Ready For The Marine Challenge (again)!

[jetbox]

Hi,

Lost the other clown last night so now double gutted.... covered in white velvet.

so what went wrong and where do i go now??? not a great start to my marine fishkeeping again. Especially after being so patient waiting for the tank to cycle and getting all parameters spot on.. All params fine still by the way and all CUC still busy working. (My last marine tank was setup and had fish within a week and were fine, maybe just lucky or very unlucky this time!)

Anyway enough of my ramblings... How long do these parasites live in the tank. How long do I need to wait before I can try and add fish again?

Hope my bad start does'nt put you off lost jock...


jetbox

 

[Lost_Jock]

Sorry to hear again Jetbox.

I'm bricking it about adding anything alive!

Best of luck with sorting things out.

 

[SkiFletch]

Sorry about your loss Jetbox, never fun . Were the clownfish tank-bred or wild-caught?

 

[Lost_Jock]

Finally my water parameters are ok

Had about 6 new polyps sprout on the live rock since introducing it. Also noticed a few things crawling about the rocks.

Decided to chance it with a small clean up crew (as had a load of brown algea appear one night)
3 x red leg hermit crabs
5 x turbo snails

Been in for a few days and they are still alive All seem more active when the main light is off

Got 2 issues I am struggling to sort out
- Skimmer - Berlin 90g with air pump - Needs air flow adjusting about 4 times a day to get bubbles entering collection cup from tube -> Is there anything easier? Willing to fork out an another skimmer, if needs less tweeking.
- Night lighting - The main (150w - 14000) halide light clamps to the centre top of the tank tank casing -> Is there any similar blue lighting assemblies I can place either side?

Grateful for any help

All the best for the new year!

 

[jetbox]

Looking good lost jock!!!!

I am interested in night time viewing lighting too so will be interested in the reply. Have looked at Blue LED's on ebay but not sure....

 

[jetbox]

Update...

I went back to the shop that sold me the clowns for advise etc on what went wrong... they admitted that they had lost some clowns in their tank too from what they called clown fish desease. They advised that clowns are not a good fish to start with on a new tank.. They suggested a sixline as a good start and gave me one in place of the clowns I lost. I have put him in the tank and seems to be ok so far. I am not sure if this was good advise or not, as I thought that what ever killed my clowns would still be in my tank?

Here's a photo of my new sixline



Plan B is to set up a quarentine tank now for my new stock. Then I can leave them in this tank for a while and treat them with copper if required, hopefully without the trouble I had with the clowns. I also want to search for a shop that quarentines their fish before sale.

 

[SkiFletch]

Brooknella, aka clownfish disease, is a parasite similar to ich but which seems to be clownfish specific. If the LFS had some that succumbed to the disease as well, chances are they were all infected. Brooknella infections are somewhat common in tank-bred clownfish when they are transferred from the breeder to the LFS. IMO, this is probably the result of the tank-bred fish raised in a somewhat "sterile" environment. Its almoast like kids going off to college/university. Once there, they experience a whole knew set of diseases that their immune systems have never seen and tend to get sick easily. Thats my metaphor/theory at least.

Regardless, the sixline should not be infected with brooknella

Instances like this are why I try not to buy fish from my LFS that have not been there for more than 2 weeks

 

[jetbox]

Brooknella, aka clownfish disease, is a parasite similar to ich but which seems to be clownfish specific. If the LFS had some that succumbed to the disease as well, chances are they were all infected. Brooknella infections are somewhat common in tank-bred clownfish when they are transferred from the breeder to the LFS. IMO, this is probably the result of the tank-bred fish raised in a somewhat "sterile" environment. Its almoast like kids going off to college/university. Once there, they experience a whole knew set of diseases that their immune systems have never seen and tend to get sick easily. Thats my metaphor/theory at least.

Regardless, the sixline should not be infected with brooknella

Instances like this are why I try not to buy fish from my LFS that have not been there for more than 2 weeks

fingers crossed the sixline will be ok.

I did ask how long the LFS had the clowns and they said a couple of weeks, so i thought they would be ok. There are no LFS that have great quarentine protocol though, hence my plan to set up a seperate quarantine tank. Do you think that's a good idea?

 

[SkiFletch]

Absolutely, never again will I not QT a fish

 

[Lost_Jock]

Nice fish Jetbox, glad to see its settling better

Slowly on the case with a night light, will let you know when I find something

 

[chrissaysyes]

Good luck with the sixer! That was my first fish, it managed to survive all of my mistakes and upgrades. Lived a long miserable life until finally disappearing one day...it was a shame too...it was shortly after he was moved to the tank that later became my first stable and successful marine tank Poor kid, never knew what hit em.

 

[jetbox]

Good luck with the sixer! That was my first fish, it managed to survive all of my mistakes and upgrades. Lived a long miserable life until finally disappearing one day...it was a shame too...it was shortly after he was moved to the tank that later became my first stable and successful marine tank Poor kid, never knew what hit em.

The sixline seems to be fine, had him a week now and looks very settled, fun to watch too darting in and out of all the caves in the LR.

This weekends plan is to set up a QT tank. I have a couple of sponges for a filter for the QT maturing in the sump at the moment.

I have also added a UV to the display tank today to hopefully lower the risk of desease in the future. Not sure how long to run for (24/7)?? or the flow rate... is the lower the flow the better? My sump pump flows approx 3000l/h which is too high, currently have it running with a power head 400l/h

 

[jetbox]

I added a UV to my tank setup yesterday to hopefully clear out any nasty bacteria as I lost my first two clownfish to desease. Overnight the skimmer has gone crazy, the cup was overflowing like mad.... I removed the cup and cleaned it out and have refitted it, I now have to run the cup as high as it will go to stop it filling up too quickly.

I can only think that this has been caused by adding the UV??? Is this normal, I guess the bacteria is getting killed and then being skimmed out. Has anyone else experienced this?

I have checked No2, No3, NH4 and all are fine, plus head count of the CUC is good.

 

[chrissaysyes]

Wonder how long you'll keep up a head count on your CUC...I couldnt tell you anything close to accurate as to how many hermits, snails, mini stars, bristles I have

 

[jetbox]

Wonder how long you'll keep up a head count on your CUC...I couldn't tell you anything close to accurate as to how many hermits, snails, mini stars, bristles I have

I know, sad isn't it. not too many to count at the moment!!!!!

what do you think on the UV - skimmer issue, heard of this before