New Nano Diary...

[SkiFletch]

Ich is really tough in marine systems. You could try a freshwater dip, but it might stress the fish out more. Best option is quarantine and treat with copper but that might not be an option for you. Do NOT reat the display tank with copper based meds, or formalin based meds for that matter.

 

[chrissaysyes]

I gotta do something FAST...my last clown is just swimming around the surface gasping for air...need a quick and sorta detailed solution...FW dip would suffice...whats the best way of going about it?

 

[SkiFletch]

Float a bag/bowl/whatever of freshwater in your tank to equilize temp. Net the clown, put it in the freshwater for say 10-20 mins and cover the container so that the clown thinks its night-time. Then re-net him and put him back in the tank. Add an airstone and/or move powerheads to the surface to aerate the water

 

[chrissaysyes]

game over...went in this morning to get the fish and do the fw dip but its too late...another dead clown. So sad to see a dead clown fish ugh. My wrasse isnt showing signs of infection yet but Im sure he will...should I dip him now? Im waitting on my sano reef marine itch/white spot treatment stuff to get here. My anemone looks sick now as well...

MORE BAD NEWS...

My figure 8 puffer in my brackish tank looks TERRIBLE...he looks just like the clowns...slimey and covered in white spots...I just did a SW dip on him in hopes that maybe SOME good would come of it...should I do copper treatments?

Some help / advice please...tanks and fish are going down fast!

 

[chrissaysyes]

and more bad news...anemone is dead...this is all happening within the span of the days while I've been working double shifts and the lfs is closed. Couldnt have come at a worse time...Im pretty sure my puffer wont survive the night and Im debating on putting him down tomorrow...he's just a big glob of goo and white specs now...I doubt theres any coming back.

None of the inhabitants of my tank are showing any signs of distress or infection right now so perhaps I can save them. The LFS isnt open until tuesday so I cant test the water or get any treatments until then. Lots of water changes to do tomorrow.

 

[sianeds]

fishies and nem. So sad.

It's pretty gutting when this happens. I really feel for you

Let us know ho things go.

 

[brittlestar]

I'm really sorry for what has happened, that is so unfortunate

 

[chrissaysyes]

alright...here's what's been going on...

STATUS

Nano tank status:

All fish dead, except for a seemingly completely unaffected six line wrasse...he seems pretty happy about having a tank to himself.
Inverts (With exception of the anemone) seem unaffected....Im not ENTIRELY crushed that the nem is gone...yes it was expensive, yes it was pretty, ok...I take it back...I am kinda crushed over the loss of the nem...but I was also kind of upset that now I had an anemone but no clowns to host it...I'd rather have corals anyway.

Brackish tank status:
Everything dead EXCEPT...puffy the puffer...but he's in baaaad shape...hoping for the best.

Actions to be/being taken:

Nano tank-
Purchased some Ick Kick or Kick Ick or whatever it's called from the LFS for $20...should be here tomorrow...it's supposed to be reef safe...if all else fails I also purchased some formalin/green malachite to use in a hospital tank.

Brackish-
Took down the tank entirely (I'll explain that later)...moved the puffer fish into a bucket with an air stone and some FW from my crayfish tank...also gave him a few SW baths prior to doing that...dont as me why. Ive been changing the water in his bucket every 5-6 hours. Today I added a drop of formalin to the bucket...he's still moving and he's not gasping at the surface...too soon to tell any progress as of now.


All in all I expect my nano tank to survive...corals, inverts, and the wrasse are all doing well and medication will be in tomorrow...Im going to wait for a spot on the wrasse before I treat the nano.



NOW...as many of you may know or agree, the only way to survive a tank crisis is to look ahead to the future...so....

FUTURE PLANS:

Nano tank:
Waiting...lots of waiting. Probably two weeks or so before I add anything or do anything aside from water changes. But...originally I wanted a pretty little reef tank with clowns and an anemone...something cliche and pretty...not so much now.

Definitely no clowns...
Definitely no nem..
Definitely more coral...
Definitely more blues and yellows...

Im really wishing I could do tangs...also wishing I could do a reef safe puffer...pretty sure there is no such thing. I love my inverts
Almost thinking of damsels...or maybe assorted gobys.

Brackish tank:
No longer brackish...if the puffer survives...which Im doubting he will, then he will now be a fresh water fish...I'll buy a special small tank just for him. The brackish tank is now.......................drum roll................................extended drum roll.................................
SALT WATER!! It's 30 gallons and I'll be starting a new diary just for it Today I added bacteria, buffer, live arganite sand, marine salt. Yesterday I added the water and dechlorinator...tomorrow I'll add some rock. That's it for a long while...it's main purpose for now is just an emergency hospital tank.

Anyways...tragedy sucks but I'll pull through...thanks all for reading!

 

[chrissaysyes]

Nano tank and survivors of the ick:

 

[chrissaysyes]

added the first treatment of Kick Ich today. No more until sunday...so far so good. Everyone in the tank is doing well and no white spots on my wrasse yet. Im trying to keep him as far from stressed as possible...he really seems to love having his own tank heh. The inverts are all doing well...did notice a dead red legged crab today though ugh. The bigger ones seem to be dying off as he;s probably the second or third to die...maybe I need more, larger shells. I had one of my monkey shrimp try to escape during a water change today...the little jerk almost ended up in the drain. Dumped him back in and he's fine. Cleaned the filter in my tank today...should I remove it entirely? I already removed the bio balls...Also moved a large chunk of LR to another tank so Im looking kind of bare right now...in need of some aquascaping. Anyways, I'll move things around tomorrow and take some pics.

 

[chrissaysyes]

tested my levels today and everything is perfect...I dunno why my nem died ugh. I fed it a piece of shrimp...could that have been it? Come to think of it...I cut that shrimp into several pieces and everything that I fed it to is dead except for my cichlids....(on a side note, my cichlid tank was never affected by any of the recent death...very happy about that.)...I dunno maybe the shrimp had something to do with it...after I got home from checking the levels I was moving around some LR and was greeted by the sting of a not so friendly bristleworm that was wrestling what looked to be a chunk of poo. Anyways...on the road to recovery I guess...anyone have any ideas as to why my nem died?

 

[sianeds]

I would guess your nem died because it was in a nano tank. Nems need pristine water with no fluctuations in quality or temp and perfect lighting. This is pretty much unachieveable in a nano without constant monitoring and should never be attempted, even by the most experienced reefers.

However...as you say, onwards and upwards

 

[chrissaysyes]

well that makes sense. My lfs said that the main reason not to do a nem in a nano would be because of movement and coral destruction. Onward and upward it is. Tank is doing good now...stable levels...stable fishies...treating them again on sunday with the Kick Ich.

Just added a coral banded shrimp. He's doing great...need to pick up some better fish food this afternoon.

 

[chrissaysyes]

kick ich isnt doing any immediate good...remaining fish suddenly has tons of white spots on him...if he makes it to the morning then he gets to spend the day in a nice bucket with an air stone and a dose of formalin.

 

[Picoreefer4966]

kick ich isnt doing any immediate good...remaining fish suddenly has tons of white spots on him...if he makes it to the morning then he gets to spend the day in a nice bucket with an air stone and a dose of formalin.

Sorry to hear about your losses with your nano. I'm fairly new to SW myself, but have learned by doing tons of research and question asking that the biggest key to success in SW (especially a nano or in my case Pico reef) is lots and lots of patience and moving very slowly. I read your whole thread and thought all along "Wow....they're adding stuff so fast and seem to be doing ok" . Till I read about your Ich. Such a bummer.
Ich coming back and affecting your only healthy fish isn't so surprising. Ich goes through a life cycle. It's only evident once it pops up as cysts on your fish. Even after the cysts are gone, the ich is still in the tank. It will continue to live in your substrate and LR till it's killed. If this was FW.....it's alot easier to get rid of.....salt treatments....raising the temp of the tank...formaline based ich medications....those works fine in FW. But SW and especially a reef tank.....Yikes. I don't know the med you're referring to that is reef safe, but I'm sure it will likely tell you to continue treating the tank for a period of time even after all the ich seems to be gone. Then even after that, I wouldn't add anything else to the tank for another few weeks after the meds have been filtered out.
Once you do start adding corals or fish.....do it very slowly. Get one.....wait a couple weeks....get another. Let your tank mature before you overload the biofilter. It may take a while for your tank to become the attractive little nano you have pictured in your mind, but you'll have alot less problems in the long run. I know it's hard, cuz I want to just go buy everything and fill my tank up now. LOL