powder blue tang - 1000 gallon tank - had Ich 8 years ago - would you try it??

[FishTruck]

I have a system which should be ideal for a powder blue tang (1000 gallons, lots of live rock, barebottom with lots of flow, auto fed and manually fed 6 times per day, busy tang gang currently thriving, UV sterilizer appropriately sized). I can QT for a month. Two concerns.

1. I did have Ich - no fatalities - and not for many years.
2. I swore I would never try another powder blue or powder brown after I had a powder brown fail to survive QT (would not eat). Although, I did successfully keep an achilles tang for two years.

For you powder tang keepers - what have been your anecdotes?

 

[jstephens24]

I bought my Powder blue from TSM and it came in flawless

 

[Halal Hotdog]

I have successfully kept a powder blue for over a year and he is doing great, getting fat. I typically QT and medicate all fish that go into my DT. The biggest variable in your system is the possibility for parasites in the water. Generally speaking, tangs have thin slime coats. Powder blues can be easy to keep in the right environment. I don't know if it would be possible to treat all your existing fish, probably not, in which case I would probably avoid sensitive fish.

 

[ca1ore]

I have had ich in my system for 7 years, even though my fish are asymptomatic. Hard to say whether yours remains. I recall reading a while back that ich will 'burn out' if not augmented by a new strain ….. has not been my experience.

 

[Halal Hotdog]

I have had ich in my system for 7 years, even though my fish are asymptomatic. Hard to say whether yours remains. I recall reading a while back that ich will 'burn out' if not augmented by a new strain ….. has not been my experience.

I do recall reading an article that stated similar to what you said. This is all from memory so please take with a massive grain of salt. Basically if no new exposure occurred then certain (not all) fish showed a resistance that prevented continuous infection which eventually led to crypto no longer being present in the water or fish. I believe in the cases this happened it was due to having only one or two fish in the system, and nothing wet was introduced for over a year.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

I would do it if I had a back up plan ready. Like someone else with an ich free system willing to treat and home if things go south. You would think it would be hard to catch him but not if he’s sick

 

[FishTruck]

[/QUOTE]

I do recall reading an article that stated similar to what you said. This is all from memory so please take with a massive grain of salt. Basically if no new exposure occurred then certain (not all) fish showed a resistance that prevented continuous infection which eventually led to crypto no longer being present in the water or fish. I believe in the cases this happened it was due to having only one or two fish in the system, and nothing wet was introduced for over a year.

My gut feeling is that whatever is still in the tank is likely a non issue at this point. I'll try to find that article. Most of the reefers I know who have been in it for more than a decade have seen ich come and go at some point.

 

[Beefyreefy]

I have a system which should be ideal for a powder blue tang (1000 gallons, lots of live rock, barebottom with lots of flow, auto fed and manually fed 6 times per day, busy tang gang currently thriving, UV sterilizer appropriately sized). I can QT for a month. Two concerns.

1. I did have Ich - no fatalities - and not for many years.
2. I swore I would never try another powder blue or powder brown after I had a powder brown fail to survive QT (would not eat). Although, I did successfully keep an achilles tang for two years.

For you powder tang keepers - what have been your anecdotes?

I have tangs and I don't medicate them in quarantine. I use display tank water and live rock in my QT and I feed them mysis, nori, clams and live blackworms, as much as they can eat. Once they adapt I add them to the display that I run ich management. As long as they are healthy when you get them, they should be able to survive ich. I know this is controversial but it can work.

 

[splitting_lanes]

One of the best fish I’ve ever had was a powder brown in my FO 100g. So smart!

 

[ca1ore]

@Humblefish may recall the article. Think it was not here on R2R but back when I was mostly on RC. Hope for the best but plan for the worst. If you do try, have a plan in place should things go sideways.

 

[Bpfor3]

I agree with whoever said as long as you have a backup plan. My first attempt at a PB, ended in a total tank ich wipeout. I went fallow for 80 days, and retried it, this time ALL my fish went through QT with CopperGuard and praziquantel per Humblefish's guidelines. During QT, the PB almost died. i began to medicate furan2, and he bounced back almost immediately. He has been in my 180 DT and is now an awesome fish. You have two questions? Is the ich still floating around and how would you feel if he is added and the ich comes back because you guessed wrong. Not an easy one. Research as much as you can. then decide. GOOD LUCK!!

 

[piranhaman00]

Are powder blue/brown really that much more susceptible to ich than other tangs? Even of the acan. genus?

 

[kput]

Toss a black molly in and see if the ich is still present / rapidly affects the molly?

 

[FishTruck]

Is it sold yet ??

Toss a black molly in and see if the ich is still present / rapidly affects the molly?

Now there's an idea.... I wonder if there is value in filling the QT with DT water and some rock... then doing the molly test in QT - to see if I can intentionally bring out the Ich. Of course a positive test might only indicate that the Mollys were sick to begin with, but, if they showed no signs of Ich after a month...

I have found scholarly articles demonstrating that fish can develop antibodies and protective immunity to Cryptocaryon irritans in controlled lab studies. So... it follows that if all the fish become immune, that strain of parasite will disappear.

In my old tank... I did go two years without adding any new fish before I broke down the tank. So far... all new additions have been QT'd in at least 30 days of copper.

 

[FishTruck]

Are powder blue/brown really that much more susceptible to ich than other tangs? Even of the acan. genus?

- by reputation powder blues and achilles tangs are the worst -

If I tried it... I would pay for one that had been conditioned (Divers Den or TSM, etc...) - so I at least have assurance that it eats. In my experience, new fish that don't eat are the ones that are hopeless.

 

[kput]

Now there's an idea.... I wonder if there is value in filling the QT with DT water and some rock... then doing the molly test in QT - to see if I can intentionally bring out the Ich. Of course a positive test might only indicate that the Mollys were sick to begin with, but, if they showed no signs of Ich after a month...

I have found scholarly articles demonstrating that fish can develop antibodies and protective immunity to Cryptocaryon irritans in controlled lab studies. So... it follows that if all the fish become immune, that strain of parasite will disappear.

In my old tank... I did go two years without adding any new fish before I broke down the tank. So far... all new additions have been QT'd in at least 30 days of copper.

From following Humblefish's research, if you throw a freshwater molly into a saltwater system, it will likely catch whatever you might have lurking in your display. If the molly hasn't previously been exposed to SW, in won't have the antibodies to fight off infection.
Don't even need to set up a seperate QT, as the molly can't bring over any FW illnesses to the SW tank. They're commonly being used as "Black canaries" in the SW world now.
It would be good for telling you if you do have something in the tank, but not much more than just letting you know.

I had one that lived in my display for a while. Had some babies, and eventually disappeared. Fun personality, as it just followed my Cowfish around like they were buds.

 

[FishTruck]

OK... I’ll try some version of the black canary experiment - thanks guys!!

 

[tehmadreefer]

First of all don’t qt, just get more losses. Second, ich doesn’t kill HEALTHY fish Third, ich Is always present in fish, regardless of qt. Fourth, ya powders are sensitive to new environments which stresses them immensely and most don’t make it, the presence of ich in near death or heavily stressed fish is a result in a reduced immune system.

 

[nereefpat]

ich Is always present in fish, regardless of qt.

We, in this hobby in 2020, should be past this...long past this.

@FishTruck , I may have missed it. Is this a reef? You have options if it's a fish only.

 

[piranhaman00]

First of all don’t qt, just get more losses. Second, ich doesn’t kill HEALTHY fish Third, ich Is always present in fish, regardless of qt. Fourth, ya powders are sensitive to new environments which stresses them immensely and most don’t make it, the presence of ich in near death or heavily stressed fish is a result in a reduced immune system.

Yikes! Lots of misinformation here.