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-   -   strange behavior in PBT (https://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1290786)

reefkeeper2 01/10/2008 03:32 PM

strange behavior in PBT
 
Lately my Powder Blue Tang has been exhibiting odd behavior. Normally he swims about, nibbles on rocks, intimidates a few other fishes, i.e. normal king of the tank behavior. Now I see him racing about the tank, slashing at the aquarium walls, dashing to the surface. He eats mysis and other foods but no longer eats the nori. He looks great, but something is up.
The tank is 427gal with a wide variety of fish and coral. Any ideas whats got into him?

Amazon4 01/10/2008 04:53 PM

Any changes or new fish?

xxseawolf 01/10/2008 05:05 PM

how long have you had the fish? i had 1 last a month and a half. the 1st 4 weeks he was fine then he started swimming all over the place. he didnt last more than a week. still have no idea what happened. good luck.

todd

reefkeeper2 01/10/2008 06:24 PM

I've had him about a year. I added a small hippo tang about a month ago. It was rough at first but the PBT leaves him alone most of the time now. He behaves like he wants to get out of the tank. Lots of frantic swimming about. I also think it's odd that he no longer eats much of the nori, but prefers the plankton foods.

CW from the OC 01/10/2008 09:04 PM

Could be flukes brought in on the new fish.

eskymick 01/10/2008 09:16 PM

Mine is doing the same thing, but maybe not quite as severely. He goes to one spot in the tank and slashes and darts at one area of the tank wall. Other than that odd behavior, he acts as normal as ever. Looks great, too.

He's beenin the tank for over a year, so I can't imagine he's seeing something he hasn't noticed before.

Maybe it's mating season, and he's in the "rut".

reefkeeper2 01/10/2008 09:20 PM

Wouldn't flukes affect the other fish as well? I've never seen flukes on a fish before. What should I look for?

eskymick 01/10/2008 10:06 PM

Flukes are fairly common. They're difficult to see, but symptoms can include, rapid gilling, flashing, jerky (spastic) movement, darting suddenly across the tank, and evidence of secondary infections.

I treat all my fish in quarantine with PraziPro and with a Formalin bath before they go in my display. Both treatments are lethal to flukes.

Macimage 01/10/2008 10:14 PM

I've read that pbt's are very sensitive to stray electrical current. You may want to check that you don't have a heater, powerhead, etc. that is leaking current.

Good Luck!
Joyce

reefkeeper2 01/10/2008 11:08 PM

I have a voltmeter, so I'll check that. Thanks. If it's flukes, that poses a bit more of a problem.

SDguy 01/11/2008 12:04 AM

Is he twitching, like something is irritating him. That could mean flukes. Otherwise, he could just be feeling comfortable and demonstrating his dominance. Any color changes during these episodes?

FWIW, mine doesn;t care for nori anymore either...hasn't really since the QT tank when first purchased. I think he just likes all the anthias food better :)

lux_06 01/11/2008 07:03 AM

yeah sounds to me like hes shoiwing off he is now the boss...

Leeroy 01/11/2008 08:12 AM

Any photo's of him lately?
How big is he?
Does he display this behaviour all of the time, or is it only when he see's you enter the room?
I had a sohal a while back showing the same behaviour, but only when he could see me.
After a while, I put it down to him seeing me as a source of food, as he could see me and I didn't feed him, he was acting the same.
I guessed he may of gone through a growth spurt and was like this as he needed more food, as there probably was not enough algae in the tank for him to graze on.
I doubled the amount of nori, and he has been fine since.
Maybe try feeding him more of his preferred foods or maybe more algae encrusted rocks.

Good luck

wan 2 B reef'in 01/11/2008 08:20 AM

As far as flukes go, look for any small "foggy" looking areas on the fish, usually see them easiest when they get to the eyes of the fish. A simple freshwater dip will get them off. Also if you don't know what hey look like, imagine what a "leech" looks like, only clear.
When I've had them....(well, not me, but the fish lol) it looked like I just scaled the fish after about 2-3 minutes in the fresh water.

Your PB may also be seeing his reflection in the glass and trying to fight with himself, one of my best friends has a PBrown that does it, it's kinda funny to watch, but interesting too as he shows his amazing color.

DamnPepShrimp 01/11/2008 11:23 AM

Almost sounds to me if he is slashing at the sides of the glass, that he may be seeing his reflection? But you'd think he would have done that a while back.

reefkeeper2 01/11/2008 01:29 PM

Here he is. He slashes at the acrylic and that's the problem. He doesn't twitch or seem unhealthy in any way, so I really doubt it's flukes. He just doesn't graze anymore or seem content. He's energized like the bunny. He's about 4 inches.
[IMG]http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/3140mini-powder_blue.jpg[/IMG]

Michelle L 01/11/2008 01:36 PM

Sounds as if he is fighting his reflection to me. My PBT went through a period of fighting ich until he finally got settled in, and every time he was getting ready to have an outbreak, he would swim frantically and fast around the tank. He twitched and looked like he was trying to outrun something.

If your guy isn't twitching or otherwise acting weird, I think he's probably OK.

SDguy 01/11/2008 02:55 PM

When mine does this, he changes from that monochromatic blue, to a darker blue, with pale/white dorsal area, just under the yellow fin.
Very interesting.

reefkeeper2 01/11/2008 04:21 PM

I hope he snaps out of it because I'm tired of buffing the scatches out of the acrylic. I think I also answered my own question above concerning the nori and grazing. Why graze when your fed so well? I have a lot of other fish, including anthias sp. so I feed a lot.

cr8signs 01/11/2008 10:55 PM

A little of subject, but you said you buff the scratches out of the tank. How do you to this with the fish in the tank. With what materials? Just asking because I have scratches too and just assumed they were there for good, as long as fish lived in the tank. PS your tang is beautiful, hope he is just playing games with his reflection.


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