Tang Trouble

[pugpops]

somewhat confusing, but here it goes! once upon a time, (about 3 months ago) i purchased 3 tangs- a yellow tang, a naso tang, and a blue powder tang. (i introduced them at the same time so they wouldnt get so territorial agaisnt the others) later, the naso tang and blue powder tang both died of ich but the yellow tang survived! so now, do you think that if i purchase another tang, possibly a blue hippo tang, about 2 inches big, while my yellow tang is about the size of a regular post-it sticky note, then they would get along swimmingly? (btw, i feed my aquarium a little bit every day but not too much)

 

[obscurereef]

How many gallons is your aquarium? It might work since they have different body shapes. However there might be aggression since the yellow tang is semi-aggressive and established and the blue tang is peaceful. If you were to buy the blue tang it would be best to rearrange the rocks or put the yellow tang in a quarantine tank while then when the blue tang is established put him back in. I'd also recommend you to quarantine the blue tang first before adding it to the DT.

 

[crister13]

If ick is still in your tank no way. And if it's under 6' I wouldn't but other than that I'd say your fine.

 

[Mr. D]

I agree, their may aggression between the two for a bit and hippos are pretty picky fish. If it is at all possible to QT the yellow or rearrange or add live rock to change up the scape you would fair better.

Also if the ich is there still then I'd fix that first. Their may be no signs but if it wasn't treated, it's there still

 

[pugpops]

oh dont worry! the ich is forever long gone! i bought every possible medication for it and waited and waited and my aquarium is now healthy and happy i have a 120 gallon tank with places for the fish to swim through... and i just recently bought 2 green chromis about the size i would want to get my blue hippo tang and my yellow tang didnt really seem to care about the newcomers. would that happen if i get the blue hippo tang?

 

[crister13]

Is the tank 6' long??? That would really be the deciding factor I think. If its 6' go for it.

 

[pugpops]

no, the tank is about 4' x 2' x 1 1/2' (L x W x H)...

 

[crister13]

Indefinitely wouldn't get it then. Too small for a blue. It's debatable for the yellow, but no blue.

 

[TheTodd]

That's 90g isn't it?

 

[MyR6Rocks]

I have a 90 got a yellow tang first, couple months later got a blue. Now there growing up happy together. Yellow tang was 3" now 5" blue tang was 2" now 4" no problems at all.

 

[pugpops]

nope... im positive its a 120 gallon. it may look small from the front, but this it what it looks like from the side. and thanks for the info!

 

[TheTodd]

89.77 gallons on three aquarium size estimators I looked at (using the sizes quoted).

Looks like the height and width are both 2'. That makes 120.

The 6' tang rule is going to be argued. The end result will be that the two would be okay in a large enough tank. In this tank, they might be short on territory, but would probably survive while smaller.

 

[Holygral]

oh dont worry! the ich is forever long gone! i bought every possible medication for it and waited and waited and my aquarium is now healthy and happy

Sorry but that is the wrong approach to dump everything you can in it to treat. And second off there are NO reef safe ich treatments. Hypo or copper, and thats it. It is still in there and stress will bring it back out of being dormant.

 

[pugpops]

okay yeah i see where youre going with this, but i wasnt being literal when i said i bought everything and dumped it in there. i have a "Focus" medication and i am still using a little bit at a time. and i also have garlic extract and they are eating. so if you want, i guess i will wait a couple months until adding another fish for the safty of not getting ich again.

 

[Holygral]

well like I said there are no reef safe medications for ich, it goes thru cycles. Alot of people believe that it is always in the tank and only shows up during stress events. I personally do not believe that. To treat fish, hypo or cooper and that is it. (there is a 3rd lesser used and known transfer method) and the only way to get rid of it in your dt is to go fallow 8-10 weeks. Dont over crowd your tank and keep conditions top notch and it may be ok. Remember eveytime you add a new fish, it cause stress of some level in your set up

 

[bskerrichard27]

I would be concerned of all the cyno in that tank which tells me the tank is not thriving and healthy more like polluted with high nutrients

 

[Gregcoyote]

Said it a million times. Surgeon fish (tangs) have very thin protective slime coat. They stress easily, allowing themselves to become targets of any parasite in the system. Yes, some have been lucky and kept a few tangs in a smaller tank. They were lucky. But the rule still stands, if you want healthy tangs, they need swimming space, lots of seaweed and good sleeping and hiding holes.

 

[Holygral]

Said it a million times. Surgeon fish (tangs) have very thin protective slime coat. They stress easily, allowing themselves to become targets of any parasite in the system. Yes, some have been lucky and kept a few tangs in a smaller tank. They were lucky. But the rule still stands, if you want healthy tangs, they need swimming space, lots of seaweed and good sleeping and hiding holes.

Add to your million times, There is no reef safe ich cure. Hypo, copper and transfer method, PERIOD

 

[pritchard]

I've got a desjardins sailfin a scopas and a hippo and I have also gone through the ich stage needles to say they are all thriving now ! I found esha oodinex worked for me and with no reef casualties ! I know the best treatment for ich is copper but as we all know ich is brought on by stress and surely chasing a tang around your tank with a net only to not catch it is going to add to the problem !!! This is just my opinion but oodinex worked great for me as long as you do your maths I.e. Tank volume minus displacement of water for rocks etc and be sure not to overdose and all should be fine although all I do now at any sign of ich is lights off and just leave alone for the tangs to just chill ! If there's any conflict between the tangs I just move around the rockwork slightly without disturbing the bottom pieces on the substrate this means they will have to establish a new territory and should find their own happy medium !