subliminalanarchy
Aquarium Advice Activist
Hey folks, I recently got a job at petco as the aquatics specialist (woo). I have about 2 1/2 years experience working with freshwater fish and feel pretty knowledgeable in that regard but I am completely new to marine tanks.
When I first got there I found that my store had one of the highest death rates of all the stores in this division (because no one in this store knew what they were doing) so for the first two weeks all I've been trying to do is get the water quality at a reasonable level (mostly for the freshwater systems).
First thing I found that I had to correct was the salinity was at about 1.027 and the vendors we got our fish from were coming in at closer to 1.017 so I dropped it down to 1.02. Everything good so far?
Cliff Note Version:
Now, enough background info and onto the question. Because our store doesn't have a quarantine tank i've been trying to treat the entire system for ich. Two clownfish have ich and I have treated the tank about 3 times now with little results.
I've tried freshwater dips but I'm not sure if I'm doing these 100% correctly so could use some advice on that. I heard you could dip them for up to a half hour or so but that's not how I was trained. I was told to get two buckets of water that match the same temp as the system and fill them both with treated freshwater. First bucket I let him sit in it for 30 seconds and then I put him in another bucket that has ich medication in it and let him sit in that for another 30 seconds. And that's it. That ok?
Side questions:
-Same problem with our Goldfish system. I've treated it 3 times now but about 10 GF's still have ich!!
- For freshwater fish is hole in the head contagious? A blood parrot cichlid has it at my store. I was going to start treating him today.
ANY help or advice is much appreciated. Or even just random facts. I'm all ears (or more correctly, I'm all eyes) (Ya I like writing).
Thanks in advice for your time and patience which I'm sure I've already tested.
When I first got there I found that my store had one of the highest death rates of all the stores in this division (because no one in this store knew what they were doing) so for the first two weeks all I've been trying to do is get the water quality at a reasonable level (mostly for the freshwater systems).
First thing I found that I had to correct was the salinity was at about 1.027 and the vendors we got our fish from were coming in at closer to 1.017 so I dropped it down to 1.02. Everything good so far?
Cliff Note Version:
Now, enough background info and onto the question. Because our store doesn't have a quarantine tank i've been trying to treat the entire system for ich. Two clownfish have ich and I have treated the tank about 3 times now with little results.
I've tried freshwater dips but I'm not sure if I'm doing these 100% correctly so could use some advice on that. I heard you could dip them for up to a half hour or so but that's not how I was trained. I was told to get two buckets of water that match the same temp as the system and fill them both with treated freshwater. First bucket I let him sit in it for 30 seconds and then I put him in another bucket that has ich medication in it and let him sit in that for another 30 seconds. And that's it. That ok?
Side questions:
-Same problem with our Goldfish system. I've treated it 3 times now but about 10 GF's still have ich!!
- For freshwater fish is hole in the head contagious? A blood parrot cichlid has it at my store. I was going to start treating him today.
ANY help or advice is much appreciated. Or even just random facts. I'm all ears (or more correctly, I'm all eyes) (Ya I like writing).
Thanks in advice for your time and patience which I'm sure I've already tested.