Flashy Fins

I pulled one from a patch of zoas when I first started in this hobby and never found another or had any problems with zoas not opening, so it’s not a given there are more. Still better to assume there are. If it’s easy to pull and dip, I would. If you can’t do that, a wrasse sounds like a good plan.

Wowza! Is that a massive Oregon tort colony in the middle of the first pic? Whether it’s that or something else, it’s beautiful! Also love the purple (pink?) cat’s paw stylo on the right in the same tank. I have a much smaller colony I hope looks as nice someday!

I would like to think people don't actually ask you that, but I've heard too many stories from a doctor friend that pretty much go, "Let me show you this weird rash I have, Doctor I just met at a party!"

“Hello, Jack? I have stopped breathing. What should I do?” ”Have you tried breathing?” “Hello, Sean? I have something here I need neuroscienced, and you’re the only neurosciencer I know.” ”That... doesn’t make any sense. I can’t understand you.” ”Psh, and you call yourself a neuroscientist! Can’t even understand that I need something neuroscienced! I’m calling Jack - he worked wonders when I had that breathing problem!”

I’m an Amazon image manager/photo editor with previous experience as a content writer (product descriptions). Amazon is not my employer; they are the client of the small sales rep company I work for. We’re not 3rd party sellers. If you have a stellar product line you want Amazon to buy (storing it in their warehouse, selling it and shipping it to the end customer), that’s where we come in. Before Amazon, I made my living selling new clothing and toys on eBay most of the year and at Georgia flea markets during the summer months when people get off their computers and out of their houses. There are some parallels between eBay and Amazon, but I enjoy having paid vacation time now and no longer having to haul carloads of merchandise around to flea markets in 120 degree Atlanta heat. (It doesn’t actually get to 120 there, but it feels like it with the humidity. 105 here feels the same as 85 there.) In terms of what I can help you with... I can assure you that your collection of prized possessions is not worth what you think it is on eBay. I can also photoshop that honker of a nose you’ve got down to a reasonable size bump. Kidding aside, if you really do have a company with cool products you’re interested in selling to Amazon, show me sometime. I can put you in touch with my boss, who can assess whether you’re better off trying to do that on your own or whether you should hire us. She is honest about that stuff, because if we can’t improve your sales, it’s going to be a waste of time for everyone. In many cases, we can help.

Says the woman who knows WAY more about him than I do! I went to a concert b/c I like his voice, but Kim can tell you all about his personal ethics, songwriting (stealing?) habits, his hair situation, maybe even his personal life! She also thinks of him at every possible turn, so you tell me who has an undying devotion... I don't know any Justin Bieber songs, so I can't speak to that, but something tells me I would not be impressed by his singing voice.

I didn’t imagine you go to his concerts in your down time. Your reputation is intact!

Ha! I completely missed him. Too cute!

Scott lives in a different corner of the internet than the rest of us, one where Justin Bieber is still relevant. I hope you had a FABULOUS birthday, Holly!

Gonna need to see pics of that mandarin! Mandarin portrait photo shoot!

4 transfers totaling 12 days is used as a padded effort, just a safety built in on the last one. I do it for the extra assurance. There is a method of TTM for velvet, but if I recall correctly, transfers happen every 12 hours. Way more work than it would be worth in the majority of cases! Excellent call on using colanders instead of nets. Years ago, I had a tiny wrasse get his tooth caught on the net, and that was not fun trying to remove it. Worse was that I figured it to be a one-off occurrence, only to have it happen again the very next transfer! He was obviously freaking out and biting the net. I’ve yet to encounter a fish who doesn’t seem far less stressed by a plastic container.

There are some people who do their Prazi treatments at the same time as TTM, dosing every other transfer (2 out of 4). I've done it that way once or twice, but I was never crazy about it, because it made me so nervous in regards to oxygen levels. I use airstones in my transfer buckets (not recommended for saltwater tanks, but they're fine for a few days of use; stones are thrown away after each transfer, since they're too porous to reliably sterilize and dry). I much prefer doing the Prazi treatments in my cycled QT, even though it creates the extra work of a water change before each dose.

None at the moment, because I haven't added any fish in a while. But I'm hoping to pick up some new fish soon (getting rid of some current ones and changing things up), so the next guy who swims in will get paparazzi treatment and a write-up on the forum.

I'm a self-proclaimed Quarantine Queen , but I mostly get weird reactions from people when I talk about it. Those people tend to have larger tanks with better filtration than I do, so they can get away with more and tend to go the dump and pray route. Eventually, it bites some of them, but enough get away with it that it continues to be standard practice. I have a 20 gallon tank with no skimmer and water changes as my only method of nutrient export, so I have no room for error. Any parasite or other nasty that gets in can overwhelm the tank in no time, so I refuse to let them in. Fish When I first get a fish (assuming it's not a delicate species I need to wean onto prepared foods, another matter entirely), I put it through the Tank Transfer Method. This is a series of 4 transfers over 12 days (3 days each) into new water each time, designed to outrun the life cycle of ich. The idea is that ich falls off the fish, reproduces, swims around looking to infect again, but cannot do so due to the fish having packed its bags and left Ich City. I use buckets for single fish under 3", but you'd obviously use proper tanks for larger fish or multiple fish. All equipment is sterilized between transfers. Feeding schedule, I decide based on species, but for most, I feed on the 3rd day of each transfer and add in Prime to ensure I'm not creating an ammonia spike. When the ich-be-gone transfers are complete, I move the fish into a clean, cycled QT tank to watch for other problems and fatten them up. I treat with 2 rounds of Prazi Pro for flukes and internal problems they may have going on. As long as I don't see stringy white poop, I don't worry any more about that. If I do see such a thing, I treat with Metroplex in the food. The fish I've found the hardest to treat for worms are anthias, because they tend to reinfect themselves constantly by eating the poop. Bacterial infections are less common, but if they do pop up, treat with antibiotics chosen according to the species and particular problem. Reef2reef is an excellent source of help from experts who haven't let their status go to their heads/turn them into jerks like that other forum. After 4 weeks in the QT tank (nearly 6 weeks total since acquiring the fish), if no problems have presented themselves or have been completely cleared and the fish is eating with gusto, into the display he goes! Corals & Inverts Non-fish livestock cannot be infected by ich, but they absolutely can carry it into your tank. More than a few people have been burned by not QT'ing anemones only to transfer velvet into their system. Plenty of coral pests end up in tanks this way. In short, there's a long list of things that can go wrong from not QT'ing all things wet. There is excellent info here about how to determine time frames for QT. I personally go 8 weeks, because encysted ich is not jumping from one rock to another; it is staying put until it bursts and goes on a hunt for fish to infect, which it will not find in my coral/invert QT. My coral dipping procedures are sufficient to eliminate any free swimming ich coming in through store/fellow reefer tank water, so even if I dropped new corals in 4 weeks ago, the ones that have been in QT 8 weeks are ready to go into the display. I don't chance it if I've added anything in the last 4 weeks, but that's due to coral pests rather than ich concerns. If I added a coral yesterday, I'm not going to take a chance that a pest didn't crawl from it to another overnight. If I were QT'ing a lot of SPS (rare for me), I would likely be more stringent, but that's something you have to determine for yourself based on what you keep, which pests are likely, how much damage they can do and how fast, and how easy or difficult they are to control or eradicate. When I bring home a coral, I first dip using Coral Rx (10 minutes for most corals, but some don't like it and I stop at 5). I have no experience using anything else, except maybe ME dip once or twice when I had a free sample. Plenty of people use Bayer and can offer advice there. I use a 50/50 mix of source water and my QT water to get the acclimation going. After the dip (assuming nothing nasty came off), I thoroughly rinse with new QT water in a separate container, then move the coral into a third container for a 30-minute dip in a heavy overdose of Flatform Exit (longer/again if I find any). I'll add 10 drops or more in a pint-size container. I also do this with any live rock I bring in. I've never experienced any problems doing this, although sometimes I'll see brittle stars and copepods going through a rough time. The stars, I'll grab if I can and toss into my coral QT so I don't have to watch them die a painful death. The pods don't get rescued. If you start seeing a lot of flatworms die off, you will need to periodically change out water and re-dose the dip, so you don't end up with toxin overload in the container. I've never had that happen, thankfully. Before developing this step of my incoming rock/coral routine, I did end up with red planaria in my coral QT. Once eradicated, I vowed I wasn't letting those bugs in again. Much easier to keep them out of the QT entirely, so I can make sure none ever make it into my display. I know there are worse pests for SPS lovers, but for the corals I keep, not so much. I might be forgetting some things, so feel free to ask questions. I might also be boring people to tears, but those people likely didn't make it this far, so advice to look away is useless.

I think @Manny Tavan is mainly wondering - is ONE a probable number for him to be getting? Has anyone else registered a number so low?

Here is the thread he's referring to. Hopefully that helps, and if not, someone else might chime in to assist.

WIll you be at Jeff’s on Saturday? I’m passing off a par meter there at 11 am, and I’m sure I’ll hang around for a bit.

Gotta jump or you lose! I edited my post and will actually do the middle Oregon tort frag.

$10 Hulk lepto, please! I’ll also take a $5 pokerstar monti. and the middle Oregon tort frag for $10

Hmm, I haven't used it myself, but maybe a recent borrower can shed some light (pun intended). @Trailermann or @milesmiles902 - can either of you help? @badxgillen, have you used it/know what's up?

Ok, adding you to the list now.

As you wish, Mrs. President!

I’m working on a meetup with Manny Tavan to pass it to him next. Do you want to borrow after him?

Ok, took you off the list.

Which one did you want? The handheld is available now; the usb model has a few people ahead of you.