Floyd R Turbo
Aquarium Advice Addict
This week, I'm going to be looking at another system maintained by an LFS. I've been told that the owner of this LFS considers the local Reef Society "the enemy". This is probably because he's a total jerk in the first place, and because his idea of tank maintenance is to do a 20% PWC once a month and charge $250. One guy I met, who at one point maintained 60 tanks, said that his response to when someone tells him that this LFS maintains their tank is "I'll be right over" and they're always in trouble.
This one, I fear, is no exception. This one is located in a elementary school, built into a wing wall between the door to the office and the door into the gymnasium. Our oldest son has his basketball games in the school on the weekends, so whenever I have seen it, the lights have been off and the upper and lower cabinets have been locked.
It is probably about 180 gallon, acrylic column w/ dual end overflows, fake coral decor, and looks at least reasonably clean, save for a little fuzz on the decor - however, I haven't seen it with the lights on.
The first time I saw it, it was blowing air. I didn't have time to look closer at it.
The second time, I looked closer. I saw a Magnificent Foxface that was about 7-8" long, and I think a Clarkii Clown, about 4" long. The clown was acting very strange, swimming along the bottom at an angle (head up, tail down, about 10-20 degrees) and my initial thought was a swim bladder disorder. However, I have heard that some clowns act funny like that.
The third time was last night, and I found that they have a Blue Hippo Tang also, about 4-6" long, and he looks like he has a pretty bad case of HLLE.
I spoke with someone at the school, and they told me that I could come and take a look and evaluate the system. They also told me that they lost 3 fish in the last year, and one of them only made it a few days. They mentioned that the Tang was given to them for free by the LFS and that he had almost no color at first, the guy "added some drops" and he looks a lot better - but the LFS guy told him (correctly) that he will never look normal (such is HLLE). The clownfish apparently spent most of the last month laying on it's side in the corner behind the decor, he's been more active recently.
The only fish that looks even somewhat healthy is the Foxface, and I haven't had a good look at him.
I'll throw a question out there for all you Clownfish experts - is laying on the bottom of the tank for extended periods of time, or swimming as I described, considered normal (or, more importantly, abnormal) activity?
That's all at this point. I'll know more when the Nitrate test comes back over 500 (which I totally expect).
This one, I fear, is no exception. This one is located in a elementary school, built into a wing wall between the door to the office and the door into the gymnasium. Our oldest son has his basketball games in the school on the weekends, so whenever I have seen it, the lights have been off and the upper and lower cabinets have been locked.
It is probably about 180 gallon, acrylic column w/ dual end overflows, fake coral decor, and looks at least reasonably clean, save for a little fuzz on the decor - however, I haven't seen it with the lights on.
The first time I saw it, it was blowing air. I didn't have time to look closer at it.
The second time, I looked closer. I saw a Magnificent Foxface that was about 7-8" long, and I think a Clarkii Clown, about 4" long. The clown was acting very strange, swimming along the bottom at an angle (head up, tail down, about 10-20 degrees) and my initial thought was a swim bladder disorder. However, I have heard that some clowns act funny like that.
The third time was last night, and I found that they have a Blue Hippo Tang also, about 4-6" long, and he looks like he has a pretty bad case of HLLE.
I spoke with someone at the school, and they told me that I could come and take a look and evaluate the system. They also told me that they lost 3 fish in the last year, and one of them only made it a few days. They mentioned that the Tang was given to them for free by the LFS and that he had almost no color at first, the guy "added some drops" and he looks a lot better - but the LFS guy told him (correctly) that he will never look normal (such is HLLE). The clownfish apparently spent most of the last month laying on it's side in the corner behind the decor, he's been more active recently.
The only fish that looks even somewhat healthy is the Foxface, and I haven't had a good look at him.
I'll throw a question out there for all you Clownfish experts - is laying on the bottom of the tank for extended periods of time, or swimming as I described, considered normal (or, more importantly, abnormal) activity?
That's all at this point. I'll know more when the Nitrate test comes back over 500 (which I totally expect).
