Thinking about a saltwater tank...

[Rutrag]

Everywhere I'm reading online says to find the underlying cause rather than treat the parasites themselves... For now my plan is to keep doing lots of WCs and keep the tank as healthy as possible because according to a lot of sites online the fish should be able to fight it off if given a stress free healthy environment.

Thanks! I'll post some pics... I got two very small frags, one is kinda pinkish-red and the other hasn't really opened much yet but it's kinda yellow on the inside and reddish on the outside.

From someone who has learned the hard way, do yourself a favor and pick up a 10 gallon tank and a power filter to set up a quarantine tank. It's not all that much room and will save you in the long run. I QT all my new fish for at least two weeks with copper now. I lost half of my fish to ich. There is no underlying cause to ich, it's just a parasite that goes nuts in closed aquarium systems. The only guaranteed treatments are copper and hyposalinity, but inverts cannot tolerate either. Once you eliminate the parasite in the display (running without fish for at least 30 days) and prevent it from entering the display, you'll never have to worry about it again.

 

[okapizebra]

Both fish are still active and appear healthy today and are eating. And it looks like there are less spots, if none?? I'm not sure what's going on here. Honestly there isn't a single space where I can fit another tank... If my fish can pull through this, there is only plans for one more fish in the tank. But we'll see how they do. I can't do anything today anyways because it's a holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I know I certainly am thankful for all my fish/inverts/plants/corals!

 

[Bearchumjs]

Happy thanksgiving! Glad to hear your fish look better. Maybe do a big water change today to make sure they have nice clean water?

 

[okapizebra]

That sounds like a good idea. I'm going to go mix up some more water and do the change tomorrow. I only have like a gallon leftover from last week. Does the water have to sit for 24 hours before doing a WC? Otherwise I can do it later today.

Just FYI to anyone who buys supplies from Petco, nearly everything is 50% off online! Some amazing deals that I wish I had more money to take part in...

 

[Psychocircus91]

That sounds like a good idea. I'm going to go mix up some more water and do the change tomorrow. I only have like a gallon leftover from last week. Does the water have to sit for 24 hours before doing a WC? Otherwise I can do it later today.

Just FYI to anyone who buys supplies from Petco, nearly everything is 50% off online! Some amazing deals that I wish I had more money to take part in...

Do you know how long that sale lasts?

 

[okapizebra]

Just mixed up some water!

The sale lasts all weekend long.

 

[Bearchumjs]

It's suggested to wait 24 hours, however I think the box says you can use it right away as long as all the salt has dissolved. So I don't know... maybe wait until this evening?

 

[okapizebra]

Okay, I'll either do it this evening or tomorrow.

 

[okapizebra]

All right... still haven't done that WC! The water just doesn't look dissolved... there's particles floating around in it. Is that bad? Or is it safe to use? I just got a heater today and put it in so I'm waiting for it to warm up some.

The fish are still healthy and acting normal. The firefish doesn't have single spot on him and looks completely normal. The neon goby has one or two spots on him. I guess the fish are fighting it off just fine. But things are looking good... One coral is doing great, always open and healthy looking, the other is mostly open but is a lot smaller and doesn't appear as healthy.

 

[Bearchumjs]

I think what happens is if you add the salt to the water too quickly then it gets that "snow. It's ok to use. Mine used to do that. Next time try adding the salt slowly while mixing. Don't just dump it all in at once.

 

[okapizebra]

Okay, thanks. I admit I did it a little fast, but I didn't dump all of it in at once. The last time I mixed I went much more slowly. My WC will take palce tonight...

 

[Gregcoyote]

Having a small power head in the bucket also helps get everything into solution.

 

[okapizebra]

Yeah I figured I ought to get one. I have to order some more prime on amazon anyway for my FW tanks, so I think I'll order a PH. I feel better at least in the fact that the water will be the right temp now that I added a heater. It is starting to get cold here and I was afraid I was putting in water that was too cold.

 

[okapizebra]

Did about a 30% PWC. Tank is a bit cloudy from the salt not mixed the greatest.

Sometimes I really am still in the FW mind set... poured in my SW without even testing the SG yet!! Luckily I was only halfway through with the change... added some distilled water in the tank and everything was okay. I'm starting to get more and more frustrated with my hydrometer. It seems like one tiny little bubble makes it move a crazy amount... read my SG at about 1.024, maybe a little higher, so next time I top off I'll add some SW to bring it back up a little. I hope fluctuations from .001 won't bother the fish. Everyone's looking fine though.

 

[okapizebra]

Just ordered my circulation pump.

 

[okapizebra]

Oh and about the Petco sale BTW... It was actually a glitch that most everything in the store was 50% off. I went back a few hours later to place my order only to find that all of the items in my cart were no longer 50% off, but only 20% off.

 

[okapizebra]

I ordered a cleaner shrimp and my clown goby last night from reefs2go! This will be my first time ordering anything other than snails and plants online... got a great deal, saved so much money buying from there and not my LFS, including shipping. Also got a free zoa frag with it.

My fish look healthy and are very active and eating, so I assume they fought off the disease just fine. Just hoping everything will be well with the new fish. But if I'm going to have to QT my fish, I might as well do all 3 at the same time because the clown goby is my final fish. So hoping I'm not being too risky for that... just couldn't pass up a good deal and I'm awfully tired of seeing my firefish be mean to the poor neon goby, which is what I think brought on some stress in the first place! I requested my fish be delivered on saturday.

 

[okapizebra]

Everything arrived alive and well and are currently acclimating.

I could use some help on IDing some hitchhikers. There was a tiny little brown thing that looking like a nudibranch. I removed it to be safe. It was realllllly small. There are also quite a few little worm like things that look coiled up in a circle stuck to the glass. They are reallllllllly really tiny. Anyone have an idea? Pics won't work due to their small size.

 

[Bearchumjs]

Everything arrived alive and well and are currently acclimating.

I could use some help on IDing some hitchhikers. There was a tiny little brown thing that looking like a nudibranch. I removed it to be safe. It was realllllly small. There are also quite a few little worm like things that look coiled up in a circle stuck to the glass. They are reallllllllly really tiny. Anyone have an idea? Pics won't work due to their small size.

Are the worm things white?

 

[okapizebra]

Yes, they appear to be white.