temp drop in a sps tank?

[CoralBeauties]

Has anyone experienced a temp drop in their tank and how well did the corals and fish fare?  I came home tonight tonight to my tank measuring 71.3 deg.  Everything seems to be doing ok so far except for my recently added powder blue tang.  He is moving slower then normal with glassy eyes and ick spots on him.  Any ideas how this might affect my sps corals?  I have had, what i thought to be a higher end finnex titanium heater heating my system all this winter so far.  I luckily had (2) 300 watt heaters I use to heat my water change water that I have running to bring things back up.  Just when I start to feel comfortable with the stability of my tank this happens.
thanks
jeff

[lazylivin]

Likely all your corals will be unaffected by temperature because you have so much water volume the drop was probably slow over several hours. Recommended temp for most corals are 72-78 so not to far out of range. Keep us posted and good luck.

[Rayman]

ouch sorry to hear this, hope the PB makes it.

[Reefd Up]

SPS are more adversely affected by high temperature or temperature swings than a stable low temperature.  In fact, corals are usually slightly higher in temperature than the surrounding water anyway.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/2/aafeature2/view?searchterm=temperature

During Hurricane Ike, we were without power for 9 days.  During that time, we did not have heaters in our tanks - the temperature dropped into the low 70's.  As long as the temperature doesn't dip below the low 70s, is stable, and you have good flow, you should be ok while you *slowly* raise the temp.

[CoralBeauties]

The pb was fine the following day after the temp drop, eating well and active.  then on thurs I came home to him completely covered in ick and just sitting on the gravel bottom.  I came home today to it dead and stuck to the side of my vortech.  I didnt read up enough about powder blues and how susceptable to ick or I might have not gotten one.  I wont purchase another one and risk it also.  I have fought ick with this fish for the past month since I got it.  does the ick attack the hosts gills to eventually kill it?  I hate loosing the money on the fish but I mostly hate taking a fish out of the ocean to kill it in my tank.
Jeff

[ghurlag]

They way I understand it, there are two approaches to controlling ich.  One is to be vigilant with any fish susceptible to it, and to treat them at the first sign...  every time.  Another method would be to periodically run a UV sterilizer, which will kill anything that runs through it (including the good stuff).    There is some sort of balance you have to find and maintain between killing off the baddies, yet not sterilizing the water to the point that the beneficial microorganisms all become toast, which involves determining how often to run the sterilizer.

I've yet to personally use a sterilizer, so take this information with a grain of salt.  I have chosen to avoid tangs altogether for right now, in part because of their acclaimed magnetism ich magnetism.

[CoralBeauties]

I have been treating the tank with garlic and putting it in their food off and on for the last month since I added the powder blue.  It was a constant fight with only that fish.  I have a purple tang that is extremely healthy without the first problem.  i will probably shy away from adding another tang for awhile.
Jeff

[ghurlag]

I don't blame you.  I haven't heard for sure that any varieties of tangs are more prone than others, but there's nothing to lead me to believe that's not the case, either.  Who knows?

Good luck, though

[Wall_Tank]

Tangs in the Acanthurus family, like the Powder Blue, are very prone to ich.  Any stress can cause an outbreak.  Even small tanks are quite stressful for these tangs.    The Tang Police (There is a cool photo in another thread) would probably tell you anything shorter than a 6 foot tank is too small for a tang in this family.

Tangs in the Zebrasoma family (Yellow, Purple, Brown), do much better fighting ich.  They also can survive well in a 4 foot tank, but not recommended < 90.

[CoralBeauties]

I originally had a yellow tang and added a purple tang.  The yellow tang fought with the purple so much I had to chose which one had to go and the yellow got the boot.  I was wanting to get another tang, thus the powder blue.  I have a 180 gallon tank so there is plenty of swimming room for one.  Not sure if I will try another tang or just let the purple be the only one that I have in the tank.
Jeff