Powder Blue Issues
 

We have had a nice fat PBT about 4 to 5 inches long now for about 4 months now.
The issue is, that any slight inbalance or change in the tank will set off a cycle of ich. Water changes, adding new fish, cleaning, putting my hand in the tank to move coral...
When the ich breaks out he becomes an a** and put the run on our kole tang, cleaner wrasse, starry blenny, and anyone else that dares go near him. Ich also spreads to others in the tank but not nearly as bad.

I've been told by our LFS that this is just the case with the PBT's and as long as we keep him there will always be ich issues. That being said, I would love to hear some other opinions on this.

Other info: BPT was in the LFS for about a month before purchase with a cleaner wrass. We bought together and did not quarantine because I was more afraid of over handling and adding more stress. I have also started treating entire tank with Poyp Lab.

Any insight or opinions on this would be great. Thanks.

I'm going with the LFS on this one. Not much you can do once it's in the tank. Although even if you'd QT'ed and treated, it is probably the stress that sets him off, not the ich itself. He would likely still be an ass.

Had a powderblue in my tank for about a year and it continuously showed signs of ick. It was the dominant tang and troublemaker. Since I removed him things have settled nicely.

sounds like a typical powder blue

Doesn't sound like much of an existence being stressed and diseased half the time.

Going to continue with the polyp lab treatment on the tank and see if I get anywhere. Such a beautiful fish and a model citizen in our tank in between the bouts of ich.

Being that he showed no signs of ich in the store in a small tank with hands in it every other day, it must have been in my sand bed waiting. Or will this fish generate it on its own.

Thanks for the replies.

Jesse

I used to worry to when my powder blue showed signs but after a year of on and off ich I to have realized it is just part of owning a pbt . Just make sure to feed lots of nori and soak it in garlic. I used to run uv but I read somewhere that it not good to do this when running bio pellets. Keep him fat and he will be fine .

If you can run a high-powered UV light that can help. Soaking food in garlic extract a few times per week can also help. Generally though, that is how PBT's are in smaller reefs. They tend to fare an easier existence in very large reefs, but can still be problematic. It's also quite normal for him to be a jerk, and the irritation of Ich doesn't help.

We have our powder blue about 7 years he has never had ich that lasted more then a couple spots, he has recently turned into eating my Sps and re arranging my frags for me, attacks me when I clean the tank also try's to shrewd the algae magnet. He's never been shy tho, hasn't had ich last 2 years. Can't add anymore fish to the tank as he attacks anything.

Thanks Ram and Myka, I will look into the UV. Doing an LED build and was going to add a couple channels of UV, might not be enough to do much though.

Took a good look at him tonight before the lights shut down and there is a nice big ich dot right on his eye. Reminds me of Woogie from "There's something about Mary" I would be a jerk too...

I've had very good luck with my powder blue tang as it has never had a bout of ich even from day 1 and I don't QT any of my fish so long as they look healthy and come from a reputable vendor. I purchased my powder blue the size of a toonie from J&L and I've had it for well over 3 years now without any ich whatsoever.

As many of the others above have mentioned, I'd highly recommend running the biggest UV sterilizer you can outfit your system with. Contact time with the water column is very important so your flow through rate on the UV should be pretty low in order for it to be most effective. Sadly the UV emitters you will be adding to your LED build will do nothing for eradicating ich, they will only help your corals fluoresce more.

The use of UV sterilizers as a means of treating/preventing ich has been highly debated for years now in this hobby and mostly what it comes down to is personal experience. I was unable to keep any species of tang without them succumbing to ich prior to investing in a UV sterilizer. After I started running one, I haven't had a major outbreak of ich for almost 10 years. A few years back after adding a purple tang and a blue throat trigger to my tank, a few of my tangs developed a few spots of ich which I thought was strange as none of them had ever come down with it before. Turns out the bulb in my UV sterilizer had burnt out. After replacing it, the few spots of ich my tangs had never returned.

I've heard of similar success stories from many others in this hobby as well where the use of a UV sterilizer made the difference between keeping tangs happy and healthy whereas without the use of one, they were struggling with ich outbreaks every few weeks and after the addition of new fish to their system.

I also agree with Myka that powder blues and most of the tangs belonging to the genus Acanthurus do best in larger reef tanks where there is ample room for the fish to swim. I've seen these tangs do well in tanks smaller than 4 ft long however these instances are rarer and usually the tangs need to be relocated to a new home once they reach a certain size. Smaller tanks tend to stress out these fish more, weakening their immune system and making them more susceptible to disease and parasitic attack.

I hope this information helps your situation. Powder blues are one of the most beautiful and sought after tangs available to us in this hobby but are definitely not the easiest species of tang to care for.