Anyone who has Sucessfully kept Tangs!!

[seannmelly]

I am about at my wits ends w/ these fish. We currently have 5 tangs in QT for you guessed it ICH . However, this isnt a QT or disease question. My question is has anyone sucessfully kept any tangs?? And what is your secret?? Most of them eat extremely healthy but still get infected

 

[bang guy]

What size is the QT? Did you lower the Salinity?
What size tank are these Tangs going into?
Tangs have excellent immune systems unless they are stressed. My guess is placing 5 tangs in a tank that's not large enough to accomodate them caused them to stress.

 

[ophiura]

IMO, once past stress from shipping and handling and adapted to captive foods, many tangs are usually good to go when put into appropriate systems.
But 5 tangs, IMO would require a VERY large system though you will get plenty who argue it works for them just fine in smaller tanks. It is not the norm.
What kind are they?

 

[thomas712]

Have they been in your 125 gallon? It hasn't been setup very long has it?
Wow three mods came out of the woodwork

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by Thomas712
Wow three mods came out of the woodwork

Maybe you did. Ophiura came out from under a rock and I came out of my cave.

 

[daj0424]

I have a blue hippo tang and a yellow tang that I have had for almost a year. My blue hippo tang had ich when I first got hime and I treaded with copper and it never came back. My yellow tang came down with black ich and I was able to treat him with a couple fresh water dips.
Yes, these fish are attracted to ich but with the proper ways to treat them they should end up fine. One thing I always try to remember in this hobby is to be patient. If you have five fish in your Qt tank if one gets sick they all have the chance at getting sick. The point of the QT tank is to make it as stress free as possible and get the fish used to captive life. With 5 tangs in a smaller QT tang that is hardly stress free. Next time you may want to try 1 fish at a time.
I was in your shoes 3 years ago when I started this hobby. I was getting great commission checks and wanting to buy a few fish every week. Then they would die and I would have to get others. I went a good 6-9 months of buying fish and not being able to keep them for long periods of time. What a waste of money!
Now that my tank is well established (3yrs old) I have slowly built up my tank to the right fish I wanted and they have been healthy and living great. I even have a Threadfin butterfly that has been in the tank over 2 years now with no problems. It pays to be patient.

 

[alyssia]

I have a yellow tang and a kole in my 75. I have had them both for about six months. The kole was fine but the yellow had black ich. Once I got rid of that he was good to go.

 

[saltfan]

I have a Yellow and a Sailfin, fixing on getting a Kole next, no ich, no problems. The yellow and the sailfin buddy up together.

 

[salix]

i think every situation is diferrent with tangs. I have a powder blue and 5 yellow tangs in my 240 with about 450 pounds o live rock. i added the powder blue then the next day i added all five yellows. they have mostly schooled up. one of the yellows has kinda of paired up with the blue powder(follows him everywhere). the two smallest yellows sometimes chase each other, but i don't see any damage being done. my tangs seem to be very skiddish. if my powder blue is scared all the yellows will be too.I found that when i added chromis, that would stay out in the open, that the tangs are not as afraid.

 

[psusocr1]

this is only an opinion but i think if tangs are kept ina large system with nothing to bother them they wont get ich. i have a blue hippo, a foxfaxe a kole a unicorn in my 300 with only about 200-250 pounds of live rock and ALOT of open swimming area and places to hide and they all LOVE IT...also my tangs are ALL (except for the kole) 6-8 inches and THICK.. my kole tang is the only small one and hes the only jerk in my tank as well! as i said JMO but i think if i had a smaller tank iw ouldnt dealw ith tangs in it in fear of ich

 

[jerrybsal]

What kind of Tangs and what size tank do you have. I have a Powder Blue and a Naso going on 11 years and not a single ick has been on either fish since day one. They are in a 125 and they both eat very well. I soak their food 3 times a week in selcon and vita-chem, the Powder blue's color is so deep it's almost purple. I don't know what to tell you but QT. every fish until it's gone and then don't add any new fish for at least 2 months after. good luck....

 

[unleashed]

i have had my hippo, scopus ,unicorn and sailfin and a foxface all over a yr. now i also have another foxface and a larger surgeon (lined eye).each time my tangs get ich normally its my hippo only( she was emaciated when i purchased her) is when she is moved to another tank(i upgrade alot) then it normally goes away on the fish within 2-3 days i boost the garlic and suppliment and 2 feedings in the tank per day until the ich goes away i have tried kick ich in the past and have not yet finished a full treatment normaly get one or two doses .then boosting of feedigs from 3 up to 5 small feedings seam to help the most with my fish.along with regular water changes..I have alot of fish so I do end up buying ALOT of different foods and suppliments for them all .new fish always get treated with melafix for 3 days when when first placed in the tank if not for anything other than to reduce stress it realy does seam to help eliminate the stress which the end results is no ich in new fish.it is nearly imposible to keep ich 100% out of our tanks the trick is to keep it off your fish.quarentine all new fish and corals and LR for minimum time of 21 days before introducing them to your tank.
ps i state corals and LR out of experience if you get someone else stock dont assume its free of paresites chances are higher that they are not .

 

[olga]

I have blue regal (hippo) tang, which had a bout of ich. (I know I should not have him in my 60 gallon, so please don't have a go on me

) I did treated water with some reef safe medications, but don't think it helped much. I can't see how they can help anyway, it does not make sense.
Then I started to feed all my fish with food with a lots of garlic juice in it (freshly prepared in mini liquidiser and frozen in ice tray), and I did not seen any sign of ich for over a month now. Fingers crossed! Also my blood shrimp always gave him a lot of cleaning. Cleaner shrimp did also, but not as much as blood shrimp. He is brilliant hardworking guy!

 

[dragonzim]

I've had a yellow and a hippo for over a year now. Never any sign of ich. Both eat very well, seaweed selects, krill, mysis, chopped clams and Formula 2.
Of course now that I said that I think I am asking for a bout of ich!

 

[dogstar]

I have 6 tangs that I have had for 5 years. Theres no secrets. The key word is as ophiura said " appropriate " or proper, Proper healthy fish to start, proper QT, proper system, proper tankmates, proper foods, proper size, proper hideing space, proper ect. ect. And above all, proper research. This goes for any fish or animal, not just tangs.

 

[unleashed]

Originally Posted by psusocr1
this is only an opinion but i think if tangs are kept ina large system with nothing to bother them they wont get ich. i have a blue hippo, a foxfaxe a kole a unicorn in my 300 with only about 200-250 pounds of live rock and ALOT of open swimming area and places to hide and they all LOVE IT...also my tangs are ALL (except for the kole) 6-8 inches and THICK.. my kole tang is the only small one and hes the only jerk in my tank as well! as i said JMO but i think if i had a smaller tank iw ouldnt dealw ith tangs in it in fear of ich
curious is yours a reef or fowlr?
btw well said dogstar

 

[psusocr1]

well its turning into an agressive reef as i like to call it..
it started as fowlr but i got addicted to reef, so i just liek to keep simple things such as shrooms, polyps and leathers all softies basically to add color to my tank

 

[lion_crazz]

Yep, I agree. There are no tricks or secrets. If you put the fish into the right enviroment, with the right foods, with the right system and filtration, with loads of live rock, and you keep your tank clean and healthy, your tang(s) will do fine.
I have a kole tang in my 210 that has 275 lbs. of live rock to pick off of and hide throughout and the tank is not over-stocked and fed a very nice variety of food. On top of that, I am religious about my weekly water changes, and very meticulous about making my water perfect as far as salinity, temp, aeration, pH, etc.

 

[unleashed]

Originally Posted by psusocr1
well its turning into an agressive reef as i like to call it..
it started as fowlr but i got addicted to reef, so i just liek to keep simple things such as shrooms, polyps and leathers all softies basically to add color to my tank
what type of filtration are you using such as pumps ect im trying to get alot of of flow in my 300 right now i have an dolph ampmaster 2700 as my return for my 300 wet/dry and a closed loop system powered with a quiet one pump but all these returns are placed kinda high in the tank so im looking for ideas on how to improve this system.care to share?

 

[psusocr1]

well i just set my 300 up but in my 205 if your lookign for low flow i ran a system where i hid powerheads dfown in the corners of my tank and then attached spraybars to them that ran the whole length of my tank and it seemed to work out great! it really had some power behind it and spread the flow out very evanly as i drilled the holes from big to small , im laso in the proccess of makign a cloose loop for my 300 but it wont be complete for at leasta nother 2 weeks but i will make sure i share pics!.
between my return and two small powerheads in my tank right now im pushign about 11-15 times the tank over