Powder Blue Tang and Ich

[macman7010]

Hey Guys,

A few months ago I purchased a Powder Blue Tang for my 120 reef. I qt'd the guy for about 2 weeks and released him into the main tank. During qt he showed no signs of ich whatsoever. Within a few days in the reef he got ich. I tried treating it with Selcon soaked foods, lots of feedings and good water quality, hoping my 25 watt UV Sterilizor would kill it off.

Needless to say most of my tank's fish got infected and I pulled them all out into qt tanks and ran the tank fishless for 45 days. On Sunday - day 45 of qt I added the PBT back to the main reef. Well in under 12 hours, even though no other fish had any signs, he came down with ich again. Since I am not tearing the reef down again I purchased some Ruby Reef Kick Ich.

I have never used this to any great extent so I dont know whether it will work or not. Anyone have any ideas about how to handle a fish this ich sensitive? Anyone else's PBT get ich this quickly and this much? I read and researched that they were sensitive to ich but I never in a million years would have thought they were this bad.

At any rate any ideas on how to handle this would be appreciated. I am at this point considering dumping the PBT (giving it away I mean) and getting a different large fish for my reef that isnt so ich prone. Another thing I am trying is MarineMax from Tropical Science. This is a ProBiotic/Vitamin Mineral water additive that is supposed to help repair diseased fish and prevent disease, any ideas or expierences on that?

 

[roka64]

If he keeps getting ich, it sounds like he is under stress. What are your water parameters? If ou update "my info" with your tank/equipment/critters we can probably help a lot more.

 

[Hara]

While at MACNA, I saw a booth for a product called "No sick fish". The product makes some very remarkable claims. Sounds like if you are going to be throwing "miracle cures" at it, you might want to check this out.

www.nosickfish.com

Note: In no way am I endorsing this, I have zero experience with these products. I just thought I would give you the info.

 

[melosu58]

Hence why they call the powder blue an " ick magnet. Sorry about your problems. I do see one thing that you failed to do or you just did not mention it. When you QT your fish you needed to treat them for ick. If you did not treat then all they did was sit in the QT with the ick and when they went back in the main so did the ick. The chemical ick fixes dont work IMO. Except for copper treatments(which tangs dont react to favorable to) or hypo-salinity seem to be the best. Here are some onsite info

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=64798

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=7

IMO I would QT them and treat with hypo but you be the judge after reading these. Good luck.

 

[austinsdad]

Naso, purple, yellows are more ick resistant IMO. You are very brave for trying the powder blue. I never had the nerve. Powder brown neither.

I'm with you on the return thought. Could be a long road. Trials like that might make you not want a tank any longer.

 

[afishyonados]

Neaqrly every powder blue has or will have ick. Even the simple act of moving the fish from tank to tank will lower immune systems, and ick prevails.

If, you were able to soothe the fish long enough with stability of environment, and all visible signs of ick went away, there would be yet again another problem, only somewhat different... The powder blue tangs are one of the most beligerant tangs avaliable. The only one that comes to mind that is worse is the sohal tang. Everyone I know that has or had a powder blue that lived through the ick drama now has a mini-tyrant that bullies and kills nearly all new fish that are added, and sometimes even new peices of coral are tossed about!

 

[macman7010]

Hey Guys,

Tank parameters as follows:

ph: 8.3
salinity: 1.025
nitrite: 0 of course
nitrate: too low to register on test
phosphate: 0 ppm
Calcium: 480 ppm
Temp: 72 at night 73 during day

Tank size 120 gallons + 30 gallon Sump/Wet Dry

______________________________

When the fish were in qt they were all kept in a hypo saline enviroment. The density of the water was 1.010 which had all my fish 100% clear of all parasites. I slowly raised the density back up to 1.025 for the last two weeks of qt and everyone was fine. I then added 2 fish per week adding the PBT last. He recieved a 2 hour drip acclimation and a 15 min floating temp acclimation so I cant think I acclimated him too quickly. I dont really care for copper meds and the only thing other than hypo salinity I use in qt situations is para guard by SeaChem.

The PBT is the only large, boisturus fish in the tank. The rest of his tank mates are smaller, very docile fish. I am feeding him a mixture of Selcon soaked frozen Mysis Shrimp, Sally's Marine Green Algae and New Life Spectrum Thera A. I spoke with my aquatic ecology professor today after class, he is a Dr of aquatic biology and aqua culture and he thinks that kick ich is a decent product. His main complaint was since it is invert safe it works slowly but in clinical trials was able to rid entire systems of the parasite. I am hoping the diet and kick ich combo work, otherwise Im gonna give the PBT to someone else who desires to be an ich warrior.

 

[melosu58]

I know several people that have used kick ick and nobody has given me a good report. I personnally have not used but as I said others said it did not work. How long were they treated at .010 . From your first post it never said anything about QT treatment . I`m sorry but I had to check. Hopefully everything will go OK. I tried one about nine years ago and I promised myself never again. That was the last time I had ick. I play it safe now. Good Luck.

 

[SeeDemTails]

PBT are cool looking, but I would never put one in any of my tanks!

 

[macman7010]

Yeah I dont know. I have been in the hobby for a while and have always looked at PBT's with a highly cautious eye. I decided to try one but it may go the way of my hippo tang, which was back to the pet store. I have kept Yellow Tangs, Clown Tangs, Red Sea Sailfins, Lavender Tangs and none of them have been this succeptable to ich.

Ill give the Kick Ich a shot and feed him well in hopes of using that as a turn around. If he doesnt show some improvement then Ill take him out and he wont be invited back!

As for qt they were in hypo for about 35 days give or take.

 

[afilter]

As I mentioned in my PM my PBT had one outbreak of ich early on. I believe it was caused by a heater malfunction that allowed the temp to drop. Since I had just transferred to the 90g a month earlier I was not taking it apart to catch the fish.

I started using garlic extreme as a food suplement and daily added 1 drop per 10 gallons. I know garlic is not supposed to be a treatment, but in my case it worked. No other fish came down with ich. Sometimes I think in our interest to have perfect fish our cures can be just as stressful as the ailment.

BTW, I had the tang for another 9 months after that until it mysteriously died while I was out of town.

If you are willing to risk it I say leave it in the main and treat with garlic. Watch for other inhabitants that may be stressing it as well.

HTH,

 

[roka64]

Garlic is great for their immune systems. I soak their food in it along with selcon and zoe.

 

[macman7010]

I checkout out the ich meds at nosickfish.com - they sound pretty promising but at 52 bucks a vial they sure arent cheap. Even calling a 52 dollar med affordable is stretching it.

 

[macman7010]

Well last night I worked and was able to get the PBT out of my reef. He is back in a 30 gallon qt getting treated with Para Guard yet again (SeaChem must love PBT's). The choice now is whether to ask the poor guy to leave or give him another shot.

 

[roka64]

If you leave the tank fallow for 6-8 weeks, that will give you plenty of time to decide....

 

[Saltwaterfish]

I got my PBT about a week ago, I am having him in qt and fresh water dip almost every day now, he is doing great, eats like a pig, swim and do all. He still have some external parasite not much though, hazzy eye, I plan to keep him in qt for as long as everything is clear with. I know this tang is hard to keep, its a challenge(hope i spell it right) I am sure you do too, especially you are saltwater fish keeper.

 

[podman1973]

i had same prob. i have had good results with cleaner shrimp they keep all my tangs looking good 8)

 

[kevint]

Every powder blue i have had got ich. Ihave no trouble with any of my other fish.