Powder brown

[Damarferg]

Are powder browns hard to keep?

 

[Lshann14]

They get ich very easily


-Tropical water diver? and marine lover.?????

 

[Gregcoyote]

Yes, they get Ich easily and stress when in too small tanks. I'm on many forums, read the posts, one after the other with sick tangs in small tanks. All arguing that the tang police is trying to spoil their fun. You will note there are very few posts of sick tangs in properly sized aquariums for them.


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[Swicicki]

I had one in a 125

One day I dropped rock on a chromis and broke his tail (by accident ). A few day later he was starting to get ich. Few days after that the tang was infected. 2 weeks later both dead the tang from ich and the chromis from the other chromises


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[Andy Sager]

Kept properly, ( that means in a larger aquarium, see Greg's post above), no they are not that hard to keep. Keep in mind tho that as a circular tang, they CAN be aggressive fish so you would want to add them towards the end of your collection not the beginning.

Swicicki's experience, I fear, is rather unique. I believe there is a little more to that story than an injury developing into ICH as healthy fish in a healthy tank with an ich infested fish don;t always contract the condition.

Hope this helps

 

[Gregcoyote]

I agree Andy. Ich is set off by water quality, environmental swings and other issues that result in stress that opens the fish to infection. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.


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[Andy Sager]

I agree Andy. Ich is set off by water quality, environmental swings and other issues that result in stress that opens the fish to infection. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.


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That's not just Theory that's fact, as it applies to other diseases as well.
I've had and my customers have had too many Powder Browns over the years with no issues for them to be considered difficult fish to keep.

 

[jeffaquarius]

Powder Brown Tang is hard to keep in a sense that they are too sensitive on sudden parameter swing. This is true to other tangs as well. The parameter swing in smaller tank is usually intolerable to them that stress leads to ich outbreak. As long as you can keep the stress level down by maintaining good water quality, steady parameter and feeding them well they should be okay. The most critical period for them is during acclimation cause they need much longer time (3 hrs or more) to equalize parameters specially temp, pH and salinity. I had my 3 inch blue tang in a 28 gal nano for almost 3 months, then I moved him to 60 gal for another 6 months and now he is in my 150 gal (72 inch long) together with my yellow and naso tangs. BTW, powder brown needs a lot of feeding to keep them happy that they get so big in a shorter time than other tangs.

 

[Gregcoyote]

+1 they grow FAST. Some surgeonfish exist in tidal zones feeding off of algae. They expect turbulent water that we can't replicate in a average reef tank.

Some surgeonfish are too aggressive even if you give them a good habitat, such as Clown Tangs. That's just my opinion. I have owned and raised almost all of them over the past 30 years.


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[Lshann14]

I agree Andy. Ich is set off by water quality, environmental swings and other issues that result in stress that opens the fish to infection. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.


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+1


-Tropical water diver? and marine lover.?????