Hey all,
Over Christmas I went overseas for a few months and sadly had to sell my very first marine tank (the person who bought it told me they were very experienced with marine tanks and then promptly killed all my treasured fish and corals within the first week). I recently came home and, having been unable to keep marine fish and gone mildly crazy, bought a 2nd hand 40 gallon tank to get started again. I'd had too much trouble with corals in the past mainly due to temperature (yay the tropics) so I'm going FOWLR. I set up a 13 gallon quarantine tank with a power filter. I bought a juvenile dogface puffer (Homer ^_^) and put him in the QT tank, where he remained for about a week before the ammonia got completely out of control. Even with the filter running and doing multiple daily water changes I couldn't get it below 1ppm for more than a few hours (I knew they pooped but **** THEY POOP HARD), so I put him in the display tank which had finished cycling (it had a mature filter about 8 months old and was settled within a few days with live rock, I kept adding Stability just in case). Because I was mega worried about ich since puffers are ich bombs, I very closely inspected him for any spots but he had none. He did however have some sort of skin rash which I have since established is completely normal for puffers and went away within a week and a few doses of Melafix.
Before I go on, I am completely aware that the fish I own will absolutely grow out of the 40 gallon aquarium. I am moving in 6 months and have pre-ordered a 150 gallon tank for my babies at my new place. I have made a point of buying juveniles so that I can have fish now to feed the addiction (you know what I'm talking about) and give them a good home when they are fully grown. While waiting for the big tank would have been more responsible, I really have no excuse other than "I really wanted those fish now, and they will be provided for in the near future."
Moving on with my tale of woe, I dumped the dirty water in the QT tank and mixed up a new batch to await the arrival of any new additions. Meanwhile, I noticed Homer had developed some ich-like spots, and made a few decisions that I have regretted wholeheartedly and kick myself every time I think about it because they were utterly retardedly stupid. So before you tell me how idiotic I am, I know and absolutely agree with you.
First, I bought a blue tang i.e. ich bomb #2. Second, I thought "Hey! I have some anti-protozoan medication that can be used in display tanks! Even though I know it's not as effective as copper and hyposalinity I think I'll throw the blue tang in the main tank straight away and treat them both at the same time!". So like an idiot, I did. The two fish bonded very quickly and you'd never see one without the other. It was almost like watching a hideously cute couple in the park saying "I love you more!" "No I love YOU more!". For 2 or 3 weeks, everything was good, the spots disappeared, everything was shiny. In this time, I bought a pair of ocellaris clowns and a bubble-tip anemone, a Siganis virgatus and a long-nosed hawkfish. I put all these guys in the QT tank and dosed it up with copper - this is the only tank where things haven't gone horribly wrong. The anemone of course went in the main tank and affixed itself to the most unnoticable corner of the rockwork. Awesome. Two weeks passed, and on Friday the 13th my puffer and tang suddenly got blitzed by ich. Long story short, my problem is this:
My puffer responds well to the anti-protozoan treatment but my tang hides the entire time and will barely feed. I have taken the tang out, given it a FW bath and placed it into a 2 gallon tank of normal seawater (my QT tank is at full capacity and it is barely a 2 inch fish so I figured it would be okay in a small volume as long as I keep changes going daily). It did not respond well to the bath and has hidden since, is looking very pale in colour, ignores live brine shrimp which it loves usually and is gilling rapidly. The water quality in this little tank is fine. As far as I can see, my options are: 1) to leave the tang in the small tank, hope it doesn't die on me and recovers enough for me to begin ich treatment in there. 2) Move the tang to the QT tank and risk everything in there (currently disease free) getting ich and the tang possibly dying from the stress of capture and being placed in a hyposaline system (I switched to hyposaline from copper treatment because I ran out of copper tests, my LFS ran out of the kits and I don't want to risk over coppering my children). 3) Move the fish in the QT tank to the main tank and the tang into the QT tank so that the tang can be treated separately and hope to God that the anti-protozoan treatment in the main tank will work and won't freak them out like the tang. Also, my anemone is not happy about the main tank treatment and I'd like to move it into the 2 gallon for the duration of the treatment which is only possible in option 3.
None of these options is particularly awesome, so I would really appreciate some advice, and maybe even better options! Sorry this is long-winded but I know detail is important. My main tank water parameters are good (nitrates are at 5ppm, everything else is 0, pH is 8.2 - in any case pretty good for FOWLR). I have my main tank, the 13 gallon QT tank with a power filter, 2 gallon tank with a corner filter and a 5 gallon bucket at my disposal as possible tanks. I have 3 air stones that can be operated at the same time. Please help!
Also, please avoid bagging me out about my myriad of stupid decisions, I am fully aware that I have been a distinctly retarded aquarist.
Over Christmas I went overseas for a few months and sadly had to sell my very first marine tank (the person who bought it told me they were very experienced with marine tanks and then promptly killed all my treasured fish and corals within the first week). I recently came home and, having been unable to keep marine fish and gone mildly crazy, bought a 2nd hand 40 gallon tank to get started again. I'd had too much trouble with corals in the past mainly due to temperature (yay the tropics) so I'm going FOWLR. I set up a 13 gallon quarantine tank with a power filter. I bought a juvenile dogface puffer (Homer ^_^) and put him in the QT tank, where he remained for about a week before the ammonia got completely out of control. Even with the filter running and doing multiple daily water changes I couldn't get it below 1ppm for more than a few hours (I knew they pooped but **** THEY POOP HARD), so I put him in the display tank which had finished cycling (it had a mature filter about 8 months old and was settled within a few days with live rock, I kept adding Stability just in case). Because I was mega worried about ich since puffers are ich bombs, I very closely inspected him for any spots but he had none. He did however have some sort of skin rash which I have since established is completely normal for puffers and went away within a week and a few doses of Melafix.
Before I go on, I am completely aware that the fish I own will absolutely grow out of the 40 gallon aquarium. I am moving in 6 months and have pre-ordered a 150 gallon tank for my babies at my new place. I have made a point of buying juveniles so that I can have fish now to feed the addiction (you know what I'm talking about) and give them a good home when they are fully grown. While waiting for the big tank would have been more responsible, I really have no excuse other than "I really wanted those fish now, and they will be provided for in the near future."
Moving on with my tale of woe, I dumped the dirty water in the QT tank and mixed up a new batch to await the arrival of any new additions. Meanwhile, I noticed Homer had developed some ich-like spots, and made a few decisions that I have regretted wholeheartedly and kick myself every time I think about it because they were utterly retardedly stupid. So before you tell me how idiotic I am, I know and absolutely agree with you.
First, I bought a blue tang i.e. ich bomb #2. Second, I thought "Hey! I have some anti-protozoan medication that can be used in display tanks! Even though I know it's not as effective as copper and hyposalinity I think I'll throw the blue tang in the main tank straight away and treat them both at the same time!". So like an idiot, I did. The two fish bonded very quickly and you'd never see one without the other. It was almost like watching a hideously cute couple in the park saying "I love you more!" "No I love YOU more!". For 2 or 3 weeks, everything was good, the spots disappeared, everything was shiny. In this time, I bought a pair of ocellaris clowns and a bubble-tip anemone, a Siganis virgatus and a long-nosed hawkfish. I put all these guys in the QT tank and dosed it up with copper - this is the only tank where things haven't gone horribly wrong. The anemone of course went in the main tank and affixed itself to the most unnoticable corner of the rockwork. Awesome. Two weeks passed, and on Friday the 13th my puffer and tang suddenly got blitzed by ich. Long story short, my problem is this:
My puffer responds well to the anti-protozoan treatment but my tang hides the entire time and will barely feed. I have taken the tang out, given it a FW bath and placed it into a 2 gallon tank of normal seawater (my QT tank is at full capacity and it is barely a 2 inch fish so I figured it would be okay in a small volume as long as I keep changes going daily). It did not respond well to the bath and has hidden since, is looking very pale in colour, ignores live brine shrimp which it loves usually and is gilling rapidly. The water quality in this little tank is fine. As far as I can see, my options are: 1) to leave the tang in the small tank, hope it doesn't die on me and recovers enough for me to begin ich treatment in there. 2) Move the tang to the QT tank and risk everything in there (currently disease free) getting ich and the tang possibly dying from the stress of capture and being placed in a hyposaline system (I switched to hyposaline from copper treatment because I ran out of copper tests, my LFS ran out of the kits and I don't want to risk over coppering my children). 3) Move the fish in the QT tank to the main tank and the tang into the QT tank so that the tang can be treated separately and hope to God that the anti-protozoan treatment in the main tank will work and won't freak them out like the tang. Also, my anemone is not happy about the main tank treatment and I'd like to move it into the 2 gallon for the duration of the treatment which is only possible in option 3.
None of these options is particularly awesome, so I would really appreciate some advice, and maybe even better options! Sorry this is long-winded but I know detail is important. My main tank water parameters are good (nitrates are at 5ppm, everything else is 0, pH is 8.2 - in any case pretty good for FOWLR). I have my main tank, the 13 gallon QT tank with a power filter, 2 gallon tank with a corner filter and a 5 gallon bucket at my disposal as possible tanks. I have 3 air stones that can be operated at the same time. Please help!
Also, please avoid bagging me out about my myriad of stupid decisions, I am fully aware that I have been a distinctly retarded aquarist.