Ron Popeil

start with the hypo and copper. keep feedings very very light. the bacterial infection should heal if the fish isnt having to fight off numerous infectious organisms at once. the hypo will allow the fish to do this. if in a few days the ich is gone, and the fungus appears to be worse, im fairly confident the maracyn and copper (if using coppersafe) can be used concurrently.

if i were you, i would use a tank between 10 and 20 gallons. depressed salinity somewhere around 1.019 or 1.015 should be good. keep temp around 76. copper will effectively eliminate the ich. coppersafe, cupramine. either will work. but as for the fungus on the clown...are you sure its a fungus? is the clown breathing heavily? id probably use a antibiotic or antibacterial medication for the fungus, fungii typically attack dying or diseased tissue caused by bacteria. definetely make sure the water quality in the QT remains excellent. saltwater maracyn should help with the fungus. also check stats in the main system. check for fluctuations. it wont do your fish any good to get them healthy, and the put them back into a display that may be experiencing problems. good luck!

i need square pin, and id prefer lower kelvin....these will be for a refugium.

anyone have any laying around?

terrific find austin. looks great so far.

im a huge fan of the blue reef hermits. i think theyre terrific. in a 90 gallon, i might start with 40 to 50 of them. i also tend to always have a brittle star if possible, for your size tank, no more than three. astrea snails and a turbo snail or two are also good choices as far as "clean up crew". in your size tank, after you get several months into your system set up, id start with 25 or so astreas and maybe 2 or so turbos. beyond that invert selection, im a huge fan of pom pom crabs. youll never see them, but when you do, theyre always a delight. i absolutely adore the neon blue stripped hermit crabs. theyre big. they knock things over and steal shells, but theyre very attractive hermits. i do like the linkias, but theyre a very sensitive little star fish. cleaner shrimp are a must have, as queen said. i usually have them in pairs. just more fun that way. so thats a slight mixture of clean up crew and recreational inverts...

it would go in my refugium, where i have some stray chrysopterus. from what i hear, mertens arent high light requiring anemones, nor even high flow. this is precisely the environment of my refugium....i cant wait to see more pictures of yours! ....if you havent seen phil hendersons (phender oh RC) mertens tank, check it out. its a very simple set up. and from what he says, an extremely resilient anemone

groupers and eels! http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20061207/sc_livescience/anamazingfirsttwospeciescooperatetohunt

thank you!

alright, emails are out. now...to see what happens. thanks for the help everyone!

not so much post mortum, since im pretty sure i know the cause of. im looking to figure out more preventative or curing methods. but, it couldnt hurt to see what im up against though. if you can get in touch with your friend, and she wouldnt mind doing a necropsy, let me know! thanks!

wonderul, thats exactly the information im looking for. if there are other contacts out there, please let me know of them.

does anyone have any contacts with researchers or even students that are working primarily in the field of fish pathology? i would like to open up some dialogue with folks who are currently researching marine fish diseases. if anyone has any email addresses or knows of any locally at universities or at the hatfield center... please let me know! thank you!

so i have myself a UV sterilizer. thanks to everyone near and far who offered to help. now, just to wait and see. i have three juvenile nigripes clowns in a 20 gallon QT tank. this species of fish is one of the poor shippers of the clownfish kingdom. like chrysopterus, usually around day three is when brooklynella strikes and proceeds to kill the fish. im going to see if a sterilizer will change this. fingers crossed. thanks again roger.

mistercrabs, thank you very much for the offer! i have someone checking very locally for me, if that doesnt work out, then ill definetely ask you. if you dont hear from me by wednesday night, i wont be needing your assistance....thank you!

i really appreciate the offer jp, but 2.5 hours through the mountains...probably not going to happen in this weather. wish you were closer. so still looking, i just need to borrow one for a QT experiment. thanks again.

i dont suppose anyone has a UV sterilizer laying around that i could borrow for a week or two? perhaps rent?

hey man, good luck.

hes definetely not a hungry fish. i really think he does it recreationally.

thanks guys, i really appreciate it. these arent necessarily very new, but theyre the most recent i have of my little two year old... heres a much older picture of them and an even older one still of my most favorite magnifica, a white based one, that didnt handle a move too well....

lately ive noticed my regal blue tang behavior in a fascinating way. he will swim to the bottom of the tank, pick up a small piece of coral rubble, swim around with it for a while and then drop it. and then he will repeat this. my live rock structure is littered with small coral pebbles. i think its hilarious, but its the first time ive noticed something like this. anyone have any thoughts on this? similar experiences with this species?

my family always gets me upscales gift certificates. and i love them for it.

fantastic. good to hear youve had it as long as youve had it...well done! a 60 cube is a great tank for a magnifica....its....what i have!

awesome! good to see someone else in the area keeping these amazing anemones! whats your set up like for it?

just an idea, but if you do go bigger....you could just punch out a hole in the wall of your hallway, do an inwall tank set up, and have that den converted to a fish room. i think that would be pretty sweet. go deep and shallow, glass and a corner over flow.