Achilles Tang Primer
- Thread starter BrianD
- Start date
rangerD275
Member
I usually thaw the emerald and add thawed mysis. Mine usually just eats the Nori all day, and then it will casually eat the EE and Mysis once it's in the tank but my Blue Hippo usually makes quick work of everything.
Re: Tracy- I should point out that I DID NOT QT mine. Some people will say that is absurd, but I have read that they just get too stressed if you keep moving them. I was lucky and he was healthy, but I dripped him for two hours and put him directly in my display. He would not eat for the first 12 hours or so, but once my cleaner shrimp mauled him he started eating.
I've heard that also... fortunately I have had one for many months who is doing quite well... he really gets busy if any parasites show up on my tangs, Diamond Goby and Rabbitfish... he's quite the popular fellow, along with (4) cleaner shrimp...
In this hobby, you can't believe everything you "hear".... and less of what you read.
JME.
LL
rangerD275
Member
I will say that a key deciding factor not to QT was because I had no "aggressive" fish when I added my Achilles. If I thought that it would have to compete for food right away I would have QT'd
Fish Dog
New member
Tracey2,
I actually dropped my SG to 1.011 and my AT did fine, but the main reason I think he did so well is because of the Doctor.
The Doctor???(my cleaner wrasse)! I have 2 cleaner wrasse. One of them has been my guest for almost a year and the other for about 2 months. Both cleaner wrasse it regular food also(mainly brine and mysis, copepods). I definitely think you should put a doctor in there ASAP; cleaner wrasse or neon goby will make the AT feel more comfortable. The thera A is a medicated brand of NLS pellets.
Heres a pic of my karate kid (Daniel Son)!
I actually dropped my SG to 1.011 and my AT did fine, but the main reason I think he did so well is because of the Doctor.
The Doctor???(my cleaner wrasse)! I have 2 cleaner wrasse. One of them has been my guest for almost a year and the other for about 2 months. Both cleaner wrasse it regular food also(mainly brine and mysis, copepods). I definitely think you should put a doctor in there ASAP; cleaner wrasse or neon goby will make the AT feel more comfortable. The thera A is a medicated brand of NLS pellets.
Heres a pic of my karate kid (Daniel Son)!
reefslugs
Active member
Do you have an Achillies?
SlowCobra
New member
I do and I believe EVERY fish should go through QT. Mine came from divers den and was loaded with ich. Ichabod has been in my care for 2.5 years now.
rangerD275
Member
I do and I believe EVERY fish should go through QT. Mine came from divers den and was loaded with ich. Ichabod has been in my care for 2.5 years now.
I have to say, that is one healthy looking Achilles. Mine is eating but it is still thinner than yours. I've only had it a few months, so I'm hoping it gets fatter.
Problem is, if I feed my tank too much I think my Blue Hippo will explode. It will eat as long as I keep adding food. While my achilles eats, it is nowhere near as an agressive feeder with the Mysis, and pellets as it is with the Nori and Emerald Entree. Do you know any way around this?
Also- love the name. The only fish in my tank that I've seen ich on is my male ocellaris, so I named him Ichy Woods...
Tracey2
New member
Thank you so much people, I don't know what would become of my poor fish if it wasn't for you all sharing your knowledge.
Today I added a cleaner shrimp (small and $30), and doctor cleaner wrasse
($13). The achillies immediately turned blue eyed and cornered the wrasse, the wrasse was hard at work within 2 minutes of being in the tank, wow. The shrimp is maybe too small yet but he was all I could find and he seems to have gone into hidding, the achillies did try to put him to work but the shrimp wasn't interested.
This is now day 2 with the lights out, should I be concerned about a ph drop?
The achillies is still eating mysis, flakes, nori and some NLS pellets.
Slow Cobra, can you please tell me what you did with your achillies in QT when he was covered with ich? Any meds, hypo, wrasse?? What size QT? Any other information would be so appreciated.
Today I added a cleaner shrimp (small and $30), and doctor cleaner wrasse
($13). The achillies immediately turned blue eyed and cornered the wrasse, the wrasse was hard at work within 2 minutes of being in the tank, wow. The shrimp is maybe too small yet but he was all I could find and he seems to have gone into hidding, the achillies did try to put him to work but the shrimp wasn't interested.
This is now day 2 with the lights out, should I be concerned about a ph drop?
The achillies is still eating mysis, flakes, nori and some NLS pellets.
Slow Cobra, can you please tell me what you did with your achillies in QT when he was covered with ich? Any meds, hypo, wrasse?? What size QT? Any other information would be so appreciated.
SlowCobra
New member
I had a 90gal tank for my QT tank. I used 2 suregrip modified maxi-jet 1200's for flow. I threw in half a dozen 5" pvc fittings to give hiding spots and places to swim in and out of like rockwork.
I try to never use copper or cupramine on tangs. They can be quite sensitive to chemicals and you can end up doing more harm than good. I took a pure hypo-salinity approach to treating him. You have to make sure it stays between 1.009-1.010 if it drifts above that level marine ich can survive. It is a long process and if not done correctly can lead to ich surviving and re-infesting your tank.
http://atj.net.au/marineaquaria/hyposalinity.html
Cleaner wrasses and cleaner shrimp may help with getting off dead skin and anything on the outside of a fish but ich burrows into the fishes skin and there is no way for them to get at the burrowed in parasite.
Tracey2
New member
Thanks Slow Cobra and Fish Dog, hypo may be the way to go. I have treated other tangs with hypo before and it is a long process for sure. The only fear I have with hypo is that if any other problem shows itself I'm not sure you can treat it in low salinity??? In your opinion, should I move him to my 150g sump before trying hypo?
Slow Cobra, not sure if this is too off the achillies topic but do you now feel you have an ich free tank?
Slow Cobra, not sure if this is too off the achillies topic but do you now feel you have an ich free tank?
RBU1
Moving on Up
I had an achilles yes. What does that have to do with QTing fish. If you know what you are doing you can QT anything.
Nori is a food staple for omnivore fish, including tangs. I purchase mine in 100 sheet packages at the local Vietnamese market.
The Achilles Tang is considered a fish for "expert" level aquarists. If you don't understand ozone, selcon and nori, I am guessing you are not an "expert", however that is defined.
Something akin to buying a Ferrari for a student driver. Except the Ferrari is not likely to die if the driver doesn't know how to shift the gears...
Please think twice before jumping into fish as complex as the AT and PBT. See also beginning of this thread: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1492655
Just a suggestion... :hmm2:
LL
Last edited:
FiReBReTHa
Master Blaster!
Okay, so I just learned I am doing everything wrong...
I bought a juvenile? 3" AT that didn't eat when I got him, stuck him in my 10g QT with a standard power filter and 2pc live rock.
The last time i didn't QT, I lost 2/3 of my fish in a 2 week span to some sort of mystery disease so not QTing is not something I will do. Why should I risk all the rest of my fishs' health for this one's?
My standard regimen for fish that don't eat is hit them with powdered metronidazole. It's worked with several other fish and apparently worked with the AT. On day 4 or 5 he started eating nori. I dosed 'zole daily for 1 week.
At weeks 2-4 he was in coppersafe, even though I was assured he was fully QT'ed at the wholesaler before making it to the LFS. I've heard that before... He seemed fine and has been making a huge mess of his tank necessitating 50% water changes weekly. He eats about 2 dollar sized sheets of green nori per day and pretty much every time i look at him he is eating, even when most of the lights in the room are out.
Now in week 5, I have changed out enough water to make the copper go down significantly and am hitting him with Prazipro. This I plan to continue until one week has passed and then prep him for the DT.
Usually I put my fish through a 30-45 min formalin bath during acclimation into the DT. If you read the instructions on the bottle, this is a scary proposition, as they say don't even think of doing anything else but stare at your fish while it's in the bath, and at the first sign of stress, pull it immediately. I wasn't overly concerned about this step in my QT regimen as I have had only 1 fish in about 20 or so have an issue with it (I pulled that one after about 20 min and he was fine.)
After all this leadup, my question is... You have quite frankly terrified me with all this doomsaying about Qting an AT. I am now considering foregoing the formalin bath, which I would have done as a matter of course with any other fish. So do I have some sort of "super fish" and should not be concerned, or should I?
Also, all this talk of turnover has me concerned as well. I have about 35x turnover, and it is by no means "surf" like. I guess I could add some powerheads, but I'd rather not since I think they're ugly. It's also static, since my ocean's motions isn't working properly and is therefore turned off. Thoughts on the flow issue?
Thanks for your input
I bought a juvenile? 3" AT that didn't eat when I got him, stuck him in my 10g QT with a standard power filter and 2pc live rock.
The last time i didn't QT, I lost 2/3 of my fish in a 2 week span to some sort of mystery disease so not QTing is not something I will do. Why should I risk all the rest of my fishs' health for this one's?
My standard regimen for fish that don't eat is hit them with powdered metronidazole. It's worked with several other fish and apparently worked with the AT. On day 4 or 5 he started eating nori. I dosed 'zole daily for 1 week.
At weeks 2-4 he was in coppersafe, even though I was assured he was fully QT'ed at the wholesaler before making it to the LFS. I've heard that before... He seemed fine and has been making a huge mess of his tank necessitating 50% water changes weekly. He eats about 2 dollar sized sheets of green nori per day and pretty much every time i look at him he is eating, even when most of the lights in the room are out.
Now in week 5, I have changed out enough water to make the copper go down significantly and am hitting him with Prazipro. This I plan to continue until one week has passed and then prep him for the DT.
Usually I put my fish through a 30-45 min formalin bath during acclimation into the DT. If you read the instructions on the bottle, this is a scary proposition, as they say don't even think of doing anything else but stare at your fish while it's in the bath, and at the first sign of stress, pull it immediately. I wasn't overly concerned about this step in my QT regimen as I have had only 1 fish in about 20 or so have an issue with it (I pulled that one after about 20 min and he was fine.)
After all this leadup, my question is... You have quite frankly terrified me with all this doomsaying about Qting an AT. I am now considering foregoing the formalin bath, which I would have done as a matter of course with any other fish. So do I have some sort of "super fish" and should not be concerned, or should I?
Also, all this talk of turnover has me concerned as well. I have about 35x turnover, and it is by no means "surf" like. I guess I could add some powerheads, but I'd rather not since I think they're ugly. It's also static, since my ocean's motions isn't working properly and is therefore turned off. Thoughts on the flow issue?
Thanks for your input
Try a couple Vortech MP40W's to supplement what you have - they can be programmed to provide surge current in addition to your exisitng flow... JME.
LL
