Punchanello
Well-Known Member
This is probably just therapeutic for me but if it helps others feel like less of a failure then I'm glad. I have been guilty of glossing over or omitting my mistakes in the past but this is an attempt to be as truthful as I can. I consider myself to be conscientious, careful and intelligent enough to make decent decisions. But you wouldn't know it from my story so far.
I have been in the hobby for 18 months. I always intended to properly quarantine my fish. When my tank was cycled and ready for fish I had my quarantine set-up ready to go. My first fish were a clownfish pair.
While I don't think that the rate of infection here in Australia is anywhere near as bad as it is in the US, in hindsight I believe we are way too casual about quarantine. Ich is far more prevalent than most hobbyists in Oz think IMO.
Based on a false sense of security I thought I could observe my clowns for 3 or 4 weeks untreated, treat if needed, and if I saw no symptoms I would be ok to transfer over to the DT. That was my risk appetite at the time. So this is what I did. I don't know if Ich was introduced to the tank via the clowns but I do know now that even when Ich has been present and visible on fish in the same DT, the clowns have never shown any symptoms I could see. Even if Ich was present, I don't believe I could have seen it and even if I could, I don't know that I had the experience at the time to recognise it.
Over the course of a few months I added a lawnmower blenny, sixline wrasse, watanabe angel, blue tang, longnose butterfly and scopas tang. I used the same approach with all of them. I lost all but the clowns and the tangs to an unidentified killer over about 6 months.
I think I was still in denial at this point. I hadn't seen Ich, and the instability of a new tank with an inexperienced hobbyist at the wheel offered plenty of alternate hypotheses for the deaths. I will say this though, the lack of a regimented, broad spectrum quarantine process made it very difficult to know why an individual fish had died. I was quarantining and ready to treat for Ich. Not fluke or bacterial infection or other disease. It could have been anything that killed my fish including my fat clumsy fingers and newbie errors.
Then, 12 months in it happened. I saw white spots on my Blue Tang and knew right away it was Ich. My denial crumbled away and I felt stupid, but also a little ashamed. I knew my quarantine had been inconsistent. I knew I had often let my excitement get a hold of me and cut corners and I knew my fish had died unnecessarily.
I toyed with 'ich management', and even returning to a state of denial. It's tempting to believe Ich is always present or other false statements that allow hobbyists to feel helpless and therefore justified in ignoring the problem. I'd be lying if I told you my primary motivation at this point was fish welfare. It was anger and a stubborn determination to beat it because I didn't want to feel stupid again. So I went 3 months fallow.
Going fallow is difficult. It's hard on your fish, on your corals. It's hard on you every time you look at the tank. You'll need to decide whether you are prepared to risk putting new corals in or clean up-crew etc. The infrastructure to keep your fish happy and healthy and your DT going is not unsubstantial either.
So I managed the 3 months, or was that 76 days? Or was that 75 days because that was new year's day and I was excited and what's 24 hrs anyway? No, I'm sure it was 76 days. But did I make sure not to cross-contaminate. I'm sure I didn't use the same turkey baster in both tanks....or did I forget one time? I did buy that one tiny frag. That couldn't have had Ich on it, right?
I returned my fish to the DT and a week later saw ich again on the Blue Tang. At this time I also had a Desjardini and Powder Blue in quarantine. I was utterly devastated and furious and made the stupidest decision so far. The Desjardini and Powder Blue had shown symptoms of ich and given it made no difference in my mind at this point I dumped them in the DT too. Both died within 3 weeks.
I've been thinking again about Ich management and UV steriliser. I even tried Medic twice knowing full well this has no real evidence behind it. Surprise, surprise it didn't work even at triple dose. This brings me to where I am now.
I've ultimately decided to start my second round with a fallow DT. My LFS have been kind enough to take my fish because I would rather not subject them to an inadequate quarantine system. They are quite large now. Personally, I want to deal with risk rather than avoid it. I want to eradicate ich and implement a solid, broad treatment quarantine regime and treat prophylactically. I don't want any more fish to die unnecessarily on my watch because I am pretty ashamed of the carnage so far.
One minor positive is that starting out as a crappy fishkeeper making loads of stupid mistakes probably accelerates the learning curve more than starting out as a moderately good one. I hope this will help me get better results.
Anyway, That's where I am right now. I'll update you soon.
I have been in the hobby for 18 months. I always intended to properly quarantine my fish. When my tank was cycled and ready for fish I had my quarantine set-up ready to go. My first fish were a clownfish pair.
While I don't think that the rate of infection here in Australia is anywhere near as bad as it is in the US, in hindsight I believe we are way too casual about quarantine. Ich is far more prevalent than most hobbyists in Oz think IMO.
Based on a false sense of security I thought I could observe my clowns for 3 or 4 weeks untreated, treat if needed, and if I saw no symptoms I would be ok to transfer over to the DT. That was my risk appetite at the time. So this is what I did. I don't know if Ich was introduced to the tank via the clowns but I do know now that even when Ich has been present and visible on fish in the same DT, the clowns have never shown any symptoms I could see. Even if Ich was present, I don't believe I could have seen it and even if I could, I don't know that I had the experience at the time to recognise it.
Over the course of a few months I added a lawnmower blenny, sixline wrasse, watanabe angel, blue tang, longnose butterfly and scopas tang. I used the same approach with all of them. I lost all but the clowns and the tangs to an unidentified killer over about 6 months.
I think I was still in denial at this point. I hadn't seen Ich, and the instability of a new tank with an inexperienced hobbyist at the wheel offered plenty of alternate hypotheses for the deaths. I will say this though, the lack of a regimented, broad spectrum quarantine process made it very difficult to know why an individual fish had died. I was quarantining and ready to treat for Ich. Not fluke or bacterial infection or other disease. It could have been anything that killed my fish including my fat clumsy fingers and newbie errors.
Then, 12 months in it happened. I saw white spots on my Blue Tang and knew right away it was Ich. My denial crumbled away and I felt stupid, but also a little ashamed. I knew my quarantine had been inconsistent. I knew I had often let my excitement get a hold of me and cut corners and I knew my fish had died unnecessarily.
I toyed with 'ich management', and even returning to a state of denial. It's tempting to believe Ich is always present or other false statements that allow hobbyists to feel helpless and therefore justified in ignoring the problem. I'd be lying if I told you my primary motivation at this point was fish welfare. It was anger and a stubborn determination to beat it because I didn't want to feel stupid again. So I went 3 months fallow.
Going fallow is difficult. It's hard on your fish, on your corals. It's hard on you every time you look at the tank. You'll need to decide whether you are prepared to risk putting new corals in or clean up-crew etc. The infrastructure to keep your fish happy and healthy and your DT going is not unsubstantial either.
So I managed the 3 months, or was that 76 days? Or was that 75 days because that was new year's day and I was excited and what's 24 hrs anyway? No, I'm sure it was 76 days. But did I make sure not to cross-contaminate. I'm sure I didn't use the same turkey baster in both tanks....or did I forget one time? I did buy that one tiny frag. That couldn't have had Ich on it, right?
I returned my fish to the DT and a week later saw ich again on the Blue Tang. At this time I also had a Desjardini and Powder Blue in quarantine. I was utterly devastated and furious and made the stupidest decision so far. The Desjardini and Powder Blue had shown symptoms of ich and given it made no difference in my mind at this point I dumped them in the DT too. Both died within 3 weeks.
I've been thinking again about Ich management and UV steriliser. I even tried Medic twice knowing full well this has no real evidence behind it. Surprise, surprise it didn't work even at triple dose. This brings me to where I am now.
I've ultimately decided to start my second round with a fallow DT. My LFS have been kind enough to take my fish because I would rather not subject them to an inadequate quarantine system. They are quite large now. Personally, I want to deal with risk rather than avoid it. I want to eradicate ich and implement a solid, broad treatment quarantine regime and treat prophylactically. I don't want any more fish to die unnecessarily on my watch because I am pretty ashamed of the carnage so far.
One minor positive is that starting out as a crappy fishkeeper making loads of stupid mistakes probably accelerates the learning curve more than starting out as a moderately good one. I hope this will help me get better results.
Anyway, That's where I am right now. I'll update you soon.
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