Fluval Evo 13.5 Build Thread

[Sharkbait19]

The firefish lost his ich, or at least most signs of it, but the gramma has this white film forming. Brooklynella?!
I worry too much.......

 

[Sharkbait19]

Well all bad things aside, I designed and printed a prototype lid for the feeding chamber on the hood. It could use some work though.

 

[Sharkbait19]

In other fishy news the “ich” problem is fading away, hopefully to never return. This is the last time I buy from that particular Petco.
Why’d I get that darn gramma?! ;Facepalm;Facepalm;Facepalm;Facepalm;Facepalm

 

[brandon429]

they’re still in the rocks and sand and have periods of attachment and detachment. Only being realistic not trying to down anything, but any replacement fish won’t make it without fallow and qt. This nearly always happens within 8 mos w no disease protocol

 

[Sharkbait19]

o_OI’M SO CONFUSED!!!!o_O

 

[|Tom the Bomb|]

How will a cleaner shrimp/goby help my fish? Are they effective against ich?

u want a neon goby right now the time
to add one it's not a guarantee it'll eat the ich cysts but its worth a try

 

[Sharkbait19]

u want a neon goby right now the time
to add one it's not a guarantee it'll eat the ich cysts but its worth a try

Thanks for the tip. I was going to get a sharknose goby with the gramma, but was swarming ich. The fish that eats ich got ich.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Getting advice from the LFS, it has been confirmed that what my tank has is not ich, which was my though anyways. While there I found a leather coral that looked nice. I want something my clown can host in so I’m giving this frag a try.
it looks a little unhappy right now but I’m sure in an hour it’ll color up and open back up.

PS: I got some hair algae off the plug. The crabs should help with it, right? Also, i tried different places on the rocks but didn’t like any of them so stuck it in the sand. Is that ok?

 

[Sharkbait19]

All opened up!!

 

[Easy Reefing]

Nice fluval ! :)

 

[najer]

Nice frag.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Thanks!

 

[kpoj9]

In other fishy news the “ich” problem is fading away, hopefully to never return. This is the last time I buy from that particular Petco.
Why’d I get that darn gramma?! ;Facepalm;Facepalm;Facepalm;Facepalm;Facepalm

Unfortunately, IF your fish does has ich it doesn‘t just go away... it falls off and multiples in sand and rock. It comes back a lot worse about 7-10 days later.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Unfortunately, IF your fish does has ich it doesn‘t just go away... it falls off and multiples in sand and rock. It comes back a lot worse about 7-10 days later.

I know which is exactly why I’m still worried. I suppose all I can do is monitor what happens. It’s weird, it’s all gone without a trace, when usually, at least in my experience, the cysts go away with some inflammation left behind. Likewise, none of my fish actually reacted with scratching, flashing, or gasping like they normally would.

 

[Bob Wiley]

I have this very tank as well, good luck!

Read through this whole thread and I see you frequent Petco a lot. In case you didn't know they have a $1/gallon sale on their fish tanks all the time. Pick up a 10 gallon Aqueon for $10 and dedicate it to be your hospital/quarantine tank. Heck, that tank is only $15 normally so I'd get it either way. (I got a 10 gallon for fish QT and a 5.5 gallon for inverts QT. Total cost was $30 for the two tanks.)

Of course you will also need to add to that: HOB filter, heater, ammonia badge, thermometer, PVC pipes for hiding and possibly a powerhead or sponge filter depending on what you're treating and what fish you have in there.

All told my fish quarantine hardware consists of—

• 10 gallon tank (from Petco), $10-$15
• glass lid (for this tank, from Petco), $10-$15
• heater, $15-$20
• HOB filter, $20-40
• thermostat, $7
• ammonia badge, $3
• PVC pipe from Home Depot, $1-$3
• I'm assuming you already have the salt to spin up this tank

If you budget ~$100 that should get you completely set up for when your fish get sick.

Dump in some Bio-Spira ($15) for instant life support and you're ready to go.

As for meds... well since you've already bought the fish and introduced them to your DT I'd say your approach is more "reactive" than "proactive", meaning as you identify a disease you'll be going out to your LFS or Petco to pick up the meds to treat it. But it wouldn't hurt to start stocking up on the most common meds now for this inevitability. Copper, metro, Prazi, General Cure, Focus, and on and on. Pick one up here and there to spread the costs out over time.

But please, please, please do not think you have dodged a bullet. Even if you have, this scare should be telling you that you need to get ahead of things and be prepared for an outbreak. You mentioned you had nowhere to go with your gramma when you saw signs of ich. Where are your fish going to go when this happens again? You will have to leave your DT fallow for 11 weeks. Don't be handcuffed again. When you see signs of this recurring, and it sounds like you will, have that hospital tank spun up and ready to go. Transfer all fish to it (because you have to assume if one has it they all have it) and start meds right away.

And yes, QT all new inverts and coral in a similar manner in a separate QT tank from the fish. (The ones you already have in there have done any damage they're gonna do). Corals can have pests on them that can wipe out your existing DT corals. And both inverts and corals can carry fish parasites which, once introduced to your DT, can wipe out your fish. It's very possible your next outbreak will come from throwing in a "harmless" hermit crab or coral frag from Petco.

Required reading—
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-quarantine.189815/https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-current-qt-process.483371/https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/coral-invert-quarantine-time-frames.334584/https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/quarantine-setup-made-easy.755/https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ammonia-control-in-a-hospital-tank.296119/https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-acclimate.192300/https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/medications-to-keep-on-hand.213574/https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ratios-for-dosing-copper-power.385871/page-3#post-5336893

 

[Sharkbait19]

I have this very tank as well, good luck!

Read through this whole thread and I see you frequent Petco a lot. In case you didn't know they have a $1/gallon sale on their fish tanks all the time. Pick up a 10 gallon Aqueon for $10 and dedicate it to be your hospital/quarantine tank. Heck, that tank is only $15 normally so I'd get it either way. (I got a 10 gallon for fish QT and a 5.5 gallon for inverts QT. Total cost was $30 for the two tanks.)

Of course you will also need to add to that: HOB filter, heater, ammonia badge, thermometer, PVC pipes for hiding and possibly a powerhead or sponge filter depending on what you're treating and what fish you have in there.

All told my fish quarantine hardware consists of—

• 10 gallon tank (from Petco), $10-$15
• glass lid (for this tank, from Petco), $10-$15
• heater, $15-$20
• HOB filter, $20-40
• thermostat, $7
• ammonia badge, $3
• PVC pipe from Home Depot, $1-$3
• I'm assuming you already have the salt to spin up this tank

If you budget ~$100 that should get you completely set up for when your fish get sick.

Dump in some Bio-Spira ($15) for instant life support and you're ready to go.

As for meds... well since you've already bought the fish and introduced them to your DT I'd say your approach is more "reactive" than "proactive", meaning as you identify a disease you'll be going out to your LFS or Petco to pick up the meds to treat it. But it wouldn't hurt to start stocking up on the most common meds now for this inevitability. Copper, metro, Prazi, General Cure, Focus, and on and on. Pick one up here and there to spread the costs out over time.

But please, please, please do not think you have dodged a bullet. Even if you have, this scare should be telling you that you need to get ahead of things and be prepared for an outbreak. You mentioned you had nowhere to go with your gramma when you saw signs of ich. Where are your fish going to go when this happens again? You will have to leave your DT fallow for 11 weeks. Don't be handcuffed again. When you see signs of this recurring, and it sounds like you will, have that hospital tank spun up and ready to go. Transfer all fish to it (because you have to assume if one has it they all have it) and start meds right away.

And yes, QT all new inverts and coral in a similar manner in a separate QT tank from the fish. (The ones you already have in there have done any damage they're gonna do). Corals can have pests on them that can wipe out your existing DT corals. And both inverts and corals can carry fish parasites which, once introduced to your DT, can wipe out your fish. It's very possible your next outbreak will come from throwing in a "harmless" hermit crab or coral frag from Petco.

Required reading—
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-quarantine.189815/https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-current-qt-process.483371/https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/coral-invert-quarantine-time-frames.334584/https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/quarantine-setup-made-easy.755/https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ammonia-control-in-a-hospital-tank.296119/https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-acclimate.192300/https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/medications-to-keep-on-hand.213574/https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ratios-for-dosing-copper-power.385871/page-3#post-5336893

I do have a 10 gal tank but right now it’s more a means of the other supplies that I don’t have. I’ll try my best though. Though I have yet to see ich related symptoms other than the white dot, I don’t think I dodged a bullet either. I am constantly keeping my eyes on the fish’s behavior, appearance, etc. and will be prepared to jump to any means necessary to eradicate this. Ich is an ugly thing, and I can only pray that it won’t rear its face again. But, like I’ve been told, if it’s ich, it will.

 

[Glass Algae]

All opened up!!

Could be totally wrong but this looks like a devils hand (Lobophytom) clowns don't usually host these would have a better luck with a long polyp toadstool.

Also on my experience petco is good for nothing except brand new equipment. Probably a giant lack of care for fish and coral. I'd steer clear.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Could be totally wrong but this looks like a devils hand (Lobophytom) clowns don't usually host these would have a better luck with a long polyp toadstool.

Also on my experience petco is good for nothing except brand new equipment. Probably a giant lack of care for fish and coral. I'd steer clear.

Don’t worry, the Petco I’m getting coral at is better than some LFS I’ve been to, very amazing. The royal gramma with the potential ich is from probably my least favorite Petco, and was more an impulse buy.

 

[Sharkbait19]

IF (big if) the fish didn’t have ich, what else could look like that? I’ve seen it before on many new fish, a single dot like that which goes away after a day and never returns.

 

[Mike Kearns]

Great build thread! My fluval has been up and running for almost a year. The white dot could have been a wound or something. I noticed a white spot on my purple fire fish the other day and now it is gone. I don't know if you are still thinking about a yellow tail damsel, I have one and got lucky that he is not overly aggressive, but what isn't talked about as much is he loves to burrow in the sand! I am constantly having to unbury rocks and corals that he has covered. I ended up giving him his own tank with only a few corals up high. Keep up the posting!