PBT wont settle down please help

[DrewBrees713]

He’s swimming along the 6ft long back pane non stop for about 9 days now. Not eating anything im feeding him (nori, spectrum pellets, brine, mysis, algae cubes) only occasionally pick at rocks.

Hes the only tang and thte biggest fish in the tank with a flame angel , 2 clowns , 1 royal gamma and a purple orchid.
Ammo 0
Trites 0
Trates 5

 

[Delfino Delights]

Hey ! What are you other parameters and have you checked for any fish decease or protozoa ? Powder Blue Tang appreciate very strong flow. Without looking at your aquarium, you might have to rearrange rock work to provide him with large opening where it can swim in an out of and locate a safe area.

 

[DrewBrees713]

Temp 79
Sg 1.025
Mid flow but will try to ramp it up later today. No ick, velvet, etc that i can see. Theres plenty of room for him to swim but ill rearrange the rocks to see if itll help.

 

[Jesterrace]

They do need plenty of room to swim between the rocks and can become quite freaked out if they can zip in and out of the rockwork with ease.

 

[DrewBrees713]

Rearranged the rock work today. Still pacing nack and forth

 

[Delfino Delights]

What's your PH?low PH will irritate the fish. How long ago was the fish introduced?
Try rubber banding some nori on the rock near the area the Tang paces, from my experience this practice of you putting your hand in the aquarium usually and feeding him will subdue stress on the fish. It will recognize that you don't mean any harm.

 

[ca1ore]

Highly unlikely that it’s anything related to water quality (unless something is seriously out of whack, and then that would affect the others as well). Pacing the glass is either a reaction to stress or some kind of underlying disease. Does the tang do it at night? PBT is not an easy fish to keep because it can be hard to get it to eat and is a skin parasite magnet. Best you can do is to continue to try different foods and reduce stress as much as possible.

 

[DrewBrees713]

I dont have a ph meter to measure. The fish been in thebtank about 10 days now. When i feed, it look interested hut never took a bite. I will try putting my hands in the tank more often.

The pacing is 24/7 non stop. Im trying hard to find out the stress factors but other fish seem fine though.

 

[Instigate]

I did TTM on my CBB and after each transfer he would pace up and down the glass and in my case it seemed like blacking out the glass with towels helped My thinking was, he's trying to get out and doesn't understand the glass. So make it look like there is nowhere else to go and he is forced to come to terms with the situation. Could have just been coincidence but wont hurt to try. And this is assuming he has good hiding places and good water etc.

 

[DrewBrees713]

Great idea with the towels. Ill give it a shot thanks

 

[declanisadog]

I did TTM on my CBB and after each transfer he would pace up and down the glass and in my case it seemed like blacking out the glass with towels helped My thinking was, he's trying to get out and doesn't understand the glass. So make it look like there is nowhere else to go and he is forced to come to terms with the situation. Could have just been coincidence but wont hurt to try. And this is assuming he has good hiding places and good water etc.

good advice. They are pretty bonkers fish by nature. Mine did something similar at dusk for a while. I think he catches glimpses of himself reflecting, and tries to attack. It used to be bad, but hes pretty mellow for the most part now.

 

[KrisReef]

Great idea with the towels. Ill give it a shot thanks

Shut off the lights, and minimize approaching the tank and let the fish settle in.

Hope this fish acclimates to your tank.

 

[DrewBrees713]

Ya i dont really come up to the tank that often except to work on the sump.

Glad to report, after rearranging the rocks i see a slight improvement. Hes still pacing most of the time but also ate a frozen mysis shrimp or two. Im so happyyy