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Making your own fish food Husbanding saltwater fish is an eye-wateringly expensive pastime, in part due to the cost of the fish food purchased from speciality shops. For the past year I have been feeding my fish with home-made food. The results have been very positive: perky, colourful fish and...

Silly me, of course, the lights *smacks forehead on desk* Thanks for the hint guys ! :D

Inexplicable algae: 8 month-old 500-litre tank, sump and protein skimmer. Water is crystal-clear. I've just measured Ph 8.0 (I've added a bit of buffer to get back to 8.2), NO2 0.05, No3 0, NH4 0, PO4 0, Ca 320ppm. Fish are lively and in perfect health, I feed them a varied diet every other...

I have a new Protoeaster lincki, radius about 5cm, gorgeous. Any suggestions on how and what to feed him? TIA :D

As you can see, no visible signs of ich or anything. The rockscape in the tank is all 'dead' rock just for hiding. Anyone for/against copper or wait a while to see if the scratching is just momentary?

I acquired a Sohal Tang 2 weeks ago, he's about 10cm. He's sharing the QT with a Bangaii cardinal, who's been there 3 weeks. The ST has been eating well and looks fine. Water parameters are all OK (zero) 26°, 1.021. Today I notice the ST a little agitated, scratching his mouth/gills and dorsal...

Thanks for the heads-up. He's alone and there's no live rock, so I guess I'll just have to sit it out.

I got a BC last wednesday (5 days ago) and installed him alone in my QT. He's very timid, hiding under a rock all day. I've tried all manner of foods, garliced them, everything, he doesn't *seem* to eat anything, at least I haven't seen him feeding... Question is, how long could he survive...

Beginner, I lost a dozen fish to ich. Now I've setup a QT and I'll be quarantining everything for 6 weeks before it goes into the main. Question: If I keep livestock in a QT for 6 weeks, is it 100% guaranteed that *all* possibililty of ich is removed? If the answer is no, is there any way to...

My main is 480 L, currently 1.023 25°, which I want to stock FOWLR. I've setup a 250L QT and wondered what would be right SG and temp. I'm thinking that slightly less saline would be easier on the fish, maybe 1.019-1.020 and 25°. I'll be quarantining fish and inverts. Any suggestions would...

Sounds like ich. It is practically certain that the other fish will get infected and then practically certain that they will all die. AFAIK, ich if universally fatal. It's move all the fish to another tank and treat with copper, or they'll all be dead within the week. Sorry to be the bringer of...

I have a setup identical to yours and I had the same problem - microscopic particles making the water a little milky. I solved it with a canister mechanical filter (http://www.eheim.com/classic.htm) which takes/feeds from the sump. I filled it half with those small ceramic balls and half with...

Ah, a protein skimmer, not a "physical skimmer", we weren't on the same wavelength. No, I don't have a protein skimmer and I don't think that I need one, at least for the moment. Thank you, essentially the same logic that I went through, my bioload is infinitesimal (two fish, a few shrimps, etc...

Point taken, the info at wetwebmedia is instructive, thanks. There's loads of kiss marks on my glass, can only be him, he's a little less timid now and looks in fine fettle, I'm figuring that he if he looks happy and bolder after a week there's hope yet. He's a cute guy and I'd hate him to...

My hap'worth: Rockscaping is quite hard, and even harder in seawater. The rocks you have are artificial which makes things even more difficult. Suggestion: - Buy a lot of live rock. It'll survive a few hours out-of-water - Empty your tank - Experiment with how the pieces could jig together...

If this is really the case you have very unpleasant tapwater, but I find it hard to believe - tapwater with measurable ammoniac is, erm, bordering on the impossible unless you live in a 3rd-world country. Furthermore, (heavy) ammonia molecules won't pass an RO filter. Maybe you should check your...

Erm, but it's nitrite (NO2) which is bothering me, not nitrate (NO3), or have I mis-understood something? I think so. A picture is worth a 1000 words. Looking upwards inside the tank: and looking downwards from above: My concept of skimmer = yours? Agreed, but 0.05 is not 0.00, which...

Erm, I don't know what that is (well I know what plankton is, but I haven't the faintest where I could procure it. Cyclops brings Polyphemus to mind but your're surely not talking about Greek mythology, right?). Do you buy this at your LFS? He seems a little better disposed this evening and...

Yes and yes. AFAIK their test kit is the same as mine, JBL is a German company and their test kits are universally recognised here in Europe as very reliable. I've *never* seen nitrites completely at zero and I'm stumped as to what avenue I should explore...

My tank is 4 months old now and my nitrites won't quite drop to 0. For over a month they're hovering at 0.05ppm - not a lot but it's telling me something isn't quite right. All other parameters are perfect. I've verified the testkit with tap and RO water, it indicates 0.0 correctly for both...

Be aware that the treatments for ich (typically copper-based products) will kill *all* your invertebrates and *all* the bacteria on your LR - copper essentially kills everything except fish. Basically, treating your main will convert your LR into dead rock.

and there's me, foolishly cleaning off all that green gunge every evening with my magnet. I *have* noticed however, since he's been there that there are traces in the algae on the glass, narrow squiggles a few mm wide. Presumably that's him, to narrow for a snail and too wiggly. I'll let the...