Powder blue tang and ich

[Jace]

Now i know the powder blue tang is really sustible to ich. well hes been in my tank for about a week now. and he has finnaly got it. What powder blue tang does not get ich??. I mean im pretty sure even if dick attemepted a powder blue tang his would get ich. its just extremely common. anyways the reason i got him is because. one he is amzing cool in color. and 2. because i saw him eat at the LFS.. ok. well. the first 2 and days he did soo good in my tank i tought he was actually gona make it. now the past frew days he has been slowly not swimming verry much and looks like he has a verry hrd time swimming swimming in place. Now his fins do have ich on them.
to help him out. I bought him 2 cleaner gobies ORA. with the yellow heads. and I also have a cleaner shrimp. Now he is to agressive and hates to be cleaned by the srhimp. When the sthrimp cleans him he instantly swims away. When the gobies come close to him he flares at them. I hope he makes it. He was doing fine in the LFS. and the LFS said he was one of the most hardiest powder blues theve had. Now I know that my tank is 75g and they need at least a 6 foot tank. Wellin order to help him. He is the only tang in the tank. The next biggest thing to him is a flame angle. Witch is scared of death of him. and i also reaquascaped my tank to have an open middle. and 2 caves for him to go under when he is stressed. Now he is mostly staying under one cabe but trying to swim out in the middle but it looks like he is having a hard time swimming.
Do u think hes gone fore.
Also please dont flare at me for having him in a 75g. He is really small. and i wouild like for him to grow this tank out by the time i upgrade.
Also He ate nori on day 2. and ate mysis shrimp on day 1. I havent particular seen him eat anythign else

[saltaddict]

Jace, I am not going to flare at you but instead try to help you help him.

If you can put some garlic additive in the food and on the nori sometimes this will entice eating. I would hand Nori in the tank at all times and pray that it starts eating. Is there anything in the tank that could be making the PB scared? Size is not always the only issue - I had a damsel that was the size of a dime taking on a big yellow tang.

Does it appear to have labored breathing? Do you have a hospital tank you could put it in? If not, what else is in the tank that would prevent you from raising the temp a little and lowering the salinity?

Good luck Jace!

[rayme07]

Hey jace I have some questions. How many fish do you have in your tank. Do you have a QT if so I would take him out and put him in that and see if you can get some copper sulfate and treat him with that(not the best sorce of treatment but it works) or you could also try a 3 min dip in fresh RO water. Another way you can get rid of ich is put him in the QT and lower the salinity to about 1.010 and remember to add some thing for him to hide in. That's basically it for what I know to get rid of ich. Good luck hope he makes it. Thanks

[Jace]

it died.........

[rayme07]

I'm sorry to hear about your tang dieing jace.

[Skurvey Dog]

Sorry about the tang lil brother. One never truly knows the health and history of any fish, with the exception of a minor few. And since we don't always know, it's always a good idea to quaranteen new fish. Please do keep a very close eye out on your tank buddies to be sure they don't start showing signs of ick. Sorry this happened to you. Sending You Lot's of Huggies......

[saltaddict]

Very sorry for your loss Jace - it never is easy. PB are hard to raise in an captivity. In the future if you decide to try another, see if the LFS will put a hold on the one you want so you can watch it and see how it is doing before you bring it home. They don't do well when they are shipped, plopped in LFS tank then sold and put in another tank in short periods of time.
Take care

[CarmieJo]

Jace, about your powder blue. I hate to loose fish. Please keep an eagle eye out for ich on your other fish.

[PhotoJohn]

hmmm and you knew a tang needed a 6' tank...learn from your loss and prior knowledge. be responsible with your purchases.

[Jace]

Hey all been a little bit busy. Now the PB was just out. of QT. when i bought it. I bought it from prob the best LFS in minnesota. Ive actually whitnessed the QT So i tought i would be fine. Also I got the tang for free. cause the Owner Post on TCMAS.org my minnesota site. where good buds. anyways I know it needed a 6 ft tank. sorry for the long time inbetween posts. I do believe i am gona try another tang. One that needs less swimming room and a little more hardier.
btw thanks for your caringness

[Skurvey Dog]

I do believe i am gona try another tang. One that needs less swimming room and a little more hardier.
btw thanks for your caringness

Thought I might throw a word of caution to you lil brother. IMHO..... I would not add any fish to my tank for several weeks (6-8) due to the ick that it was exposed to. If there is a cycle going on in there, it needs to run it's course. One doesn't realize the ick is there because you can't see it until they mature and look for a host. I do realize that you already know you need to wait..... but I just thought I'd lend you some of my caution and patience!

[CarmieJo]

Jace, I don't think that any of the tangs will be happy in a 4 foot tank.

[Jace]

Its not 4 feet carmie its a 5 and a half foot custom 75g .. almost 6 feet. Im thinking more yellow tang or Kole tang. And also. I am going to wait atleast another 2 mounths before any more fish. And there is no sighns of ich

[PhotoJohn]

Now I know that my tank is 75g and they need at least a 6 foot tank.

You know the "rule," have killed one fish, and you are planning on getting another tang? For the fishes sake I hope it is a strong animal. The "rule" is there for a reason and is more of a minimum size than the best size. We all know the best size tank for an animal is the open ocean, especially strong swimming fish like tangs. Pulling an animal out of the ocean and imprisoning it in a small glass box is somewhat questionable in its self for many reasons. But we all do it. Our obligation to these animals is to give them the best life we can using our knowledge and the vast wealth of information that is available. Making a mistake based on a lack of knowledge or bad information is sad but excusable, however knowing the right information and choosing to ignore the right way to care for animals is inexcusable. Continuing to put animals in a bad situations says much more about the keeper than just their lack husbandry.

Please only keep animals that you can provide environments that will promote happy and healthy lives for the inhabitants.

Stewardship is an obligation.

[Jace]

Yes but did you also read it was a 5 and a half foot custom tank. And even live aquaria says witch Dick is in busniess with. Witch he trusts. says some tangs will do fine in under 100g aquarium. And also. Not just cause dick trusts them i know about the 6 foot tank rule and stuf. but im 5 and a half feet. and a half of foot i dont think is really gona hurta tang. I know they need lots of swimming room thats why i reaua scaped. and also FYI saying that its bad that i know its not right for a tang. thats really BS. Sorry to say. because theres been alot of tangs i seen living in a smaller tank then mine.Even tho they are probably not happy in theise tanks there still living. I have also picked Fish that will go good with a tang. To not stress it. I also have a cleaner shrimp to help with the ich and 2 cleaning gobies. Every one can bend the rules a little bit. And Just cause i failed this attempt once doesent mean i will again. And I must say your making a 14 year old feel like shit when you say."Continuning to put animals in a bad situations says much more about the keeper than just their lack husbandry.".. Id like to inform you on that. 1 I do plenty of research.2 ill never say ill know everything or even 1/4 of everything about SW tanks.3. Just because we came up with the 6 foot rule here doesent mean its 100% true. reefcentral says other wise and so does TCMAS.org my other 2 sites i use for reefing. So please b4 you make some one feel really bad you your self shud get some more information.. and not just from one site or one person or one company or one book. Its good to know a varaitie of information.
Sorry for the long time inbetween posts. School is really killing me here

[CarmieJo]

Jace I think that John is trying to save you a lot of grief and wasted money, not hurt your feelings. You are right, I have seen tangs in smaller tanks but they are often sickly, don't live long and/or display erratic behavior. A 5.5' tank is 10% shorter than a 6' tank and that could make a lot of difference.

The fact is that fish are like people and you just don't know what their individual tipping point is. You can sometimes get away with bending the rules but sooner or later you may have a real disaster on your hands. Personally I think that there are enough disasters waiting to happen that I can't stave off and I won't risk my aquarium with things that may have a bad outcome.

[rayme07]

I couldn't agree with you anymore carmie. I'm going to step out and say I have screwed up and it took me 3 try's to figure it out with tangs that they aren't all alike and almost everyone I got died. Except my hippo which in the past year or two got sick with head and lateral line syndrome and luckily Iv gotten it pretty healthy and looking good and gave it to the LFS to handle and take care of so it can live its life much happier than with me. So what that taught me was to be smarter and learn from my mistakes and save a fishes life by not going to get another one. Now jace you know me well and we are good friends but please listen to us we are here to help you and give you info from our mistakes so it can help you not make yours just like we did or seen other people do. That's why this sight was made so other more experienced people can help newbies like myself to not waist money on mistakes it took me a long time to realize that and am happy I do now. So to sum it all up the next time you go to the LFS rethink what might happen if the fish gets sick or stressed and how would you feel if you were like that I did the very same thing and it made me think a lot on the choices of fish in my tank and future tanks to hold. Thanks your friend Ray

[cr8signs]

Jace, please learn from yours and everyone elses experiences. WE have all had losses, know matter how experienced (and great we think we are). As you your self have learned, tangs get ick, and easily. Unless you are truly set up and prepared to save them when this happens, and it will, please do not try another tang.

1. You should have an available hospital/QT ready to go if and when a fish gets ick. It doesn't have to be much, a power head and a 15-30 gal tank (or larger)
2. Be prepared to act fast and hospitalize this fish and maybe all if necessary.
Fish can live through this, but correct actions need to be taken. As you saw it doesn't take long for a fish to die from ick.
3. Be prepared to leave your display tank, fishless, (hard to do, but usually a must to truly rid it of ick) for weeks, even months. I have heard of people having to do this as long as 11 months!!!!
But typically 12 weeks (at least).
4. Depending on your method of treatment, you will need to have a refractometer (if you decide to do hypo salinity), copper test kit if you decide to use this method, and usually any of these will affect the levels of ammonia, nitrites in your hospital tank, which means a lot of water changes to keep levels safe, sometimes even daily water changes.

It is a lot of work, but you are wise at 14 and I know you are capable of making the right decisions and following through with everything necessary to loviingly care for your fish.
AND remember we have all made mistakes, we just want to help you not make the same ones we did.

[lReef lKeeper]

hi Jace, its been a while since i have really "posted" in a reply to threads that everyone can see, but i am still around.

i have to agree with everyone else on this situation. keeping any tang in a tank smaller (no matter how much) than a 6' tank, is just asking for more trouble, my friend. i have a reefing buddy that though he could keep 2 tangs in a 120 ... it went well for a while, but guess who he called when it was almost to late for the fish. when i went to get them from him, they were both so far gone, that i didnt know if saving them was even possible. you could not tell what they were when i got them. one was a Sohol and the other was a Chevron, both VERY expensive fish to "think" you can keep in such a small tank. i ended up saving them, but only because one went into my display tank and one went into myfrag tank. the display was a 6' 125gallon tank and the frag tank was a 8' 90gallon tank. i will never try to bash or make you feel bad for your mistakes, god knows i have made my share or them too. i just wanted to put in my $.02 on a topic that seemed like it needed to be said. since i dont have a tank right now, i try not to post alot, but rather keep things running smooth on the admin side of the forums, but i alos hope that this helps ... if not you then someone else.

[Fernando Chang]

Hi Jace, I have a PBT for almost 4 months without any ich/problems. My tank is a 150 glns reef 5 feet L only and the PBT is doing great !
I think to keep safely a PBT is a combination of good reef system and luck.

Regards
Fernando Chang
Panama

[CarmieJo]

Fernando bienvenidos! to TR! I don't think we have any other members from Panama!

[rayme07]

Hi Fernando Welcome to TR.

[Fernando Chang]

Thanks for the Welcome !! Yes I am from Panama and I´m beeing hobbyst for couple years now unfortunately being inactive from TR for a long time period. Here in Panama there is a lack of information abt the reef keeping hobby and for some reason it is hard to obtain answer via internet.
I have a 150 glns reef tank , plus a sump/refugium of abt 75 glns (with chaetomorpha and abt 2 inches sandbed). At this moment I´m almost finishing the war against the debrbesia algae that infected my seriously.
I have exterminated almost 98% of the algae however I am being watching every day. The problem was caused by the excess of feeding of the corals using some special liquids sold in the market.
Well folks I´m going to bed and sorry for abt my english !

Regards
Fernando Chang
Panama

[Skurvey Dog]

Welcome back to TR Fernando! Don't ever worry about the english or spelling for that matter, as we all know that a smile is universal!