First off, I wanted to say how awesome this website has been as a resource for information. Definitely makes reefing more enjoyable when you know what you’re doing.
Patience is so key in this hobby. My first couple of months in, I was eager to add anything. Eventually I lost most of my fish to a velvet breakout. So I now follow the 76 day rule for everything wet going into my tank now. System is clean and I’m so grateful. But, I’ll be honest, the 76 days can feel like an eternity at times. My wife often reminds me to not get impatient with adding new corals or fish so I don’t risk resetting my sterile system.
I’m diligent with my corals but I’m learning to cover all the bases with fish additions too. Recently got a yellow fin flasher wrasse. Used TTM to quarantine, and monitored for 2 weeks to see if any signs of velvet, etc. Fish looked good and I added him. Unfortunately I didn’t treat for internal parasites, and it died randomly. Despite heavy feelings and healthy appetite, he perished.
Even more recently my tank grew dinos and I was struggling to naturally get my nitrates up. Heavy feeding wasn’t doing it, so I decided to add a royal gramma to the crew. He looked healthy when I got him, but I prophylactically treated with copper for 14 days to be safe before moving him to a sterile new tank to monitor. Before the move I did a freshwater dip to find one large fluke on him. Of all my fish, I’ve only had to dip once to remove flukes, so I didn’t think much of it.
A couple days in, ammonia starts to spike because the new QT isn’t cycled. I dose prime to help buy time, but seriously considered adding him to the display prematurely. Good thing I didn’t! Today, on day 5 of being in a sterile tank, he exploded with a whopping fluke infestation in numbers I couldn’t count. Eggs hatched and he was completely covered with baby flukes. To make it more challenging, he jumped out of his fw treatment bin to hit the floor off the counter. After treatment he was super disoriented swimming for the surface. I was afraid he might have died behind my hob filter, so I raise the filter and he jumps out of the water just as I lower the filter down, jamming his head between the filter and tank lip. Took a slough of scales off. At this point I’m stressed, thinking how I balance the ammonia, flukes, and now physical damage. I run to the pet store to get API QuickStart, make new saltwater and add a rock to help alleviate the ammonia issue. I expect bacterial infection from injury so will treat that first in the next few days with medication hoping it won’t kill the good bacteria I just added. Then will finish up with prazi to kill any leftover worms. What a tough QT this time...
Lesson learned: gotta be patient with quarantine, even though it takes time. And, keep extra supplies around for emergency situations.
Patience is so key in this hobby. My first couple of months in, I was eager to add anything. Eventually I lost most of my fish to a velvet breakout. So I now follow the 76 day rule for everything wet going into my tank now. System is clean and I’m so grateful. But, I’ll be honest, the 76 days can feel like an eternity at times. My wife often reminds me to not get impatient with adding new corals or fish so I don’t risk resetting my sterile system.
I’m diligent with my corals but I’m learning to cover all the bases with fish additions too. Recently got a yellow fin flasher wrasse. Used TTM to quarantine, and monitored for 2 weeks to see if any signs of velvet, etc. Fish looked good and I added him. Unfortunately I didn’t treat for internal parasites, and it died randomly. Despite heavy feelings and healthy appetite, he perished.
Even more recently my tank grew dinos and I was struggling to naturally get my nitrates up. Heavy feeding wasn’t doing it, so I decided to add a royal gramma to the crew. He looked healthy when I got him, but I prophylactically treated with copper for 14 days to be safe before moving him to a sterile new tank to monitor. Before the move I did a freshwater dip to find one large fluke on him. Of all my fish, I’ve only had to dip once to remove flukes, so I didn’t think much of it.
A couple days in, ammonia starts to spike because the new QT isn’t cycled. I dose prime to help buy time, but seriously considered adding him to the display prematurely. Good thing I didn’t! Today, on day 5 of being in a sterile tank, he exploded with a whopping fluke infestation in numbers I couldn’t count. Eggs hatched and he was completely covered with baby flukes. To make it more challenging, he jumped out of his fw treatment bin to hit the floor off the counter. After treatment he was super disoriented swimming for the surface. I was afraid he might have died behind my hob filter, so I raise the filter and he jumps out of the water just as I lower the filter down, jamming his head between the filter and tank lip. Took a slough of scales off. At this point I’m stressed, thinking how I balance the ammonia, flukes, and now physical damage. I run to the pet store to get API QuickStart, make new saltwater and add a rock to help alleviate the ammonia issue. I expect bacterial infection from injury so will treat that first in the next few days with medication hoping it won’t kill the good bacteria I just added. Then will finish up with prazi to kill any leftover worms. What a tough QT this time...
Lesson learned: gotta be patient with quarantine, even though it takes time. And, keep extra supplies around for emergency situations.
