Recent content by Patrick Bateman

I would think that as long as you have the Peppermint Shrimp in your display, you shouldn't need to worry about the Aiptasia becoming a problem for your tank inhabitants. On the other hand, HN1 has a good point. Those nasty little buggers can get out of control really quickly. Perhaps you...

thanks, guys. i'll double check the connections and make sure everything's secure.

My Marinelife canister filter regularly (a few times a minute) spews little bursts of microbubbles into the tank. It's pretty much been doing this since I got it, but it's getting worse. I clean it regularly, and in fact just cleaned it a few days ago. Anybody know what could be up and how to...

Thanks for the advice. How long will it take to raise the brine shrimp to maturity? The copper treatment will be complete on Feb. 8, so I'm thinking that by the time the brine shrimp are ready for her to eat, the water will be copper-free and things will start going back to normal. Am I...

I have a pair of Clownfish in my 20 gallon quarantine tank right now, doing everything right. . . sponge filter, mesh bag of main tank substrate for bio filter. Strong powerhead for movement and oxygenation. Water parameters are good (nitrite's a little high at .25, but ammonia is 0). I am...

Oh, I miss-typed. It was in fact the nitrite reading that was .25. Sorry about the confusion.

For nitrite? Do you mean nitrate? I thought nitrite was toxic is smaller amounts.

The ammonia in my QT has been 0 since I started it last Saturday, using half tank water and half RO/DI water from my LFS. The Nitrate has also been zero up until today when it was .25. Isn't it strange for there to be no ammonia and then have nitrite go up all of the sudden? I've got two...

I would much rather treat prophylactically for marine ich and velvet since with the right kind of copper medication, you are causing a very minimal (if any) amount of stress on the fish. It's definitely worth pre-treating than having an infestation kill off thousands of dollars of fish (which...

Well, that's good news :)

Not showing signs of illness, but Brookynella (I misspelled it before) is so common in Clownfish that's it's called Clownfish Disease. Experts recommend treating with a 45-60 minute formalin bath every other day for no fewer than three treatments total but five being even better. This...

formalin+hyposalinity=dead fish

Although I haven't read that particular book yet (but will be ordering it), I've done a fair amount of reading with regard to breeding clowns and raising the fry, etc. I'll be a little disappointed if my pair turns out to be siblings, as I much prefer the aesthetic of traditional looking...

I'm treating my clowns with a formalin (possibly in combination with malechite green--good idea?) bath to prevent Brookenella and any other nasties that might be a problem later on. My main question is that I know formalin decreases the amount of available oxygen in the water, and that...

If they are siblings, does that raise problems with them breeding in the future? I don't need any three-eyed clownflish swimming around. :D