Worth it, or not?

Is powder blue worth having. I know they are a stunning fish, but I hear all the time they do nothing but get ich. Is there any of you who have at success with these animals?

 

I have heard they are ich magnets but many tangs are. I believe they can be kept successfully if you can take exceptional care of them. There are others on 3reef that have them and take care of them successfully. They may just require a little more diligence than other tangs to remain healthy. Go for it if you think you are ready if not start with a yellow or blue hippo tang. Both have great personality and are hardier.

 

Quarantining the fish prior to introduction to the display, will probably increase your chances of success.

 

i disagree with this fish. I have a powder blue perfectly healthy going on 1 year old. This fish is so senstive to ich anything will cause him to get it. So much as me doing a water change brings it out in him but goes away in a few minutes. Something like transferring him from qt tank to dt tank could bring it out again. I keep mine happy with few tank mates and a balanced diet. he lives with a purple in my 120

nori, brine, mysis, pellets a variety of foods keeps them happy and healthy

watch it in the store for a few weeks and purchase it from a supplier you trust. make sure it feeds normally and no bad signs.

i dont know how many stores i go to and all their tangs have ich, terrible color loss, and a inability to eat

 

ICK MAGENETOS.... peoples powders that havent gotten ich are very lucky.. They get HLLE super easy too.. But i wouldnt ever put a tang in my tank without a solid solid quarantine..

 

maybe I am just lucky but I have kept many "difficult" labeled fish with great success, including mandarins, leopard wrasse, potters angel, assorted Tangs, & currently have a Powder Blue. I have owned various Tangs and have never had one come down with Ich or any ailment.

PBT are def more demanding of food and you must make sure to feed them a constant nice mix of greens and meaty foods. I haven't had mine too long but it eats a nice balanced mix of mysis/seaweed/veggie flakes. When I initially got it, it became a bit emaciated so I took quick action to up its feeding regimen.

The most important thing to do with them IMO is to make sure they are eating/healthy before purchasing one. Also it is beneficial to have a tank that is established & stable in water params and not stocked with fish that will stress the PBT out. So, if you want one, it should be your only Tang in the tank (unless you have a very large system) and best suited for tanks at least 90g+ with emphasis on length 4ft+. Many would say you shouldn't put one in anything under 100g.

Now I have my PBT in a 70g cube and it's not the optimal dimensions for it, but it is a very small one. I will upgrade and/or weight my options as it grows.

So, other than what I posted above, it comes down to being responsible if you really want to attempt this fish. It's one of the most beautiful SW fish in the hobby & just be prepared to responsibly care for it if you want to be successful. This is not a fish you can just add without really understanding its needs.

What size tank are you looking to put it in & what is in there already? Answering those questions will help us give you better advice.

 

Thank you,

We're thinking a 75 or 120 high. If it's the 75 I'm sure the PBT is a no. Currently we have just a 10 gallon with a neon gobby in it. We're just planing out what we really want to do. My wife REALLY wants the 120, 5 foot tank so we can get a PBT or powder brown tang.

 

I do not have a PBT, but do have a blue hippo and yellow. The yellow has never displayed ich, but my blue hippo has three times. I can definitively say that every time the blue hippo has displayed ich, it has been stress induced. Shipping, rearranging rockwork, introducing new livestock, quick erratic motions infront of the DT, etc.

I think alot of issues that contriube to ich can be minimized/eliminated with good planning. A well thought out and researched stocking plan to ensure the fish are compatable and peaceful towards eachother, avoiding overstocking, plenty of hiding spaces, making sure the fish is well and healthy, a stable tank, plenty to eat, etc. Just remember STRESS = ICH.

I went as far as ensuring that the blue hippo I bought was from a reputable dealer online (LiveAquaria), so I was rest assured they would ship a fat, healthy tang showing no signs of ich. I didn't QT because, again, QT adds an enormous amount of stress to a fish. I'm not saying QT doesn't have a place, it does, just not with the fish we're talking about unless you're striving to achieve an ich free system (almost impossible, IMHO) and willing to take a few losses in QT due to stress. Tangs (PBT and hippos specifically) have the greatest chance of survival without that transition.

Overfeed for the first few days after arrival, varying the diet alot. Try to get a sense of what it prefers, and constantly offer it. The next few water changes should not be intrusive, even if it just means syphoning water off the top. Walk slowly around the tank. Try to keep the area as stress free as possible for the very first few days while the PBT gets used to it's envrionment and the routine.

If you get the 120 and are comfortable with it, I say go for it!

 

I agree with this especially with tangs. If you don't introduce ich to your display tank, then no fish can get it. So if you quarantine this fish and treat the quarantine with hypo or copper to kill any ich he came with, then you will NEVER have ich in your display tank.

Ich doesn't come out of this air. It must be in the tank and then a fish gets stress and allows the ich to take over.

The moral of the story is don't introduce ich to your DT.

 

all tangs could be called ich magnets, but a healthy tank with a varied diet will help the ich not come out as much, occasionally you may be able to see it on him but all this will do is affect his appearance it is in no way fatal if it is in a healthy enviornment. this is the same with many tangs. many people have great success with this fish.