Carpentersreef

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Hey Ernie,
I had kept one in my 55g for a few months. After adding/rearranging LR, he came down with ich. It was my first and ONLY attempt at medicating a fish. At first it was succesful, and then just to be sure, I treated it with a stronger dose of Coppersafe. The ich certainly disappeared, but because of the affect that the overdose had on the tang's digestive system (apparently), the tang died.
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In hindsight, I should have left the tang in the tank, and let tthe disease "cycle" with the cleaner shrimp and otherwise good water conditions.
I found the tang to be EXTREMELY aggressive to new additions, and he even killed a copperband I had. Even after the copperband was dead, the tang kept attacking the dead body with it's tail.
In your 180, the powderblue tang may be fine, but I would put him in last.

Mitch
 
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Anonymous

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Usually a fairly hardy fish but they don't ship well. Once established in a tank it will usually do fine if the tank is established (i.e. you're not constantly adding more fish or rearranging the rock).

Glenn
 

naesco

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I have a larger tank than your 180. I lost the powder blue a few days after I got it.
It was wounded by another tang which I already had in the tank.
As I am sure you have read as well, most articles say that the powder blue is very prone to ich and the survival rate is very poor.
Your tank in large enough for other tangs though.
 

jeff967

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We have a pb tang in a 100g tank, He is also in with a sailfin tang.Both eat like pigs and are doing very well.
 

esmithiii

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Glenn (Rover) How bout them dawgs (vs Ky)? Also, should I count your personal experience as a positive one?
 

mia1974

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I had a powder brown for 3 years until my tank back-siphoned (due to lack of coralline cleaning on the return) when a gfci blew out. What a nightmare, I lost way more than just the powder brown. Its a long story... anyhow, I had no problems with him, so when things stabilized once again I decided to go with the powder blue in my 180. That was 4 months ago (I know, by no means a huge success story) but he/she is doing great, eating well and getting along well with the 3 other fish in the tank. I think the key is variety in diet and stable, stable water conditions. Looking forward to at least another 10 years with him/her
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Anonymous

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I've had several in my store. Usually if they make it through the first ick outbreak, which they almost always get, they do fine.

Glenn
 

davelin315

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I had a small powder blue ($18 at a crappy fish store!) that was in my 125 reef for 5 or 6 months until it just disappeared (body was never found, I attribute that to scavengers in the tank being pretty darn effective). I also had a large 8"+ that I bought for $5 because it had been left out on the runway at O'Hare airport for 5 or 6 hours in the winter time and was not doing well. It ended up dying the same night I bought it, but I don't blame myself for that at all. It was lucky to survive as long as it did in my opinion after what it went through.

The one that lived for a while, it did very well in my reef, but it was very small. I don't think a reef is an appropriate place for a powder blue, the same as for a number of other tangs, like nasos, vlamingi, unicorn, achilles, and any that are free swimmers. Our reefs are more geared towards fish that will swim in and out of the reef itself, not towards those that swim around the reef. Powder blues often swim in large schools and will cruise in the open wate above and around the reef, stopping here and there to pick at stuff, but they're not like the yellow tangs that will hover over a certain spot and pick at it for hours and dart in and out of hiding places in the reef.
 

Mike&Pam

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Failure. We purchased a 5" powder blue from our LFS for our 90-gal reef tank. We were very new at reef-keeping and we were told by the staff (we no longer go to this store) that this fish would be fine and ok in our tank. We had an Achilles tang as well, these 2 fish went at it and were constantly harassing each other until they both got ich and gave it to the whole tank. We pretty much lost everybody and it was terrible! We found out later that the powder blue is not good for a tank our size and should not be housed with an Achilles. In addition, that tang needs lot of swimming space and may not do well in a reef tank. We haven't had the courage to get another tang yet (seriously considering a hippo tang soon). Good luck with that fish...beautiful, but difficult in my opinion.

Pamala
 

esmithiii

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For those of you who have attempted a powder blue tang, please let me know if your tang lived and was healthy or not, and if not, why not. Also please list tank size and contributing factors.

Thanks in advance. I am contemplating one in my 180G Reef.

Ernie
 
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Anonymous

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There are success stories here, but be warned if could question everyone that ever tried one I think the results would weigh on the side of failure. I worked in a store for a long time, so I've seen many of them. They need a varied diet too or their color fades rapidly.
Jim
 

cat23

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I have a PB in a 125 with a sailfin tang. I've had him for about 7-8 months. He hangs out with the sailfin all day playing with the water coming out of the powerheads. Eats like a pig and is very healthy. One thing I did was get a sterilizer when I added him. I think this helps. I also do water changes every 2 weeks to keep my water quality good.
 

esmithiii

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JimM: Thats why I am doing the poll, so that hopefully I can get a good number of experiences. Any additional, specific experience would be appreciated.

E
 

odenwell

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I've had mixed results with Powder Blue tangs. Mostly bad. I currently have a Gold Rim tang in my 200 gal reef which I have had for about a year. Very similar to a powder blue. Looks kind of like a hybrid between a Powder Blue and a Powder Brown. Very nice looking. The fish has never had a spot of ich on it since day one.

[ October 21, 2001: Message edited by: odenwell ]
 
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Anonymous

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I have one in my 100. He had been at the LFS for 2 weeks and was oicking at the rocks and would eat spirulina. I bought it, I also had the LFS check their salinity which was 1.022, with a swing arm
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. When I got it home I drip acclimated it for about 2-3 hours in a 5 gallon bucket. I have had it for about 2 months and it is a pig. Whenever I approach the tank it wags at me to feed it as if it were a dog. It eats pretty much anything I put in the tank. I have an algae clip that I use daily. I put nori, red and brown seaweed selects in it (about 3"square of each). He cruises everywhere, in, over, and through the rock work. IMO, the key is to get a healthy one to start. It is my understanding that they are cyanide caught many times. The LFS where I got it says there is only one source that he will use due to the abysmal survival rate from the pthers. According to him, 80% of them survive from this supplier. I question that number because I can't see that many reefers here. HTH
 

Jeff_S

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I had a PB about 15 years ago which developed lateral line disease after a year or so. He eventually died from what I suspect was nutrition related diseases. I have recently added a 5" PB to my new tank. I have moved him to the hospital tank twice because he was flashing against the bottom a lot. Each time after a month of treatment in the hospital tank he appeared free of disease and I placed him back into the main tank. He would start flashing again almost immediately. After the second time I decided to leave him alone. He appears fine with no evidence of disease but still flashes on the bottom occasionally. He eats like a pig and will devour anything I put in the tank. I think the selection of foods is better today and hope to avoid any LL disease. After 5 months he is doing well and although he is not the biggest fish in the tank he is the bully of the tank.
 
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Anonymous

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To answer for Rover, yes, us dawgs did well against us Cats.

I was born in Lexington, now live in Athens.

Constantly arguing with myself.
 

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