I was hoping to get some opinions on why my powder brown tang suddenly died. I purchased it from one of the sponsors of this site on Friday (Jan. 4th). Besides the powder brown, I also purchased a cleaner shrimp, some trochus snails, a dragon soul favia, blue xenia, large red chalice, a maze brain, and some ricordea. I had another thread on my quarantine called "I am the grim reaper of acros". Unlike back then, I have kept the cyano problem to a minimum, and have done water changes 3 out of the 4 days now of 10%-15%. Nitrates are low, and salinity is great. The temp was a little low the whole time between 72-74 (I like it closer to 76), but it was within the tolerable range for a powder brown (liveaquaria.com). It swam perfectly fine, and was breathing normally. I watched it eat both mysis shrimp, flake food, and a strip of dried algae placed in the tank for it. However, on day 3, Sunday the 7th is when it died. That morning I checked in on the tank before heading off to work. I next looked in on the tank at around 10 PM to give them a small meal for the night. It was stuck to the powerhead and dead. Not only that, but it had a mottled appearance I never saw up until then. I don't know if that was a consequence of the death or a symptom of what killed it. I can provide a picture if requested, but don't really want anyone else to have to see it. Everything else in the tank is fine (knock on wood). I contacted the company yesterday, but haven't heard back. It just seemed so sudden from perfectly fine to not alive that I'm not sure what else I could have done. If anyone has any ideas, I'd be glad to hear them. I'd like to get another powder brown in the future, but don't want that to happen again. Thanks and have a nice day.
Nitrates are 0-12 ppm. I think that's right. It's either yellow or orange on the nitrate test kit. Salinity is 1.021. I do have a heater, but I don't think the quoted temps on the heater are right, meaning if I set it at 72 for example, it seems to stay on all the time. I have it set to 68 and it only turns on during the "night" part of the cycle. The T5's keep it warm during the day. By the way, I've never seen it get lower than 72 in the tank. To answer your other questions, what was listed above were the only livestock in quarantine. No other fish. The tank is a 20 gallon long. Here is the picture as requested. As a warning, it's a sad sight.
Oh, I had no intention of keeping it in there. Just 3 weeks for observation and then into my 125 gallon tank it would have went. Sadly, I didn't make it that long.
Sorry for your loss. Not sure if this has anything to do with the fishes demise but your salinity is rather low. Unless of course the LFS was keeping it at 1.021 also. Normal range is at 1.025-1.026.
What was your acclimation process?
I hope 1.021 isn't considered low. I just went down to double check, and it's right in the center of the little line on my hydrometer. The line (the sweet spot for salinity I assume) goes from 1.020 - 1. 023. With that said though, I had measured the salinity of the water the corals and fish were in and it was right at that 1.021 as well, so I matched the quarantine to that. My main tank is actually higher at 1.023 usually. I'm surprised no one is surprised at the spots on the fish. I was sure someone would see that and no what could have happened. As an update, no E-mail back from the company and it's been over 24 hours now. That's it for me for today, off to bed.
I picked up all the livestock as I was coming back home from a trip to my family in southern Indiana. They all came back the roughly 4 hours to Lansing with me. I'll try to get a picture of the tank up tomorrow. I can't really afford a refractometer though with that swap coming up, maybe they'll have some cheaper ones there (or win one if there's one in the raffle). So far, it sounds like maybe it has to do with salinity. I would tend to disagree mainly because the shrimp and snails are perfectly fine, and I thought that they were more sensitive to changes like salinity and nitrates than fish were. The reason I was wanting that company to respond wasn't entirely for anything regarding a refund (though part of me thought they might offer something). It was more because they had a second powder brown the day I was there, and I wanted to know if it was doing ok.
Was this bought in Livonia by any chance ? Tangs are known to carry velvet gill disease. It is almost impossible to see and is often verified by a tissue sample. I see no problem with a small qt. either. It's good you did QT the livestock. I only asked about the location because my wife purchased a angel for me for Christmas and did not QT it. She slipped it in the tank to surprise me. Boy did we get a surprise ! We have now lost 11 fish ! QT is a must ! We are in the processes of fighting this now and do not even want to think of the money lost ! One of the fish we lost my wife has had over a decade ! Sorry for your loss but be grateful it passed away in a controlled area instead of your DT.
No, all of it was purchased at a shop in the southern portion of Indianapolis. I think after looking online for answers trying to contact the company (they'll be getting another E-mail if they don't answer in the next day or so), and asking on here, I think I'll have to just chalk it up to bad luck (or salinity or disease). Luckily, everything else is doing fine. Thanks everybody for the help and have a nice night.
Sudden Powder Brown Tang Death
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