Starting over with my tank!

I'm not offering advice, just my experience here. My regal tang battles ich every once in a while and I do nothing except try to make sure the water quality is really high and that I am feeding it well. I also have a cleaner shrimp that is worth its weight in gold. All new fish follow the shrimp around until it finally cleans them. I know I was really worried about the ich when I first got the fish, then I realized in my tank it was just a phase.

HAT
I can't help you with the marine ick, I've been fortunate enough never to have it.

As for food, tangs are hebivors and will need a little bit of dried seaweed several times a week to stay healthy. In the wild they pick at various algaes on the reef all day. Otherwise they eat just about any frozen or flake food.

Finally, in order to give it a great home, you need to go purchase a 6' tank, preferably a 180 gal or bigger. Powder blue tangs get big, and they're fast swiming fish that need a lot of room to stay healthy. Then got to www.reefkeeping.com and read all the past article with "reefkeeping 101" in the title, most are by Tom Murphy (AKA Waterkeeper) and will give you a wealth of information on setting up a new tank. (Sorry Marc, those are still the best source of beginner info I know of)

And what I typically do when I see a great looking new fish at the fish store, is go home and read up on it first, then if it sounds good for my tank I'll go back and purchase it.

Thanks Austin and Phil, I got a cleaner shrimp for the ich. I also got some dried seaweed and some brine shrimp. As soon as I acclimated the shrimp and dropped him in the fish ran to him to be cleaned. At first he wanted no put of it but then he took nips.

Thank y'all for the help! ;-)

HAT

Wow, they really like them some seaweed!!!

Originally Posted by Hat39406

Wow, they really like them some seaweed!!!

If you have tangs, dry seaweed is a must, ensure you feed them enough that they can graze. I call my tangs "my cows" cause they're are always grazing. Its good you have some now.

I also supplement ( I don't use it everyday, maybe once a week or under certain conditions) with Garlic Xtreme, most LFS should carry it. If you have an Ich breakout and catch it early enough or do work on the tank, add another fish... These are all things that can stress a fish and tangs are suseptable to Ich when stressed. Obviously poor water quality is a big factor. But even if your water is spot on perfect, a tang, especially a powder blue can/will get ich. Supplement with Garlic will help reduce this. Garlic is something I am never without.

My Cows also like regular lettuce and broccoli, i will give them this a few times a month as a tweet.

Thanks for the info mledford, yeah mine love to eat and graze. The scopas is a pig when it comes to eating. He out-eats the powder blue 3/1. Can they eat broccoli out of the freezer? And lettuce out the fridge? I got a sample of garlic xtreme today I believe. I also got them dry seaweed. The powder blue is still healthy although he has the ich. Thanks to Austin for easing my mine by telling me about his tang, I was really worried.

Powder Blues are ich magnets. It will fade away and resurface later.

Garlic stimulates appetite, so adding a few drops to the Nori is a simple step. Let it soak in for a few minutes, then clip it in the tank for the fish to eat.

I would use fresh broccoli or romaine lettuce. You can also try an orange wedge rubberbanded to a rock. Banana is another fun treat to offer from time to time. Nori is usually the easiest and best choice. Don't leave anything in the tank long term, other than the wedge of orange. After about 15 minutes, if it is still in the tank it might be best to remove it.

Regarding broccoli, heat up a pot of boiling water, then using tongs, place the broccoli in the boiling water for 15 seconds. This is called blanching, that's all it needs. Now it is safe to put in your tank. Romaine lettuce should be cleaned under cool water to wash away pesticides. Banana - take a small piece and break it up into bits in the water and see if any of your fish like it; my Purple Tang loves it while the Naso doesn't seem interested.

Thanks Melev, I'm going to try all the different things you said. The powder blue looks better already. Nature is amazing, when the new cleaner shrim was falling in the tank both tangs were headed to him. They were backing up to him and waving their fins. awesome!