The Moorish Idol Thread

I have never used hypo with mine, but I have used copper while he was in the tank. Mine did get ich twice but both times got over it, once on its own, another time when I copper medicated the tank. Neither time was the ich very bad.

As far as not eating, in the first year I had mine it stopped eating twice. Both times I got it eating again with Rod's food. Also, I have found that Nori or some other type of green is important to their overall health, especially with the growth of the streamer.

Good luck.

Mine is currently 4 years old and counting, and is my favorite fish. It will be a sad day when it dies.
 
The only time that mine has ever stopped eating was while it was in my quarantine tank and I was treating it with Cupramine and Prazipro (although I treated for a longer period, I believe it went without eating for at least a week). After the treatment was done, he was back at eating again, and then I transferred it into my DT, where it has been a pig ever since (now that I say that, I'm sure mine will go on an eating strike :().

I would just throw whatever you can at it... soaked in garlic.

Good luck, sorry to hear about your MI.

-Chad
 
Thanks, guys! Its just been right at a week now so maybe there is still hope. I will go ahead and order the live brine and live mysis from LA. Does anyone know if anyplace else would have live blackworms (I think that was suggested earlier on this thread to someone having trouble getting their MI to eat - would a bait shop have them - don't laugh if that was a stupid question)? Also does anyone know what kind of sponge they eat that you can buy at the LFS or order on line? I don't want to buy something, pay for shipping and then it not even be the right kind. I don't have a reef tank so not familiar with the sponges at all. I was going to order some of the frozen with sponge but that was going to cost an additional $24 for shipping, already paying $14 for shipping the live brine and mysis. I have Rod's food, which he did like and was eating well, but not interested now.

Does anyone keep live brine and mysis? LA says it can be kept in a 5 gal container with a sponge air filter. It didn't say freshwater or saltwater though I don't think. Does anyone have tips on keeping them alive for longer than a few days? I don't want to waste it after paying almost $40 plus the cost of the filter.

I really don't want to lose him after him doing so well this past year. :sad1: I have been putting VitaChem in the water since it has more than vitamins, hoping that he would at least suck some of that in.

He only had about 4 spots of ich on his tail fin when I started the hypo and it was gone the next morning and haven't seen anymore since the 20th.

Would anyone advise taking him out of hypo even though he has only been in for a little over a week? Or wait a few more days and try the live food then if he doesn't eat that either, take him out and slowly raise the salinity back to normal?

Thanks again for your help. I REALLY appreciated it!
 
Keimaxbode said:
Thanks, guys! Its just been right at a week now so maybe there is still hope. I will go ahead and order the live brine and live mysis from LA. Does anyone know if anyplace else would have live blackworms (I think that was suggested earlier on this thread to someone having trouble getting their MI to eat - would a bait shop have them - don't laugh if that was a stupid question)? Also does anyone know what kind of sponge they eat that you can buy at the LFS or order on line? I don't want to buy something, pay for shipping and then it not even be the right kind. I don't have a reef tank so not familiar with the sponges at all. I was going to order some of the frozen with sponge but that was going to cost an additional $24 for shipping, already paying $14 for shipping the live brine and mysis. I have Rod's food, which he did like and was eating well, but not interested now.

Does anyone keep live brine and mysis? LA says it can be kept in a 5 gal container with a sponge air filter. It didn't say freshwater or saltwater though I don't think. Does anyone have tips on keeping them alive for longer than a few days? I don't want to waste it after paying almost $40 plus the cost of the filter.

I really don't want to lose him after him doing so well this past year. :sad1: I have been putting VitaChem in the water since it has more than vitamins, hoping that he would at least suck some of that in.

He only had about 4 spots of ich on his tail fin when I started the hypo and it was gone the next morning and haven't seen anymore since the 20th.

Would anyone advise taking him out of hypo even though he has only been in for a little over a week? Or wait a few more days and try the live food then if he doesn't eat that either, take him out and slowly raise the salinity back to normal?

Thanks again for your help. I REALLY appreciated it!
Click to expand...

Are all the fishes hypo'd at the same time? Your DT needs to be fishless for at least 8 weeks, and all fishes need to be treated 8 weeks before being put back into the DT. Otherwise, your MI will be reinfected. A temporary solution is using a uv sterilizer 24/7, but it will only remove water-borne ich.
 
No, MI's IME are completely Reef-Safe, but any fish is liable to do anything you can imagine!!
Nothing other than instinct keeps a fish from being reef safe.
 
geovanii said:
For those that have owned a MI for 1+ year, have you ever seen it nipped any tridacna clams?
Click to expand...

I've had mine with clams with no issues, but I think it has less to do with instincts, and more to do with the quality of its diet and frequency of feedings (just a guess based on my observations).

I've gone diving with MI's and never see them pick at clams or corals in the wild (even though they are swimming by hundreds of them)... so I don't think eating corals or clams are part of its natural diet. The problem with this logic, however, is they are in an unnatural environment when in our tanks, so this could lead to unnatrual behavior that includes eating items they normally wouldn't in the wild.

Kind of made an argument against my own thoughts, but I think an interesting issue.

Just my 2 cents...

-Chad
 
I agree. I omitted that part in my previous post. Nipping or trying to eat something that is outside of its natural diet may indicate hunger or something missing from their diet that is essential.
Hunger will change an animals instincts in a moments notice.

Look at the Pacus that were introduced in Papua New Guinea. In its natural Amazonian habitat, the Pacu eats fruits and nuts that fall into the water. After maybe a decade of being introduced into the rivers of PNG, they became omnivores, meaning they were eating meat! They were also implicated in biting people bathing in the rivers. (This was all in an episode of River Monsters with Jeremy Wade). The Pacu would bite a man's pe**s while he was bathing or washing the dishes from his families dinner(naked?). This instance apparently happened numerous times. Hence the nickname b**l crushers. lol
 
griseum said:
I agree. I omitted that part in my previous post. Nipping or trying to eat something that is outside of its natural diet may indicate hunger or something missing from their diet that is essential.
Hunger will change an animals instincts in a moments notice.

Look at the Pacus that were introduced in Papua New Guinea. In its natural Amazonian habitat, the Pacu eats fruits and nuts that fall into the water. After maybe a decade of being introduced into the rivers of PNG, they became omnivores, meaning they were eating meat! They were also implicated in biting people bathing in the rivers. (This was all in an episode of River Monsters with Jeremy Wade). The Pacu would bite a man's pe**s while he was bathing or washing the dishes from his families dinner(naked?). This instance apparently happened numerous times. Hence the nickname b**l crushers. lol
Click to expand...

Hahaha... saw that episode. Pretty crazy!

-Chad
 
Added a moorish idol to my tank yesterday from Clown Aquatics so far he is eating sustainable aquatics dryhatchery 1.2mm pellets, mysis shrimp, and new era marine algae grazer discs!

Video of it in action :)
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NdYLaiFTLMo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
My MI's banner had been maintaining a nice length of maybe 3"-4". I've switched from Selcon and Vita-chem supplements to Zoe and Zoecon recently and noticed amazing growth and changes in ALL of my fish and sharks. So I happen to look in the pond the other day to check everyone out after feeding a big meal the day before and Honest To God the MI's banner grew 9 inches overnight!!! I could not believe it. Look at this video. You get a really good look right at the end. Turn the resolution up to 1080p because I had my phone zoomed in pretty far.


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tCqXlgQJr3g" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Last edited:
i have three in a holdling tank.. starting two weeks ago.. doing great.. five days ago. the alpha started to nip at the other two.. now the two are going at it.. bottom line.. three started out friendly.. now all three have to be seperated.. but all are eating.. thats the good news..
 
I edited my post to include what I meant to say which was that I switched over to Zoe and Zoecon from the other supplements I had been using and I have nothing but great things to say about this stuff.

I haven't read any recent success stories of keeping more than one, without the alpha picking off the rest of the group. Good luck with your trio however and keep us up to date.

You may want to consider keeping just one. Just my opinion.
 
yep. that is what i thought.. love selcon.. just have to refridgerate or its blue goop in a week or so ... no trio.. here.. i now have three in seperate holding tanks all feeding..
 
great!

Brando - That is a beautiful Idol you have there, as well as a I nicely planned stocklist in your 180? I believe? Have you noticed any natural picking behavior from your MI? Picking through the sandbed and the LR?
 
I have four Idols in 300 gallon tank. I got them all together. Actually i started with 7 but eventually it dwindled down to 4 and its been that way since last year. One is an alpha with an occasional chase here and there. They pretty much stay separate throughout the day unless they eat.

Forget about adding a 2nd,3rd idol if you have an established idol in your tank. That idol will chase it until it perishes even it that idol is double its size.

Here something strange. At night when the lights are off they all stay and swim together in one corner.
 
cthetoy said:
Here something strange. At night when the lights are off they all stay and swim together in one corner.
Click to expand...

Yeah... my Idol and Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish do the same thing at night. They huddle in the same exact corner of the tank (by my overflow) every night.

Maybe that's one of the reasons you usually see them swimming in pairs or trios... because they have safety in numbers when sleeping.

-Chad
 
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