Draining tank to catch fish causee havoc on my sps!!

Marc2952

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This is the fourth time ive been having to do a fallow period due to ich and before i had any corals it wasnt as hard to catch fish, but now with all the corals growing it was almost impossible to catch them all. So i was told that i could drain the tank to catch them for like 1 hour and the sps wont mind it. Turns out that is false and infact i woke up today to find that a bunch of my sps have retracted polyps and already lost my CK casio pia, WD and tsa ghost rider. This is really disheartening and would make anyone just quit the hobby, and it was all for nothing too since i still couldnt catch all the fish due to all the rockwork. My next step is to watch all closely as i already suspect an alk spike since the corals will probably stop consuming it for a while. Have any of you guys had any experience draining a tank and the effects to acropora? My next plan with the remaining fish is to not feed them for a couple weeks to see if they will go for the trap.
 

jmichaelh7

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I kept a 32 gallon halfway filled with same water on the side, pulled the rock and coral and placed them in there while I caught my fish
 

Eagle_Steve

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This is the fourth time ive been having to do a fallow period due to ich and before i had any corals it wasnt as hard to catch fish, but now with all the corals growing it was almost impossible to catch them all. So i was told that i could drain the tank to catch them for like 1 hour and the sps wont mind it. Turns out that is false and infact i woke up today to find that a bunch of my sps have retracted polyps and already lost my CK casio pia, WD and tsa ghost rider. This is really disheartening and would make anyone just quit the hobby, and it was all for nothing too since i still couldnt catch all the fish due to all the rockwork. My next step is to watch all closely as i already suspect an alk spike since the corals will probably stop consuming it for a while. Have any of you guys had any experience draining a tank and the effects to acropora? My next plan with the remaining fish is to not feed them for a couple weeks to see if they will go for the trap.
I have completely drained a 180 to catch a damsel who loved to eat milli. Drained tank into tubs, put heaters in tubs, left corals and rocks in tank, caught damsel, then pumped all water back in. 0 losses. Even on the damaged corals (after he was gone). Did some water changes later. Was tempted to put new water in, but figured that would shock them, so didn’t.
 
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Marc2952

Marc2952

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I have completely drained a 180 to catch a damsel who loved to eat milli. Drained tank into tubs, put heaters in tubs, left corals and rocks in tank, caught damsel, then pumped all water back in. 0 losses. Even on the damaged corals (after he was gone). Did some water changes later. Was tempted to put new water in, but figured that would shock them, so didn’t.
Interesting i wonder why all my sps started showing signs of stn just hours after draining tank, i was heartbroken to find my casio pia completely die just 1 day after. Pulling out the rockwork wouldnt be possible since alot of them are glued together and will be a nightmare to put them back together exactly how they where. I gotta figure what im gonna do with the flame hawk and royal gramma that i couldnt catch.
 

PeterC99

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Use the fish trap! Takes a little patience but the best way to catch your fish and not disturb your tank.

Get your fish use to fish trap. Put trap in tank and feed your fish only through fish trap! After they get used to eating from the trap, remove trap. Next time you need to catch a fish, place trap back in tank and catch the desired fish. They will come running into the trap.
 
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Marc2952

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I kept a 32 gallon halfway filled with same water on the side, pulled the rock and coral and placed them in there while I caught my fish
Good thing you have a small tank, that would be a nightmare for me lol i was seriously considering just letting the fish there and let ich handle it but thats just inhumane.
 
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Marc2952

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Use the fish trap! Takes a little patience but the best way to catch your fish and not disturb your tank.

Get your fish use to fish trap. Put trap in tank and feed your fish only through fish trap! After they get used to eating from the trap, remove trap. Next time you need to catch a fish, place trap back in tank and catch the desired fish. They will come running into the trap.
Yea ive been trying to catch them with my trap for a week, was able to catch the two clowns but the wrasses wasnt having it. My next step is to let them starve a bit for a week or two and then put food in the tank to see if they go for it.
 

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When I do a big water change I cover sps with LFS bags or Handi Wrap to minimize "drying out" Think it gives me a few more minutes to do my work.

Good luck
 

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I drained mine on my reefer 250. yesterday. Posted on my build thread. Had to catch my African Flameback. He was picking on my new scolys. I drained it all the way to the bottom and he still wouldn't come out of the rock. I drained water into brute cans. I started pouring pitchers of water back in to see if he would swim out of the rock. He finally did and know he is in the 900.

Coral all seems to be fine. I did have to glue an Acro frag back on that I knocked off. Good luck.
 
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Marc2952

Marc2952

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Quick question since my tank is mature now at almost 2 years, how do you guys go about keep nutrients stable? Last fallow i did my nitrates started tanking which caused all sorts of issues. Do you guys recommend dosing ammonia? Like 1 drop of ammonium chloride a day? Or just keep feeding?
 

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Interesting i wonder why all my sps started showing signs of stn just hours after draining tank, i was heartbroken to find my casio pia completely die just 1 day after. Pulling out the rockwork wouldnt be possible since alot of them are glued together and will be a nightmare to put them back together exactly how they where. I gotta figure what im gonna do with the flame hawk and royal gramma that i couldnt catch.
Did u turn your lights off? As you drain your water, the light that actually hits the coral intensifies so it could have been this exposure of light on the exposed corals might have stressed them out. I think BRSTV discussed this recently in one of their videos.
 
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Marc2952

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Did u turn your lights off? As you drain your water, the light that actually hits the coral intensifies so it could have been this exposure of light on the exposed corals might have stressed them out. I think BRSTV discussed this recently in one of their videos.
Ohhhh dang no i ddnt, i left the light on to see the fish lol famn that makes alot of sense now.
 
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Marc2952

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dang never crossed my mind that the coral being exposed to the light outside the water might have been the culprit. This hobby really is something else lol
 

MERKEY

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I'm going to be devils advocate and ask.....

Since this has failed 3 times, why not get your fish fat and happy and let them fight off ich?

I understand the want of a pest free tank but after 3 negative attempts maybe you should try a different approach, there is a section about ich management and those people seem to have very happy and healthy tanks.

Just had to play the other side;)

I do wish you the best on the quick catch and hope this time the fallow works for you!
 
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Marc2952

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I'm going to be devils advocate and ask.....

Since this has failed 3 times, why not get your fish fat and happy and let them fight off ich?

I understand the want of a pest free tank but after 3 negative attempts maybe you should try a different approach, there is a section about ich management and those people seem to have very happy and healthy tanks.

Just had to play the other side;)

I do wish you the best on the quick catch and hope this time the fallow works for you!
I waa thinking about that, but felt bad for my tang since everyday he seems to be scratching more and more everyday, my wrasses scratch sometimes too. Thing is i did management once but lost a couple fish in the longterm. Ive been months without it its just i made the huge mistake of adding a coral to my tank without QT. But management has deff crossed my mind a couple of times. Is it true that the more mature the tank the less ich would affect fish?
 

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How long were the corals out of the water? I have SPS and even euphyllia completely out of the water during my water changes and I've never lost anything because of it. Theyre out for maybe 20 minutes maximum though and I assume that trying to catch the fish took way longer than that. In the future, I would suggest a fish trap :) Its not the fastest way to catch a fish but it's the least invasive
 
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Marc2952

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How long were the corals out of the water? I have SPS and even euphyllia completely out of the water during my water changes and I've never lost anything because of it. Theyre out for maybe 20 minutes maximum though and I assume that trying to catch the fish took way longer than that. In the future, I would suggest a fish trap :) Its not the fastest way to catch a fish but it's the least invasive
I left them out for about 1 hour as it was a challenge to catch the last 2 fish and had to give up.
 

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Quick question since my tank is mature now at almost 2 years, how do you guys go about keep nutrients stable? Last fallow i did my nitrates started tanking which caused all sorts of issues. Do you guys recommend dosing ammonia? Like 1 drop of ammonium chloride a day? Or just keep feeding?
I use Brightwell NeoNitro and Neophos if I need to bump up my nutrients.
While my Nitrate stays consistent, my phosphate is being consumed at approx 7ppb per day, so in my 180g, I need to dose 10ml per day of Neophos to maintain 24ppb, which I think converts to about 0.06ppm ish.

I found this stuff easy to use and very predictable.
 
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Marc2952

Marc2952

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I use Brightwell NeoNitro and Neophos if I need to bump up my nutrients.
While my Nitrate stays consistent, my phosphate is being consumed at approx 7ppb per day, so in my 180g, I need to dose 10ml per day of Neophos to maintain 24ppb, which I think converts to about 0.06ppm ish.

I found this stuff easy to use and very predictable.
I made my own No3 and phosphate since its cheaper, gonna watch the tank closely for these 2 months
 
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