The Moorish Idol Thread

I have never QT'd any of my fish ever. I think in the future though if I ever have another attempt at an Atlantic Blue Tang though, I will QT it for sure as they seem really susceptible to ich ime.
 
So thus far the answers have been no on the QT. I too never use to QT fish and watched my fish fight off ich in my DT for a year or more... Needless to say when you see that going on the idea of buying a 3-500$ fish and putting it in a tank that has ich just doesn't make sense. Now I QT and treat all fish regardless if they show signs of disease or not.
 
Also what size did you all get yours at? I like to get my fish at the smallest size possible... To a point, anything under 1" isn't my cup of tea. From what I am gathering in things I have read and from collectors and sellers is that 4" is the most common available size sometimes closer to 3" but not smaller than that
 
I have never seen a very small one. Mine was probably 4" when I got it. It may be 6" now.

My DT does not have ich. It has been coppered. It has been Prazi'd. It has been Paraguarded.

However, my MI has had mild ich twice in the time I have had it. Both times treated with copper and gone.

MI's are not a very expensive fish, by the way. Mine were $25 each, but usually they are in the $40 range.
 
I have never seen a very small one. Mine was probably 4" when I got it. It may be 6" now.

My DT does not have ich. It has been coppered. It has been Prazi'd. It has been Paraguarded.

However, my MI has had mild ich twice in the time I have had it. Both times treated with copper and gone.

MI's are not a very expensive fish, by the way. Mine were $25 each, but usually they are in the $40 range.

The price and beauty is what makes them so tempting and desirable to try. The one i am looking at getting is around the 4" mark but i was just curious if people had seen or had smaller ones. I feel that its much easier to get smaller fish eating prepared food as opposed to larger adults. If i do pull the trigger on one it will be next week so i will keep everyone posted. Where did you get yours from Ken and Peter? Also anyone else... where did you get yours from? My LFS doesnt ever carry them so thats not a option for me. I do have two other online sources that i can get them from outside of LA
 
I had a friend that dabbled in selling fish for a while. He ordered them for me, I don't know where from. Then he held them for me until my tank was ready to go. I had just set up my 240 gallon, and other than a couple of fish I moved over from my previous tank, the Idol was the first resident.

I bet your LFS will order them for you if you ask. They are very easy to get and available, just most LFS won't try because of their difficult reputation.
 
I had a friend that dabbled in selling fish for a while. He ordered them for me, I don't know where from. Then he held them for me until my tank was ready to go. I had just set up my 240 gallon, and other than a couple of fish I moved over from my previous tank, the Idol was the first resident.

I bet your LFS will order them for you if you ask. They are very easy to get and available, just most LFS won't try because of their difficult reputation.

I have been in contact with a diver direct company out of Hawaii and they have them for 8$ a piece along with 250$ bandits and 125$ goldflakes and my favorite Tinkeri for 250$ so i may be giving them a try here in the very near future
 
Wow. That is awesome.

Yeah it is but with all diver direct company's a lot of research and questions have to be asked and most of the time you start to get a uneasy feeling. Usually when it seems too good to be true it is... I'm not going to risk the 600$ or so to "see" what I end up with. I will order from Michael at NYAquatics next week when he gets his MI in. I have had nothing but good experiences with him and he always lets me know what's coming in before it arrives and if I want something specifically he will find it for me
 
Ich outbreak on MI

Ich outbreak on MI

Here is a recent (poor) pic of my Moorish, showing how long its streamer is.

I have had it a little over 2 years now, and it survived a recent massive ich outbreak that took out my Achilles Tang, Emperor Angel, Majestic Angel, Asfur Angel, Scooter blenny, and Mandarin. All fish were sick, including the Idol, but I used copper and was able to save the Idol, Purple Tang and Blue Devil. Who says these fish aren't tough?

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Hey Pinnatus,

I know this post was years ago but my MI has recently broken out in severe white spot (Entire tank has it but not as bad as him).

I was able to catch him out and put him int a 4' QT tank treating with copper at 0.5ppm. The problem is that he has stopped eating (3 days) and is just hovering in the corner of the tank. I have since found a few articles where people have said they do not respond well to copper. So I'm a little unsure what to do as I really want to save him. I've had hime for just over 6 months. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thinking of removing the copper and moving to hypo or just hoping he can pull through with the copper treatment.

Thanks in advance.

Tim
 
My MI also had ick a few months back and I used cupermine. He got better and continued to eat while the dosage was at half the recommended amount, but stopped eating entirely once it reached the full amount. He was also breathing heavily. By that time, the ick was no longer on his body and the entire treatment was only about one week. I decided to remove cupermine by adding carbon and he started to eat again.
 
Hey Pinnatus,

I know this post was years ago but my MI has recently broken out in severe white spot (Entire tank has it but not as bad as him).

I was able to catch him out and put him int a 4' QT tank treating with copper at 0.5ppm. The problem is that he has stopped eating (3 days) and is just hovering in the corner of the tank. I have since found a few articles where people have said they do not respond well to copper. So I'm a little unsure what to do as I really want to save him. I've had hime for just over 6 months. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thinking of removing the copper and moving to hypo or just hoping he can pull through with the copper treatment.

Thanks in advance.

Tim

I would do the Tank Transfer Method with the MI but you will have to do something to treat the other fish in the tank while leaving the DT fallow for 72 days to kill off the ich life cycle
 
Hey Pinnatus,

I know this post was years ago but my MI has recently broken out in severe white spot (Entire tank has it but not as bad as him).

I was able to catch him out and put him int a 4' QT tank treating with copper at 0.5ppm. The problem is that he has stopped eating (3 days) and is just hovering in the corner of the tank. I have since found a few articles where people have said they do not respond well to copper. So I'm a little unsure what to do as I really want to save him. I've had hime for just over 6 months. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thinking of removing the copper and moving to hypo or just hoping he can pull through with the copper treatment.

Thanks in advance.

Tim

I have used copper a few times on my tank with the Moorish Idol in it. He has survived every time. I have had him stop eating a few times, Rod's food always seemed to get him eating again.

Actually, a couple of days ago he stopped eating again and was been breathing fast. I saw some brown smudges on his sides, so I treated the tank with Prazipro. After a day or so I turned the carbon and skimmer back on. Now he looks better, but is still not right, and is still not eating. May have to break out the Rod's again for him.
 
Thanks for the responses everyone. Today (5th day at 0.5ppm Copper and 5th day not eating) the idol had his colour back but is still hanging out in the dark corner of the tank. I'm going to to a large WC to hopefully half the copper dose and then add some carbon/cuprisorb to remove the remaining and hopefully get him eating again.

Then I plan to transfer the remainder of my fish into the QT and run a hypo treatment and let the DT fallow for the required time to kill off all the ich. It's going to be tough for the MI but hopefully I can get him feeding again once the copper is minimised.

Thanks again

Tim

PS We cannot get Rods Food here in Australia:headwally:
 
I also noticed some ick on my MI yesterday. Mixed in some metronidozle and focus to frozen food last nite and fed it with it. It ate them all. I hope I don't need to use cupermine.
 
Well, might as well chime in with my current situation.

Display tank under hypo. Still 8 more weeks to go. I'm thinking I got lucky and have a robust MI (was eating at the LFS.) Tank mates are a Personifer and Achilles. Both showed spots whereas my Idol never did. Two weeks into hypo and the Idol's behavior has not wavered - still active and eating well (the Pers and AT are better now) - would not know the tank is ick-infested were it not for the Pers and AT showing symptoms.

I still find it funny that every once in awhile my Idol goes after her reflection! So much for attempting to pair it with another.
 
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