Beth, help

almarktool

almarktool

Member
Beth , terry etc,
I have a alge blenny was in my tank 72 gal since january this year, never really worried about him much he just swam around and picked on rock and the glass, i saw him 2 days ago and i could see his skelton he is skin and bones ? i managed to catch him and put him in a sep hospital tank , which right now does have 20 lbs of lr and some cc no one has been in there for long time was hoping he would find something to eat since i have never seen him eat anything i put in the tank clipped on some seeweed from 3 little fishes and he is picking at that a bit but is still very skinny, he is ok otherwise how long do u think it will take for him to fatten back up and what can i do to avoid this again ?
thanks so much for your help
mark
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Not unusual for this fish to starve to death due to inadequate food. Grind up some seaweed selects and offer that to him. See if you can find other sources of algae, frozen foods, but this could be a problem since this blenny mostly needs to eat what is home-grown in the aquarium. You may need to upgrade lighting to promote additional algae growth in tank, or establish a separate algae refugium to grow food.
I sympathize with your problem. My troches snails, which are huge now, are running low on diatoms and are not getting enough to eat. I lost 1 last week, and one of my largest ones does not look good as of last night. I just changed out my VHO's so I'm hoping that the brighter lighting will promote additional diatoms for them.
Imagine, most people want to get rid of algae and diatoms, and we are trying to get more of it! Go figure. :confused:
 
almarktool

almarktool

Member
beth,
thanks for the input i'll try making him up something he seems to be holding is own and eating some seaweed but not sure how long it will take for him to get fat, yes funny how we are trying to grow alge, i already have 400 watts of pc in the tank on 10 hours a day corals look great as does the anemone which has doubled in size,
another quickie on my hospital tank in order to help with always keeping it cycled and ready to go would be ok to run a wet/dry ? i have a extra one lying around also see the amircle makes a neat little hang on one, what are your thoughts on this?
Mark
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
You can pretty much put whatever filtration on a QT that you want to. Just take care with a W/D because they can produce nitrates if you're not cleaning up the filters, etc. You can run the lights for 12 hrs, too.
BTW: You may leave this fish in the QT for a few days, or a week to try and get him to put on some weight, but, after that, think about getting him back home, unless he gets worse.
If you can find some zoecon, add this to the food. Feed the fish frequently.
 
almarktool

almarktool

Member
Beth ,
got any alge u want to sell ?? ( just kidding ) anyway i had thought i had lost him tonight took 3 hours for him to show up he does seem to be eating some seaweed off the clip i put in for him, and this hospital tank i have is not normal it was a inbetween tank u might call it , 20 gal and has CC and about 10-15 lbs live rock with a 55 watt PC on it just wondering u mentioned to get him back in the main tank soon ? i thought if a fish starving like that might develop ick ? and wipe out the rest off the tank which is why i put him in there in the first place could u please explain to me why i should get him back in the main tank soon
Thanks so much
Mark
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Well, fish get ich from other infected fish. If you have had him for a long time with no ich, then it is not likely that he will get it---unless he's exposed to it by a new addition to the tank.
The only reason to keep the fish in a hospital, is to give him specialized attention and make sure that he is eating what you give him, and not some other fish taking his food.
Don't let seaweed sit in there for long periods. Take what hasn't been eaten out after about an hr. Seaweed Selects tends to degrade fast. What about frozen greens? I haven't really shopped for frozen foods lately, but as I recall there were some options in that department. And, of course, you can make your own. A small tank with an airstone and some rocks setting in a window that gets a lot of sunllight, or some intense artifical lighting [like plant lights] could be done.
 
almarktool

almarktool

Member
well my tanks are in the basement, i upped the main tank to 12 hours lighting seeweed as u know can't tell if the current took it or the fish the main tank is 9 months old never ever lost a fish in there read and followed this bored for a bit before i set up my tank he was one of my first fish if i mangaged to save a doomed mandrian i should be able to save my benny the alge blenny
should i take out half the turbo snails and put them in the hospital so there is more alge in the main tank and move benny back to the main ??
might sound sound like i am begging but u know far more than i do in regards to this and if i loose him following this boards advice them atleast i will know i did every thing i could for him
Mark
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
If he's doing ok in the hospital and the water quality is good, leave him there for the time being. See if he picks up a bit of weight. You might want to go ahead and find a new home for the turbos in the meantime so that some algae can grow back in the main tank.
What is the phosphate reading in the main tank?
 
almarktool

almarktool

Member
beth,
pospates in the main tank are 0,
have not seen him yet today i guess he is still hiding i hope, going to put him back in the main tank as soon as i get a hold of him,
terry thanks for the input, i tried the formula 2 but he has not touched it yet,
i do research my fish before i purchase them that is why they are still with me unfortunatly only info i found on the alge blennie was that they eat alge and there is no way that i would know 9 months later after using ro water and a good skimmer that i would run out of alge,
perhaps i should not have as many turbo snails as beth and i spoke about but in a 72 gallon tank i didn't think 10 would be too many by reading what people recommended i should have 30-50 of them , qtank is always cycled and ready, learned that one long time ago from reeding beth and your post's and i would not personally have the nerve to ask for help if i did not have one set up
Mark
 
almarktool

almarktool

Member
well i lost him
Beth just to for future ref, i could have left him in the main tank he would not have gotten ick from this , i thought perhaps that a fish starvin might bring on stress in which case could cause a ick break out, i know there is talk about ick be dormant in fish and comes out when stress is brought on so that is why i thought hospital was best please correct me if i am wrong
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Did he have ich? Of course it is possible, but certainly not likely.
I disagree with the 40 snails routine. I know that is what is commonly done for reef tanks, but most tanks can not support the feeding needs of that many snails. I only have a few in my tank right now, and I a have lost a couple this week due to NO food. The tubos/trochus mow down algae faster than you can mow grass. And zero phosphates means little food source for algae to grow or even live. How ironic that so many people agonize over phosphates and algae in their tanks, when some of us are desperate for it. However, the better reef systems have less of those things, which is why you must consider this when you stock tanks with algae eaters.
To be honest with you, I would not have necessarily put him in the hospital tank in the absence of an actual disease process for the reason you said. He certainly wasn't going to get algae in there. The little guy was probably too far gone anyway, so don't blame yourself. Just know that you need to look for carnivore additions to your tank from this point on. The alternative would be as I suggested before and start up an algae tank. Some rocks, tap water, a powerhead in a well lighted/or sun exposed tank will get you some home made algae. Too, perhaps with no snails, the blenny might have been fine. Frankly, I’ve been thinking of trying out using some tap, which I know our local supply has plenty of phosphates, to see if I can get some algae going in my tank. I will be very unhappy if I lose my 2 big trochus snails.
 
almarktool

almarktool

Member
beth thanks a million
yeah lets go some of that city tap water so we can grow some alge it makes sense but mental block in the head says no,
perhaps like u said a small tank on the dining room table,shades open to grow some alge , then what would u do scrape it off the glass and put some in the main tank ?
 
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