My 500G Osama Reef-2

[albano]

I have about a million and once I tried to get rid of them by pulling them out one by one,
There is also a shrimp that eats starfish, I don't remember the name off hand but it will clean those up if they get out of hand.

Harlequin shrimp will eat them, but you will need to remove the shrimp when they're done, or feed them other types of starfish!
I still have some asterina stars in my tank and 'control' them by removing many of them weekly...they usually are on the front and side panels early in the morning before the lights come on...I pull a net from bottom to top and they fall into the net for easy removal.

 

[Osama]

I kind of like those little starfish but do not need the extra work ... I have some of what looks like miniature brittle starfish... I hope they are OK as I saw few of them already

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

Brittles are good. Asternias are the devil.

 

[Osama]

Happy New Year to You All and many thanks to ALL and to RC for the support and information they provide us.. Thanks very much for your interest in my thread & support provided in getting me & my tanks to this point
HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

[Holyreefer]

All this reading I never saw your tank dimensions

 

[Osama]

Hi Holy: Here are the dimensions and thanks for your interest: My new setup::
500g (130X30X31) Mixed Reef with 60g frag tank and 60g (36X24X16)refugium and 60g (48X18X16)sump

 

[Osama]

Tank Fish Losses

Tank Fish Losses

History of fish addition to MDT. First I have to admit I am not a patient person as I like to buy and place in MDT. Something I now regret.
1. Moved my original 4 fish that were in my hldg tank waiting for the MDT to be setup on 12/8/2013. They were in hldg tank crowded for over 4 months.
Sohal, Blue.Naso and yellow head wrasse. All doing very well as of 12/21


2. Bought from a LFS on 12/28/2013
blenny, yellow tang, clown tang, angel.
Blenny went into hiding saw him once after 12 hrs then nothing, maybe hiding or dead
Yellow tang was the most active continuously grazing & eating. Died suddenly on 12/31
Clown tang was swimming and grazing a bit not as active as the yellow, then developed ich (I think) all over his body visible on the 30th and died on the 31
Angel went into hiding under a rock. Not eating and not coming out. Can only see that he is alive but cannot check his body.
So from this supplier three out of four are dead and one is not doing well
3.Bought on 12/30 from a place by the airport
Scopas Tang ( a beauty), Copperband , 4 Banggai
All moving around well, scopas eating very little but swimming around, butterfly all over the rocks looking for food, Banggai just standing in a group and eating whatever food drifts their way.
4. Bought from a third place by the airport as well
two cleaner wrasees on 12/31. I knew they just arrived to the store on 12/30. One of the two did not make it and the second cleaner wrasse is very active cleaning the remaining fish for 2-3 days . My Blue tang has ich all over his body and is still eating all the food he can get
I spent over two & a half hour acclimating my fish so I believe that was not the issue.
A What do U think is the cause of the death tragedy and
B how to best avoid it in the future short of keeping new fish for 70 days in an observation tank..

 

[albano]

I spent over two & a half hour acclimating my fish so I believe that was not the issue.

2&1/2hrs????? On fish that you bought locally!

 

[Osama]

Yes Albano Wanted to make sure if store had a low salinity that the fish do not go into shock in my system ...

 

[dave.m]

Definitely I would keep them in a quarantine tank for at least 6 weeks to avoid these sort of problems in the display tank.

When was the last time you measured your tank's parameters? Do you know what they are currently? What were the parameters in the water the new fish came in? Many fish are shipped in low pH and they need to go into a tank with similarly low pH. Then it takes several days of careful acclimation to bring their pH up to match the tank. The newer the fish to the local fish store the greater the chance that they were not given a chance to acclimate properly.

That's one of the many reasons you should have several quarantine tanks set up until your main display tank reaches the target fish load.

A lot of fish are badly handled from the get go and a lot die in transit, or just barely make it to the retailer and then suddenly snuff it. Some have been starved for over a week by the time they get to you and it is too much for them. This is especially true for smaller fish with higher metabolisms.

You pays yer money and you takes yer chances.

Dave.M

 

[Osama]

Dave you are absolutely right. The fish that died where in a low salinity environment. Seller LFS told me to take time acclimating them by doubling up the volume of water every so many minutes. That's why I took 2-1/2 hrs acclimating them. But they must just have arrived and totally over-stressed. Then I get them and cause more stress, from a supplier whom I trusted will give me the best guidance. I just checked the parameters just before buying the fish and everything was A OK. will be checking again today or tomorrow. Except for one angel fish that came from same source everything seems OK. I have to watch the next few days for sure to see what other damage has occurred. One of my original fish has ich now but eating very good I hope he will recover..

 

[dave.m]

Osama, I would not put a new fish from low salinity/low pH in tank water that did not match the shipping water. Only the oxygen levels need to be a bit higher in the quarantine tank. I would increase salinity/pH in a matter of DAYS, not hours. Much less stress on the new fish that way. Also, remember that recently shipped fish are starving. Try to get them started eating something as soon as possible, especially for smaller fish.

Stores usually get large batches of fish in all at once and don't have the time or resources to care for individual fish as they should. Many die unnecessarily. But YOU do. Take the time to acclimate new fish properly in a quarantine tank and make your investment worthwhile.

Dave.M

 

[Osama]

Accepting to take a fish that is in a low salinity was a mistake on my part and a very poor suggestion by my LFS that said acclimating slowly will work

 

[albano]

Accepting to take a fish that is in a low salinity was a mistake on my part and a very poor suggestion by my LFS that said acclimating slowly will work

Maybe not totally wrong ...
IME, 99% of LFS and online stores ship fish in low salinity water! I have never had a problem acclimating them to my much higher salinity in 20-30 minutes. I think you should be able to find many people here, that will tell you that an hour or more acclimation time is more harmful than helpful.
The right way, of course, would be to move new fish into a QT with matching salinity, but that's a different story.

 

[Osama]

Now I obviously have ich in my DT. Couple of fish show it and a couple more are scratching..Cannot catch the fish till they are almost dead and only if they do not go under my 1200lbs of rock. Should I decrease the salinity to 1.08 in the while tank and would that kill the ich and not the corals or inverts or just let it be and hope for the best.

 

[dave.m]

That would kill the inverts for sure. They are much more sensitive to water parameters than the fish. See if someone near you has a fish trap you can use to try and get your fish out of the display tank and into a separate tank faster.

Dave.M

 

[biecacka]

Sorry to hear about your loss. Really stinks.
On another note, how is that skimmer doing

Corey

 

[Osama]

Regarding the skimmer.. I am having a bit of difficult time fine tuning it but I will get there .. Few times I was just getting too much water wasted but installer reduced the volume of water (lowered pump input) have to see how that goes for few weeks...

 

[ca1ore]

There are folks here on RC with extensive fish collections who do not QT new fish and seem to be able to keep their tanks healthy. I don't know how they do it as I never could and have become a proponent of a pretty strict quarantine protocol. Maintaining a modest QT tank with salinity levels equivalent to most retail fish sources means a quick float to equalize temperatures and then in. Has worked really well for me in most cases.

 

[Osama]

ca1: So what level salinity do u keep in QT and do u medicate all fish you buy .. what process do u go thru. I have a 65 & a 12 or 19 not sure that I can setup. Any filtration?