how resilient are powder blue tangs

[Jeff]

i know pbt are ick magnets but i was wondering how tough they are against it. i recently purchased one that was eating at the lfs but when i got it home my yellow tang tore after it so i turned out the lights. well by morning time things were better but the yellow still wont allow it near some parts of the tank. the pbt has been nipping at the rocks for algea but wheni fed the fish it wouldnt eat,and it is now covered in ick. does it stand a chance of making it or is it a goner?

[hobogato]

slim. had one live for almost two months - battled ich on and off, eating all the time. woke up one morning and he was dead.

[Bill S]

My new addition went thru a battle of ich pretty pretty well late last week. Blue hippo I've had for many years, was totally - and I mean TOTALLY covered. I mean like Don's tang photos. Worst it's ever had - and it is an ich magnate. Powder had a moderate case. Achilles was well peppered. Fed them every 2 hours, and now today they are all pretty much recovered. We'll see how they are in a couple of weeks. They ate like pigs thru the infestation.

[fishypets]

I gave up on PBT's after watching 8 of em die.

[brieman]

I have not had any luck with the powder blue or the hippo tang.

[jc]

Did any of you who lost hippos or PBs have any type of cleaner fish or shrimp? I have a hippo that has a recurring case of ick, but he seems to be fat and happy. I feed frozen mysis and angel cubes with sheets of nori. I also add vitamins, selcon and garlic every so often. I think the cleaner shrimp I have makes a big difference. I may even add a neon goby.

[Ed]

Have you tried feeding Spirulina flakes and/or macro algae?

I have both a Blue surgeon and a Powder Blue that both eat like pigs.
Ich has never been a problem. They stay fat and happy and pretty much rule the tank.

[N5KC]

I have 7 tangs in my tank and had 1 break out of ick. I put them into a hospital tank and gave them the once over, ie.. salinity, water changes and the like. This went on for about 40 days. I put them back into the tank and have never had any problem with them since and that was about a year ago. I will give you the MAN who helped me the most and it was Gary P. He told me and sent to me an article about ick. I think I still have it in my PM. Try contacting Gary and get the skinny. Good fortune to you.

[Jeff]

i currently have a yellow and a blue tang in each of my tanks so i'm no stranger to ick, i was just curious about a pbt.

[NaCl_H2O]

I have a PBT I have had for about 3 years now, never had any real ich problems - lucky I guess?

[JeffCo]

Ive also had one for about 3 years. The main point now is to try to get him to eat. They will usually recover if they are eating. It also helps to have some cleaner shrimp in the tank. Try putting some nori in the tank, they will usually eat that.