New True Perc Addition...Concern

[iFisch]

Wow. Although I learned a significant amount of info from this thread, most DEFIANTLY hit up DFS for a refund.

Was this a wild caught, tank bred, or ORA fish? Was the fish purchased from Divers Den?

I know they quarantine their DD fish extremely well. And I would be surprised if it's a DD fish AND has brook. They should have caught this when the imported the fish.


Sorry, I cannot comment any further. And sorry about your loss. I lost a wild caught perc and have never looked back at buying ORA, or tank bred at the least. I won't spend any more money on anything wild caught.

My damsel has came complete with the cycle, and obviously we all know how hardy these fish already are. But the damsel dances with my ORA clown, almost as if they were a pair. It's weird to describe and even weirder to watch. :lol:

 

[Sistom]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15198478#post15198478 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 1geo
Some scaleless species will not tolerate Formalin at any dose. This is a quote from a book see http://books.google.com/books?id=bt...X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5#PPA122,M1
Why not split your fish into 2 10 gal tanks. I know of no rule that you can not treat 2 or 3 fish at a time especially if they are small.
Putting formalin directly into the QT tank will kill any swimmers in the tank but will not cure your fish. The only effective way is the baths. Remember, formalin does not accumulate; after 2 hours the water is theoretically reef safe. The same would happen in the QT tank. Any swimmers in the water would die but not those embedded in the fish and on their gills. For that you need the stronger solution of the bath. If you have access to PetSmart, they have a 2.5 gal tank. you could move 2 gals of water from your 10 gal QT tank and use 2 cc of Formalin in the 2 gals for a bath. you should be able to put 4 fish at a time in this tank. Just make sure you keep a close eye on them for extreme stress and mix up a new batch of water and formalin before the next bath. There is a product put out by FishVet called Revive. If you use it on your main tank it will kill all of the Brook swimmers in the tank without harming your other creatures. So if its definitely Brook Revive will eliminate it from the main tank. If your fish have Ich, this will not work because Ich has an egg stage and Revive will only kill the swimmers. Just a though. As to the salinity, unless you know what you are doing and have a refractometer to measure the exact SG you are playing with fire. I would slowly raise the salinity back to where it should be and depend on the Formalin to cure your fish. Fresh water baths may give them relief but 2 days is a long time when you have Brooklynella. Good luck, 1geo

Wow! Again, thanks everyone for the input! This has been a very informative thread and a great community of knowledge!

After the initial shock of the severity of the situation I buckled down and ironed out a plan. I purchased a 20 gal long (might use it as a future frag tank ), purchased some ceiling egg crate, and some white "veil" meshing from a hobby store to make a giant net of sorts and a tank top. After getting home and attempting to just catch a fish (any fish) I realized it's not going to be an easy task. I'm still not sure how I'm going to get them out of the DT, but I plan on making a big net to basically sit on the bottom of the 20g tank and when I need to remove the fish, I can just gradually raise the net (it will have sides as well) and scoop the fish out much easier with specimen cup.

I will do the formalin bath as suggestion and probably do it in batches of 3 fish while making of new batch of formalin solution for each bath. I will gradually bring the salinity back up for the one clown and keep it at 1.023sg for the 20g tank. I do have a refractometer so I will be able to accurately measure things. Since I have a few 5 gal buckets, the bath will be done in there with an airstone keeping things aerated.

I found the “Revive" by FishVet and will purchase that as well to treat the display tank.

Basically, as long as my fish can hold out for a couple more days I think we are on the right track! My purple firefish was not looking to healthy today when I got home from work but as soon as I got the net in there he took off towards the rocks. I was a bit overwhelmed and decided to attempt catching all the fish tomorrow. If anyone has any suggestions to catch all my fish I would really appreciate it. A net immediately scares them into the rockwork and I have a bad feeling I'm going to have to tear my entire reef apart to get them…

Thanks again everyone for your help! It's been a community effort and I can't thank you enough.

I'll try to take some pics as soon as I make some progress on the 20g.

 

[1geo]

Your best bet on catching the fish is to go a variety store like T. J. Max, Kmart, Target, WalMart, etc, and get a large cylindrical clear glass vessel. Something about a foot long and 6 inches in diameter. I found one that is intended to be a flower vase and has a base but it works just fine. Lay this on its side in the bottom of the tank. Using a long dowel rod gently herd your fish into the vessel one or two at a time. Once in, put your hand on the open end and upright the vessel. Pour some of the water off and transfer your fish without ever touching it or using a net. Nets can do damage and you do NOT want to give a fish that has an open wound a formalin bath; it would probably kill it.

 

[Sistom]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15199544#post15199544 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by iFisch
Wow. Although I learned a significant amount of info from this thread, most DEFIANTLY hit up DFS for a refund.

Was this a wild caught, tank bred, or ORA fish? Was the fish purchased from Divers Den?

I know they quarantine their DD fish extremely well. And I would be surprised if it's a DD fish AND has brook. They should have caught this when the imported the fish.


Sorry, I cannot comment any further. And sorry about your loss. I lost a wild caught perc and have never looked back at buying ORA, or tank bred at the least. I won't spend any more money on anything wild caught.

My damsel has came complete with the cycle, and obviously we all know how hardy these fish already are. But the damsel dances with my ORA clown, almost as if they were a pair. It's weird to describe and even weirder to watch. :lol:

Yes, I will be calling DFS tomorrow with my losses and to explain to them that I will be treating several of the other fish that I purchased from them in the order. I'm hoping that they will work with me and possibly extend my warranty window past the 7 days due to the circumstances and the possibility that I might lose some additional fish during the treatment.

The true perc that I ordered was not from the divers den but I do believe it was wild caught since it said it was from Singapore. I should have quarantined all of the fish in that order but since it was from a reputable place, I thought they would have caught something major like that. I know, I know! It's my fault and I have learned my lesson. I even have a quarantine setup that I purchased when I was planning my whole setup last October! Ugh, I'm kicking myself in the butt now. But even then, all 5 fish that I ordered would have been infected in the QT. Yes, it would have been easier to treat, but I still don't think they should have sent that perc in the condition it was. The pictures above are pretty much how he looked when I got him. I knew something was wrong, but I thought he might just be stressed and unhealthy. I am fairly new to the hobby (mixed reef tank since January) but I also have done a lot of homework and have been trolling on Reef Central for over a year. I am by no means an expert, but I'm also not one of those people that rush into the hobby without doing the research necessary to maintain a long term reef aquarium.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[Sistom]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15200573#post15200573 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 1geo
Your best bet on catching the fish is to go a variety store like T. J. Max, Kmart, Target, WalMart, etc, and get a large cylindrical clear glass vessel. Something about a foot long and 6 inches in diameter. I found one that is intended to be a flower vase and has a base but it works just fine. Lay this on its side in the bottom of the tank. Using a long dowel rod gently herd your fish into the vessel one or two at a time. Once in, put your hand on the open end and upright the vessel. Pour some of the water off and transfer your fish without ever touching it or using a net. Nets can do damage and you do NOT want to give a fish that has an open wound a formalin bath; it would probably kill it.

I did see large cylindrical vases at the hobby store and considered trying that. My only concern is that these fish are VERY skittish and hide in the rockwork as soon as anything foreign enters the tank. I will give it a try, but I don't have a lot of room to work with and have way to much rock in there for them to hide. I have a feeling its going to be a nightmare regardless of how I approach it....

I will give it a try!

 

[iFisch]

The only fish I would "dump" /add after acclimating, into my tank are ORA specimens. I always purchase anything ORA locally (LFS QT's ALL ORA fish for 1 month before selling them) Tank bred and raised, or the DD fish from DFS, since the DD fish go through extensive QT'ing.

 

[Sistom]

Has anyone purchased from Customaquatics.com? It was the most reputable place I could find revive by Fish Vet but my browser had some strange error when I went to checkout and it made me leery. They have a 1 800 number that I will try tomorrow to see how legit it sounds...