If anyone has been following any of my other posts you'll know my recent struggles. If not I'll share the short(ish) version.
I've been reefing for no less than 15 years. I've had my average trials and my successes. Today it seems like the losses are winning and I'm losing it!.
To start, I built an in wall 100gal reef that's running great. Has been from the time it was cycled! Had been running for a several months with no issues, great coral growth, awesome polyp extension, I mean I could't kill anything I put in there if I tried! So I decided I'd like to add a couple fish. Picked up 3 Lyretail Anthias from my LFS (which is the only place to shop within an hour drive). The next day I was down to 2. I figured that was fair as once and a while we lose one to stress or weak overall health. Par for the course, I'm OK. A couple weeks later I head back to my LFS to eye a Powder Brown Tang that they've had for quite some time now in one of their "big" tanks. He's good and fat, looks amazing, been eating good for weeks and just generally looks healthy. Pulled the trigger and told the owner to bag him up! Put him in my DT after acclimation and he's the king of tank. A couple days later I lose another anthia. Within a few more days the last one goes missing. Within that week the Tang is starting to show some signs of ICH but still eating like a pig and still very active. I've had ICH in my previous tanks for years so I know there is a chance that he'll build up an immunity toward it and pull through. I also know that these particular tangs are prone to show signs of stress in the presence of the ICH parasites. However, plenty of fellow reefers have had successful mixed reef tanks with evidence of ICH for years. To bring this part of the story to a close I'm not one of those guys. Although he was doing good and looked like he was going to pull through I went out of town for a couple days and came back to find him absolutely struggling but had no way of getting to him without destroying everything in my tank. By the end of the day he had passed and I swore off ever putting anything in my tank without a full blown quarantine with treatment.
So I started cruising the Drygoods For Sale forum as well as reading thread after thread after thread after thread on Quarantine builds, Fish disease, Treatment regimes, Medication recommendations as well as failures and successes of each. I Built what I feel is a pretty solid Bare Bottom QT/Hos tank with a 20gal tall (petco $1 per gal sale). Installed a double overflow so I could use one for some Marine Pure Bio-Sheres (that I seeded in my DT sump during the build). Drilled the tank for a Herbie style overflow, added a sump with a heater, Tunze skimmer, Tunze ATO, Airstone for extra aeration and plumbed the Iwaki return through a 1/3 HP chiller @ ~1200 gph return. I mean seriously I am not messing around when I say I wanted to make sure I never lose another fish. Ran this QT empty for about a month just to be sure everything was solid. NO issues. Bought some peppermint shrimp to put in my tank and left them there for a few weeks, PERFECT. They went into the DT / Fuge. Tested all the parameters and everything looked good. Did monthly WC on it, still good. Figured it was time to add some fish. Went to my LFS and special ordered a small Copperband Butterfly, 3 Vanderbilt Chromis, a smaller medium sized Powder Blue tang and bought a Melanurus Wrasse that had been at the LFS eating well for weeks. Everything showed up the next afternoon but because I had to work I made arrangements to pick them up the following morning first thing. From the first day one of the Chromis' wasn't quite right but I blamed poor heath prior to shipping and lost him within a couple days. The following day I lost the Butterfly quite abruptly without showing any signs of issues (again, possibly poor health and it never did eat while I observed it) . On day three I attempt to start prazipro as up until now the fish were only being observed with nothing added to the tank. I notice another of the Chromis' not looking good and immediately start an emergency ID thread in hopes of not losing any more fish. Issue was ID'd pretty quickly as Uronema Marinum a tough one and one that hits chromis particularly hard. I was advised to abandon Prazipro, FW bathe the fish and start Metronidazole right away. I chose to treat using Metroplex so I adopted the recommended dosage of once every 2 days for 1o days. I also chose to treat feedings with metroplex/focus in order to treat internal parasites.
So day 1 of treatment was fairly uneventful.
Day 2 I lost the second chromis and the 3rd is now showing minor symptoms. Ammonia is starting to creep up so I did a 30% WC and dosed the second round of Metro.
Day 3 Chromis is declining.
Day 4 Chromis is gone all that's left is the Wrasse and PB Tang. Ammonia is present but low so I opt to leave it for now and Dose round 3
Day 5 seems to be fine. Both fish fine and are eating.
Day 6 the Wrasse stops eating and is starting to not be as active. Thinking it may be Ammonia again although I'm not sure why it keeps creeping up, I do another 30% WC and throw a poly-filter in the sump for 24hrs
Day 7 Wrasse has pretty much given up. Still alive, laying upside down on the tank bottom, rapid labored breathing but not attempting to swim unless I touch it or net it. So I figured I'd finish up with the 4th round of Metro hoping that the Tang will make it through so I can proceed with Prazi and eventually Copper treatment before transfer to the DT.
At this point I am so INCREDIBLY Discouraged and I'm not sure why I'm trying so hard just to kill these beautiful fish. Why do I not just put them in the DT and allow them to live as long as possible without all of the medications and what I can only feel like what must be torture. Why is my Ammonia possibly rising to toxic levels when I should have more than enough Bio-media for this size tank. Am I just destine to do daily water changes matching the level of medication on each one? I can't imagine the amount of copper and salt I will have to use for a 30 day treatment and then to do that with each fish I bring in? There must be something I'm missing! There is no way I misjudged so badly that I'm killing these fish off at this rate. Does anyone see where this all went off the rails? Man I'm lost
Rant over...... Give me some hope please
I've been reefing for no less than 15 years. I've had my average trials and my successes. Today it seems like the losses are winning and I'm losing it!.
To start, I built an in wall 100gal reef that's running great. Has been from the time it was cycled! Had been running for a several months with no issues, great coral growth, awesome polyp extension, I mean I could't kill anything I put in there if I tried! So I decided I'd like to add a couple fish. Picked up 3 Lyretail Anthias from my LFS (which is the only place to shop within an hour drive). The next day I was down to 2. I figured that was fair as once and a while we lose one to stress or weak overall health. Par for the course, I'm OK. A couple weeks later I head back to my LFS to eye a Powder Brown Tang that they've had for quite some time now in one of their "big" tanks. He's good and fat, looks amazing, been eating good for weeks and just generally looks healthy. Pulled the trigger and told the owner to bag him up! Put him in my DT after acclimation and he's the king of tank. A couple days later I lose another anthia. Within a few more days the last one goes missing. Within that week the Tang is starting to show some signs of ICH but still eating like a pig and still very active. I've had ICH in my previous tanks for years so I know there is a chance that he'll build up an immunity toward it and pull through. I also know that these particular tangs are prone to show signs of stress in the presence of the ICH parasites. However, plenty of fellow reefers have had successful mixed reef tanks with evidence of ICH for years. To bring this part of the story to a close I'm not one of those guys. Although he was doing good and looked like he was going to pull through I went out of town for a couple days and came back to find him absolutely struggling but had no way of getting to him without destroying everything in my tank. By the end of the day he had passed and I swore off ever putting anything in my tank without a full blown quarantine with treatment.
So I started cruising the Drygoods For Sale forum as well as reading thread after thread after thread after thread on Quarantine builds, Fish disease, Treatment regimes, Medication recommendations as well as failures and successes of each. I Built what I feel is a pretty solid Bare Bottom QT/Hos tank with a 20gal tall (petco $1 per gal sale). Installed a double overflow so I could use one for some Marine Pure Bio-Sheres (that I seeded in my DT sump during the build). Drilled the tank for a Herbie style overflow, added a sump with a heater, Tunze skimmer, Tunze ATO, Airstone for extra aeration and plumbed the Iwaki return through a 1/3 HP chiller @ ~1200 gph return. I mean seriously I am not messing around when I say I wanted to make sure I never lose another fish. Ran this QT empty for about a month just to be sure everything was solid. NO issues. Bought some peppermint shrimp to put in my tank and left them there for a few weeks, PERFECT. They went into the DT / Fuge. Tested all the parameters and everything looked good. Did monthly WC on it, still good. Figured it was time to add some fish. Went to my LFS and special ordered a small Copperband Butterfly, 3 Vanderbilt Chromis, a smaller medium sized Powder Blue tang and bought a Melanurus Wrasse that had been at the LFS eating well for weeks. Everything showed up the next afternoon but because I had to work I made arrangements to pick them up the following morning first thing. From the first day one of the Chromis' wasn't quite right but I blamed poor heath prior to shipping and lost him within a couple days. The following day I lost the Butterfly quite abruptly without showing any signs of issues (again, possibly poor health and it never did eat while I observed it) . On day three I attempt to start prazipro as up until now the fish were only being observed with nothing added to the tank. I notice another of the Chromis' not looking good and immediately start an emergency ID thread in hopes of not losing any more fish. Issue was ID'd pretty quickly as Uronema Marinum a tough one and one that hits chromis particularly hard. I was advised to abandon Prazipro, FW bathe the fish and start Metronidazole right away. I chose to treat using Metroplex so I adopted the recommended dosage of once every 2 days for 1o days. I also chose to treat feedings with metroplex/focus in order to treat internal parasites.
So day 1 of treatment was fairly uneventful.
Day 2 I lost the second chromis and the 3rd is now showing minor symptoms. Ammonia is starting to creep up so I did a 30% WC and dosed the second round of Metro.
Day 3 Chromis is declining.
Day 4 Chromis is gone all that's left is the Wrasse and PB Tang. Ammonia is present but low so I opt to leave it for now and Dose round 3
Day 5 seems to be fine. Both fish fine and are eating.
Day 6 the Wrasse stops eating and is starting to not be as active. Thinking it may be Ammonia again although I'm not sure why it keeps creeping up, I do another 30% WC and throw a poly-filter in the sump for 24hrs
Day 7 Wrasse has pretty much given up. Still alive, laying upside down on the tank bottom, rapid labored breathing but not attempting to swim unless I touch it or net it. So I figured I'd finish up with the 4th round of Metro hoping that the Tang will make it through so I can proceed with Prazi and eventually Copper treatment before transfer to the DT.
At this point I am so INCREDIBLY Discouraged and I'm not sure why I'm trying so hard just to kill these beautiful fish. Why do I not just put them in the DT and allow them to live as long as possible without all of the medications and what I can only feel like what must be torture. Why is my Ammonia possibly rising to toxic levels when I should have more than enough Bio-media for this size tank. Am I just destine to do daily water changes matching the level of medication on each one? I can't imagine the amount of copper and salt I will have to use for a 30 day treatment and then to do that with each fish I bring in? There must be something I'm missing! There is no way I misjudged so badly that I'm killing these fish off at this rate. Does anyone see where this all went off the rails? Man I'm lost
Rant over...... Give me some hope please
