Buy healthy fish.
This is the whole deal. Buy healthy fish, put them into qt and deliver them to a healthy tank.
But how?
First, shop. Look. Observe. Do some work on Google, looking up fish diseases and fish parasites like ich, lymphocystis, brooklynella, flukes, flatworms, dropsy and fin rot, hlle (lateral line erosion) and look at the not too lovely pix. Memorize the names and the look.
Now go back to the store. Shop knowledgeably. You do not want a hollow belly or white stringy poop or chewed white-edged fins, or one with flared gills or with the filmy inner gill tissue showing from under the hard gill-cover (operculum). You do not want to 'pity-buy' the fish that looks sad---leave that rescue to an expert, or to the treatment of the lfs, who might save him: it's almost a dead certainty a novice will only make his situation worse. Pick out your fish, only ONE fish, for starters (and believe me, with rare exceptions, fish do not mind not having competitors for food and shelter) ---only exception being a mated pair, which again, as a novice, is not that great an idea with the sole exception of clowns who are destined for a moderate sized tank pretty well all their own. Reason: actively mating fish are not good neighbors to other fishes in smallish tanks.
Also, notice which tanks in your lfs share a common sump. Most do. And if you spot a case of disease in any tank, do not buy a fish that day from that water system, and give it a couple of weeks before you go back to try again, no matter that you are just off 4 weeks of cycling and nearly in tears from the fact you have to wait. Sorry. There's worse grief, and that's having disease rampage through your system.
How hard is it to buy a healthy fish? Not hard. I haven't seen a case of ich in my own systems since 2004, personally. One instance of lympho 2 years ago. Just be critical, be picky, and resist buying if you don't like the look.
Finally get your fish, qt him, and before you even think of putting him into your dt, test your water for these parameters: alkalinity between 7.9 and 9; temperature about 79 and steady; magnesium about 1350; calcium about 420 ---if you have an ambition for stony corals or clams, 420 is a good solid supply. It's also comfortable water, and most reef salts (as opposed to fish-only salts) will get you there. That alkalinity is really, really important, and if your cal is 420 and your mg is 1350, the alkalinity (and also the ph) will tend to behave themselves. If your alk falls, check the mg and get it up by dosing a supplement, then dose to raise your alk; and your weekly water changes will also help over all. For a fish-only, just watch that alkalinity like a hawk. Keep it proper and your fish will be healthier for it. In either instance, reef or fish-only, don't worry about supplementing trace elements: your water changes (read the label on your salt) deliver a pharmacy-full of micro-doses right along with the salt.
The novice pages are full of the agony of ich, but if you buy carefully, know a healthy fish from one that isn't, and go slow about stocking, you can avoid being one of the agony posters.
Don't push compatibility or space issues. Aggression in saltwater fish tends to be a matter of space---or predation. Be sure you have enough room for the species, because they don't stay little. Some fish we keep can get a foot long. Be sure you're not buying the Great Dane of fishes thinking he'll be a Chihuahua.
This is the whole deal. Buy healthy fish, put them into qt and deliver them to a healthy tank.
But how?
First, shop. Look. Observe. Do some work on Google, looking up fish diseases and fish parasites like ich, lymphocystis, brooklynella, flukes, flatworms, dropsy and fin rot, hlle (lateral line erosion) and look at the not too lovely pix. Memorize the names and the look.
Now go back to the store. Shop knowledgeably. You do not want a hollow belly or white stringy poop or chewed white-edged fins, or one with flared gills or with the filmy inner gill tissue showing from under the hard gill-cover (operculum). You do not want to 'pity-buy' the fish that looks sad---leave that rescue to an expert, or to the treatment of the lfs, who might save him: it's almost a dead certainty a novice will only make his situation worse. Pick out your fish, only ONE fish, for starters (and believe me, with rare exceptions, fish do not mind not having competitors for food and shelter) ---only exception being a mated pair, which again, as a novice, is not that great an idea with the sole exception of clowns who are destined for a moderate sized tank pretty well all their own. Reason: actively mating fish are not good neighbors to other fishes in smallish tanks.
Also, notice which tanks in your lfs share a common sump. Most do. And if you spot a case of disease in any tank, do not buy a fish that day from that water system, and give it a couple of weeks before you go back to try again, no matter that you are just off 4 weeks of cycling and nearly in tears from the fact you have to wait. Sorry. There's worse grief, and that's having disease rampage through your system.
How hard is it to buy a healthy fish? Not hard. I haven't seen a case of ich in my own systems since 2004, personally. One instance of lympho 2 years ago. Just be critical, be picky, and resist buying if you don't like the look.
Finally get your fish, qt him, and before you even think of putting him into your dt, test your water for these parameters: alkalinity between 7.9 and 9; temperature about 79 and steady; magnesium about 1350; calcium about 420 ---if you have an ambition for stony corals or clams, 420 is a good solid supply. It's also comfortable water, and most reef salts (as opposed to fish-only salts) will get you there. That alkalinity is really, really important, and if your cal is 420 and your mg is 1350, the alkalinity (and also the ph) will tend to behave themselves. If your alk falls, check the mg and get it up by dosing a supplement, then dose to raise your alk; and your weekly water changes will also help over all. For a fish-only, just watch that alkalinity like a hawk. Keep it proper and your fish will be healthier for it. In either instance, reef or fish-only, don't worry about supplementing trace elements: your water changes (read the label on your salt) deliver a pharmacy-full of micro-doses right along with the salt.
The novice pages are full of the agony of ich, but if you buy carefully, know a healthy fish from one that isn't, and go slow about stocking, you can avoid being one of the agony posters.
Don't push compatibility or space issues. Aggression in saltwater fish tends to be a matter of space---or predation. Be sure you have enough room for the species, because they don't stay little. Some fish we keep can get a foot long. Be sure you're not buying the Great Dane of fishes thinking he'll be a Chihuahua.
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