The Moorish Idol Thread

I am mostly worried about flukes. The place where I got the MI has a lot of fish that seem to be ill or scratching, etc. I added light dose of Parazi-Pro to the QT tank for flukes just in case.
I do not see any sign of illness such as ick, etc. The fish looks great so far.

I know that some use Cupramine and Parazi-Pro at the same time in a QT but I did not want to add both unless i have too.

Anyone else have an opinion on this?

Vince
 
I would consider using the 55 gallon tank. Use all the water and filtration from the 30 gallon tank and top off with water from the DT. Add a good 10-20 pounds of LR from the DT. This is risky, but the other option consists of placing LR in the 30 and do frequent every other day 10 gallon water changes (perhaps daily) as ammonia will take the fish down fast. It is best to have a QT up and running for a period of time before buying new fish. You can consider placing the fish in the DT, especially if it is eating well.
 
Hi Scott, the fish stopped eating yesterday. It also has what looks like the first sign of ick on one of his fins. I did a small water change using the water from my DT. Then I added some cupramine to take care of the ick.

Funny thing - I was seriously thinking about just moving him to the display tank tonight, but discovered the ick! Hopefully he will clear up in a few days.

Vince
 
Continue with the cupramine and make sure your water quality is good. I recommend about 10 gallon water changes every day to other day for now.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14321555#post14321555 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by vamaro
Hi Scott, the fish stopped eating yesterday. It also has what looks like the first sign of ick on one of his fins. I did a small water change using the water from my DT. Then I added some cupramine to take care of the ick.

Funny thing - I was seriously thinking about just moving him to the display tank tonight, but discovered the ick! Hopefully he will clear up in a few days.

Vince
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear this. Just my two cents, but I've never had a fish stop eating due to ich. More than likely, the MI is stressed from being put in the small, bare tank. If it were me, I'd skip the Cupramine and get him tranferred over to your 55g at a minimum, with some live rock in it. Otherwise, I doubt he's going to live too long. Personally, it would have already been in my display tank. MIs do not take quarantine well, to say the least. :( Good luck with the fish.

On the other point, Cupramine is akin to chemotherapy, and extremely stressful to fish. Barring a fatal disease situation, I would not use it. You can just as easily use the transfer method between two clean tanks every 3 days to remove the ICH after the 3rd transfer. But honestly, I'd just get him in a bigger tank with some live rock, offer him anything and everything to eat, maybe drop another fish in there to perk him up, and hope he snaps back. I've found MIs to be very social fish, who need the company of other fish to feel safe and thrive. Actually, most fish are like that, though. Solo is not a good situation for them. Again, very best of luck, and I hope he pulls through!
 
I moved him to the DT tonight. He seems happier, swimming all over the tank. Hopefully he will eat tomorrow.

Vince
 
good day guys, i am new here my MI is 3weeks now in my D Tank, i feed it with nori,granulomarine pelets,some other pelets,shrimp soak in garlic extract and algae films in my refugeum (i scrape then drop in DT tank then he eats very very well,and on the next day algae films regenerates) i feed my tank 4xdaily, my frozen shrimp food is every other day.i am open for any comments and improvements. i read here that you feed your moorish idol with banana,is that good?does moorish eat it when i drop it or it needs time. thx.

 
I fed my Idol bananas along with sponge and other things. I froze the bananas to make them stick together better. I have no idea if it's good or not but he are it as do most of my fish and they all live a long time so whats not to like?
 
I think one of the keys to keeping a MI is to provid ethem with plenty of swimming room. I'm sure Paul will back me up on this.

The reason I say that is from my observations over the last 3 years of keeping my MI. My tank is 7' long which provides a lot of swimming room and I see my idol constantly swiming the length of the tank. At one end of the tank, I have 2 returns from my closed loop near the bottom of the tank pointing up at a angle that are on a OM 4 way. So water radomly is flowing out of these returns aming up at an angle towards the center of the tank. This closed loop uses a baraccuda pump for water flow with very little restrictions so there's about 3000 GPH flowing thru a 1 1/2" return line.

I almost constantly find my MI down infront of the return when water is flowing out of it. He will sit in the water flow and swim to keep in place. It looks as if he's playing in the water flow but i think it's more of an exercise for him. He seesm to enjoy the vigerious flow that comes out of the return.

I only feed my tank once a day. I use a variey of different types of pellets. That and a sheet of Nori that he fights my tangs for. Other than that, he get's nothing special.

As I said, I've had him now going on three years. I got him from a fellow RC member because he was eating the guys prized Zoa's. But to watch him constantly swim in the tank is awsome. I do honstly beleive that the large swimming space is one of the keys to keeping him in good condition.
 
I think one of the keys to keeping a MI is to provid them with plenty of swimming room. I'm sure Paul will back me up on this
Click to expand...

Crusty is totally correct, mine was in a 6' tank and gave me a lot of dirty looks every time he hit the glass.
 
I should have freekin retired 40 years ago.
I am so busy now I don't even know where the TV is.
Today, which is a working day that I would have been wasting in Manhattan if I was still working, I am acclimating some more bumblebee gobies. I was looking at my old homemade skimmer and it was not acting correctly so I took off the reaction tube and cleaned it but it was still not working right. Water, not bubbles was filling up the reaction tube. My skimmer is high and the top is at the ceiling in the closet where it is so I can't really see into it. I got on a ladder and looked inside with the tube removed. The 1 1/2" opening at the top was down to about 3/4". It was caked with something that looked like a cross between cement and cyano. I needed a scraper to clean it. Now it works great. I will have to re think my every ten years maintenance on the skimmer. :lol:
But my point is, If I was wasting time, I mean working, I would have never known.
Tonight we are going out to the eastern end of Long Island for an overnight. I will be collecting some ice seawarter.

This was me a few years ago (maybe 10) on the roof of the Plaza Hotel installing lights on a day that was 17 degrees. thats Central park 12 floors below. Looks like fun doesen't it. That light looks awfully similar to the ones over my reef. Must be a coincidence :eek1:

PlazaHotel.jpg
 
Glad to hear your keeping busy. Never had much use for a TV anyways.

I cleaned out my skimmer a few eeks ago and found all kinds of interesting stuff growing insid eit. Some of it was either hard tubed fan worms or some type of coral. But it was a pain to get off.

Take care out there and keep having fun. The idol is still trucking along doing fine along with my tangs that are now pushing over 8 years.
 
It must be something about us "old" guys that let us keep fish for years. I guess they look at us and are jealous
 
Can we get a full tank shot?
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14272414#post14272414 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cl2ysta1
Here is my representation of hawaii
The MIs eat flake, frozen, nori.. you name it. They eat more voraciously than the tangs do

idol003.jpg
Click to expand...
:D
 
Just got a pair. They look healthy (no signs of ich... so far) and eat well. I had the store show me a feeding and they ate just fine. They ate NLS pellets (i got some) and were at the store about a week. They came in the wednesday before last and the guy said they were eating right away. What would be good to feed them in addition, 'cause i know that after you get them feeding, you need to make sure they get the right vitamins.

Should i focus more on algea and greens or a more meaty diet (or good balance of both)? I have mysis, spirulna brine, Ocean Nutrition formula 2, marine flakes, NLS pellets and some other dry goods. What else should i get?

Im keeping them in a 58 and im going to move them 120 once im done setting that up. I also hear they do better with other MIs (in that they school in the wild, partly why i got 2). I'd also like to know fish compatibility. Im not taking any chances, other than the chance of keeping them successfully.
 
i heard 55 gal, if its set up with good swim room (i have 58 set up w/ good swim room, and its deeper than a 55). I asked if having two would create a need for more room, the guy said no, though he may been giving "selling advice", but ill move them to a 120 eventually. Until then, they look pretty dam cool in my 58.

I tried feeding them right away, not much reaction. later, i got more reaction to the pellets than the mysis shrimp. I did see them 'grazing' though. they dont seem jumpy and they seem to stick together.
 
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