upside down pale blue tang

kb7tgr · Jan 2, 2016

I bought a 120 running system 3 weeks ago I have had the live stock in a qt tank from that time till now. tonight I transferred my 6 inch pale blue tang (he was swimming and looking good in the qt tank) It was an easy catch I put him in a bag (other fish had been transferred in this bag) As soon as I put him in the bag he turned upside down. I went ahead and transferred him did a 30 min. acclimation. when I put him in the show tank he took off and swam around for about 20 min. He is now laying upside down on the bottom of the tank and my skunk back shrimp is cleaning him up. I am worried what should I do.

Waiting by the computer for answers.

thanx
jim

eatbreakfast · Jan 3, 2016

What you are describing doesn't sound promising.

When you tested the display water what were the results? Did you use live rock or dry?

To limit stress during the transfer, adjusting the parameters of the qt tank to match the dt(salinity and temp) means you would be able to skip the acclimation process between tanks.

kb7tgr · Jan 3, 2016

we used the water sand and rock out of the tank I bought. in the show tank. The qt tank had rock and water from the tank I bought. He did not make it. he was gone within minutes of the attempt

Justiful · Jan 3, 2016

Test the display water. Test the QT water. Post the results. If you don't have the kits to test right now, call the LFS and see if any do water testing.

What you describe, is a symptom of ammonia toxicity. Hyper-excitability, and rabid breathing, followed by a sudden cessation of activity and death. But it could be any number of water parameters, or even the trauma of capture.

FL_Reefer · Jan 3, 2016

+1 to the above, sometimes when moving a tank, you stir up the nasty especially in sand and could have released what was traped (could have been years of a undisturbed sand bed) just my thought

saltyhog · Jan 3, 2016

Yep, using the old sand was a bad idea. Hope he pulls through.

kb7tgr · Jan 3, 2016

he did not make it I caught him put him in a transfer bag and he immediately turned over on his back
He had been in a 30 gal qt tank for about 2 weeks all parameters were good that i test for anyway
ph 8.1 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate a bit high at 40 the sand had nothing to do with his problem as there was NO sand in the
qt tank. there was live rock. after reading and reading on the web i have decided he died of something pretty common to
the powder blue tang cardiac arrest brought on by stress as simple as catching him. hind sight is that I did not recognize his
sporadic behavior as stress just thought he was a fast mover I should probably left him in the qt tank alone till he settled down.
cant change it now will know next time.