IDOC's First Reef Tank Build - 75g

[Idoc]

Snail Delivery!!!

After the last shipment from ReefCleaners where almost all of them arrived dead...and ultimately destroyed my coral/invert quarantine tank from the ammonia breakdown, I was skeptical to order again! But, I've had good luck from ReefCleaners in the past so I gave it another try!

Ordered:
Florida Ceriths
Dwarf Ceriths
Nassarious
Astraea
Small Conch
Limpets
Turban
Zebra Turbo

I was immediately nervous again when I opened the box...I could smell something didn't live through the shipping! It was soon very obvious it was the Turban snails that didn't make it...their water was brown in the bag and their little "trap doors" were separated in the bag! Everything else seemed to be healthy upon initial inspection!

While floating the bags, I reached out to John at ReefCleaners and he immediately responded. I sent him a picture of the brown water bag and he immediately refunded for that loss! So far, most are moving around nicely already....the Astraea still want to cling together, but they didn't smell like death, so I'm sure they will pull through nicely as well.

I hope the small conch makes it...I've been wanting one for quite awhile!

The Zebra Turbo was listed as a small one! This guy is a beast! He is already bigger than a golf ball. I went back to read about them more and learned they get to the size of a softball. Oh boy!!! After he cleans the tank of algae, I assume I'll be investing in algae wafers and seaweed sheets for him!

 

[PacoPetty]

Thank you for your service to our country! This is an absolutely amazing build thread! I look forward to following your journey with this build.

 

[Idoc]

Thank you for your service to our country! This is an absolutely amazing build thread! I look forward to following your journey with this build.

Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoy it. I wish I could find the time to post more often...so many things I've meant to post but then get busy and forget until it's way later in the timeline, lol.

 

[Idoc]

Lost Fish -- RIP McFarty!

Sadly, I have given up hope of finding my Exquisite Firefish (McFarty) alive and well. I've had this fish for approximately 1.5years with no problems, but she disappeared about a month ago! She was a very skittish fish...always hiding in her rock holes and only coming out for food. I had noticed my Leopard Wrasse being a bit aggressive toward her whenever she would come out of her rocks...but never actually witnessed a full on bite. Her name came from the fact that she was very gassy and liked to make little bubbles appear when she was excited...usually just before dinner time.

The last day I saw her, I did notice something looked different around the side of her mouth...but, I only got a quick view and then she was gone into her rock hole. I was able to see her in the hole straight on and she looked ok, so I didn't think anymore of it. But, she hasn't been out since...suspect it may have been an injury!

She wasn't the most exciting fish in the tank, but she was beautiful...

 

[thedudeness1125]

Thanks! I'm trying to put a lot of "how to" stuff into the thread so new people have a resource and so I remember what I did if/when I go through it all again with an upgrade, lol.

I'm enjoying reading this

 

[Idoc]

I'm enjoying reading this

Thanks! I really need to sit down and start updating this more often!!

 

[Idoc]

Be prepared to save all of those Nerites after they escape. I had four. Can’t tell you how many times I found them outside the tank drying up and nearly dead. Surprisingly they all survived at least a few months. None lived longer than a year though, and they all died because they escaped.

I would never buy another. And honestly I don’t understand why they are so readily available and so popular.

This is hilarious!!! I was looking back on my build thread and remember when you responded with this comment over 2 years ago. Can you believe I never had a single nerite leave the tank yet? They go up to just above the waterline but just site there. But, to be fair...I do have a screen top on the tank, lol. I've been able to keep most of them for over a year, but have had to replace a few of them lately.

 

[samnaz]

This is hilarious!!! I was looking back on my build thread and remember when you responded with this comment over 2 years ago. Can you believe I never had a single nerite leave the tank yet? They go up to just above the waterline but just site there. But, to be fair...I do have a screen top on the tank, lol. I've been able to keep most of them for over a year, but have had to replace a few of them lately.

I can believe it, only because you have a screen top. Without it, no doubt you’d have witnessed escapees by now. I tried one more nerite about a year ago. A few weeks in, I found it in the corner of the hallway far from the room the tank is in, totally dried up. I suspect it escaped and one of my cats played kick ball with it. I’m glad your experience has been so great, at least compared to mine ;-)

 

[Idoc]

I can believe it, only because you have a screen top. Without it, no doubt you’d have witnessed escapees by now. I tried one more nerite about a year ago. A few weeks in, I found it in the corner of the hallway far from the room the tank is in, totally dried up. I suspect it escaped and one of my cats played kick ball with it. I’m glad your experience has been so great, at least compared to mine ;-)

Yes, it's definitely the screen top! Many others have found them wondering around houses as well. If you can keep them in, they are hardy and do good work.

 

[Idoc]

SICK FISH - CLOWN / FORCE-FEEDING WITH CATHETER

I noticed one day, my female clown (the mean one who likes to chew on my hand) hadn't been her usual hungry self attacking food. I'm not sure how long this was occurring, but possibly a week before I really took notice. Instead, she was staying in the back of the tank swimming up and down about 6 inches of the back wall. Her actions were similar to how the male acts when he is guarding eggs. So, naturally I thought that maybe she was getting ready to lay some eggs. Well another week goes by and still no eating, no eggs, and the same swimming up/down the back wall action. This was when I noticed her back tail had a couple bite marks taken out of it... obviously one of the other fish probably sensed her weakness and was taking the opportunity to repay her for all her past evilness.

It was difficult to see her closely but she showed no outward signs of disease. One day, I found her in the overflow... which gave me a good opportunity to see her more closely... still no discolorations besides some fading of her black coloration... hence she was definitely stressed. At this point I could see she was thinning quite a bit and possibly both of her eyes were just slightly bulging.

Well, I suspected a possible bacterial infection vs an internal parasite/worm... but haven't noticed her or any of my other fish with white poo strings.

So, I had to get her into a hospital tank and quickly. Problem... my quarantine tank was already being used to quarantine/prophylactically treat 3 new orange-striped cardinals!

Well, setup a 5g bucket, heater, and an air stone as a hospital tank.

The above pic shows how she almost always remained... looking up to the surface.

Prior to going into the bucket, I performed a FW dip for 5 minutes in an attempt to rule out gill flukes... nothing came off her in the water.

I started treatment with Furan-2, Metroplex, and Kanaplex on 6/22/2020.

Schedule:
6/22 - Furan2 (1st dose), Metro (1st dose), Kana (1st dose)
6/23 - Furan2 (2nd dose)
6/24 - 25% water change...Furan2 (3rd dose), Metro (2nd dose), Kana (2nd dose)
6/25 - Furan2 (4th & final dose)
6/26 - Metro (3rd dose), Kana (3rd dose)
6/27 - Observation
6/28 - Metro (4th dose), Kana (4th dose) - final doses for both.
6/29 to 7/4 - Observation in the medicated water.
7/5 - 100% water change

During all this, I had attempted to feed her medicated mysis (General Cure+ Focus) without any success... she refused food.

She seemed to improve in the medicated water and was then swimming horizontally but still very sluggish movements...I suspected she was finally crashing from a lack of food for the past few weeks! But, she was responding to my hand coming near her with attempts to swim away... which she previously wasn't doing when swimming vertically.

She was becoming dangerously thin. As a last ditch effort to save her, I decided I was going to have to force feed her medicated food. Pipettes were too large to enter her stomach without damage. So, I ordered some 20 gauge IV catheters from Amazon...2 day shipping awesome!

7/7/20 - The 20g catheter tips arrived and are a perfect size! I didn't want the tiny catheters to clog up with thick mysis, so I used some tiny Calanus I had hidden in the freezer! Calanus is supposed to be very nutritious and has a good protein/fat content. So, I mixed up some with some General Cure+Focus and let it come to room temperature while adding a little RODI water to be less paste-like.

It is best to anesthetize a fish prior to catheter feeding, but I didn't have the meds for this... and didn't have the time to wait for them to arrive.

I placed the Clown in a small washcloth so as to be able to hold her still while slowly inserting the catheter into her stomach. Prior to insertion, I had determined the depth on the catheter needed to go in order to be in her stomach cavity. I slowly probed past her tongue, past her gills and felt when I had finally entered into her throat...resistance then easy entry! Once in, I could feel when I hit the "back" of her stomach and could not push food from the syringe due to blockage. At this point, I backed out slightly and was able to push food/meds into her stomach. I gave her approx 1ml of food/meds/liquid. Hopefully this will be successful... we'll see in the morning. If she makes it through the night, I'll attempt to feed her again tomorrow!

Post-force feeding:

She is swimming well, but her mouth is wide open... some of the calanus is in the water column... possibly some that was in her mouth vs regurgitation.

 

[count krunk]

Did you try just squirting food into her mouth with the past pipette? Was she spitting out food if it got into her mouth?

I wouldn't feel confident enough going past the mouth

 

[Idoc]

Did you try just squirting food into her mouth with the past pipette? Was she spitting out food if it got into her mouth?

I wouldn't feel confident enough going past the mouth

Yes, she refused all food and would spit out food in her mouth. It's not difficult to force feed, but I'm in the medical field and these things don't make me nervous. My biggest concern was the size of the catheter to use...20g was perfect for her size. Plus anything smaller would probably clog with the food particles. As long a you understand the anatomy, it's pretty simple.

 

[Idoc]

Round 2 of the clown's assisted feeding tonight... another 1-1.5ml of medicated food injected. All seems to have gone well.

It might be my imagination, but she seemed to be more active today and swimming more in the bucket.

Unsure what this is, but she must have excreted this after the first feeding. Possibly dead parasite debri from her intestinal tract.

 

[Idoc]

Well, the Clown didn't make it through the night. I thought she was improving, but I guess I was wrong!

I would still advocate the assisted feeding, but maybe it needs to be attempted earlier during the first couple weeks of noticing a fish no longer eating.

I've saved the water she was in and will take a look with a microscope at some of the "debri" that ended up being left in the bucket that wasn't noticed as present yesterday.

 

[Idoc]

Came home from work to a loud skimmer pump...Tunze 9410! Oh well, I've been wanting to break down the pump and clean it anyhow.

Once broken down, I found the problem... the impeller magnet was cracked and rusting! I'm glad I found this now before any problems in the tank occurred.

Contacted Tunze Germany to see if a replacement impeller can be purchased. So far, I'm only finding total pump replacements online in the USA. I'd prefer not to have to pay $166 for an entirely new pump if an impeller alone can be found!

 

[Flippers4pups]

Came home from work to a loud skimmer pump...Tunze 9410! Oh well, I've been wanting to break down the pump and clean it anyhow.

Once broken down, I found the problem... the impeller magnet was cracked and rusting! I'm glad I found this now before any problems in the tank occurred.

Contacted Tunze Germany to see if a replacement impeller can be purchased. So far, I'm only finding total pump replacements online in the USA. I'd prefer not to have to pay $166 for an entirely new pump if an impeller alone can be found!

Wow, that's crazy! Glad you found it!

 

[Idoc]

Wow, that's crazy! Glad you found it!

Me too!!! The forum has many horror story threads about people's tanks crashing and only to find a rusted magnet or something after it's too late!

 

[Idoc]

Thinking of switching up my aquascape some. I have some pieces of Pukani left from my original rock order a few years ago. They've already been cured previously with all the original rock. Starting the biological cycling today! If i don't use the rock for the aquascape, I'll just put it in my sump. Started the cycle with Colony Nitrifying Bacteria and some pellet food.

I need to find another heater! Planning to do this in my basement garage!

 

[Dj City]

Great build thread.

I've read the entire thread top to bottom and I'm impressed. You have done a great job with this build.

How are you with the dinos? Are they gone for good?
Have you replaced the mean clown? That was an epic attempt by you to get her nutrition.

Keep up the good work.

 

[Idoc]

Great build thread.

I've read the entire thread to to bottom and in impressed. You have done a great job with this build.

Joe are you with the dinos? Are they gone for good?
Have you replaced the mean clown? That was an epic attempt by you to get her nutrition.

Keep up the good work.

Thank you for the comments, I'm glad you enjoyed the build. I wish I would sit down and actually add more updates, though!

The dinos initially resolved, but they did eventually return and are still in the tank...but controlled and not a major stress factor any longer. I have maintained elevated NO3/PO4 in order to promote actual algae growth, but ended up with terrible green cyano that would not go away no matter what I did...so I eventually gave in and used Chemi-Clean. This resolved the cyano...and interestingly, when I do get a little cyano, it is now the red cyano! I am just now thinking about attacking the dinos again by siphoning through a 1 micron sock and then possibly attempting the Dr. Tim's dino treatment or the Elegant Corals dino treatment again.

The mean clown "Krusty" issue has been resolved. As much as I hated that fish, I was very upset when she passed away! I still do not know what caused her demise, but she basically stopped eating and had some erratic swimming behavior. I don't think it was a disease or internal parasite. Ultimately, I think I over-medicated her with the feeding attempt and that was what really did her in. But, I think it was the Chemi-Clean treatment that she reacted to since it was right after that that she started the odd behavior...I also think she was losing her sight by her actions. But, it has been nice to put my hand in the tank without being attacked! The remaining clown (Bozo) has been great and I have not attempted to add another clown.