blue tang question? help?

[pvandera]

so ive had a nano fish only tank for about the last year and had some clowns etc and recently set up a reef tank (2 weeks ago) and purchased a blue tang 3 days ago. he swims and acts normal when he eats and looks healthy but swimms up and down in one corner of the tank the rest of the time. ive never seen that behavior in any of my other fish in the past. his only tank mates r a yellow watchman goby and a purple stripe dotty back, but they stay to there own rocks. should i be worried?

[Parrothead]

First off, Welcome to reeflands

If you set that tank up two weeks ago and have already added fish, yes, you should be worried, your tank has not even gone through the initial nitrogen cycle yet, it's way too early to be introducing fish to the tank.

Now more information is needed. So lets get started
1) Tank Size in Gallons and inches???
2)You say reef tank., How many lbs of live rock and sand do you have in the tank???
3) Do you have a protein skimmer up and running????
4) Please do a water test and post actual results, not just the water is fine, but the actual readings from your test kit. You are going to want to test and post your amm., nitrites, nitrates, pH, cal, alk, and magnesium if you can, but the first four are critical at this stage.
5)what kind of lighting are you using????

Again, Welcome to reeflands, and answer the above questions for us so we are all on the same page

[pvandera]

so tank is a 46 gal bow front with a 20 gal sump, between the two id say about 50lbs live rock in the tank and another 30 in the sump plus a 3'' sand bed in tank. i re used all the sand/rock/water from my 28 gal tank when i set up. light is a Aquatic life 4 bulb (2 blue 2 white) t5ho setup with 8 leds. i have a remora backpack skimmer and a marine land penguin 300 hang on filter with activated charcoal.

specific gravity 1.026
ph 8.2
alkalinity 10
amm 0
nitrates <2.5 ppm
nitrites 0
cal 430

[Parrothead]

Water parameters look real good, the fish behavior might just be settling in period, or and please don't get mad at me, but a blue Hippo(assuming thats what you have) or any tang really, all require a much larger tank than you have, a yellow tang can be kept in a min. of a 75 gallon but 125 + gallons is recommended, the hippo tangs really should be kept in a 125 or better, I know the lfs' will sell the cute little dora fishes, but they don't tell you that they should be in a much bigger tank.

[pvandera]

yeah i know that.... but i got a small one ( bout 1.5" long) and i plan on getting a way bigger tank in the next year too so as he grows so will the tank.

so i guess ill just keep an eye on him and hope he settles down then in the next coupla days.
thanks

[pvandera]

trying to post pic, not sure if this is working

[leebca]

I'd question the statement about 'just setting up' a reef tank and then adding fish, as Parrothead mentioned. Even if this is a 'converted' tank, the shock to the bacteria is as if the tank were almost new.

The size of that fish doesn't need a huge aquarium, but at that size needs to be in a 55+ gallon aquarium. When they are about 3" long, a six-foot long aquarium is needed. Then -- larger aquariums as they continue to grow.

The fish may settle down, but don't keep it under these conditions.

[Altima21136]

soo ibe had my blue tang for aboue a month and he seems fine. he gets along with all the fish . never has been picked on and a very healthy Eater. last few days he started getting bubbles on his body . i though it might have been from the Filters and bubbles. but it got a little whiter. may look like ich. all my peremiters are fine

specific gravity 1.026
ph 8.2
alkalinity 10
amm 0
nitrates <2.5 ppm
nitrites 0

none of the other fish have this problem. I did my Homework and Tangs a more likely to get it. but what can i do to help my little fellow out. I DO NOT HAVE A QT Tank yet but i will be working on that Soon . we feed them flakes but we will switch to Live food to boost his ammune system up. What can i do in the mean while.. like i said he swimming and playing with all the other fish. once in a while he will also Hide in a rock ( looks liek he is scratching himself. i will try anything to help my little buddy out. what shoudl i do

[pvandera]

salt seems a little high try lowering ur salt to like 1.020 for a coupla days, but no lower, when i moved a coupla months ago my tang got a little stressed and got a little ich and my reef guy told me to do that and within a week it cleared up and i brought my salt back to 1.023. just my suggestion

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Dont mean to butt in here. Im sure Lee's got you covered but I thought I would share some thoughts. I'm no expert here but I am dealing with ich and my 2 clowns right now. Here's what I've learned so far... If one fish in your tank has ich, ALL of your fish have ich. All fish should be removed from the display tank and be put in a hospital tank for treatment. The display tank should remain fishless for AT LEAST 8 weeks and the fish need to be observed in quarantine for AT LEAST 4 weeks after the end of treatment.
P.S. Theres a sticky in this forum about both ich and curing fish of ich. You sould really check them out. A lot of great information in there.

Sorry Lee if im wrong, just trying to help out

[leebca]

There seems to be a question of whether or not this is Marine Ich, from the recent posts by pvandera.

pvandera,

Read this post: Curing Fish of Marine Ich

The start of the above post will help you decide if your fish has Marine Ich. It sounds like it does, but you have to make the decision. If it is Marine Ich, just follow the post, read other links it gives you to read and decide how you will treat it. Then, treat all the fish, as FoMoCo has indicated.



FoMoCo your recommendation was right on.