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six2sevenproductions

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
May 31, 2009
Messages
160
Location
San Pedro (Los Angeles), Ca
Well to make a long story long. I cant seem to keep new fish from getting ich. I have a 50 gallon reef with fish that include yellow tang, clownfish, two damsel (have never shown signs of aggression), cleaner shrimp, diamond goby, 4 large turbo snails, and assorted night time critters.

Now the tang had ich one time and fully recovered in qt. He has never gotten ich again. My dream fish is a PB tang. I have had two attempts at adding a power blue tang both with the same result. I know a pb tang requires a large tank but i have a deal with the lfs store that he will buy it back from me when it grows as long as its healthy. I just want to be able to have one even if its only a little while.

After purchasing, qt, and adding to display tank 6 weeks after ich was gone(hypo salinity treatment) it got ich after two weeks of being in the main tank. I removed it and repeated the quarantine process, same result after adding to display tank the second time. My tank was and still is 0 for ammonia, nitrates and nitrite, calcium is 420, ph 8.2, 8dkh, salinity is usually 1.023 adding ro/di every day and weekly 10% water changes.

I was reading that although i am continuing to quarantine the fish, the tank itself might be infected and i should remove all fish into qt. I plan on doing this next month when i upgrade to a 75g. I will remove and qt fish, swap all live rock and old water, then add all fish little by little when ready. Which brings me back to the subject, when i qt all the fish, this qt tank is to be set up in my office at work to keep a closer eye. I know a bare bottom is advised but i would like it to look nice so i want to know if it is a real problem using a substrate.i would like to add new fish in the future, once all my fish are out.
 
The problem is that a tang can not make it in a 50 gallon tank. Esp. a powder blue tang. It must have at least a 125 gallon (6 ft tank) to survive. What happens is that if a fish is in a too small of a tank then it lowers the immune system on the fish thus allowing parasites and disease to have free reign on the fish. Here is a question I posed to an expert we had on here awhile back. The answer is quite true.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f45/yellow-tang-in-a-55g-52207.html
 
i have kept powder blue tangs in large tanks and have had aggression problems with them. i don't think you are going to be happy with one in a 75, unless it's the only fish.
in the 150 at the gym, the pb sometimes fights the other fish over food, or territory.
while i always say it's up to the individual fish, i think the odds are against you.
the one i have in the gym tank is probably 2.5-3" tops.
 
I think you guys are more than right. Thanks for the article by the way. I was not planning on attempting the powder blue in the new 75g tank. Maybe sometime in the future because i know this next tank wont be the last. Although i think i know a lot of the basics, i still KNOW i have a lot to learn.
 
Ok so the PB tang is out of my mind and substrate in a QT tank is out too.
Since ich will be forever in my tank no matter how long I QT new fish please let me know if this can solve this problems.

Remove all fish into QT, treating with hyposalinity for 6-8 weeks.
Transfer live rock and most water to new 75g tank while adding new aragonite substrate (dry not that store shelved live sand)
Let the new tank sit for 8 weeks as well while the fish are in qt.
Then add fish to new tank.
 
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