Powder Blue

[mlt]

My powder blue tang was fine this morning. When I got home I noticed he had white spots on him. Thought maybe it was ich but in just a few hours he has taken a real turn for the worse. The white spots have changed to larger white dots all over him. He looks like he has lost his blue color. The white on him looks dirty gray and he is now laying on the bottom of the tank. Any hope for him? What does he have? Will I lose my other fish? What can I do to save them? My water test readings were high so I did a 30% water change and during this time my powder blue got worse. Please help.

 

[mlt]

My fish died. What would have caused him to die so quick? He was fine this morning and now gone. He was totally covered in white in a matter of hours. Will the rest of my fish die? I did a 30% water change and now my nitrite is at 0. My nitrate is at 20 and my ammonia is still showing up with a tint of green even after the water change. I think I am having a hard time reading the color on the chart because after the water change the color on the ammonia chart looks the same as before. Maybe even a little greener.

 

[mlt]

Thanks, I have had my 75 gal for 8 months and then did a switch over to my 125 gal 4 weeks ago. I have a large yellow tang and a foxface that I have had for over 6 months and they are fine. I just got the powder blue about 5-6 weeks ago and he was doing fine until yesterday. The clowns and damsels and cardinals that I had since I set up my 75 gal tank are all doing ok. In fact the cardinal has tripled in size since I got him and my coral banded shrimp has molted since I have put him in the 125. The powder blue is the first fish I have lost to illness since I have started in saltwater fish. I do my water tests every 3-4 days (the ammonia I do everyother day since I am with a new tank although I used everything out of the 75 to speed up cycling) and do a 30% water change as soon as the reading go up. I didn't have time to QT the powder blue. He was fine in the morning and by the time I got home from work he had the white all over him and he was dead in just a few hours. What I am worried about is that whatever he had he passed on to my other fish before I could get him out. The only other losses I suffered in the tank were due to a chocolate chip star that I caught eating a flame scallop and a curly Q.

 

[mlt]

I did not put the powder blue in a QT because when I bought him the LFS that I deal with had him for over a month in a tank by himself. I figured that would be in the same as if I had Qted him. The only thing I had added to the tank was a cleaner shrimp that I did not Qt. and some live plants. All my other fish look fine still. They are all swimming and eating like little pigs. They do not have anything on them. I have all my readings down to normal. Nitrites 0 Ammonia 0 Nitrates 20. My PH tends to run high at 8.4-8.6 Temp is at 82 and salt at 1.023. How long before I can add anything else to the tank? I was hoping to get some peppermint shrimp and a few emeral crabs. It is still to early in the cycling for those?

 

[karajay]

I would wait to add anything else at least for a few weeks. Watch your water params and make sure they remain stable.
Just a thought... I believe most LFS have their tanks all plumbed together. Therefore, your PBT being in it's own tank wouldn't really mean much.

 

[mlt]

Thanks for your help-I really didn't think about that. I just thought that since they had him for so long that it would be ok. I really feel awful about losing him. He was the first one I had lost, and I guess from the sounds of it I shouldn't have gotten him but he was so darn pretty!