My Sharks in HD

How big was the berndt's Alprazo? It was very tiny correct?

Palmer that's a good idea! I just got a bunch of different macro too. Instead of sand perhaps I'll use Ecosystem miracle mud or Fiji Mud. Hmm. I'm not a fan of sand anymore. After trial and error I believe sand beds are just horrible nutrient traps. Nitrate factories. The only sand I use as a substrate is oolitic and a bed of about 1-2 cm.

I like that mud can be anaerobic with just an inch.

Any other ideas?
 
Its a sad, sad day. Somehow, someway the insidious, cockroach of the ocean has beaten all of my defense systems.
I quarantine everything, with numerous medications and formalin, fresh water baths, anything you can imagine. Nothing enters the Pond without much observation and prophylactic treatment, just in case. But the cucaracha has persevered somehow. Which ancient pestilence has attacked my watery friends, is yet to be determined.

Im thinking that the only thing I don't quarantine is my various Macro-Algae purchases. I don't know what would be the best type of QT for these plants. But I'm constantly diversifying the flora I keep and it has to be this pathway the rodent snuck his way through.

I observed one of my yellow tangs today while feeding, and lo and behold he had a dime sized flesh colored circle mid-body, just below the lateral line. Im guessing it is a secondary bacterial infection caused by some sort of Ectoparasite that is enjoying the feast that is my prized fishes, and most likely enjoying nooners, and late night rendezvous with his female counterparts and proliferating at will.

So...
I bust out the big guns. 2liter bottle of Praziquantel. 2500+ gallons are getting treated as we speak. The equivalent of Bombing an apartment building for roaches.

If anyone has any other ideas as to what would cause a dime sized, perfect circle lesion (Im guessing) please post here or in the health forum on the Perfect Circle thread I made there. Im waging war, it will be fast and it will be ferocious, because I know how insidious these little bast*#%ds are.
Thank you.
 
^^^-- (stupid silly)
Failed attempt at Shakespeare-ian forum posting. A little embarrassed too. Too late to erase it.

But anyway, I believe some fluke-like parasite entered the big system. So a heavy dose of praziquantel was used yesterday. The scary part for me is shutting off the protein skimmer. Luckily its still cool in the basement and my DO levels didn't drop too much. I won't feed heavily for the duration of the treatment(s). And any fish showing symptoms will be removed and QTed with an antibiotic for secondary infections.

I don't enjoy medicating the system, but I do try to dose the entire volume with Prazi at least once a year when plants, corals, fish/sharks have been added just so I can rest easy knowing the sharks primarily, won't be carrying anything.

With sharks, I feel its crucial to de-worm and prevent ectoparasite infection. I've lost sharks/rays in the past very quickly to secondary infections. If I can give anybody who wants to keep Elasmobranchs a simple piece of advice, it would be to keep them seperate of fish and if they are kept with other bony fish, take patience in quarantining every fish thoroughly with prazi or the like. If something does show itself on as shark or ray, treat with Prazi IMMEDIATELY. If you wait, you will regret it. I find Elasmos are much more susceptible to bacterial infection than bony fish. It happens fast and ends in death.
 
If the prazi doesn't work, you need to consider a parasitic amphipod or copepod. If the pestilent annoyance persists some dimilin should aid in your battle.

I posted photos somewhere on this board of them embedded deep into the skin of a catshark and thereby likely escaping the effects of formalin. Some times a fresh water dip of the sharks body, leaving the head out, will remove some that you can observe swimming in the water column. I never had luck with skin scraping on these and found this partial dip method to help make the diagnosis.
 
Luckily the sharks seem uneffected so far. I'm hoping to nip it in the bud.

Prazi doesn't work on any parasitic pods? I didn't know that.
I've done some scrapes on a few fish and haven't really seen anything yet. But I dose a heavy dose of prazi. If the sharks show any signs I'll do FW baths. Done that in the past but its scary!!

Thanks dude!
 
The treatment went off without a hitch!
The flesh wound I observed on one of the fish healed itself up just during the 6 day treatment of Prazi, aided by a healthy diet. I should have some new residents within the next week or so.
 
Ive been a busy boy lately.

Recent additions are two potential breeding pairs.

1M 25" 1F 24" Chiloscyllium punctatum - Big and thick, beautiful sharks
1M 20" 1F 12" Atelomycterus marmoratus - Big male, very active, small female needs some growin'

I was fortunate to meet a great woman who allowed me to house her babies (read: Sharks). They will receive the best of care and I hopefully will complete the cycle of life with these two species as well.

A new video featuring the four new residents will be posted today.

Stay tuned......
 
This looks amazing, you must get a lot of joy watching these sharks everyday.
How many sharks are now in the pond? and how many fish?
 
Do you pet the sharks? And do any of them respond well to you?

I am just so interested in this type of setup since I went to the Atlanta aquarium and saw the stingrays and bonnet heads. This would be a dream setup for me, hopefully somewhere down the road my wife would allow me to build it
 
I'm so attached to the new sharks already! The big male Brown Banded is going to be this forums mascot as to Why Not To Buy That Cute Bamboo Shark Hatchling.
This guy is as long as my leg and as thick! Not the cute lil 6 inch shark you see in the 10 gallon tank at your LFS.

I have so much respect for these creatures and am so fond of them. Beauties of the natural world.

RayL- I try to keep my hands out of the water as much as possible for a few reasons. One being I run a big high pressure PM bullet xl 4 custom protein skimmer. It runs off Beckett injectors and even in 2500 gallons of water, the oils on your hands interfere with its performance. I'm going to follow up with some pics of these beautiful new sharks. If I didn't mention it already they are 1m:1f brown banded bamboo 26"-28" and 24"-26" and 1m:1f Coral Cat sharks 24"-25" and 15"-16" respectively.
 
Very Nice lagoon setup. Im picking up my cortez pup i have on hold this week from my LFS and when she out grows my 180 which i know will happen soon so please everyone save your breath ;) I already am sketching down plans for a shark/ ray lagoon :) I can deff learn something from your setup!

P.s By grey banded bamboo isnt that also referred to as the white spotted cat shark or no? I thought the white spotted ones grew up to loose they're spots and have grey bands no?
 
Two different species. C griseum and C plagiosum the first bring Gray bamboo and the latter being White Spotted Bamboo. White spotted bamboos retain some of their spots and grow into a lighter brown/tan as adults where as adult Grays turn gray, but not as dark as adult Brown Bandeds. They all seem to lose most of their bands in adulthood.
 
I have the drain on the near wall. No bulkheads anywhere. Its more of a PVC pipe going straight into a Reeflo hammerhead. From the hammerhead there's a manifold that leads to the tank room adjacent to thepond. Another line goes through a LR tank and mud tank right next to the pond tthat's hidden by a door. The skimmer sits there as well.
 
WoW, if you have time and the will can you send some pictures maby, i am currently rebuilding my lagoon. Had a leak in mars and lost all life and basicly the whole room :(
only thing thats good is that the aquarium room is not connected to my house :)
 
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