current habitats. Is there an HOB, sump (the overflow would oxygenate) or protein skimmer. Also stocking level can rapidly deplete oxygen.

 

[jpas]

Sounds like the 55g is his QT tank