Powder blue tang not looking too good

[FLFishFanatic]

Hey, I'm David, male, 14, and I love fish.

As far back as I can remember, I have obsessed with tropical fish. I helped my dad take care of his saltwater tank really young, learning about fish in the process. Now I have a Freshwater tank of my own, and I still help him with the same tank. I hope I can contribute to these forums, and with this introduction I have a question.

We just brought back a Powder Blue Tang, and some weird things happened. Some pale stripes appeared on his body, which I've read is a sign of aggitation, but my Bowtie Damselfish was hovering over him for a while, kind of waving and fluttering his tail at him. (Excuse me if I replace 'it' with 'him') The Bowtie is a deep purple color, 3 inches long, and about 3-4 years old. The PBT is only 2 inches, and brand new to the tank so I don't know his age. Can anyone tell me what's happening?

[FLFishFanatic]

Alright, appreciate it.

[cmor1701d]

How big is the tank?
What else is in the tank (livestock list).
FO, FOWLIR, or reef?

Did you QT (quarantine) the PBT befoere adding it to the tank?

It sounds like normal aggresion that will work itself out IF there is enough room for all the fish in the tank and water quality is maintained.

[FLFishFanatic]

A 65 Gallon Aquarium, deffinitely overstocked.
1 PBT
1 Tomato Clown
1 Queen Angelfish (1 Month Juvenile)
1 Rainbow Wrasse
1 Bowtie Damselfish
1 Yellow Tail Damselfish
1 Huma Huma Trigger

A FO, and the PBT was not quarintined. Out of all my aggresive fish, including the Tomato Clown, none seem to be going after him like the Yellow Tailed Damsel. His tail is bit up a bit but nothing major.

You think he can make it, flat-out honest?

[austinsdad]

The pbt will get pale, almost stripes when he's stressed or angry. Light colorations. Hopefully it'll pass as he gets more confident.

The "real" answer on "making it".... return the fish. Flat out truth. You admit the 65g is overstocked. Got big fish in there already. The PBT needs a long tank to swim in and now you put him in a overstocked short tank.

Worse case scenario IMO. He breaks out with ick, infects others, you have to remove and treat all fish, or treat with hyposalinity in the tank, etc etc.

You sure you wanna keep him??

[FLFishFanatic]

I deffinitely would like to keep him, so I'll wait a few days and see how things go.

[sgc0286]

I havent had personal experience with the PBT's but I have seen sooo many threads on here about PBT's developing ich in tanks that are NOT overstocked and are of suitable size(125+). In a tank that small and that far overstocked I would say it is a disaster waiting to happen. Just my opinion.

[austinsdad]

You wanna keep him with you already admitting you are "definitely overstocked". Wow.

OK, but promise me you won't disappear and not post here anymore if something goes wrong. We could all learn from your experience with this endeavor. I'd love it if you could tell me "I told you so", and it works. But just as important, think of how many people you might help if you admit it didn't work.

Good or bad, we'd like to know the outcome. Might take a few months for an outcome, but we'd love to hear it. And I promise I won't gloat.

[Mitchell0605]

Good luck

[FLFishFanatic]

Well, I would like to keep him, but if things take a turn worse, I'm not going to jeapordize my whole aquarium.

I'll update this soon, because I know how much some of you would like to prove me wrong...

Don't worry, I won't be afraid to swallow my pride.

[ccCapt]

Originally Posted by FLFishFanatic

Well, I would like to keep him, but if things take a turn worse, I'm not going to jeapordize my whole aquarium.

There is no IF, your tank is too small for that fish. A 180g tank is minimum for that fish to be content. They are extremely aggressive.

[FLFishFanatic]

The tank is not mine, it is my dad's. He decided to keep it.

Contrary to most posts, he was doing very well, eating and everything. Suddenly, when we came home this afternoon, he was spinning out of control, like a frisbee. He died a few minutes later.

[cmor1701d]

Some pale stripes appeared on his body, which I've read is a sign of aggitation

That doesn't equate to doing well.

You were given good advice about NOT trying to keep this fish in a too small, allready overstocked tank. You need to have a frank discussion with your father about this, or better yet get him involved here.

[FLFishFanatic]

I did, and he insisted on keeping it. He took care of other's fish as a living, he surely knows what he's doing. For some reason he really wanted to keep that fish. It was irresponsible, and now he's dead. I know you're likely not 14, so don't expect me to tell him to return the fish. I suggested it to him and told him why it was a bad idea, but he still refused.

We BOTH know that this fish tank needs expanding, which is why we are working very hard to upgrade. Every penny between cushions between isn't even safe. He is also a small bussiness owner, so depending on how the economy goes, we will get this new tank either sooner or later. Planning on about a 125G.

[Zer0]

125G would definitely be a great size to upgrade to with all the fish you have, minus the PBT. Sorry for your loss.

[FLFishFanatic]

Yeah, my dad rushed to the fish store to get some copper, but it was too late. It looked like it had a heart attack.

[Mitchell0605]

Unlucky. Hope your upgrade happens soon.

[cmor1701d]

I'm glad that you are here. Good luck with the upgrade though I know what's it's like as SMB owner.

I hope your father didn't treat the tank with copper but was going to use it in a QT tank.

In the future you may want to try printing some of the posts and show them to him so it's not coming from you <g>, but from the person who wrote it.

[FLFishFanatic]

Good idea. thanks cmor. We didn't treat the tank with copper, mainly because he died before he could bring it back home. But it is nice to have that just in case.

[cmor1701d]

I much prefer Ich treatment with hyposalinity. Thre treatment is safer for the fish, and takes 6 - 8 weeks. It should take place in a QT tank or tanks as all fish should be removed from the DT tank.

Good luck getting the upgrade together. When you are ready to start the process start a new thread and post some photos as you go.