Angela's Dream Tank (for now lol)

[CanadianReefer]

Okay, @Humblefish, more developments. My naso Tang became super skinny within a matter of a few days. He's eating very well and there's no white stringy anything, but I mixed some metro, kanaplex and focus into their food assuming something internal. I started this yesterday. Today, underneath his skin but close to the surface, I see tiny black line-like streaks. I'm wondering about turbellaria. My understanding is that they are a tiny parasite that are essentially clear until they attach to the body and feed, then they become darker and take on a black appearance. They can move on the fish and are not killed by copper. If you remember back, I'd mentioned seeing tiny copepod-like specs moving on the fish and irritating them and despite copper and prazipro, they persisted in my QTs.

Do I have black spot on my hands? Will metro and kanaplex be effective?

I should be able to get a picture, since the naso is a much lighter colour than my purple Tang and this really shows up this morning.

 

[CanadianReefer]

Okay, here's the best picture I could get. If you look nearer to the back, right where his belly ends, you'll see the black streak. He has another near his fin that doesn't show up well on camera, and 3 on the other side of him. It looks like there's a tiny hole in the fin itself which is directly below the one black tube-like parasite.

 

[Humblefish]

@CanadianReefer Turbellarians on a naso would look like the photo below:

 

[CanadianReefer]

@CanadianReefer Turbellarians on a naso would look like the photo below:

Could you try sending the picture again, it doesn't seem to be coming through??

Can you see the black tube-like things under my naso's skin? If you don't think it's turbellarians, what could it be??

 

[CanadianReefer]

I can't get a good picture of my naso, but I found something online that very closely resembles what I'm seeing

 

[Humblefish]

Could you try sending the picture again, it doesn't seem to be coming through??

Can you see the black tube-like things under my naso's skin? If you don't think it's turbellarians, what could it be??

There are photos of fish with black ich here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/black-ich-turbellarians.259912/

 

[CanadianReefer]

It looks similar, but I only see maybe 6 or 7 black blemishes. Since you indicate in that post that prazipro kills it, and they've had 2 rounds of prazipro, perhaps it's something else?? Do you know of anything that looks similar? I'm worried about how thin my naso became in such a short period of time

 

[Humblefish]

It looks similar, but I only see maybe 6 or 7 black blemishes. Since you indicate in that post that prazipro kills it, and they've had 2 rounds of prazipro, perhaps it's something else?? Do you know of anything that looks similar? I'm worried about how thin my naso became in such a short period of time

Sometimes prazi eradicates turbellarians, but other times you have to resort to FW dips or even formalin. It's one of the hardest worms to kill.

I don't believe turbellarians invade the intestines; that would more likely be tapeworms or some other internal parasite.

Have you begun food soaking metronidazole?

 

[CanadianReefer]

Sometimes prazi eradicates turbellarians, but other times you have to resort to FW dips or even formalin. It's one of the hardest worms to kill.

I don't believe turbellarians invade the intestines; that would more likely be tapeworms or some other internal parasite.

Have you begun food soaking metronidazole?

Yes - I figured it was an internal parasite of some sort so I started them on food soaked in metro, kanaplex and focus. I noticed the black things on the naso today, but had started the meds yesterday.

I'll see how things go with the metro. They are all eating very well, so it's easy to get the meds into them.

Out of curiosity, have you ever seen a fish get really skinny as simply part of a large growth spurt? It wouldn't explain the black dots (I'll still try to get a better picture) but I'm just trying to figure out possible alternatives for the sudden weight loss

 

[Humblefish]

Out of curiosity, have you ever seen a fish get really skinny as simply part of a large growth spurt? It wouldn't explain the black dots (I'll still try to get a better picture) but I'm just trying to figure out possible alternatives for the sudden weight loss

Naso Tangs need a ridiculous amount of food. IMO; 2-3x daily feedings plus non-stop nori to graze on. If he has intestinal worms, you should be seeing a pinched stomach in addition to thinness.

 

[CanadianReefer]

Naso Tangs need a ridiculous amount of food. IMO; 2-3x daily feedings plus non-stop nori to graze on. If he has intestinal worms, you should be seeing a pinched stomach in addition to thinness.

There are no additional black dots forming, just the few I initially saw. He seems to have put back on a bit of weight, but still has a ways to go. I give him the medicated food in the morning, then regular food throughout the day. I do offer Nori strips several times a day and I switch it up from purple to green to red to brown algaes. I figure since my rocks have very little, I need to supplement quite heavily. There aren't any corals in this system, and before I add them, I'll be setting up my denitrator anyway, so I'm not that worried about nitrates at the moment.

I saw some sort of product from innovative marine that allows you to add several sheets at a time. I might try this. You could be entirely right - what I feel is a lot of food might simply not be enough for a growing naso.

 

[CanadianReefer]

So I started the teardown of one of my tanks in an effort to get things moved over. The fish are in QT for now and this tank will remain fallow for 3 months before I add the coral and rock to my new DT. So strange to see it all torn up like this...

 

[MarylandTang]

Hang in there -- diseases are very tough to deal with emotionally, but you'll power through. Try the popular "tank transfer method" for QT and get them back healthy!

 

[CanadianReefer]

Hang in there -- diseases are very tough to deal with emotionally, but you'll power through. Try the popular "tank transfer method" for QT and get them back healthy!

Yes, definitely tough, but I had made the deal with my hubby to tear down all my other tanks before getting the go-ahead to get the big tank. This particular tank was known to have ich, so I didn't want to transfer the fish, rock or corals without taking precautions first.

I'm definitely doing TTM on the fish before putting them into the new tank. I'm a little concerned about my dragonette, but I have several bottles of copepods and I'm hoping he'll get some food into him during the TTM process. The other fish are healthy and doing well. A little rattled to have been dragged out of their home, but they're tough little buggers.

Thanks for the well-wishes!

 

[CanadianReefer]

Update: Everyone is looking awesome! My naso has gained back all his weight (@Humblefish I think you were right - he needed to be fed many times a day!!) and I see absolutely nothing on the tangs. I'm glad I held out and observed rather than panicked and pulled out all the fish. Looks like there were no real problems after all PHEW! I would have been devastated after all the precautions I had taken before starting this tank... and I'm glad I didn't stress the fish out for nothing. Everyone seems happy with the newfound space!

Moving on, I've added all the fish that were in quarantine. It's actually starting to look like a tank now I'm almost done the TTM on the fish that were in one of my other tanks (known to have had ich in the past) so they will be added in a few weeks and then I'm pretty much done with the fish adding (with the exception of a crosshatch trigger and a few specialty wrasses).

My purple tang is a total ******, but he seems to be settling down a bit now that there are additional fish in there. Can't keep track of them all now, so maybe he gave up hehe. Good thing - he was really banging up my copperband and foxface.

Here's a picture of the latest additions (and the sweet meat coral I just picked up!)

2.5 months till my corals can be added!! :-D Counting down the time!

 

[CanadianReefer]

Yuck. Feeding my Naso several times a day has resulted in a nasty increase in nitrates from 2 to 10! Oh boy...

So I have a biodenitrator. I bought it but then became concerned about setting it up between what my LFS told me and what I read online (in terms of it potentially crashing the tank).

Has anyone here used one? Any issues? It might be what I need if I have to feed this darn naso so much... But I'm so hesitant...

 

[CanadianReefer]

I figured I'd give everyone a quick update on how the tank is doing. It's really coming along it's at full capacity now and all the corals have been added.

I've been able to keep my nitrates at 2 (which is pretty awesome considering the fishload) and the phosphates at 0. Given this, I haven't bothered to hook up the biodenitrator and won't if I can help It!

I'm rethinking a bit about the design of my sump. I had originally designed it to have a chamber full of live rock, but I don't need to anymore (I added more rock to the DT than originally anticipated), so I'm thinking I will take down a set of baffles and expand my refugium. Why not? It's where I breed my copepods and I have many copepod-eating fish (China wrasse, Radiant wrasse, sleeper banded go by, ruby red dragonette, spotted mandarin and Black leopard wrasse). Got to keep them fed!

I'll attach a quick clip of the tank in a few...

 

[CanadianReefer]

Here's the beginning and now...

 

[CanadianReefer]

I hooked up a new QT system this weekend. For those of you who might remember, I had a wall of QT tanks and 2 pop up tanks for TTM, but it was so much work and those smaller tanks pollute so quickly. I kept 1 tank for copper just in case and then set up this 105g system for observation and treatment of everything else. Right now I have my Maculiceps tang and Bellus Angel waiting out until their QT time is up and wow - what a difference. My Maculiceps' personality is really starting to show. I think he's happy not feeling quite as cramped!!

It's a pretty ugly (but finctional) setup. The main tank is 75g and the sump is 30g.

My idea is that when I have a fish that needs meds etc., I can house them in the sump (It's pretty much wide open except a small chamber area). I can cut off water supply to the bigger tank and use a HOB filter. That way, I'm not wasting a ton of meds. If I ever have to QT my whole tank, on the other hand, I now have a much bigger space to do so.

 

[cycled123]

So I thought I would share something a bit humorous. I added a cleaner shrimp, and this is what ensued. I found myself singing the "car wash" song...

LOL

To Funny! I think I need to invest in a cleaner shrimp