WarDog's Tank Thread : Episodic Trial And Error

[Roskoreef]

oh man do i ever feel for you, I feel like we have had very similar tank issues... Dry rock, zeovit and my acros started stning, then i also had an ick outbreak from an emporer angel i added (dumb fish to add to a reef tank btw) that killed over 13 fish and quick 1000 bucks. Several tangs, clownfish, mandarins(prob not ich but weird timing), 10 chromis 1 by 1, it was awful. After about 12 days there was my coris wrasse and 3 chromis that seems to be doing just fine.

I had planned on going fallow but couldnt catch the coris...so i just left it alone for a good month. I recently started to add fish again...

Ich is still present in my tank, for sure, but none of my fish I have added have died. I beleive that feeding well and have a very good source of oxygen for the water ( i added another exteral skimmer) keeps fish healthy and heavy oxygen is hard for ich parasites to thrive. My fish show some spots here and there in the evening, but by mid day they are all ich free it seems. so far i have added 15 chromis, a yellow eye tang, mellanarus wrasse, male and female bird wrasse and several anthias..All relatively hardy except for the tang..

Im still not going to QT anymore but i now realise that great husbandy and hardy fish with well oxygenated water is the way i am going to deal with ich.

[gregzz4]

I use a QT. I'm not against the TT method, nor am I against adding fish directly to a DT. I just don't do it 'cause for me it's too risky. And because I QT everything I lose about 20% of my fish, but I've never lost one that was added to my DT due to being new to the tank.
I'm sure people who add fish directly to their DTs lose at least 20% of their new fish, so isn't it relative ?
QT does not kill fish, reefers kill fish ...
A proper QT setup can support almost any new fish, IMHO.
Now we'll hear the arguments about it after this post ...

On the other side of the fence with Rosco's comments in mind ...
MI apparently cycles itself out after approx 11 months.
So in Rosco's situation, if he added no new critters of any kind for 1 year he could potentially be MI free.
Then he could use a TTMethod or QT to keep his DT MI free.

Then there's the concern about Tomonts coming into the tank with 'stuff'.
They can be on anything wet. So what do you do ?
Even though I QT everything, I've given up worrying about the small things (thanks Brad).
I dip new corals, don't do anything beyond acclimation with shrimps and crabs, and for 3 years my tank appears to be MI free. Knock on wood.

So many choices ...

Then, if you do QT, what protocol do you employ ?
Aargh, this hobby is so much fun.
Aren't you glad you took it up, instead of basket weaving ?
I'll bet you could have had some awesome embroideries for sale by now at the local market

Then, what if it truly is Velvet ? As I said earlier, it's beyond my experience so I can't diagnose/recognize it. But if it is ....
Well, then you need to keep some chloroquine phosphate on hand, and I happen to have some if you need it ...

[WarDog]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

Hey, cool paper spreadsheet. Did you steal that idea from someone too ?

Totally stole it from a guy I know!

Originally Posted by gregzz4

Then, what if it truly is Velvet ?

Can't be, or everything in Rich's tank would be dead too!

In regards to QT, so much to consider... regrouping as of now.

[WarDog]

Originally Posted by Roskoreef

A very good source of oxygen for the water ( i added another exteral skimmer) keeps fish healthy and heavy oxygen is hard for ich parasites to thrive.

Never knew about that, interesting. Something else to consider. Thanks Rosko!

[Wretch]

You do have an extra skimmer kicking around...

[WarDog]

Last fish dead... just now. Fallow tank day 1.

[gregzz4]

Well maybe that's a good thing - maybe ?
It'll give you time to remove some more phosphate from your rock, and use the zeo to possibly build up more bacteria?

[WarDog]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

Well maybe that's a good thing - maybe ?
It'll give you time to remove some more phosphate from your rock, and use the zeo to possibly build up more bacteria?

Yeah it sucks, but it's the best thing for the tank. Not too worried about PO4 @ .03, corals don't mind. 3 months of no fish does give me the opportunity to add some more live rock, remove an inch of substrate, finish the stand, mount the frags and the Apex, and on and on. Lots to keep me busy.

[rishu_pepper]

Originally Posted by WarDog

Last fish dead... just now. Fallow tank day 1.

Sucks to hear bro. At least now fallow starts you'll know the new fish 3 months later will/can all be healthy. Something to look forward to!

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by WarDog

Never knew about that, interesting. Something else to consider. Thanks Rosko!

I've never heard that, and according to a study I found, not really valid.

"The effects of dissolved oxygen on tomont development were examined. Tomonts were incubated in hyperoxic (141%), oxic (100%), hypoxic (24%) and anoxic (0%) conditions. Under the hypoxic and hyperoxic conditions, tomont development was suppressed. Under the anoxic condition, tomonts died. However, when tomonts were transferred into an oxic condition after 2 or 4- week incubation in the hypoxic condition, development resumed, showing a rapid increase in theront excystment rates 10 to 11 days after the transfer."