Powder Blue Tang

[kevin34]

I am looking to gather all the information that I can about this fish. I know that they have a reputation of getting ich but how many people on here have successfully kept one? Do you have any tips? I cant decide if I want to take the risk and get this fish as my first tang.

 

[sc0rp_xiii]

have an email addy?

 

[bizkitpug]

I don't know a whoel lot about them except their care level is difficult. I really wanted one but once I started researching, I thought they would be too hard for me since my tank was fairly new.

 

[kevin34]

Originally Posted by sc0rp_XIII
have an email addy?
My email is tedwyer@charter.net

 

[otfurball]

I have had one for about 2 months. They are very ich prone but it is controllable. If you have an established tank (mine is 5 years old) and keep a good sterilzer on the tank, the ich will come and go without hitting your whole tank. The ich will cycle on and off the fish in small bits. I try not to dose the tank unless it gets really bad, which thank god has not happened in a while.
also, put a cleaner shrimp or two and cleaner wrasse in there.
You might want to wait a bit longer until your tank is established before adding an ich prone fish, IMO

 

[jessica47421]

not to interupt this tread but i have a question about ich i have a sterilizer and my tank has been going for about 6-8 months and i have a golden angel, clown and a firefish all that are doing well. i added a clown goby on sunday and i see one very very tiny white spot on him. does this mean he has ich? if so should i let it run its corse since i have the sterilizer in there or should i take him out? by the way my brother got a blue tang and it is doing good and he dont even really do alot to his tank i think he just got lucky.

 

[petjunkie]

Why would you want your fish to always live with a little bit of ick when you could just quarentine and have a completely healthy fish? You best bet would be buy one from a reputable place, best would be a good fish store that will hold the fish for you so you can see it eats and it healthy, then quarantine in a 20 gallon or so and when you are sure it doesn't have any diseases place in a established large tank with good water flow. Too many people buy tangs and throw them into small new tanks that aren't a good enviroment to begin with and then complain when it dies. They are a sensitive species and should be treated carefully. An uv sterilizer will not kill all ich, just some free floating and a cleaner wrasse is a terrible idea as they are pretty much destined to death in captivity and don't solve the problem of ich.

 

[kronnk7]

Hi,
I've had a PBT for about a year now and I love him. They are full of personalilty. Mine is in a 90 gallon reef and he does great. He does get ich every now and then but it's not bad. The fun thing he gets it but none of the other fish do. I also have a scopas tang in there with him and they get along fine. I will say this, he's a little goofy. He like to swim circles around my seapin?

If you have a big enough tank and want a great fish I'd say yeah.

 

[nereef]

thanks, petjunkie, for being the sensible one. it's pretty bad advise to let on that it's okay for your rish to have ich sometimes. qt.

 

[mikeocksbig77]

you should buy a n i g ger tang

 

[kevin34]

I am hearing a lot that people's powder blues come down with a regular case of ich here and there. I dont see how this is possible if it gets ich once, its treated, its put back in the tank, and then it comes down with another case of it. Have you noticed that it gets ich after adding a new addition to the tank? I just dont see how it can get ich out of no where.

 

[petjunkie]

Because the people stating this aren't treating the fish. Some fish can live with small amounts of ich as long as water quality is good and they are pretty healthy. Problem comes when anything changes in the tank, then it becomes full blown ich and fish die. Other problem is any new fish you add to the tank with ich is likely to come down with it because they are already stressed.

 

[kevin34]

So if I get a powder blue and QT it and make sure to QT anything new I get before adding it to the tank would it be ok?

 

[jhebi]

Originally Posted by Kevin34
So if I get a powder blue and QT it and make sure to QT anything new I get before adding it to the tank would it be ok?
Not 100% but it will help decrease the chance to get it......IMO it also depends on water quality, food and etc......I have a PB and in the first week he got ich, so I thought that my whole tank was going to get whipped out with ich and that was in the beginning when I didn't know anything, but luckly he got better and all my other fishes, I don't see ich anymore, but still may be in my tank, but I am now doing water changes, and also feeding them with prepared food with pure human vitamins, the same I eat, it seems they got fatter and better with coloration, strenght and etc......

 

[brandon7491]

if u get a pbt ask the owner of ur lfs if they can make sure that it has been captured at night and without a net. less damage to the fish and its less stressed

 

[otfurball]

petjunkie, regarding the cleaner wrasse, I have had one for four years with no issue. I am also not about to pull a fish from my display for QT when I see only a dot or two - talk about fish stress. Also, I don't dose the tank every time I see a dot or two. Powder blue tangs get ich. you jut have to keep your water as pristine as possible. I have learned my lesson with ich and am very careful with my tank now and have found that sometimes less is more. Ich will cycle daily - when it free floats, the sterilizer will catch it. it will not kill it all in one shot but will slowly reduce the impact and then dissappear. Feeding good fod with real fresh garlic is also a big help.
Powder blues are beautiful - get one, but make sure you are really ready for the care.

 

[john a]

THEY GET ICK AND DIE.......any thing else you want to know?