QT Tank for Powder Blue Tang

After having my tank setup for over a year with the same 2 fish I think its finally time to add a 3rd. Which I think is going to be a powder blue tang.

So I've got a quarantine tank setup for him already and am wondering if I should proactively treat him with any medications and if so which ones?

 

Power Blue's are one of my fav fish, sadly my tank isn't large enough to house one. How big is the tank it's going in?

If you get it from a reputable source & can monitor for a bit, you might be ok without QT.

 

Depends on how big the fish is and the QT tank also.

 

Its going in a 90 gallon right now and then will be moved to a 210 gallon when I move.

The fish i'm looking at is probably around 3"-4" and the qt tank is 29 gallons.

 

tangs shouldn't go in anything smaller than a 75G especially if you plan for them to live for awhile. they need swimming space as they love to dash back and forth. also need a good supply of fresh greens to eat. Do you have a refugium?? i grew my food for my tangs. In my experience a QT is a waste of time a usually stresses the fish right out. i say that because QT are usually a new setup and are hard to maintain parameters. If the fish has no visible problems when i recieve one i acclimate and goes strait into the DT. I don't like the idea of QT, i would rather start things out on a positive and think everything is ok rather than a negative an assuming something is wrong. I have a hospital tank where i will treat fish that develop problems although it never really happens for me anymore. I have never had great luck with powder blue or brown tangs but good luck!

 

That made me chuckle to myself. Like positive thoughts are going to save your livestock.

 

I'd highly recommend a QT tank, but it's totally up to each individual. Keep one if you want to play it safe, otherwise you can take your chances without one. I'm not going to say you can't get away with not using one, but given the choice, I'd choose to use one. I always keep one set up so it's "seasoned". Has a couple of pieces of live rock in it, with a skimmer and HOB filter with carbon in it. This makes it much more stable, and less stressful to anything I put in it. I wouldn't medicate it unless it develops some kind of problem. Good food, stable parameters, and not being harassed by other tank-mates should be all you need while you wait to make sure it hasn't carried any problems with it.

 

with powder blue tangs, every time you move them you are putting a ton of stress on them.
This is one of the only fish that are a PITA to get acclimated. if its going into a mature tank then it will usually be okay, however if you QT it you risk the added stress to bring out any infections it may have.
Its a catch 22, pbt are one of the "sickest" fish but are also hard to be QT because they get stressed too easily

 

Some reefers take QT'ing to the extreme where they are so obsessed with it (or what they heard from others) they can't enjoy their tanks and the hobby. It's almost impossible to QT everything (fish, corals, shrimp, snails, crabs, pods....sea weed), you would need multiple QT systems due to meds. Unless you sun dry all live stock, parasites could come in on a drop of water when you transport snails/crabs from the bag to your display. I usually just rinse snails/crabs in some old tank water.

My approach is to take educated risks, I'm not saying everyone should do this but it has worked for me. In your case I would highly recommend QT'ing the tang. They are already prone to ich and there is a very high probability he already has it, QT him and at least do hypo, some may even recommend treating him with copper, I wouldn't unless you see signs. A 29 g QT tank is fine for the fish. I don't QT corals, shrimps, snails, crabs...and I didn't even QT all my fish in the beginning and I've never lost a fish. I haven't added any fish to my tank recently but if I was going to add more fish, I would QT them.

 

A QT tank should be fine, for this fish for up to 6-8 weeks. As long as the QT isnt freshly set up. However like Dingo said, They get stressed out easily. When we had a powder blue, we never QT'ed it, and it didnt get ick either. However We've been watching this fish for over 2 months at the LFS.

I personally dislike QT'ing any type of Acanthurus Tang..... Just my Opinion, and Experience. Quite a few of the more delicate species of acanthurus have a thinner layer of skin then most tangs. and heavily medicating them can be fatal because of that some times (mostly with copper)