Asylumdown's 275 Tank build

[gregzz4]

I'm sure it can't hurt, as long as the pH is matched

A dip in StressGuard or ParaGuard between tank transfers might help too, especially for those using nets instead of collanders
But I stress following the instructions closely

[Zoaelite]

Hate to say it but I think its time to do away with the quarantine tanks Adam.

Trying to sum up your efforts so far has personally given me a head ache, I can only imagine what its doing to you. Imo quarantine is just too stressful for many species, I have personally never utilized it and have had great success introducing new fish. Purchasing fish with zero illness that will eat infront of you at the LFS and then go home to a well fed and healthy system is key here.

That being said I have never had the brutal experience of Marine Velvet, I'm sure most who advocate for quarantine have experienced this.

Sent from my HTC Desire HD using Tapatalk 2

[gregzz4]

I won't knock your procedures Zoa (sorry, can't recall your name), but I'll say that after bringing home some apparently healthy, although MI prone fish, and putting them in a fresh QT, I've recently been through MI and was glad I put them through QT

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Zoaelite

That being said I have never had the brutal experience of Marine Velvet, I'm sure most who advocate for quarantine have experienced this.

That's the biggie, IMO. I agree that quarantining sucks, a lot. Almost as much as losing all your fish. While I hate doing it, if I bring home a new fish, I add up the replacement cost of what is currently in my tank. That's usually incentive enough to go through the hassle..

[asylumdown]

I'm perhaps getting a little neurotic about how far I'm trying to take this quarantine thing, but I guess my problem is that I seem to really love the super sensitive, ich prone fish. Before I started this, I simply couldn't add new fish, every fish that would go in would be fine for the first day, flashing the second, look like it had been dropped in a bowl of sugar the third, and dead by the fourth. I had a few guys who didn't seem bothered, but it got the point where even the most robust were exhibiting distress, then even my "resistant" established fish started to die. I lost half my fish, then quarantine killed the rest. I feel like I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't at this point.

[gregzz4]

I wouldn't say you're being neurotic at all
I think you have been through enough issues, with enough negative things happening, that you are losing your mind like some of the rest of us

[asylumdown]

Well, for the first time since August 15th (or maybe it was the 18th?) My tank has fish in it. My display tank is now the happy home to a juvenile Australian Harlequin tusk (it still has it's false eye spots), and a very young doliatus rabbitfish. To be honest, if I wasn't going out of town for 5 days tomorrow, I would have probably done a full tank transfer protocol on them, but since I didn't want them to spend 1 second in a copper free tank that could have encysted tomonts waiting to hatch, it was either leave them in full strength copper for a 4th week, or get them out of copper and in to a sterile tank that had no filtration. The tuskfish was starting to lose his appetite, and it looks like he's developing fin rot, so I didn't think the extra week in copper was a good idea.

These two have now been through a three week cupramine treatment at between 0.5 and 0.6ppm, then a tank transfer to a sterile, guaranteed ich free tank for 3 days. The fin rot worries me a little, so I put them both in a paraguard bath for an hour before transferring them to the main tank. Hopefully with perfect water quality and good nutrition the tusk's fins will recover. Everything I know about the biology of crypt tells me that there's no way these fish should be carrying unseen parasites, and my system has been fallow since... late September I think (mid August if you count the days there was no fish in the display, but in the sump, though ich was clearly present in the sump in that time). I've even been neurotic about new invertebrates going in to the display, not a single drop of water from another system has entered mine, and anything with a dead skeleton or shell has been carefully rinsed with fresh water, then brushed with a toothbrush dipped in full strength bleach before being quarantined for at least a week, in which time the water in the 5 gallon QT tank was 100% replaced at least 3 times. All sps colonies and frags have been broken off the rocks or plugs they came on, and re-glued to new, sterile bases before being QT'd for at least a week. If I have any say in the matter, I'm going to have an ich free tank.

[asylumdown]

Picture time!

First, some FTS:
Front:

Back:


South Front:

South Back:


North front:

North Back:


And some growth shots:
Sept. 10, 2012

Dec. 28, 2012


June 21, 2012

Sept. 10, 2012

Dec. 28, 2012

[asylumdown]

July 11:

Sept. 10

Dec. 28


Oct. 18

Dec. 28


Oct. 18

Dec. 28


Oct. 18

Dec. 28

[asylumdown]

And the birds nest I have isn't doing so hot, so I'm going to replace it with one of these guys when they come out of quarantine:


And these are the guys I have downstairs going through the tank transfer protocol:

I have a swiss basslet in there too, but he's too shy to get a picture of him.

I also appear to have conquered ich, the rabbitfish and tuskfish in the display are in perfect health, not a speck on them since they went in!