my poor powder blue

[balistidae]

i got a powder blue about 2 weeks ago and he seemed to thrive then he came down with something that looked like ich but i dont think it was?? it was white bumps but none on his fins. but anyways this morning at 7am he seemed to be feeling it bad so i was gonna go to the lfs for some medicine but they werent open till 10..anyhow he died soon after. I just want to know if anyone has had good experiences with these fish or if they are just that hard to keep?? Sorry about the long boring story i just needed to vent.

 

[ross]

Was that fish in a 45g? They need a 150 or bigger.

 

[sleasia]

I also had a powder blue die recently. Certain fish seem more sensitive to ph changes than others and can survive only slight variations. I think my powder blue bit the dust because of a fluctuation in ph. I corrected it too high, then corrected it too low..all within 24 hours and by the time I had it back right, she bit the dust....the achilles tang also died as well as a small hippo tang, but interestingly enough, the red general starfish and the blonde naso tang seemed unaffected

 

[jillian ayers]

Did you have all those fish in a 55 gallon at the same time? If so, it may not have been a simple pH fluctuation that killed them. Tangs, especially Nasos get very large, and some Nasos can even outgrow 180's.

 

[ophiura]

Originally posted by sleasia
I also had a powder blue die recently. Certain fish seem more sensitive to ph changes than others and can survive only slight variations. I think my powder blue bit the dust because of a fluctuation in ph. I corrected it too high, then corrected it too low..all within 24 hours and by the time I had it back right, she bit the dust....the achilles tang also died as well as a small hippo tang, but interestingly enough, the red general starfish and the blonde naso tang seemed unaffected
All the tangs you mentioned are extremely sensitive fish. How long did you have them?
BTW, if you try and read pH shortly after buffering, you will get extremely odd readings which, IMO, you should not act on. The tank needs to mix for 24 hours or so before getting a reliable pH reading, IMO. But if they were relatively new fish in the tank, and it was a young tank, there were many factors that killed them. How did you go about 'correcting' the pH problem?

 

[cjb82]

The whole reason I got into SW was to have a Powder Blue, however I learned the hard way. First I have a 55Gal, they need around 125gal and really bigger than that. They also need a mature tank. I got mine only 8 weeks after my set-up. You really need to know everything you can about a fish before buying, but don't get discouraged.

 

[sleasia]

Ophiura thanks for reply. My tanks are actually two years old, however I started them both over 6 months ago because i apparently had boxfish poisoning or some weird thing I couldn't figure out and I scrapped everything because I couldn't get things to work....Each tank has an eheim wet dry with ehfisubstrate. I also have undergravel filters with 4 airtubes in each 55 gal tank...I'm using crushed coral and pukkha shell , and use deionized water instant ocean...I correct ph with the kent ph buffer product (I forget the name) I sometimes use phosguard and nitrate sponge...and filter usually with purigen sometimes now with coconut carbon...but I stopped using carbon for the most part. I found using deionized water is a bit more tricky to not overshoot the ph when correcting it. and I just recently started using deionized water...but the fish were fading colors which usually points to ph problems and I think I bounced the ph up and down too much until it was normal and killed 4 fish....my temp is around 76 usually, ph 8.0-8.2, nitrite 0 ,ammonia 0, salinity 1.020-1.022, nitrate low normal. I do 5 gallon water changes every 8-10 days, vacume gravel every week, rinse ehfisubstrate every couple of months or so. I got the newer fish about two months ago and all was fine until this recent loss. I don't have a uv sterilizer, and I don't use a protein skimmer because I do not have a sump, and have fish only tank (well I do have one starfish) Maybe my tanks are just too small!!

 

[ophiura]

Originally posted by sleasia
Maybe my tanks are just too small!!
Yes, for those fish, they are. There are a number of 'modernizations' that I would recommend as well, but this is probably something you already know. FWIW, I would strongly suggest investing in a hang on skimmer; you don't need a sump for one. Especially on a fish only tank.
PH correction using RO or DI should be done as the water is mixing for 24 hours prior to use, IMO. Doing this in the tank will result in problems, especially if you are trying to correct for an as yet unstable pH. What is the pH of the water after you add the salt mix and let it mix for awhile?
Fish losing color can be an indication, IMO, of any stress, not simply pH...but that is a possible cause in this case. I really would not suggest trying ANY of those tangs in a 55g, IMO, and especially if you still have the Naso. That is an huge fish as it is, and having all of those tangs in such a confined area may also have contributed to stress. Anyway, they would not have been ok in there for too long....they are amoung the most delicate of the tangs, and grow quite large.