Stocking a 55g

[OscarFan76]

Gah! I hope they don't have ich. Both have white spots. The strange thing is I saw several white spots on the dottyback's body this morning. 15 minutes later they were all gone. Several on the beauty though. Hoping it is something other than marine ich. I will see if they are still on the beauty when I get home from work.

Could it just be sand or stress? My sand is almost white. The base rock is white too.

Coral beauty still hasn't eaten anything.

 

[OscarFan76]

I think I might try the hypo treatment just in case it is marine ich unless you know of a better option.

Questions for hypo treatment:
1) how slowly should I lower the salinity?
2) is it ok to hypo my display tank since I don't have a qt tank setup yet? The only thing in it is these two fish and a little bit of live rock. 50 lbs base rock. Will it kill of the 10-15 lbs of live rock?

Thanks!

 

[Sniperhank]

To my knowledge, you need to do it kind of quickly or the ich will adjust. You should be ok doing it in your dt.

 

[Josh1158]

Pistol shrimp are noisey but there real cool and mine trims the macro alge in my tank. You should check out a 6 line wrasse too they got great color.

 

[Bhardesty]

What are you feeding them?

 

[Josh1158]

The pistol shrimp? He gets what all the other fish get. A mix of salt water frozen stuff, flakes krill, and pellets. I just happend to hear him snapping away one day and I found him taking chunks of macro. Ever since then I try to put some down where he can get it.

 

[OscarFan76]

I was using new life spectrum sinking pellets but they would just fall to the bottom. So until I went to the lfs last night I had to use goldfish flakes. The flakes would fly around the tank for several minutes because of the power heads. So I picked up some flake marine chips - herbivore diet (instant ocean brand) last night. I also got some garlic hoping it would help. I soaked the new flake food in garlic. No luck so far on the beauty. I'm going to try bloodworms today.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for all the feedback.

 

[Bhardesty]

Ive had good luck with the garlic. But it does take time. You just dont want to over do it cause the garlic can contribute to raising your levels. Ive also done a fresh water dip( be careful). And if you dont have any, try cleaner shrimp. Mine eat everything off my fish.

 

[OscarFan76]

I was considering a fresh water dip. A little worried about it though. The coral beauty seems a little stressed as it is. He finally ate a little this morning.

 

[Bhardesty]

Did you just recently add them to your tank. If so it sometimes takes a couple days for them to adapt to a new environment and start eating. I have used the fresh water dip but i would kinda research and ask around for people who have done it. I personally like the garlic, but it does take a few days to see results. Also its goo for the fish. Between the garlic and cleaner shrimp ive always had good luck.

 

[OscarFan76]

Yes. They were added Sat evening. They are the first inhabitants of the tank. Just two fish and liverock. I'm trying the garlic route and an herbal ich treatment. If that doesn't work then I will pull them out to a 10g hospital tank and use some blue stuff the lfs gave me. I think it is probably copper based so I don't want it in the main tank.

Thanks for all the support.

 

[Bhardesty]

Ok. Give the garli a couple days. But you dont want to over feed them. Its also always a good idea to ask how long the fish has been at the lfs, if it just came in its gonna stress it even more moving it again.

 

[OscarFan76]

I'm not sure the garlic/herbtana is helping. Feeding garlic soaked food and using herbtana as treatment. Ich does look any better but smells tasty. haha.

Will a 10g work as a qt tank? Im afraid it wont be large enough for the beauty. I'm hearing they will need to be in qt for 6 weeks for the ich to die off in the main tank.

I have heard that I cannot dose copper in the display tank since it has live rock. The rock just absorbs all of it and it will make it impossible to keep inverts in the future. Does that sound correct?

 

[Bhardesty]

That about right. Imo a 10g is a lil small depending on the size of you beauty if its a baby shouldnt be a big deal.

 

[OscarFan76]

Thanks. I think I will move them tonight and start treatment if I can locate a copper test kit.

I'm thinking of hypo treating the main tank while they are in qt to speed up the process of the main tank.

 

[OscarFan76]

Well they are looking a little better. Maybe the herbal treatment with garlic on the food is not snake oil.

Going to give it a few days and see how it goes before moving them now.

 

[Bhardesty]

Sounds good

 

[OscarFan76]

Both fish are looking much better. No flashing and no visible signs of ich. I hope it stays that way. The herbal treatment might be helping their immune system fight it.

 

[Bhardesty]

The garlic does too.

 

[OscarFan76]

Removed them to a qt. they are doing good so far. I'm starting copper tonight and will leave the dt fallow for 4-6 weeks.