Nice PBT. Hope he stays healthy for ya.
Thanks! He’s pretty, active, and friendly. Looking a little slim, but with live foods hopefully he fattens up quickly.
-Zack, who will probably get reprimanded
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Nice PBT. Hope he stays healthy for ya.
I'm concerned with the velvet... feed him nori 24/7 and he'll fatten up quick. Did the same with my Atlantic blue tang. Everytime I saw the nori gone I put another sheet up. Few weeks he was fat as a hog and happy as could be... until the velvet and I almost lost him. Then he died at the LFS when I traded him such a beautiful fish.
Not being a Debby downer, but I would have qt and medications on hand.
Agreed.There are some fish that can do fine with ich management. Many gobies, wrasse, clownfish, damsels, even some tangs from the zebrasoma family or very hardy acanthurus tangs like the occasional orange shoulder tang — but unfortunately velvet is far too prevalent these days, and outside of that it’s a massive gamble you’ll eventually lose, or more succinctly the fish will lose. You will lose some of the hardier species fish as well, but it’s possible. I did it myself for years, as I wrote.
It’s just my .02. I also agree there’s credence to PaulB’s methods, but find them to be nearly impossible for the majority of hobbyists to follow in full. People may try part of his methods (IE simply not quarantining and feeding well) and this is almost guaranteed to lead to failure eventually—- even in the short run.
How much work are you willing to do?I appreciate the replies.
Brew, I do have rock solid parameters. That could be a good and bad thing. I still can’t figure out my Alkalinity. My NYOS kit reads 16-18. But that doesn’t sound remotely correct. But at least it’s stable[emoji6]. I have Aton if Pods as I have to keep my Mandarin Happy, and my microfauna has to be deep in and amongst the rocks because I never see any strong issues. My sandbed may be a little microfauna weak because of the Sandsifter but.
Jason, I do agree that their are many easier fish, as all of my fish have been geared towards Ich and Velvet management vs QT. I knew this was going to be a tough battle, just didn’t realize exactly how tough it really was. If you only got 1 out of 50-60 to live a year, it sounds like a large challenge. As much as I have dealt with management, odds are definitely against me, and now that I have the PBT what are my options with him?
-Zack, who is having deep thoughts
Yep, the other thing to consider is that this probably won’t help, the symptoms he described (swimming in to powerheads, flashing and scratching a lot, hiding from light) all imply velvet. That was a private convo though so the casual reader may not know!How much work are you willing to do?
There was a study done in the early 1980's that showed how to develop immunity to Ich in fish. Ideally, it will also work with the PBT. The problem? You have to catch him at least 3 times.
In this study, they exposed the fish to high levels of Cryptocaryon, and then pulled the fish and treated it with copper to clear the infection. They then exposed the fish to high levels of Crypto again. And again, once it showed symptoms they cleared it up with copper again. They did this a third time and found that over 90% of the fish treated this way had developed an immunity and were asymptomatic when exposed to Crypto the 4th time.
Will this work? No idea. Is it a lot of work for you and stressful on the fish? You bet. If you really want to keep the fish it may be your best bet imo.
It’s obviously completely your decision. Lord knows I did my fair share of stubborn... unfortunately many many fish suffered. This is actually why I’m so motivated to help other fish. I cannot right my wrongs but I can try to help others!Agreed. I actually have run across an article on the brew. The only reason I was hesitant was the fact, as ford said, I am fighting 2 beasts at once. Ich can be a lot easier to hide IME than Velvet. I have had Butterfly’s live for years in an Ich tank, but not so much in a Velvet tank. Velvet is such a tough and fast acting disease, I haven’t found a way to break the code with butterflys. Unfortunately I am on the same road and Jason, only with Butterflies, not tangs. After reading your article though, I may be done. It’s not worth the fish’s lives for my stubbornness.
I'm lucky. I've had fish for 15 months now. Once they get to my DT I have only lost a few Anthias and a yellow tang to unknown causes. I attribute my success to having read many of Humblefishes posts prior to setting up my tank. I can't tell you how blessed I feel to have started by using good quarantine.It’s obviously completely your decision. Lord knows I did my fair share of stubborn... unfortunately many many fish suffered. This is actually why I’m so motivated to help other fish. I cannot right my wrongs but I can try to help others!
Poor guys.
The nice thing is, is that if they do pull through they should have gained an adaptive immunity to velvet. It shouldn't be a problem again unless you have a major tank stress event. Fingers crossed!Yea we shall see. So far everyone looked to at least eat a little bit. The tang is just kinda looking at the Nori though.