What can happen to the corals if I drain my tank

[reefnjunkie]

Yep, me and this rotten fish headache STILL. My latest idea...

 

Long story short, I have a fish I have not been able to get out of my tank-small little dotty back that is a terror-to every single fish in there.

 

My last option, which I thought up last night was to drain all the water out of the tank. I would take like a nylon and wrap it around a siphon hose that would be hooked to a pump that way I can put it into a corner, buried in the sand and drain the water below the surface of the sand.

 

This will have all my corals exposed to the air for I am thinking 5 minutes or so. I believe I will loose all the sponges that popped up out of nowhere-small ones and I'm ok with that.

 

I suppose any copepods I have in the tank would also die off-

 

I had the idea of taking a spray bottle to spray the corals down during this period of not water. Tea you guessed it, I will be attempting to kill the fish by it being out of water.

 

Can anyone give any ideas as to what risks or what potential problems I may run into? I don't think it would be more than 5-10 minutes to be safe.

I will reuse the water I siphoned and then after the tank has sat after refilling it for roughly 30 minutes or so, I plan to do about a 30 gallon water change with freshly made up water that I prepared the day before, so it has sat and aerated etc. This is done in the event the SPS release any toxins into the water after it is refilled the first time

 

Is that enough info?

 

Thanks

[stylaster]

Well if you take a look at nature, especially very low tides lots of coral / sponges etc are out of the water for 2-3 hours until the next tide comes in. The corals can handle that, i would turn off your lights though, so you aren't adding any extra heat to them when they are out of the water.

Roy

[impur]

I drain my QT tank all the way down so all the corals are exposed to air for about 5-10 min every week. I say go for it

[dsoz]

You won't kill the fish by being out of water for 5 minutes... But it would make the bugger easy to catch and return to the LFS. That is what I would do with the low tide that you are creating. Also it would be a good time to glue down any frags that you have piling up.

 

I agree with the others. Go for it!!! Pods should be fine for a little while as long as they don't completely dry out. Even sponges may do OK if they don't become completely dry. I have taken rocks with sponge out of one tank and threw them into a different tank (exposed to air) and they do fine for the most part.

 

dsoz

[reefnjunkie]

I am pretty sure I am going for it. I posted it on R2R and am getting this;

 

I know you mentioned you were ok with losing the sponge on your rock....in an established' date=' and beautiful, tank such as yours, the sponge you can see is only a small percentage of the total sponge growing in your system, which is a good thing! In most cases, it is my understanding, that there is a positive correlation between the success of an SPS system and the amount of sponge growing naturally in the system...ie, most, although certainly not all, extremely successful SPS systems have a large amount of sponges in the system as well. Exposing this sponge to air will cause a large die-off and may be a potential danger to the health of your system. The sponges also contribute to the heath of your corals in such a way that they actually contribute to the filtering of the water and removing a large amount of them at once, may also cause a significant enough change to the system that may be a problem...just a thought[/quote']

 

 

 

 

Another method: take a net and place it in your tank. Do not touch, at all, the net you've placed. Do not feed for a day or so, then feed into the net the following day, ensuring that the food is caught in the net, and can not come out. Continue feeding in the net for the next few days. They will get hungry enough to feed right from the net, and when the dottyback heads in it, voila, got him. The net becomes another piece of territory, not a net, when it's not moved. I used to do this all the time back in the day (if I had to catch a fish out) before these cool fish trapscame out.

 

 

 

I would advise against what you're proposing. Too many variables could go wrong and cause some major (bad) issues.

 

I dont get the varibles and am not seeing the risks, that is why I am posting this-

 

This has to get resolved-its taking away form enjoying it, everytime I see that little SOB-(nono)

[reefnjunkie]

You won't kill the fish by being out of water for 5 minutes... But it would make the bugger easy to catch and return to the LFS. That is what I would do with the low tide that you are creating. Also it would be a good time to glue down any frags that you have piling up.

 

I agree with the others. Go for it!!! Pods should be fine for a little while as long as they don't completely dry out. Even sponges may do OK if they don't become completely dry. I have taken rocks with sponge out of one tank and threw them into a different tank (exposed to air) and they do fine for the most part.

 

dsoz

 

 

I have so much rock he will hide, I wont be able to get him that way, thats why I have been discussing removing EVERYTHING. From what I have read/searched etc. this fish should not last more than a few minutes. I can wait hours if needed. I am willing to spray all the corals with saltwater in the interim.

The idea with the nylon on the siphon is so I wont have any pools it can hide in.

How long do you think this sucker can breathe air out of water-less than a sturgeon I hope-LOL

[pledosophy]

Have you tried a fish trap with bait? There are many fish traps that work well, and it might be a far easier option then what you are talking about. There are even ones with manual pulls so once he goes in you can let go of the string nd the door will close. Just grab a beer watch the tank and wait for the sucker.

 

JMO

[reefnjunkie]

Have you tried a fish trap with bait? There are many fish traps that work well, and it might be a far easier option then what you are talking about. There are even ones with manual pulls so once he goes in you can let go of the string nd the door will close. Just grab a beer watch the tank and wait for the sucker.

 

JMO

 

 

thats the type of trap I have and have been placing food in there for the last 5 days, I can get all the fish to swim in there, and have not been catching them yet, I wanted to build their trust-(plotting)

 

I've drank more beer this weekend than I planned to, I had the same idea, grab a beer and sit-the trap has about a 8 foot leader that I hold onto and drop the door when they swim in.

I'm going to catch out all the fish over time, the draining idea will come later.

 

Nobody on Reef2Reef thinks the drain will be a good idea-lots of bacteria die off from the rocks been out of water, sponges dying, overall they are saying that is a bad idea-

To many conflicting answers-which is what happens I understand.

 

The lights would be out the entire time, the rocks would be sprayed with saltwater, I don't see the die off issue but then again I have only been back into this for about 18 months-20+ years ago does not count-

 

Still interested in what others think/say.

 

Thanks

[Rick]

Why not just remove everything else from the tank and put it in totes temporarily. That's how I caught an evil damsel that was eating corals. Once the rocks were out there was no place to hide anymore making it pretty easy to catch.

[reefnjunkie]

Why not just remove everything else from the tank and put it in totes temporarily. That's how I caught an evil damsel that was eating corals. Once the rocks were out there was no place to hide anymore making it pretty easy to catch.

 

Thats what I was planning on doing this Saturday-all my rock is epoxied to the rock next to it.

 

Looking at the pics can you agree it sounds a little easier than it willbe-(scratch) sorry for the blurry pics-these are old pics, I have more pieces than this

Waaaah poor Brad I know-(laugh)

 

 

 

 

I may do it(the drain and rock removal), but I figured killing it versus killing off some of my corals was a better idea

[Rick]

Have you tried a flashlight (or two) at night? I caught one damsel that way. It took two lights to drive it into a corner away from the rocks where I was able to then catch it with a net. (The tricky part is trying to hold two lights and a net at the same time with only two hands)

[reefnjunkie]

My tank sucks-I cannot get a net larger than 2 inches square in my tank-(laugh)

 

I have a little to much stuff in there

[Emerald525]

My tank sucks-I cannot get a net larger than 2 inches square in my tank-(laugh)

 

I have a little to much stuff in there

 

 

Yeah Brad you have issues!(laugh) Maybe it's time for an intervention.

 

I wonder why anyone would put a dottyback in their tank anyway (whistle) just kidding.

 

Have you tried sucking him out with a vacuum hose. That's how we got out the little clown goby. Siphoned him out but he was much smaller than a dottyback. He did fine with this and I actually think it was less stressful than netting him.

[jgf86123]

Yo Brad, you obviously have way to many acans, to show you how nice of a guy I am, I'll gladly, free of charge, take all of those acans off your hands, thereby clearing up your tank some and giving you more room.

[reefnjunkie]

Yeah Brad you have issues!(laugh) Maybe it's time for an intervention.

 

I wonder why anyone would put a dottyback in their tank anyway (whistle) just kidding.

 

Have you tried sucking him out with a vacuum hose. That's how we got out the little clown goby. Siphoned him out but he was much smaller than a dottyback. He did fine with this and I actually think it was less stressful than netting him.

 

 

I have this up on another forum so I keep bouncing back and forth-one of our LFS sold it to me and the sad thing IMO is when the stores just sell crap and don't ask us F'n nubes "so where are you putting this rotten SOB that will want to kill everything it sees?"

 

That may have been a deterrent.

 

A few more weeks of the fish trap and then something else. A lot of the folks on R2R are saying draining it is a bad idea, the low tide analogy does not hold water-(pun get it)

Low tide animals live their because they have adapted, the ones that could not adapt DIED.

 

Anyway, never a dull moment at my home-

 

Yo Brad' date=' you obviously have way to many acans, to show you how nice of a guy I am, I'll gladly, free of charge, take all of those acans off your hands, thereby clearing up your tank some and giving you more room.[/quote']

 

You da man-will you help me sight in my .308 just stand oh about 100 yards away and hold the target- (laugh)

[jgf86123]

Sure I will, as long as you use blanks LOL

[moto826]

nice tank thoe we need a video of this you sucking all water out and killing the fish sounds funny atleast pics lol

[reefnjunkie]

nice tank thoe we need a video of this you sucking all water out and killing the fish sounds funny atleast pics lol

 

I am sure it does-A you tube video gone bad-(laugh)

 

 

I'm just gathering info for now. I think if I can get all the other fish out, this SOB will swim into the trap also.

I have had every other fish in there swim into the trap. About an hour ago, I caught the checkered wrasse, and when getting the bag for him the 12 foot string wrapped around my ankle and the trap door opened-out swam the wrasse-

 

Awesome lesson learned, I am actually grateful-

 

This sucker is toast and when I catch him, I think I will treat it like the fish on day one of "The Deadliest Catch"

 

I'm gonna bite its head off-picture that-:eek:

 

Would not be the first fish whose head I have bitten off- We have strange sick rituals out on the boat while fishing and it does include consumption of "bait"(laugh)

[Emerald525]

I am sure it does-A you tube video gone bad-(laugh)

 

 

I'm just gathering info for now. I think if I can get all the other fish out, this SOB will swim into the trap also.

I have had every other fish in there swim into the trap. About an hour ago, I caught the checkered wrasse, and when getting the bag for him the 12 foot string wrapped around my ankle and the trap door opened-out swam the wrasse-

 

Awesome lesson learned, I am actually grateful-

 

This sucker is toast and when I catch him, I think I will treat it like the fish on day one of "The Deadliest Catch"

 

I'm gonna bite its head off-picture that-:eek:

 

Would not be the first fish whose head I have bitten off- We have strange sick rituals out on the boat while fishing and it does include consumption of "bait"(laugh)

 

(laugh)I love the deadliest catch.

Biting the head off a dottyback?:eek:You wierdo!(nutty)

 

The flame angel took a while to catch with the fish trap. What worked for us was we removed the spot where the food is held in the trap and instead put some tubing through it and with a syringe squirted food through the hole and that caught everything including the hippo tangs that are super shy!

 

We can come over and help if you want so I protect the poor mean dottyback from getting decapitated.