Asylumdown's 275 Tank build

[gregzz4]

Crappy to hear about your losses and the MI issue

Glad to see it hasn't got you down

[asylumdown]

Originally Posted by mseepman

So glad to see this back on track. Really like this tank and given some of the common "building a house around the tank" issues we've faced, I need this tank to succeed!

#1 mistake: Not having a fish room with a proper QT system in it. My Fiance was so concerned about resale we didn't put a dedicated room in, but we also didn't leave any logical space for a separate QT system anywhere in the house. I tried taking over the laundry room for a while, but that was met with serious resistance. The only thing that has saved me has been the extra time spent designing my sump. After what I've gone through in the past month, I wouldn't run a system without a full prophylactic treatment regimen for every single new arrival again. People say you can't avoid ich, I've done the research, and I'm fairly confident that you can, you just need to be prepared for it.

Also, you think you've planned for everything, but the devil is in the details. 99% of the work happens in an hour or two, that last 1% can take 2 entire freaking days. Each time something happens, I make the adjustments that will make this tank what I originally intended it to be, but man, getting there has been a labour of love. Planning a house around a tank is hard for all the reasons that you know it will be (contractors, timing, design, etc.), but it's made equally hard because it's almost always a completely unique circumstance, and there's no 'out of the box' solutions. Everything I did on this system was specific to this system and this set up. Some things are working beautifully, others I would change if I had the chance, but what I have to keep reminding my fiance (who hates how much time the tank has consumed) is that this is a brand new system. Almost nothing is perfect in it's first iteration, and each change impacts some other part of the system. I keep thinking I'm 'Done' with the set-up, but I keep finding ways to make it less fickle, and less likely to behave in unexpected and unintended ways.

My best advice is to be prepared for the best laid plans to not turn out the way you intend on a first pass, but if you've put enough forethought in to the 'bones' of the system, nothing is irrecoverable.

[asylumdown]

Well this morning has been pretty rough. Sometime last night my QT system crashed. I can't figure out what triggered it. Came down to feed them this morning and the water was the colour of milk. Every single fish is dead.

They were only 10 days away from going back in the display. I've never wanted out of this hobby as much as I do right now.

[Delphinus]

Oh wow that is rough. Sorry for your losses.

[gregzz4]

Sorry to hear this Adam

You've built such a great tank ... I hope you decide to get some more fish

[mseepman]

So sorry to hear about this. You have built an amazing setup and it would be a shame to quit now!

[sharkbait]

Wow I couldn't imagine how rough that must have been for you! Keep trucking, you tank is amazing!

[asylumdown]

I tried hypo, it didn't work for me. To give the method it's fair due, my protocol wasn't exactly perfect, but I don't put much stock in it in general. Copper makes sense to me because its a poison and has been directly shown to kill free swimming stages of the parasite in published literature, and tank transfer makes sense because its designed around breaking the known and published life cycle of the parasite, but hypo works based on an assumption that 100% of the cryptocaryon irritans population has a magic salinity tolerance threshold of 1.009 SG. That assumption is repeated as fact in forums, and seems to work for some people (and thus, some populations of crypt), but it also seems to fail for more people than the other two methods. I have no doubt that some of those failures are due to protocol problems on the aquarist's part, but I would bet money that some of those failures are because some strains of ich can tolerate any salinity a fish could survive, especially if its been acclimated slowly to that salinity with your fish. It's already been documented in brackish estuaries and tidal river systems, so there is definitely a wider range of salinity tolerances in the population than previously believed.

[asylumdown]

Originally Posted by daplatapus

I tried hypo and copper and I lost fish both times. Copper - was my own fault. Didn't know you can't use Amquel at the same time.
Hypo - for some reason I could just not keep the pH up.
I've been doing the tank transfer for over a year, going on 12 fish, haven't lost one yet and so far has been 100% effective.
I understand not everyone has the room for it, but it sure beats everything else I've tried. For actually transferring fish, I syphon out everything but 3" or 4" of water and gently use my hand to catch them. This can't be done safely with every type of fish, but everything I have has done great with it. They don't seem to mind, no thrashing around like you see in a net. It's my first choice for sure for ich treatment or QT.

Yah, you're experience with tank transfer seems to be the norm. Again, it's forums so take anything people say with a grain of salt, but the posts I've seen where people say it failed, it seems like they either contaminated their transfer tanks with materials from an infected system, or they were mis diagnosing the disease.

I'm using a clear Tupperware with holes drilled in the bottom to drain the water, but that's because one of my new guys is a rabbitfish. No interest in getting stuck by those spines.

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

I'm using a clear Tupperware with holes drilled in the bottom to drain the water, but that's because one of my new guys is a rabbitfish. No interest in getting stuck by those spines.

Maybe have the water drain off and pour a jug of freshwater over top to further rinse him off. Not sure that can help any just an idea.