Bouncing Ideas

[pyton]

Hi Everyone I am brainstorming and I think I might be missing something so please post your thoughts, ideas, failures and success stories.

I took down my old tank for various reasons at the end of taking it down some of my fish showed signs of Marine velvet. Since I did not introduce anything new to the tank I figured it was just stress. Some I saved and some just passed away before being able to take the proper action.

I killed off 99% of my rock by drying out, baking in the oven, rinsing and drying out again. I just left a few smaller pieces (20 lbs Maybe) from the sump in a dark tub for several weeks (3 to 4 weeks) with a power head on them. Every piece of equipment received a vingar bath, good rinse, and a two to three week dry out. At which time I set up my new tank. Once I got my aqua-scalping done I filled the tank with RODI water and let it rest for 24 hours with pumps flowing. Drained and then filled again with RO/DI water. Since all this rock was dead I mixed the salt in the tank.

I mixed the water for a day, brought the tank temp up to level and added the cured rock from my sump of old tank. Went to LFS to get a fish or two, they gave me mollies (11 of them). Right away I saw white "patches" on the mollies.

After a week I had 6 left and white patches were gone.
After 4 weeks I still had 6 left and no issues. I added yellow tang and potters angel, no issues.
Mid week 4 added an Anthias, no issues. Week 6 added two clowns and a China Wrasse.
Week 7 China wrasse looks full of ich, and I was not watching the other fish too well.
A couple days later Anthias and mollies had white patches on them. Treated with Natural Ich I received from LFS for free. They felt bad that they might have been the cause of this issue.
Anthias passed away, China wrasse followed within two days, both clowns passed the following day. Finally counted the mollies, only three were left and they had the white patches.

I caught the mollies and put them aside for now so I can bag them up and take to LFS so they can see exactly what is going on.

What I have noticed:
The longer the light on the more the white patches show up.
Yellow tang and Potters Angel not affected (at least yet)

Tank info:
300 gallon total water volume
10 weeks old
Rock has the start of a nice pink tint to it along with a few spot of other growth.
Flow is about 10500 GPH turn over with lots of surface ripples and waves.

Rather than telling you what I can and cannot do please voice your own thoughts and maybe answer a few questions for me , please?

Can I add copper to the tank (no corals yet)?
If I can and I do how do I make sure the copper is at safe level before adding more stuff to the tank?

How low can I go with the Salinity?
How long will this method tank?

Both sets of questions are met as with and without fish in the tank.

Thanks for all your ideas, suggestions and whatever else I may be forgetting in this time of need.

 

[b0bab0ey]

I took down my old tank for various reasons at the end of taking it down some of my fish showed signs of Marine velvet. Since I did not introduce anything new to the tank I figured it was just stress. Some I saved and some just passed away before being able to take the proper action.

More likely Marine Ich. Velvet is a fast spreading parasite which usually kills all of your fish not long after it's first introduced.

I just left a few smaller pieces (20 lbs Maybe) from the sump in a dark tub for several weeks (3 to 4 weeks) with a power head on them.

This is where you messed up. You would have had to leave the rock in there for 9+ weeks to achieve close to a 100% success rate of eliminating all the Ich. You could have just left all your rock fallow (fishless) for 9+ weeks. Or baked this remaining 20lbs and gone thru a cycle.

A couple days later Anthias and mollies had white patches on them. Treated with Natural Ich I received from LFS for free. They felt bad that they might have been the cause of this issue.

They didn't do you any favors. "Natural Ich" is just an herbal formula based on naphthoquinones. It won't eliminate Ich from your tank.

Can I add copper to the tank (no corals yet)?
If I can and I do how do I make sure the copper is at safe level before adding more stuff to the tank?

You can, but you won't ever be able to add corals/inverts to this tank. Just fish. You also will have to test your copper level daily as the rock will absorb a lot of the copper. This levels out eventually, but it will take awhile to achieve (and maintain) a stable copper reading.

How low can I go with the Salinity?

Some people use hyposalinity to rid their tank of Ich. I personally don't feel it's a good option. But you can read more about this method here:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1991470

IMO, your best option is to remove all remaining fish and leave your DT fallow for 9+ weeks. Treat the fish with copper in a separate QT. QT all future fish purchases so you never have to go thru this again.

 

[MrTuskfish]

If you don't start using a QT regimen; you'll continue to have parasites.

 

[Mrscribbled]

All that work and you did not quarantine anything? From my experience ich cysts can survive dry times. Bleach is the best biocide to eradicate it. Like MR Tuskfish said, until you get a quarantine regimen going you will always have problems.

 

[pyton]

Thanks everyone

I am in the middle of setting up a QT tank now. All fish have been removed from the tank. How long should I keep fish out of the tank?

For the record I did not take the old tank down because of issues. I took it down to switch from Acrylic to glass and to use a different dimension tank and to go to a bare bottom tank. My new tank has the flow pushing the sediment to the from of the tank so when I do my weekly cleaning I can just suck it out. I go have a large amount of sand in the refugium.

As far as the corals go We treated everything for red bugs and they have been in QT tank since I took down my old system (10 weeks). When should I be able to start adding them back to the main display? Personally I can live with having a coral only tank for a while.

Thank you again and Merry Christmas

 

[Mrscribbled]

Thanks everyone

I am in the middle of setting up a QT tank now. All fish have been removed from the tank. How long should I keep fish out of the tank?

For the record I did not take the old tank down because of issues. I took it down to switch from Acrylic to glass and to use a different dimension tank and to go to a bare bottom tank. My new tank has the flow pushing the sediment to the from of the tank so when I do my weekly cleaning I can just suck it out. I go have a large amount of sand in the refugium.

As far as the corals go We treated everything for red bugs and they have been in QT tank since I took down my old system (10 weeks). When should I be able to start adding them back to the main display? Personally I can live with having a coral only tank for a while.

Thank you again and Merry Christmas

IME leave it fishless minimum ten weeks. Merry Christmas to you also. Best of luck with your tank!

 

[pyton]

Is it okay to put some corals in the tank or should I just let it stay rock only for 10 weeks?

 

[pyton]

Update:

After everything was removed I added sand to refugium. It had none and this was new sand from a sealed bag.
Next day tank had an outbreak of cyano.
Left the lights off 4 days still there.
Treated with ChemiClean and left lights off, still there after first dose.
20% water change as instructed
Ran a second dose of Chemiclean, left lights off, gone after three more days.
20% water change as instructed
Cyano is gone but have carpet like green algae on rock now.

Turned carbon on, ran 24 hours turned skimmer on. Now skimmer overflows. Turned skimmer off and let carbon run

Should I do another 20% water change or just let the carbon slowly take the ChemiClean out?