souperman Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 I have been keeping freshwater fish for several years now. I started converting a 40g long into a reef system, but ended up with a brand new 90G setup with a custom 40g acrylic sump. My setup has been cycled for about 6 weeks now and has the following inhabitants: 4 Blue/green Chromis 2 Black and white clowns 1 Yellow Eye Kole Tang I also picked up some SPS frags at Upscales: Pink Birds Nest Green Cats Paw Pink Cats Paw Orange Plating Monti Unidentified blue acro I also scored some GSP from a fellow reefer in the area. Anyway I am looking to possibly build some contacts and make some friends in the area for trading frags and whatnot. Hello! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Welcome to the forum! There are a lot of great people in Salem. You should check out Garrett's place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePremiumAquarium Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Welcome! Stop by the shop sometime to chat reef! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mohaynow Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Nice to see another salem area convert! If you need help with anything don't be shy about asking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
souperman Posted October 17, 2011 Author Share Posted October 17, 2011 Holy cow I had no idea about your shop Garrett! This is one of the reasons I wanted to join this forum and possibly PWNMAS to discover what kind of resources are in the area. I will for sure be stopping by soon. I am currently in an ich scare from the Kole tang I just bought that is going to seriously slow down my stocking rate tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
souperman Posted October 17, 2011 Author Share Posted October 17, 2011 My setup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 Nice setup. I have to say you freshwater converts really seem to do a good job of doing your homework and planning. You are off to a great start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCR Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 Ick is normal on a new tang. keep it happy. Do not over feed. Do not "check" on it every couple of minutes. Let it be. leave it alone and it will be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePremiumAquarium Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 Holy cow I had no idea about your shop Garrett! This is one of the reasons I wanted to join this forum and possibly PWNMAS to discover what kind of resources are in the area. I will for sure be stopping by soon. I am currently in an ich scare from the Kole tang I just bought that is going to seriously slow down my stocking rate tho. Tank is looking real good! Nice and clean and from the looks of it ready to start stocking with intersting corals and critters! Ich is one of those things that in a healthy reef, and givin and otherwise healthy fish, should run its course. It's a very natural progression stemming from suppressed immune function ultimately from the collection, holding, transporting, and introduction into a closed, full salinity reef ecosystem. I am of the mind that I would rather help my fish gain/maintain great immune system function and fight of ailments as naturally as possible then to try and treat a fish with medications onces it does come down with ich. Other issues might be dealt with differently and/or require treatment of some kind but with ich I believe in making the strong stronger so to speak. Slowing down your fish stocking rate is probably not a bad idea at all. Let things setting in and add things slowly so that the system can establish a place for everything. Items with a smaller bioload can be added in more quantity as needed/desired. i.e. invertibrates that can actually reduce larger waster products into smaller waste products that your biological and mechanical filtration can take care of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
souperman Posted October 17, 2011 Author Share Posted October 17, 2011 Thanks for the good words. This setup has been a dream of mine for several years now. I am just learning about marine ich and how it lives in an aquarium. My tang has shown some scratching on sand and the overflow in my tank, as well as a very light dusting of a few light spots that seem to come and go. Sometimes I wonder if its just finer particles of my substrate sticking to his slime coat as he sniffs around in the sand for goodies. My clowns and chromis have yet to show any symptoms. The place I got him from recommended an herbal medication that seems to be reef safe called Herbtana. I was going to give this stuff a shot, do a water change, and turn the skimmer back on and wait. There seem to be two camps when it comes to dealing with marine ich. The militant folks who believe it can only be successfully deal with by meds or hyposalinity, and those that seem to think the fish can live with it to an extent and manage it with garlic or other supplements. I'm not sure what side I will fall in with. I hate the idea of putting my fish thru the stress of a hospital tank for 6-8 weeks and staring at an empty DT, but I don't want it popping up every time I add a new member to the tank. I see experienced reefers on both side of things so it's hard to feel sure about a course of action. Tank is looking real good! Nice and clean and from the looks of it ready to start stocking with intersting corals and critters! Ich is one of those things that in a healthy reef, and givin and otherwise healthy fish, should run its course. It's a very natural progression stemming from suppressed immune function ultimately from the collection, holding, transporting, and introduction into a closed, full salinity reef ecosystem. I am of the mind that I would rather help my fish gain/maintain great immune system function and fight of ailments as naturally as possible then to try and treat a fish with medications onces it does come down with ich. Other issues might be dealt with differently and/or require treatment of some kind but with ich I believe in making the strong stronger so to speak. Slowing down your fish stocking rate is probably not a bad idea at all. Let things setting in and add things slowly so that the system can establish a place for everything. Items with a smaller bioload can be added in more quantity as needed/desired. i.e. invertibrates that can actually reduce larger waster products into smaller waste products that your biological and mechanical filtration can take care of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derbird Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 Welcome. I recently took the step from fresh to salt myself (I can't bear to part wtih my freshwater friends so multiple tanks in the home now (whistle)) This forum has proven to be a invaluble resorce for me and I'm sure it will soon be for you as well. The folks here a really friendly and have put up with my endless silly questions. (laugh) The tank looks great. I like the rock work you have done, lots of nooks and cranys. I can't wait to see it full of corals and inverts and of course little fish too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daleroller Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 Aren't there some varieties of fish out there that help clean other fish of diseased and dead tissue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derbird Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 The only one I know of is the cleaner shrimp but I'm sure there are more. I am new to the hobby so a grain of salt with what ever I say wouldn't be a bad idea...LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Reef Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 Aren't there some varieties of fish out there that help clean other fish of diseased and dead tissue? There's plenty, and that goes for invertebrates too. One of my favorites by far are neon cleaner gobies. Heck, I've even had six line wrasses from a particular area cleaning fish before. -Ricky Soutas Jr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 As far as ich, you are correct some people will say take the fish out and treat it. I have done both and if the fish is doing well I usually leave it alone. I have a frag tank that also serves as my quarantine tank. I didn't run a quarantine tank before but after having a large fish population wiped out I now put fish in the quarantine tank for several weeks. Not only does it protect the fish in the main display. It also gets the fish time to acclimate and feed and treat if necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
souperman Posted October 17, 2011 Author Share Posted October 17, 2011 The tang looked pretty bad this morning with another outbreak. I have 6 days left of the herbtana to dose then more drastic measures will need to be taken. I have a 40g long available to treat in, but I'm worried about the tang starving. He hasn't taken any prepared food just feeding off algae in the tank. The clowns and chromis are still clear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePremiumAquarium Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 Are you soaking any of the food in garlic guard or some other garlic extract soak? I do this on a regular basis for my fish. It seems to really help stimulate their appetite for prepared foods and in turn can help pump their immune system up a notch. Cleaner shrimp are a great way to provide your fish with a place to get bit of treatment for external parasites. I like to put two+ larger cleaner shrimp in any display that I setup. They are fun to watch too. As Ricky mentioned, there are a bunch of fish out there that will act as cleaners. Probably the most common is the African cleaner wrasse though there are many types of cleaner wrasse out there. I personally like to stick with shrimp(peppermints will clean as well) simply because in a smaller system it can sometimes be hard to keep cleaner wrasses alive. I have had good luck getting them to live long term by offering cyclopeeze, arctipods, and the occasional live tigger pods but they definetly are a more difficult fish to keep then some. Someone with a huge display with dozens of larger fish would have little to no problem keeping them but in a smaller system it can be tough. If you setup a quantine, make sure you have plenty of flow, plenty of biological filtration, and make sure it has time to become an established system. Fish will stress from the transition of one system in to the next but having an established tank to transition them to will help. I don't recommend setting one up for temporary treatment simply because the tank wont be able to handle an immediate introduction of a sick fish and the fish will likely have to deal with ammonia spikes. A premanent quarantine system works pretty well because it has the bacteria necessary to handle the introduction of a new or sick fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
souperman Posted October 18, 2011 Author Share Posted October 18, 2011 I have been feeding food soaked in Kent's Garlic Extreme since I got my clowns a few weeks back. The tang is super shy and cowers behind the rocks when I approach the tank to feed. He is also afraid of nori clips so I am now trying to get him to eat from a rubberbanded rock. The tang looks pretty bad today covered in specks and pretty pale. From what I've read cleaners are of little use to ich since the parasite is burrowed beneath the fish's skin where it can't be reached. This sounds bad but part of me wants the tang to be put out of it's misery, I'll just consider it a $50 lesson in why you should QT everything. If he makes it thru this recent outbreak I'll be suprised. I just hope I can save my clowns and chromis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 I have been feeding food soaked in Kent's Garlic Extreme since I got my clowns a few weeks back. The tang is super shy and cowers behind the rocks when I approach the tank to feed. He is also afraid of nori clips so I am now trying to get him to eat from a rubberbanded rock. The tang looks pretty bad today covered in specks and pretty pale. From what I've read cleaners are of little use to ich since the parasite is burrowed beneath the fish's skin where it can't be reached. This sounds bad but part of me wants the tang to be put out of it's misery, I'll just consider it a $50 lesson in why you should QT everything. If he makes it thru this recent outbreak I'll be suprised. I just hope I can save my clowns and chromis. You are correct that cleaner fish and cleaner shrimp really are not helpful with ich as the parasite is deeper in the skin layer. The other thing that people don't talk about is where you get your fish and selecting your fish is just as important. There are some places I used to go where the fish were not given a chance to acclimate and just were not healthy. Before you buy a fish it is always wise to inspect it and ask the owner to watch it eat. If it is not eating then don't buy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr S Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 Hello, I am also a Salem resident and like to shoot the breeze about reefin. I have in the past, given ich fish a fresh water dip. I did it as an extreme, in other words the fish was really bad off. I am batting about 50/50 on the results. Again, I did it as a last resort before the ultimate swirly was performed. Good luck. I know it sucks to lose any fish let alone an expensive one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
souperman Posted October 19, 2011 Author Share Posted October 19, 2011 I just back back from Garrett's shop. It was great to meet you Garrett, thanks for being cool about my kids running amok. The shop is great, organized with very nice specimens. You had a little of almost everything! I will be back for sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePremiumAquarium Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 It was great to have you in. Glad you and the family could make it. Kids are always welcome and as long as you are ok with them running amok, so am I a I will have my own running around before too long lol. If I can help with anything, pls don't hesitate to ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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