h2so4hurts
New member
My MP60's keep my MI's streamer nicely trimmed in the 4-5" range.
The Moorish Idol Thread
- Thread starter zfunk007
- Start date
shlap
New member
New MI Owner...
New MI Owner...
Hey guys, just got my dream fish (the MI) last weekend completely by chance. I was at the LFS when I saw a customer bring in a bucket trying to sell his fish. I heard the employees tell him they couldn't take it because all of their quarantine tanks were full. When I went up to the counter to pay, I asked him what he was getting rid of and found out it was a Moorish Idol.
Me: Doing a crappy job of hiding my excitement, "Really? Does it eat?"
Him: "It eats everything, pellets, nori, frozen foods, everything"
Me: "Why are you getting rid of him? How long have you had him?"
Him: "I've had two of them in my 200 gal reef for 6 months. After an accident, my light was off for two days and when it came back on, they started attacking each other. This one was getting ripped to shreds and would be dead by tomorrow."
So $50 later I have a MI that's a little beat up, but eating everything (supposedly). For my all time favorite fish, it was worth the risk.
Being that I could only see him from the top down through the water, I had no idea just how beat up he actually was. His left eye had a big hole in it and his entire back side looks like a torn piece of paper. He didn't come out from behind my live rocks for almost 2 days and I figured he'd die back there. Luckily near the end of day 2, he started eating Nori and took a couple of practice laps around the tank. Today I've seen him pick some NLS pellets out of the sand and he's nipping at the live rock and nori pretty frequently. He's not interested in picking foods out of the water column yet but hopefully he'll get there soon. He doesn't seem stressed; loves swimming in place in front of my two koralias stacked on top of each other.
On a side note, I've been looking all over for sponge but it appears both Ocean Nutrition and San Francisco Bay are having issues with their Angel Diet at the moment. Ocean Nutrition found that the sponge harvested last year didn't meet their quality standards so they're in the process of processing (hah) sponge from a new supplier. SF Bay is reformulating their recipe to remove filler and gel binder. Both expect to have their Angel (sponge) formula back on the shelf in May/June.
Here's are some photos of my beat up buddy. Right eye is fine, left eye is healing nicely so far. Back-side still looks like torn paper.
New MI Owner...
Hey guys, just got my dream fish (the MI) last weekend completely by chance. I was at the LFS when I saw a customer bring in a bucket trying to sell his fish. I heard the employees tell him they couldn't take it because all of their quarantine tanks were full. When I went up to the counter to pay, I asked him what he was getting rid of and found out it was a Moorish Idol.
Me: Doing a crappy job of hiding my excitement, "Really? Does it eat?"
Him: "It eats everything, pellets, nori, frozen foods, everything"
Me: "Why are you getting rid of him? How long have you had him?"
Him: "I've had two of them in my 200 gal reef for 6 months. After an accident, my light was off for two days and when it came back on, they started attacking each other. This one was getting ripped to shreds and would be dead by tomorrow."
So $50 later I have a MI that's a little beat up, but eating everything (supposedly). For my all time favorite fish, it was worth the risk.
Being that I could only see him from the top down through the water, I had no idea just how beat up he actually was. His left eye had a big hole in it and his entire back side looks like a torn piece of paper. He didn't come out from behind my live rocks for almost 2 days and I figured he'd die back there. Luckily near the end of day 2, he started eating Nori and took a couple of practice laps around the tank. Today I've seen him pick some NLS pellets out of the sand and he's nipping at the live rock and nori pretty frequently. He's not interested in picking foods out of the water column yet but hopefully he'll get there soon. He doesn't seem stressed; loves swimming in place in front of my two koralias stacked on top of each other.
On a side note, I've been looking all over for sponge but it appears both Ocean Nutrition and San Francisco Bay are having issues with their Angel Diet at the moment. Ocean Nutrition found that the sponge harvested last year didn't meet their quality standards so they're in the process of processing (hah) sponge from a new supplier. SF Bay is reformulating their recipe to remove filler and gel binder. Both expect to have their Angel (sponge) formula back on the shelf in May/June.
Here's are some photos of my beat up buddy. Right eye is fine, left eye is healing nicely so far. Back-side still looks like torn paper.
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shlap
New member
Thanks ace, anyone know if MI eat starfish? He keeps nipping at my chocolate chip, maybe he thinks it's a sponge :lmao:
shlap
New member
And he's eating NLS and Dainichi pellets from his food dish ladies and gentlemen! There's hope for this one :beer:
Here's a video just for fun...
<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gv5o881PYcs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
Here's a video just for fun...
<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gv5o881PYcs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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shlap
New member
Funny you should mention this (not really). After 4 days of acclimating to my tank and finally eating nori and NLS pellets, I woke up this morning to find my MI covered with ick too. He's still alive and eating this morning but I'm really bummed. I don't have an established QT as I really wasn't expecting a new fish and I'm afraid setting one up ad-hoc to treat him would just stress him out more.
I soaked his pellets in some minced garlic this morning (it can't hurt, right) and hopefully with a prayer he'll pull through. Just when I thought the hard part was over... pretty bummed now.
Chicago
New member
shlap.. do this.. get some seachem .. focus and merridoanizas.. it is a powder form.. then take a little cup.. put in some pellets. and some cubes of frozen brine.. so you have like to teasponse of food.. add garlic guard from seachem also.. about a cap.. fold in the medicine.. focus and meridoanizas.. its an anitbotic... it will be a little slushy.. put in fridge for a few hours.. it will help evaporate the slushiness..water out.. so it becomes like a mash.. then feed three times a day.. i use a little spoon to drop in my tank.. in other words little drops of the mash after done into the tank.. your fish will love it and it helps with the ick.. will not cure your tank but help fish build up resistance to it.. good luck.. not sure if i have ick.. just lost my anthias and potters that was in the QT also.. thinking now might be fluke.. good luck .. oh by the way.. you can call seachem and they can explain the procees in more detail if you need to .. i also add some chopped norie to the mix.. tangs..hippos love it ...
shlap
New member
Unfortunately no one in my area sells this stuff and I'm afraid it'll get here too late ordering it online. He's still alive and eating but the ich looks to be getting worse. I'm supplementing his food with Garlic power from brightwell but I'm not very hopeful at this point.
Keimaxbode
New member
So sad to report that I lost my MI about 2 days ago after just over a year. Once he stopped eating, I could not entice him with anything. I had just purchased a 265 two days before thinking (well knowing he needed a bigger tank than my 5 ft, 100g) I might be able to get it set up in time and that it would encourage him to start eating again, but no such luck. Now I have a 265 sitting in my garage and not really any desire to set it up.
I don't think the problem has anything to do with diet. I am guessing it has to do with becoming breeding age and no mate, but I know its almost impossible to get two that will get along for very long even if you get them as juveniles. I'm wondering if it does any good to observe a group and pick two that are hanging out together. Has anyone had any luck with that or having two that really seem to pair up? I'll try to include a picture to show how healthy he was just a month ago when he stopped eating. Hmmm, I don't know how to do that I guess. Oh well, I'm really going to miss him. He was my buddy. He is in my avatar, but not the best pic.
Diana
I don't think the problem has anything to do with diet. I am guessing it has to do with becoming breeding age and no mate, but I know its almost impossible to get two that will get along for very long even if you get them as juveniles. I'm wondering if it does any good to observe a group and pick two that are hanging out together. Has anyone had any luck with that or having two that really seem to pair up? I'll try to include a picture to show how healthy he was just a month ago when he stopped eating. Hmmm, I don't know how to do that I guess. Oh well, I'm really going to miss him. He was my buddy. He is in my avatar, but not the best pic.
Diana
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Keimaxbode
New member
He was the largest fish, had hypo'd all due to an ick outbreak, but he had been qt'd in hypo and been through one other hypo due to ick and had done just fine. All other fish are also fine. I posted in the thread earlier for suggestions, but nothing I tried worked.
I know a lot of people seem to lose them just after a year if they make it that long so just thought the mate issue might be responsible. Of course, I have nothing to base that on except he was doing so well, was fat, eating everything and had almost doubled in size (it seemed anyway). Can't imagine what else it could be. Even the ich was very minimal and went away within a couple of days (only spots were on his tail).
shlap
New member
My newly adopted MI seems to be winning the battle with Ich. After being completely coated with it to the point where I was sure he wouldn't live through the night, it's almost completely gone now.
I was afraid that moving him to a brand new QT just a few days after he finally got acclimated to the DT would stress him too much so we fought that nasty little parasite in the DT.
The battle plan:
1) Buy two cleaner shrimp. The idol went over for a cleaning within 10 minutes of adding them to the tank. Every day I see them cleaning it's gils and picking crap off him. I know people say that cleaners don't help with ich but it was worth a shot, and at the very least it seems to provide some relief for him. He's over there letting them pick on him 5-10 times a day.
2) Soak all of his food in garlic extract. I soak NLS, Formula 2, and Dainichi.
3) Metronidazole (taking Chicago's advice). I finally found a LFS with one bottle left. I sprinkle it on his nori and then add drops of garlic which I let dry to help make the Metro stick to the nori.
4) Feed the crap out of him. Luckily I work from home so I keep pellets (in a glass food dish on the DT floor) and nori in his tank pretty much all day. He looks FAT. I'm afraid maybe I'm feeding him too much.. is that possible?
Not sure which of those 4 steps is helping the most but something is definitely working because almost all of the ich is gone now and I'm happy happy happy
I was afraid that moving him to a brand new QT just a few days after he finally got acclimated to the DT would stress him too much so we fought that nasty little parasite in the DT.
The battle plan:
1) Buy two cleaner shrimp. The idol went over for a cleaning within 10 minutes of adding them to the tank. Every day I see them cleaning it's gils and picking crap off him. I know people say that cleaners don't help with ich but it was worth a shot, and at the very least it seems to provide some relief for him. He's over there letting them pick on him 5-10 times a day.
2) Soak all of his food in garlic extract. I soak NLS, Formula 2, and Dainichi.
3) Metronidazole (taking Chicago's advice). I finally found a LFS with one bottle left. I sprinkle it on his nori and then add drops of garlic which I let dry to help make the Metro stick to the nori.
4) Feed the crap out of him. Luckily I work from home so I keep pellets (in a glass food dish on the DT floor) and nori in his tank pretty much all day. He looks FAT. I'm afraid maybe I'm feeding him too much.. is that possible?
Not sure which of those 4 steps is helping the most but something is definitely working because almost all of the ich is gone now and I'm happy happy happy
Chicago
New member
use .. seachem focus with the metronidazole. you must keep giving to him even when you do not see the ick.. you can soak pellets in the garlic guard and metronidazole and shred some nori.. mix .. no at this stage you are not feeding him to much.. moorish need to eat several times aday.. good luck
gofor100
New member
Many of you seem to be battling with ick... which begs the question, "Why aren't you quarantining before introducing your fish???"
The MI is obviously a tough enough fish to keep, and I'm not saying that QT'ing is the end-all to keeping a healthy MI, but don't you guys think you're starting behind the eight-ball by not doing this?
Is it because there is a misconception that an MI can't handle QT? I say "misconception" because mine went through a full treatment of Cupramine and Prazipro before being placed in my DT (along with every single fish I have in my DT). Maybe I'm just lucky... but my MI was the first one I have ever obtained and has been doing well every since (knock on wood).
I'm just asking since this is an obvious solution to what many people are losing their MI's to.
-Chad
The MI is obviously a tough enough fish to keep, and I'm not saying that QT'ing is the end-all to keeping a healthy MI, but don't you guys think you're starting behind the eight-ball by not doing this?
Is it because there is a misconception that an MI can't handle QT? I say "misconception" because mine went through a full treatment of Cupramine and Prazipro before being placed in my DT (along with every single fish I have in my DT). Maybe I'm just lucky... but my MI was the first one I have ever obtained and has been doing well every since (knock on wood).
I'm just asking since this is an obvious solution to what many people are losing their MI's to.
-Chad
Dr Colliebreath
New member
Mine went through Prazipro and Cupramine in my qt as well with no problems.
