Powder Blue Tang not eating

[DennisL]

Six days ago, I saw a big Powder Blue tang (Acanthurus leucosternon) with great coloration. Definitely an adult because of the slight orange coloration under the top fin. At least 4" and they hadn't started acclimating him. VERY feisty. Jumped and kicked a lot when they netted him from the bag!

I added him to a 140G tank with 3 other, much smaller tangs. A Yellow (Zebrasoma flavescens) , a Chevron (Ctenochaetus hawaiiensis) and a Blue (Paracanthurus hepatus).

At first the PB stayed near the bottom, and sorta hid. Within 12 hours he was cruising the tank, and picking at the rocks At first there was a little dicing with the other tangs, but this stopped after a couple days.

He actively cruises the tank. He constantly is picking at the rocks. But when I feed, he hides. Even when pieces of food have floated right by him, he just ignores it.

I've tried a myriad of foods, including: gamma mysis shrimp, Biotope Research Herbivore Minced Life Line, Hikari Ocean Plankton, San Fran Bay Marine Mixed, my own recipe (shrimp, scallops, snapper, squid, etc.) and BrineShrimpDirect Plankton Gold flake.

He still seems very healthy, although he's losing a little color in the area immediately behind his black front. See: (it's only 67KB)
http://www.quikstor.com/reef/PB%20Tang.JPG

I've thought about trying live food, but I'm afraid he'll think that's normal and not eat anything else. He's my sixth tang (I have a RedSea Sailfin and a Chocolate Tang in another tank), and this is the first one that hasn't started eating.

Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[naesco]

You know the success rate on keeping powder blue tangs even by experts.
Poor!

But now that you have him the best thing you can do is to take some nori and soak it for about 20 minutes in garlic extract. It acts as an attractant. Tie it with an elastic band and place it near where the powder blue tang is hanging out.
Because the risk of ich is exceptionally high with the powder blue tang, you should keep feeding only garlic extract soaked foods for 30 days as an ich preventative.
Feed him and than feed the other fish at the other end of the tank.
Sometimes tangs are super shy and the best you can do is leave him alone. The extra attention (concern) he is getting from you is just stressing him further.
Best of luck

 

[DennisL]

Thanks for the suggestion. I have both nori and garlic extract, and I can try that tomorrow. The straight nori on the clip didn't get any attention from the PB. The Yellow and the Chevron at it all.

Dennis

 

[EmilyB]

Try some OSI spirulina flake, OSI nibblers.

 

[AF Founder]

Six days ago, I saw a big Powder Blue tang (Acanthurus leucosternon) with great coloration. Definitely an adult because of the slight orange coloration under the top fin. At least 4" and they hadn't started acclimating him. VERY feisty. Jumped and kicked a lot when they netted him from the bag!

I added him to a 140G tank with 3 other, much smaller tangs. A Yellow (Zebrasoma flavescens) , a Chevron (Ctenochaetus hawaiiensis) and a Blue (Paracanthurus hepatus).

At first the PB stayed near the bottom, and sorta hid. Within 12 hours he was cruising the tank, and picking at the rocks At first there was a little dicing with the other tangs, but this stopped after a couple days.

He actively cruises the tank. He constantly is picking at the rocks. But when I feed, he hides. Even when pieces of food have floated right by him, he just ignores it.

I've tried a myriad of foods, including: gamma mysis shrimp, Biotope Research Herbivore Minced Life Line, Hikari Ocean Plankton, San Fran Bay Marine Mixed, my own recipe (shrimp, scallops, snapper, squid, etc.) and BrineShrimpDirect Plankton Gold flake.

He still seems very healthy, although he's losing a little color in the area immediately behind his black front. See: (it's only 67KB)
http://www.quikstor.com/reef/PB%20Tang.JPG

I've thought about trying live food, but I'm afraid he'll think that's normal and not eat anything else. He's my sixth tang (I have a RedSea Sailfin and a Chocolate Tang in another tank), and this is the first one that hasn't started eating.

Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Dennis,
I do not agree that Powderblues are hard to keep, providing of course that you get a healthy one, and keep it in a healthy reef tank.
In your case, I would try Nori or Romaine tied to a dead piece of coral and placed on the bottom of the tank. I would also try the OSI brand of spiruline and marine flakes. The OSI flakes have a stronger than usual ordor, which may stimulate feeding. As I have pointed out here before my Achilles will only, after over 6 years in my reef tanks, eat OSI brand flakes. In fact, it will not eat spirulina flakes from any other brand.

 

[Minh Nguyen]

I also agree with Terry that Powder Blue Tangs are not hard to keep.
Your tang seems to be very healthy. I would just provide him with Nori clipped tied to a stick or rock. He will not eat this initially, but seeing other tanks eating it, he will learn to eat it in a short time. Giving a little time, and if your tank condition is good, he will start eating in no time.
I got a 2 inches emaciated PBT about 6 months ago. At this time is a very fat 3.5 inches PBT. He is the dominant fish in my tank, along with my Majestic angel. The other three, larger and all in the tank longer, tangs (Purple, Yellow and Mimic) all yield to him at the Nori clip. FWIW, my PBT does not eat much meaty type food, just flakes and Nori.
I know that many people say that 6 months is not long enough. I, however, think we all know when a fish is thriving and will live a long time barring an accident versus just barely living and can die any time.

 

[naesco]

The fact is the record for successful powder blue tang keeping is dismal.

Given a safe comfortable ride from the ocean to us, a healthy specimen and ideal water conditions many of the almost impossible to keep fish excluding the obligate feeders might survive.

But the reality is that the shipping is poor and the powder blue tangs suffer more than most. Many do not survive with the result that some LFS refuse to handle them anymore.

Those that arrive enter our tanks come innoculated with ich and other diseases with the result that many do not survive but a few months.
The powder blue for some unknown reason also just up and die at the 6th month-18th month period.
Minh you are an accomplished reefer who has spent many many hours on this board.
I think you will agree with me when I state that we have come to the assistance of reefers with problems with the powder blue tang more than any other fish that reefers keep.
Problems with ich, pop eye, bacterial infections and just plain sick or, just not eating.
The powder blue is possible to keep alive but they are difficult fish to keep alive. IME not as difficult as the gold rim, clown or achilles tang but none the less a difficult tang to keep successfully.
My personally opinion is that you do not have to be a good reefer to keep one, just a reefer who has lucked out on a strong specimen.

 

[DennisL]

First, I want to thank everyone who contributed ideas, suggestions and support from a couple boards and email lists. It really helps to know there's a thriving community of hobbyists ready to help and discuss problems. As I conclude Day 7, still no luck on getting the PBT to eat.

Here's a summary of the various foods I've tried:

Nori on a clip
Nori soaked in garlic juice attached to a piece of rock
Live macroalgae from my refugium (grape caulerpa, small feather caulerpa, large feather caulerpa, etc.)
Red macroalgae attached to a piece of live rock
Nutrafin Spirulina algae flake food
gamma mysis shrimp
Biotope Research Herbivore Minced Life Line (green frozen cubes)
Hikari Ocean Plankton
San Fran Bay Marine Mixed
my own mush (shrimp, scallops, snapper, squid, etc.)
BrineShrimpDirect Plankton Gold flake.
Ocean Nutrition Brine shrimp plus

He's still strong, swims with power, and doesn't have any white dots or other signs of disease. He's still cruising the tank and picking at the rocks. The only time he hides on the bottom is when I open the canopy to feed. I think the problem is stress and acclimation. I'll continue to try different foods (see below), focusing on green/herbivore foods; but I think it may not be an issue of food type. Maybe he'll eat when he's relaxed and ready to eat.

Still to try:
Romaine lettuce
Red left lettuce
OSI spirulina flake, OSI nibblers
Selcon and/or Zoe soaked nori
Possibly seaweed selects
Drying some macroalgae from my refugium, then soaking it in Zoe or garlic or Ocean Rider Vibrance

Dennis

 

[AJT]

I have a Pb with a yellow, purple, sailfin & 2 blue tangs. After the initial pecking order established they all live fine together & have for 3 years. Have you tried live brine to get him started? Live brine is not the ultimate food, but it works well to get them use to eating in a new environment. You can feed the brine Selcon to add benefit to the brine.

My PB gets a slight case of ick about 1-2 times a year & I soak frozen food in Selcon & garlic to combat. Garlic seems to work great with this fish.

Andy

 

[SPC]

I was at an LFS on Saturday that had one PB that looked perfect. I asked the owner how he got so lucky to get such a great specimen. He said that he goes to Fla to the wholesaler and personally picks all of his animals. Over the last year he said that he had looked at about 75 of these fish but this was the first one that looked healthy. The question that I have is can we as a hobby justify the import of an animal with this kind of track record?
Steve

 

[reefland]

That is a stunning PB Tang! Very nice looking. I would highly suggest you try the OSI spirulina flake food. It has a very strong smell to it and should trigger some kind of response to it.

If it makes you feel any better, I had a Naso tang that took almost 3 weeks to figure out what was food. It will learn from the other tangs over time.

Another strong sented food is Vibra-Grow which most fish will also eat (even my Anthias eat this stuff).

 

[MandarinFish]

Agreed with Naesco completely.

If you want one, get a tank raised one from www.inlandaquatics.com that will live.

Please.

I'm the king of killing tangs , with a 135 tank with rock-solid chemistry, food choices, LR and DSB, skimmer, micro and macroalgae galore, OSI, spirulina, etc. So my opinion is probably useless.

I still have little luck outside of yellow tangs myself.

 

[naesco]

OK at this point you want him to eat something..
Place a powerhead 10 inches from the top of the water line.
Try throwing in a variety of foods and than get out of the area.
The idea is that the food hurrying in the water flow might get him excited with the prospect of live food.
Stay away from the tank at this time because your presence and concern may be stressing him

 

[DennisL]

Again, I want to thank everyone for their suggestions. Even those that feel I've committed a horrible faux pas Interesting discussion about whether PBT can/should be kept.

Today he began eating red macroalgae I'd attached it to a piece of rock and dropped it to the bottom. He finished off two batches, with help from my yellow and the chevron. And BTW, so far I have not seen any white dots or other signs of disease.

The bad news is that the PBT is now munching on a sarcophyton, a sinularia and a turbinaria I've watched him take small chunks from each of them. He looks like a parrot fish cruising the reef. And the corals are not happy. None of my other tangs (yellow, chevron and blue in this tank and a redsea sailfin and a chocolate in another tank) have developed this unacceptable habit.

Dennis
My newly refurbished but still under construction
web site http://www.quikstor.com/reef

 

[Henry1]

PBT are not difficult to keep when provided with good water quality, good flow, minimal stress and importantly, adequate space.
When a new PBT is introduced, oftentime, white spots will appear primarily due to stress from harrassment and acclimatisation.
Once settled down, they will start feeding.
I find picking smaller specimen yield better success over large adult.

My previous experience with a failed specimen was an emaciated one which refuse to feed no matter what.
The present PBT which is 8 months now started as a 2.5 inch and is about 3.5 inch now, feed on anything offered.