taking a new direction

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eric b 125

Guest
So when I got home from trip #1 there were 2 less chromis' in the tank than when I left. The person that was house sitting for me said they removed one dead fish from the tank, but can't account for the second missing fish. I noticed that the one anthias has a white wound on its side and all three anthias have a whitish film on them. Tested the water and it's horrible, no ammonia, but 1.0 ppm trite, and trates are as bad as the test can read. I should have done a w/c before leaving like I planned. I had saltwater mixing but this morning when I went to test everything to do the w/c I realized that the powerhead in the bucket was not working; the impeller went bad. The water looks and smells fine so I tossed an air stone in there and will continue to aerate for another 45 minutes before doing the w/c.
 
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eric b 125

Guest
While doing the w/c last night I think one of the anthias jumped out without me realizing <facepalm>. I'm going back and forth on whether or not to hypo the remaining fish. I'm not too happy about it, but at least it will give me more time to get the sandbed fixed in the DT.
 
tthemadd1

tthemadd1

Active Member
Sandbed issue is it moving around a lot? I'm having the same issue. Although over the past right weeks it seems to be sticking together more.
 
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eric b 125

Guest
It's not that it's moving around... the tank just has a pretty large bare spot in the front. I think I'm going to remove a good bit of the sand and mix in some CC to hopefully hold it into place.
 
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eric b 125

Guest
I went out and got 15 lbs of CC today. I'm praying that it will stay-put. I will start the process of adding it to the tank later today.
I did start hypo on the QT this morning. I am so not thrilled about having to do this, but that's life I guess. All that's left from 5 chromis and 3 anthias is 2 and 2. I've never had such bad luck with purchasing fish, but part of it was that I left for a few days, didn't do a w/c before leaving, and didn't ID the ich early enough.
I'm also going to have to pick up some egg crate and cover the holes going from the weir to the external OF box. There's a lot of snails getting into the OF box and going over the falls. It requires me to open the valve on the full siphon line to let the snails pass, and the other day I found that a snail was sucked into my skimmer pump intake and completely stopped the flow of water and air into the skimmer.
 
sweatervest13

sweatervest13

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric B 125 http:///t/389056/taking-a-new-direction/640#post_3527632
I went out and got 15 lbs of CC today. I'm praying that it will stay-put. I will start the process of adding it to the tank later today.
I did start hypo on the QT this morning. I am so not thrilled about having to do this, but that's life I guess. All that's left from 5 chromis and 3 anthias is 2 and 2. I've never had such bad luck with purchasing fish, but part of it was that I left for a few days, didn't do a w/c before leaving, and didn't ID the ich early enough.
I'm also going to have to pick up some egg crate and cover the holes going from the weir to the external OF box. There's a lot of snails getting into the OF box and going over the falls. It requires me to open the valve on the full siphon line to let the snails pass, and the other day I found that a snail was sucked into my skimmer pump intake and completely stopped the flow of water and air into the skimmer.
Ugg... That could be big trouble. That would suck to have the whole system go down because of a snail. Take some pics of your "fix", maybe it could help some other folks who might have the issue as well.
Sorry to hear about the fish loss. That stinks too. But you have a plan now, so hopefully they can make it out of hypo and into the DT.
 
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eric b 125

Guest
This is the CC that I picked up. I figured I didn't have to be too picky as far as brands and I found this in the new PetSmart 3 blocks from my pad:

And a few pics of how the sand bed had gone bare in the middle and piled up on the sides:


 
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eric b 125

Guest
So far (about 30 min, LOL) the CC seems to stay put much better. It will take a few days to be sure. Now to dig through the sand I removed and hunt for snails....
 
lubeck

lubeck

Active Member
I have the same problem with my weir and all the snails. I'm using gutter guard but don't know how to attach it correctly. Right now I'm using zip ties and they re kinda working. What size down spouts do you have? Mine are 1.5" so even though the snails are in there its not enough to stop the flow.
 
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eric b 125

Guest
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lubeck http:///t/389056/taking-a-new-direction/640#post_3527677
I have the same problem with my weir and all the snails. I'm using gutter guard but don't know how to attach it correctly. Right now I'm using zip ties and they re kinda working. What size down spouts do you have? Mine are 1.5" so even though the snails are in there its not enough to stop the flow.
Lubeck: I designed my external box on the smaller side so I used 1" inside and 1.5" from the bottom of the box to the sump. I went to HD today for egg crate and realized that it really wouldn't do much by ways of stopping the snails that I have in the tank right now. All the snails would pass right through. It's not that the flow stops, but the snails have gotten caught in the ball valve on my full siphon drain. It only slows the flow through that drain and the open channel has no problem picking up the extra flow. It does not cause the open channel to go full-siphon and it certainly doesn't cause the emergency drain to kick in, but I have to open the ball valve from time to time to allow the snails to pass and then I have to fish them out of the skimmer channel. It's just a PITA. I will maybe get strainers on my drain line intakes.
Did you design your weir like a box or did you angle it? Not that it matters as far as snails go, I was just wondering.
 
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eric b 125

Guest
I finally hung all the vortech controllers:

The CC is holding its ground so far. I might add another few handfuls
 
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eric b 125

Guest
Thanks Krista!
I'm still working on bringing the SG down in the QT. I might just have to leave it where it is because I'm leaving town again tomorrow morning at 7a.m.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Wonder if wrapping the siphon spout with some vinyl window screen material would help. Could simply zip tie it to the spout and see if it helps.
 
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eric b 125

Guest
So, I'm afraid that I may have misdiagnosed the fish and yesterday when I got home from my last trip things were looking pretty sketchy. In hindsight, I shouldn't have gotten these fish knowing that I was going to be away for close to two weeks. I'm considering euthanizing the remaining fish, because they really don't look like they'll make it. If that's what I have to do then I will wait a few weeks to order another round of fish. Hopefully letting the tank sit dry for a while and then running it w/ FW will kill off whatever has plagued these fish. My next round of fish will be 3 YT. Do you think it would behoove me to do a round of hypo on all new additions to be safe, or is that cruel?
 
tthemadd1

tthemadd1

Active Member
Misdiagnosed? More info? Running FW through the tank is complete redo. You would have a full cycle. What do you think was/is the culprit? Would it make more sense to pull the fish into a medical tank?
Leave the tank empty of fish for a few months? If there is no host I would imagine any virus or parasite would die off.
If there are no inverts I would say hypo the dt. If the fish are done move all your inverts to a back up tank separate from the system and then hypo the dt. You will still get a cycle but it would be more manageable. I keep the 20 gallon running now in case I need an emergency tank. It has one rock with a bunch of xenias and a few mushrooms right now. If the emergency arrives I can always move what is left alive.
I guess more info on what you feel the reall issues are to determine whether or not you start fresh or a soft reboot.
Any way it's done you should look at eight weeks fish free to remove all potential pathogens.
.02
 
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eric b 125

Guest
Quote:
Originally Posted by tthemadd1 http:///t/389056/taking-a-new-direction/640#post_3528151
Misdiagnosed? More info? Running FW through the tank is complete redo. You would have a full cycle. What do you think was/is the culprit? Would it make more sense to pull the fish into a medical tank?
Leave the tank empty of fish for a few months? If there is no host I would imagine any virus or parasite would die off.
If there are no inverts I would say hypo the dt. If the fish are done move all your inverts to a back up tank separate from the system and then hypo the dt. You will still get a cycle but it would be more manageable. I keep the 20 gallon running now in case I need an emergency tank. It has one rock with a bunch of xenias and a few mushrooms right now. If the emergency arrives I can always move what is left alive.
I guess more info on what you feel the reall issues are to determine whether or not you start fresh or a soft reboot.
Any way it's done you should look at eight weeks fish free to remove all potential pathogens.
.02
The fish are still in QT. They never saw the DT. I have no idea what is wrong with them. I have two chromis' left and the male anthias. I think tonight might be their last.
What do you guys think of doing a preventative hypo on my next order?
 
sweatervest13

sweatervest13

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric B 125 http:///t/389056/taking-a-new-direction/640#post_3528244
The fish are still in QT. They never saw the DT. I have no idea what is wrong with them. I have two chromis' left and the male anthias. I think tonight might be their last.
What do you guys think of doing a preventative hypo on my next order?
Ouch. That's a tough one. Are the fish that are still alive at hypo levels?? What are the parameters of the QT?
I have done preventative hypo in the past, and the fish did fine. I would make sure that the new fish are looking decent and eating good for a week or so, then drop the salinity to hypo levels. Three YT's is not a cheap investment, I would make sure that the QT is cycled and somewhat stable before I bought the new additions.
Any chance the current fish in QT make it??
 
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