angelfish7
New member
AWESOME video Geaux man. Love those Achilles and the scribbled!
Achilles Tang Primer
- Thread starter BrianD
- Start date
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
Reef Fixations
New member
Great thread!!!
I'm hoping this might help someone with an Achilles in a basic QT. I had one once that I brought in with a few fish to put into the same QT. Because they come from surge waters i put in a 3200gph powerhead which is something that I normally wouldn't do in a QT. All of my new fish would eat food that I threw in whether they were chasing it down or picking it off of the bare bottom......
..... BUT.... as for the Achilles, he'd see the food and instantaneously dart over to be head on with the powerhead's current and it was as if he was fielding fast balls as he simply caught every bit of anything that flew thru the powerhead (I'm sure even a few pieces of fish poop for that matter =).... )
It took him between 7-14days before he got with the program and began eating Nori off of a PVC fitting and chasing pellets, frozen and flakes or even just picking them up off of the floor.
I've had others that pretty much ate anything from day 1 or 2 but he was the only one that preferred to catch food in the high flow of the powerhead. I don't know if he would have taken to food as quickly without it.
I'm hoping this might help someone with an Achilles in a basic QT. I had one once that I brought in with a few fish to put into the same QT. Because they come from surge waters i put in a 3200gph powerhead which is something that I normally wouldn't do in a QT. All of my new fish would eat food that I threw in whether they were chasing it down or picking it off of the bare bottom......
..... BUT.... as for the Achilles, he'd see the food and instantaneously dart over to be head on with the powerhead's current and it was as if he was fielding fast balls as he simply caught every bit of anything that flew thru the powerhead (I'm sure even a few pieces of fish poop for that matter =).... )
It took him between 7-14days before he got with the program and began eating Nori off of a PVC fitting and chasing pellets, frozen and flakes or even just picking them up off of the floor.
I've had others that pretty much ate anything from day 1 or 2 but he was the only one that preferred to catch food in the high flow of the powerhead. I don't know if he would have taken to food as quickly without it.
MS Reef Addict
New member
What about adding an Achilles and Tenneti to a tank that already has a Naso, Purple, Blue Hippo and Powder Brown? It's a 210 reef that is 72"x24"x29" with 2 MP40's and 2 Korallia 1400s. If I only add 1 it will be the Achilles but would like to add both.
Reef Fixations
New member
There shouldn't be an issue between the two so much but the Powder brown and the Achilles will most likely bang heads. There are people that have done it. Some are successful, some are successful for a little while and some fail.
IMO, it is best to get them eating very well in a seperate tank and accepting prepared foods before adding them to your DT. It helps when you know they're eating like pigs vs. not knowing what to eat, starving and having the other tangs peat on the new tangs.
There are lots of ways to go about it.... see what people have to say and do what best suits you being that no one knows the personalities that you have in your tank like you do.
IME, it is best to get all of your fish "fat drunk" while acclimating the new batch of fish and make it pitch black in the tank (so turn of the moonlights too) and add the fish in total darkness so no one can see them to beat them up. The next day, more times than not, the other fish will usually pay them no/little mind but there is no guarantee on that and it can still head towards a bad situation but it usually works well for me and a lot of other people.
Tenneti tangs are definitely one of my personal favorite tangs.
You have a better chance of adding 2-3 tangs at the same time vs. only 1. IME, it helps divide the severity of the aggression between the 2-3 new fish. Sometimes because you add 3 or more fish, the existing fish don't even pay any mind to the new fish. It seems to me like the existing fish look at it as too much to even begin to deal with and IMO that is the best case scenario if you have the room for them all.
IMO, it is best to get them eating very well in a seperate tank and accepting prepared foods before adding them to your DT. It helps when you know they're eating like pigs vs. not knowing what to eat, starving and having the other tangs peat on the new tangs.
There are lots of ways to go about it.... see what people have to say and do what best suits you being that no one knows the personalities that you have in your tank like you do.
IME, it is best to get all of your fish "fat drunk" while acclimating the new batch of fish and make it pitch black in the tank (so turn of the moonlights too) and add the fish in total darkness so no one can see them to beat them up. The next day, more times than not, the other fish will usually pay them no/little mind but there is no guarantee on that and it can still head towards a bad situation but it usually works well for me and a lot of other people.
Tenneti tangs are definitely one of my personal favorite tangs.
You have a better chance of adding 2-3 tangs at the same time vs. only 1. IME, it helps divide the severity of the aggression between the 2-3 new fish. Sometimes because you add 3 or more fish, the existing fish don't even pay any mind to the new fish. It seems to me like the existing fish look at it as too much to even begin to deal with and IMO that is the best case scenario if you have the room for them all.
I did this with mine and the established yellows and the black tang never once fought with him.
2+ week video:
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mjAqEQ1OnhQ?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
2+ week video:
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mjAqEQ1OnhQ?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Any advice greatly appreciated, sorry for posting one of these posts...
Current state: Achilles tang covered with ich. Picking at rocks, no longer eating nori. Out in the open ~ 50% of the time. Pinch in stomach started to form 2 days ago. Not very active in the water column as normal behavior is.
Background: 4.5" from Divers Den, had for 15 days. Was eating nori (only if free floating) very well for first 10-12 days. Started with the ich ~ 4-5 days in, been progressively getting worse and worse. Not much aggression, was alpha of the tank pretty quickly. Put the Achilles directly into the tank skipping QT.
Other fish showing signs in ich infection also. Generally they are holding it at bay. Others include Blonde Naso (5"), Emp Angle (4"), Chevron Tang (2.5"), dottyback/gody/clowns.
Tank: 180g 6x2x2, lots of live rock with flow provided by 2x Tunze 6105's (one is busted again, put a temp power head in it's place). 3000+ gph flow in the tank even with being down one Tunze 6105, Overall good flow for this fish. Skimmer/50g fuge etc. Water chemistry good, 1.022/8.1ph/9kh/77 degrees with a 1-1.5 degree daily flux at most. 0 am/nitrite/nitrate etc
I've been running a diatom filter (Mag 350) changing the media daily. Moved a 25w UV up from my QT tank to the DT in an effort to try and steam the ich cycle. Undersized UV I know. Changing mechanical media out daily (micron sock)
Options moving forward:
1- Do nothing, see how things work out.
1.5- Drop the salinity to 1.019, increase the temp in the DT (? on actual effectiveness)
2- Buy a 50-80w UV for the DT
3- Pull the Achilles and move into a QT (either a established 58g or new 75g tank). Determine treatment form there (diatom/UV, cooper, hypo)
4- Pull everyone out of the tank and treat (least appealing option)
I've been feeding the heck out of the tank supplementing with Selcon/Garlic.
What would you do? Getting close to the point of no return with this fish and stressing everyone else out in the process.
Current state: Achilles tang covered with ich. Picking at rocks, no longer eating nori. Out in the open ~ 50% of the time. Pinch in stomach started to form 2 days ago. Not very active in the water column as normal behavior is.
Background: 4.5" from Divers Den, had for 15 days. Was eating nori (only if free floating) very well for first 10-12 days. Started with the ich ~ 4-5 days in, been progressively getting worse and worse. Not much aggression, was alpha of the tank pretty quickly. Put the Achilles directly into the tank skipping QT.
Other fish showing signs in ich infection also. Generally they are holding it at bay. Others include Blonde Naso (5"), Emp Angle (4"), Chevron Tang (2.5"), dottyback/gody/clowns.
Tank: 180g 6x2x2, lots of live rock with flow provided by 2x Tunze 6105's (one is busted again, put a temp power head in it's place). 3000+ gph flow in the tank even with being down one Tunze 6105, Overall good flow for this fish. Skimmer/50g fuge etc. Water chemistry good, 1.022/8.1ph/9kh/77 degrees with a 1-1.5 degree daily flux at most. 0 am/nitrite/nitrate etc
I've been running a diatom filter (Mag 350) changing the media daily. Moved a 25w UV up from my QT tank to the DT in an effort to try and steam the ich cycle. Undersized UV I know. Changing mechanical media out daily (micron sock)
Options moving forward:
1- Do nothing, see how things work out.
1.5- Drop the salinity to 1.019, increase the temp in the DT (? on actual effectiveness)
2- Buy a 50-80w UV for the DT
3- Pull the Achilles and move into a QT (either a established 58g or new 75g tank). Determine treatment form there (diatom/UV, cooper, hypo)
4- Pull everyone out of the tank and treat (least appealing option)
I've been feeding the heck out of the tank supplementing with Selcon/Garlic.
What would you do? Getting close to the point of no return with this fish and stressing everyone else out in the process.
geaux xman
New member
Sorry to hear that Marty.
Try feeding bloodworms if you havent. Occasionally when my achilles would not feed for whatever reason(likely stress), I would still always get an immediate feeding response from bloodworms.
Try feeding bloodworms if you havent. Occasionally when my achilles would not feed for whatever reason(likely stress), I would still always get an immediate feeding response from bloodworms.
sea witch1
Member
Try tank transfer method.... It works!!! If u wait much longer you and your Lil ones will suffer. It's heartbreaking to see them sick, but will be worse to watch them die. Good luck...
+1 on the transfer method. Put all of your fish in a bucket or Rubbermaid container matched to temp and salinity. With a heater, airstone and PVC sections for hiding. Move them every 3 days to a new setup, clean and dry the old one for reuse. Should be rid of ich in 7 days but continue for 12-14 days. Then QT while your DT is fallow for 13 weeks. Works great!
Thanks, Tim Barrett
Thanks, Tim Barrett
WaterSkiier
New member
Would you guys buy an achilles or PBT from Divers den and put it straight into your tank? Is their QT process that good or should they still be QT'd do you think?
LotusCaralarm
New member
Do you think I could get away with adding a AT to my 5ft. Keeping in mind I don't have any other tangs/aggressive fish?
Allmost
New member
what is the dept and height of the tank ?
if over 2 foot, and you have open concept rock work, with swimming areas on both sides, front and back, then you should be fine.
mine is in a 6x2x2.
Ostara
Keep Calm and Reef On
Absolutely not. I did do this with the first Achilles I got from Diver's Den and it nuked the tank with brooklynella. The replacement I got from them went right into quarantine, which was good because it had ich straight out of the bag. When I contacted them for more information about each fish I was told that they had only been treated with praziquantal. No copper, no formalin dips.
Diver's Den is just too large and sees too many fish to prevent these things. They recommend that all of their fish be quarantined by their new owners. Any more you can't even be sure that fish coming from them are eating, which used to be one of their guarantees. I still use them a lot; they still have excellent fish. I just keep all of these things in mind when I do. They offer so many fish each week that they can't possibly see, treat, or address every problem that might come up.
offshored
New member
Who do you think is the best place to order from then?
Anybody else have a better QT procedure in your opinion? I have a very high flow 55 gallon I'm going to use to QT anyway... but would like to start on the right foot.
That's what I did, I'll let you know how it turns out... After reading this thread and others that was the general recommendation I came to. If I could do it over again today, I think I'd QT the fish in an 4' QT tank.
Update on my guy, he nibbled on enough food today to round out his belly. Out ~ 85% of the time now in the open. Acting better, still covered in ich. I strapped a 80w UV on the tank 2 days ago.
Dugless
New member
Once you have a tank-wide outbreak of ich, you will realize the need for proper QT. Aside from disease/parasitic control, quarantining is invaluable for accustoming fish to different foods and fattening them up. The ultimate goal is for the new fish to be just as comfortable as the others when you drop them in.
