Bigtuna's Ocean In A Wall

[GAB99]

Everything is good so far except for that starfish, they look really nice but if they don't disintegrate after putting them in they eventually go hide and die somewhere else.
My dad, against my advice, bought a Fromia star as well, and it essentially just moved around and did nothing. Despite my best efforts to try and get it to do something, it just hid in a crevice and disintegrated, literally.
So just keep an eye on it, I doubt with a tank like that it would do anything terrible but still.
Good luck with the butterfly, they are rather hard.
And a note with the Achilles and tangs. If you're getting more than one its best to have a way to let the fish see each other over a few days without contact, like a mesh, or in tank qt, or else the newbie could get bullied or he could be mean. That stress causes whitespot on them like snow.
And not to deter you from Achilles but they are very, very hard to keep. Do tons of research before getting it.

 

[BigTuna]

So sadly while I was away on a 3 day course for my job, my butterfly got ill and passed. According to my wife, it all seemed to happen within a few hours. He was fine in the morning, then quite suddenly he changed colors, starting swimming strangely, and then rested on the aragonite and passed. I got home from my course just a bit too late. I did do a water change but it was too late for the butterfly.

The only physical signs that I picked up on where the sudden color change from a picture on my wife's smartphone. When I got home and he was dead, his full body had turned a darker shade. As well, there were small red 'blisters' in behind his pectoral fins.

The two Cardinals are still doing just fine, as is everything else in the tank, including the Fromia Star.

Did he become ill? He was still very tricky to get to eat. Starvation? Immature tank? I just found it odd that he seemed fine for a few weeks (other than the feeding) and then just suddenly die within a few hours. I was told by a guy at the LFS that butterflies are very tricky, and can be difficult.


Poor guy. I remember how excited I was when he was being acclimated. I was so excited I was practically doing backflips all over the place. My first ever 'exotic' marine fish, IMO.

 

[FishFanatic04]

Bummer. Better luck in the future!

 

[ainsy]

Sorry for your loss

Unfortunately it is the exception for them to succeed. Many dealers only have them on their tanks short term & when the distressed owner returns to the LFS saying that it has perished the reply is usually 'There must be something wrong with your tank.'

This is infrequently the case - more often than not it is because they are not really suitable for life in an aquarium.

Don't let this setback discourage you! It has happened to all of us.

 

[SaltNoob]

Blah! So so sorry.

I love seeing them at the store! So pretty, but I pass by them. Maybe one day when I have a much larger tank, even then though I have read so many dying. I hate it when fish die =(.

-Tyler

 

[Biulu]

Ooouuugggghh! That is sad! Better luck next time

 

[BigTuna]

Today I drove the nearly 2 hours to the LFS to have a look around and get stocked up on supplies. I was very frustrated as they had next to nothing for Marine fish. Nothing to even look at and admire, nothing to reward the long drive to the city. I was bummed so I googled Saltwater Fish store in the area and found my new fish haven. I can't believe I hadn't found it before. I even drive right by it each time I go to my original LFS!!! Poor signage, I guess. Anyways, I certainly appreciate the relationships I've developed from the original place, but the new place is amazing for what they have in stock. They have an amazing indoor Koi pond as well, that is really something to see.

When I first decided to switch to Salt, I was all over the Tangs, Angels, and Butterflies. Honestly, I don't think I will ever try another butterfly again. All I've heard since is the difficulties associated with them. I immediately thought it was something I had done, and I was crushed with the thought of failure. Especially so early into my journey. I guess I do have to accept responsibility for lack of research. I should have known what I was getting into.


I was able to accomplish my goal today of getting a UV Sterilizer. I've got it home and installed. While I was looking at fish, my wife instantly fell in love with the Dogface puffer. I admite, he is pretty neat!!! His display tankmate was a Picasso Triggerfish, also amazing. So in the next day or so, I may be going back to add a couple new guys to the tank. We will see.


Thanks for the support!!

 

[bae1994]

If your adding a trigger ( Ime not sure if the puffers don't do the same ) then you need to cover wires going To the tank if there's any, like for Powerheads etc as triggers have been known to bite the cables and fry the whole tank

You can use the flexi pipe from lfs cut a slit along the length and pop it around the cable

 

[GAB99]

Research!!

even if you go to one website its better than saying "i may go back and get them" this is the one thing to not shrug and say YOLO on, trust me. that butterfly is proof enough.

puffers and triggers are good with each other, triggers are actually not that hard. However, they are very mean and can actually eat those poor cardinals if it had a mind to do so. dog face puffers are also not recommended for beginners (which you are, no offense.) and they can stop eating if they are insecure. both these fish need equally sized/ equally temperamental tank mates, and since you have cardinals, that means a big no no.

either rethink stock or get rid of the cardinals, IMO they look better in a reef tank anyway, most FOWLR tanks are for big fish, and even if they aren't, you are tending to wanting the big, mean, coral munching machines anyway.

just a quick note, if the trigger is small, like 3" he might be ok for awhile with smaller fish, if the puffer is small then definitely stay away from it.

and please for all that is good and merciful do research before, during, and after going to the lfs/thinking about fish.

also if that star fish is still alive he'll become food too.

 

[BigTuna]

If your adding a trigger ( Ime not sure if the puffers don't do the same ) then you need to cover wires going To the tank if there's any, like for Powerheads etc as triggers have been known to bite the cables and fry the whole tank

You can use the flexi pipe from lfs cut a slit along the length and pop it around the cable

Already protected the power cable. It was my intentions from the beginning to eventually have some of the predators, so yes cables are all guarded. Thanks for the heads up, though

 

[BigTuna]

Research!!

Relax! The reason why I didn't go home with them that day wasn't due to lack of room in the car. I want to look things over more. The LFS understands this and is giving me the opportunity to research them more. My cardinals are decent sized, I wouldn't be surprised if they were left alone. I understand I can pretty well say goodbye to my CUC, though.

And believe me, I didn't buy that butterfly on the theory that YOLO. I believed from the information that I gathered that I was more than capable of providing adequate care for it.

 

[GAB99]

Research!!

Relax! The reason why I didn't go home with them that day wasn't due to lack of room in the car. I want to look things over more. The LFS understands this and is giving me the opportunity to research them more. My cardinals are decent sized, I wouldn't be surprised if they were left alone. I understand I can pretty well say goodbye to my CUC, though.

And believe me, I didn't buy that butterfly on the theory that YOLO. I believed from the information that I gathered that I was more than capable of providing adequate care for it.

never assume anything, fish are one of a kind in their personalities, you may get an exceptionally well behaved trigger or a sadistic one, i have a mated pair of cardinals as well, and even still they get into tussles with the tangs and the clown fish, all supposedly peaceful species (or in the case of the clowns, most peaceful species, they can be quite mean) where as my two tangs (which people know to not stick two tangs at different time intervals in a smallish tank) are the best of friends. fish are weird like that.

yeah you can say goodbye to any cuc you have, both those species love a good snail.

and that proves to do tons and tons of research!! im not even buying anything in the forseeable future and i still look stuff up just in case (to be fair i have about a million tanks for future set-ups)

and you can always ask here, lots of people are here to help/ give opinions.

 

[SaltNoob]

I heard triggers are super messy. Pooping all over the tank... bleh!

Any pictures? how are your water params lately? What percent of a water change do you do each week? just wondering hehe =)

-Tyler

 

[BigTuna]

My water params have been ideal, even before and after my whole butterfly experience. All 0's, ph 8.3, salinity is sitting at 1.024. I was doing 20% every week, but sice the butterfly passing I've been doing 25% twice weekly. That hasn't been going on for that long, i think 3 or 4 changes in total since the butterfly death.

I don't have any Picts right now, but I hope to share some updates soon!

 

[FishFanatic04]

Doh. No pics? Waste of time.