Alanan27
New Member
Hi guys, new here and excited that I sold the majority of my freshwater aquariums (I still breed mollies and still have my koi pond) However, fresh and saltwater are like night and day, which is why I’m here-I’ve been in the hobby about 4 months now. My first tank before I knew anything about saltwater was sold to me by a local pet store that the owner says and has said for several years that he “knows about saltwater fish/inverts and aquariums”. I did a lot of research, I read this forum and watched a lot of YouTube’s. I know from being in the nursing field to IT to fish selling and breeding that a lot of people post things that aren’t accurate or safe. Regardless, every pet shop, fish place, hospital, etc. has their own opinions, However, I found the most accurate advice here, which is why I decided to join. I care about my fish as much as I do my children-they’re my babies. Background-the 1st tank I got (fluval freshwater) that the owner was keeping inverts and fish in. Yeaaa, that was a disaster and I feel horrible because he lead me to believe I could keep saltwater fish in the tank and that they would be “just fine”-being a newbie I questioned an angel fish in the tank that looked like it had ich to me-but he’s like nah, it’s probably some salt or sand stuck to her she’s fine. There was also a false clownfish-chocolate chip starfish, red starfish, red banded shrimp, tuxedo urchin and a bubble tip anemone-but he wasn’t hosting the anemone yet-I knew “from freshwater mistakes” that it’s easier to buy the setup with the tank mates and water already cycling through vs trying to cycle a new tank-waiting-seeing how well your cohabitants cohabitate together and then “seeing how things pan out”. Typically you’re going to loose some fish either from ich and stress or they’ll just stop eating and die anyway. So yes, the angel indeed had ich so of course the clownfish which I asked..why does he look kinda powdery? “Oh, he’s fine they said”-Long story short after fresh water dips-ich meds-etc..you guessed it-the clown had velvet and the angel gave ich to my clown and my clown gave velvet to my angel-so it lead to their demise-I raised a fit, got my money back for selling me sick fish, and let my inverts chill for 52 days with an 82 degree temperature. They all survived and I purchased a 46 gallon established tank from a different retailer here that specializes in saltwater. It was an all or nothing purchase with over 200 dollars worth of live rock-a starfish, ugh I forget the name but he mainly is a sand sifter and he’s huge, tons of large snails, 2 large blowers, that I have to keep on 10 percent or they blow my Kenya trees away-it came with 1 and I had already purchased 2 from him already-one being a tiny baby-a goby watchman and a sailfin-I rly didn’t want the sailfin as I heard they are prone to ich and I have so many inverts alrdy and live rock that it’s pretty much impossible to catch anything to QT. I know now to QT and then add to DT. Well, I purchased a 6line wrasse (had a different wrasse from the 1st shop that died in like a week from the shop that sold my first setup)-but my sailfin would go wherever he went-where he slept, my sailfin slept, I thought it was a fairly odd pairing. I know 6lines and sailfins are fairly aggressive so I was kinda worried. But this 6line and my sailfin get along great. I also purchased a dragonette. Cause let’s admit it-he looks super cool, but I knew going in that they have a specific diet and sometimes the wrasse will eat the same if need be. I try to make sure everyone is well fed with what they want and need. I purchase Arthropods from my new shop I buy through that’s here in town just because even though it’s a 6mth established aquarium-I don’t want him to run out of food and slowly starve. Idk HOW because I didn’t remove and treat him and can’t treat in my DT but the sailfin got ich after my 1st wrasse died…it’s weird, it’s like he either follows my wrasse or dragonette around like a lost puppy. They are fed saltwater flakes w low ash or sometimes frozen foods but rare, only as a treat. There’s a little tuxedo that came with the setup as well, my red banded shrimp has shed twice successfully-I only buy RODI water as I don’t have a sump-it was kinda bad timing, we aren’t poor by any means but my Mother passed away a few months ago and it wasn’t cheap and I mentally and emotionally could not work and unfortunately had taken a vacation right before her death which took all of mine and my fiancés pto. In desperate times I bought a sea clone 100-yes they’re horrible but again my purchasing of saltwater came at a bad time and I got it on clearance for 50 bucks and thought something is better than nothing. I in no way condone doing anything “cheap” when it comes to my babies-but again, I was lead wrong, my skimmer sucks, before the my sailfin got ich-yes, he or she got ich but my 2nd shop gave me some pellets that work from the inside out-I mixed it with seaweed frozen food-idk that my sailfin actually ate it and my go to shop said “It’ll either eat it, or u can catch it, stress it out more and treat it or it will die-BUT if it survives it will be more hardy and resistant. I was scared and paranoid-he said the wrasse spins a webbing at night and the dragonette has a thick slime coat so they should be ok. I doubled the amount of stress enzyme I put in my tank as the sailfin went from barely any ich to covered in ich and I knew it was a gonner-again idk how it survived-I’ll assume it ate some of the special feed I tried to give it for ich, I doubled stress enzyme, and during that period it literally stayed on top of my dragonette-now it follows my wrasse-I guess it wasn’t as stressed with his or her “friends” and I noticed some of the slime coat from both fish kinda transferring to my tang If that makes since-because the sailfin constantly hovered over or with them. The only thing I want to add is a paired clownfish or even if they aren’t paired I have 2 anemones-both bubble tips-but I don’t want aggression as everyone is working together in harmony. And a pistol shrimp for my watchman. Is there a best go to online to order from? Should I order online from petco-it looks like they cover saltwater fish w guarantees and cheaper than other retailers. Also my sea clone that was doing “ok” is now just filling up w plain water-before it wasn’t doing that-again this came at bad timing after using our pto/vacation and paying for my mothers burial-It looks like the sailfin hit the “2nd wave” of ich but it’s only on his fins and tail in a few spots and he’s eating like a horse-If he survived the 1st wave like a trooper I’m sure he’ll be fine now. My seaclone is running but not filtering atm as I don’t want to stop it since it prob has arthopods for my dragonette-there a 300 dollar one my 2nd shop wants to give me for 150 but again, I just buried my mother unexpectedly or i would already have it. Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated-I’m upgrading to a larger tank w sump at tax season but until then I’m in a bind-I love my fishies but my mother being properly laid to rest comes 1st as I’m sure anyone would feel about their mother. Once the sailfin is fully clear of ich spots again-from 52 days until then is when I’ll purchase a larger and smaller clownfish. I’d rather be overly safe than sorry. I have other coral too in my tank. Thanks for everything!
