First real tank death

[percula]

Bought my first real nice looking fish just last Sunday - powder blue tang. He was a bit thin but seemed active and was picking around at things when I last checked last night. Come home from work today,... 4 hermits all gathering around the buffet. None of this makes sense; tank parameters are all really good and, being a relatively new tank, no others to even pick on him (5 chromis, rainfordi, and a blenny). The frags I got at the same time are extended and happy looking at least. I even acclimated him slower and more cautiously then I ever have. This sucks.

 

Stupid hobby

[yagerboy]

Tangs do not need to be acclimated long. They get stressed out too much. Prob a prevous issue but always QT tangs.

[jamal]

Bought my first real nice looking fish just last Sunday - powder blue tang. He was a bit thin but seemed active and was picking around at things when I last checked last night. Come home from work today,... 4 hermits all gathering around the buffet. None of this makes sense; tank parameters are all really good and, being a relatively new tank, no others to even pick on him (5 chromis, rainfordi, and a blenny). The frags I got at the same time are extended and happy looking at least. I even acclimated him slower and more cautiously then I ever have. This sucks.

 

Stupid hobby

 

well if you are new to fish care a pbt is not a good fish. they are difficult even amongst tangs and are very sensitive to salinity changes and other environmental changes. did you do a drip acclimation for the tang? thats how i lost my first pbt.

[magnetic1]

I agree they are hard to keep. Ive tried twice before from saltwaterfish.com and they seem to always sell you the little babies (2-3").

 

Third time is a charm? Was at BRK over the weekend and they had some Powder Browns in. HUGE! (5-6") and very reasonably priced. Picked him up and he is doing super good so far.

 

Took me 3 hours to acclimate him, since it was from BRK's low salinity QT area.

 

Sorry to hear about your loss :( They are beautiful fish. Check with John@BRK, I saw some Powder Blues as well that were nice and big. It seems like big fish always do better than babies. How big was yours?

[percula]

I agree they are hard to keep. Ive tried twice before from saltwaterfish.com and they seem to always sell you the little babies (2-3").

 

Third time is a charm? Was at BRK over the weekend and they had some Powder Browns in. HUGE! (5-6") and very reasonably priced. Picked him up and he is doing super good so far.

 

Took me 3 hours to acclimate him, since it was from BRK's low salinity QT area.

 

Sorry to hear about your loss :( They are beautiful fish. Check with John@BRK, I saw some Powder Blues as well that were nice and big. It seems like big fish always do better than babies. How big was yours?

 

 

The one I got was from BRK though a smaller one (~3.5"). As I said, he was rather thin. Perhaps I should have avoided him rather than let the excitement decide. Ugghh. I did drip acclimate but overall, the whole process was only about 30 minutes. Perhaps that was too fast. I'm still at a loss as to why I wouldn't see any signs before death.

[yauger]

I have been confused over the years with how to acclimate fish into your system and have found the best way is to use a aqua lifter pump with a small gate valve... I have used this method to acclimate many fish and never had a loss (sudden tank death) usually I have a bucket within a larger container to allow the water to over flow and drain out into my utility sink, that way your not adding any additional stress on the fish. sometimes I also add a small maxi-jet 400 in the bucket to add water flow and a must is a heater... I do a drip acclimation for at least 4 hours allowing the salinity and temperature to match my display (or QT system)... I'm confident if you do this for fish acclimation you will never have an issue unless the fish is not eating or visibly sick...

sorry to hear about your loss but keep trying!! its worth it!

Edited February 6, 2008 by yauger

[Brian Ward]

powder blue's are very difficult fish. they are also very aggressive and should be one of the last fish added to the tank. at 3.5-4" they are viable so adapting to captivity isn't usually an issue. thin can be OK, just need to make sure he's eating and getting enough of everything he needs. that's a big part of QT - much easier to monitor the fish, make sure he's eating and get him fat and used to captivity before adding him to the display. you can try again, but make sure he's one of the very last fish.

[Tri Bui]

PBT is a hard fish to start with if you are new in this hobby. I saw you have 120g that good size, be paitient make sure your water paramaters are good and there no others fishes which agressive toward the tang. I still have problem keeping PBT after all these years :( Good Luck my friend!

Edited February 6, 2008 by Tri Bui