What a difference a few weeks makes.

[jeffbrig]

Here was the tank on 2/26

And here's what it looks like today:

Yep, we had to dismantle the LR to pull out the last fish for QT. Stupid fridmani. We'll take this opportunity to restack the rock work a little better, with more coral mounting areas, and drill every piece with holes to allow us to peg corals in place.

 

[TorryRx]

Ouch! What did the fridmani do to warrant such drastic action to get him out?

 

[jeffbrig]

After 18 months of careful QT of everything, we carelessly let ich get into the tank last month (most likely, on the base of an acro colony that we didn't QT). Most of our fish were handing it fine, but the achilles and pbt, in particular, were covered in it. Not terribly surprising, they have a reputation for that.

We decided to pull all of the fish and run them through hyposalinity (again) while letting the tank sit fallow. Going forward, we will set up a fully functional coral QT that allows us to quarantine EVERYTHING before it goes into the tank.

 

[gasman059]

Hey jeff u are a brave soul- buddy I would never-ever-ever tear down my setup for some crypto, but hell maybe u will have more fun putting it back together-YIKES!

 

[jeffbrig]

It was much easier to convince myself because there were a few things about the aquascaping that bugged me.

 

[r00onmac]

jeff... sorry to see that.. i just messaged christy... i can come get that BTA tonight from 6-9 or friday morning... whichever is better for you guys... if we can meet at some middle ground thats even better but i dont wanna force you guys to drive anywhere you arent going anyway...

 

[tperk9784]

Re: What a difference a few weeks makes.

I love the bare bottom look. did you use starboard or some type of material like that? and that clam looks HUGE!

Tim

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9644095#post9644095 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jeffbrig
Here was the tank on 2/26

And here's what it looks like today:

Yep, we had to dismantle the LR to pull out the last fish for QT. Stupid fridmani. We'll take this opportunity to restack the rock work a little better, with more coral mounting areas, and drill every piece with holes to allow us to peg corals in place.

 

[jeffbrig]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9644394#post9644394 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by r00onmac
jeff... sorry to see that.. i just messaged christy... i can come get that BTA tonight from 6-9 or friday morning... whichever is better for you guys... if we can meet at some middle ground thats even better but i dont wanna force you guys to drive anywhere you arent going anyway...

Friday morning would be better for us. I have a meeting to go to tonight, and we're both taking off from work Friday. The good thing is, the RBTA is very easy to get to right now, lol.

 

[jeffbrig]

Re: Re: What a difference a few weeks makes.

Re: Re: What a difference a few weeks makes.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9644505#post9644505 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tperk9784
I love the bare bottom look. did you use starboard or some type of material like that? and that clam looks HUGE!

No starboard, just the tank, which is 1" acrylic. In the first tank, you can see the coralline on the bottom. In the pic from today, the bottom is covered in a fine layer of dirt/detritus that came out of the rocks when we pulled them.

 

[r00onmac]

friday morning it is then... i have to be back down here by 12 so i hope you guys are morning people lol

hope all goes well with the QT... id hate for you to lose anything, let alone such a beautiful achilles

 

[gasman059]

It was much easier to convince myself because there were a few things about the aquascaping that bugged me.

There' nothing and i mean nothing that would bugged me so much to tear my tank down-well maybe if I'm building a new one-!! ummmmmmh!
Now is the time for some serious drilling and plugging for future frags and what not, just in case u have not considered.

 

[Scratch-D]

:eek2: Holy CoW! :eek2:

Seems like a impulsive idea for ich, I would have thrown some cleaner shrimp in the mix. I have seen them clean up ich in one of my tanks years ago. They just set up a cleaning station and the fish drive thru...

 

[jeffbrig]

There are cleaner shrimp in there....problem is, they don't eat ich, lol. It's an often repeated assumption, but they eat surface parasites (if any), not ones that are burrowed into the fish. Advanced Aquarist cited research to this effect a few years ago.

It's not really that impulsive when you consider the bigger picture. We spent a few weeks deciding what we wanted to do about the crypto, then several days catching the other fish before we decided to dismantle the reef.

It's a lot of work now, but the tank will be better for it in the long run.

 

[nyvp]

Jeff you and Christy are a couple I look up to. I don't know of anyone else that go to the max as you do for your tank. Good luck and give me a holler if you need anything.

 

[gasman059]

I don't know of anyone else that go to the max as you do for your tank.

I know i wouldnt LOL
Good luck and if u need some help let me know, painful as it may be.

 

[jeffbrig]

Thanks guys. I'll let you know if we get into trouble.

We're going to restack tonight, then tomorrow it's off to the Diplomat for a nice, relaxing weekend.

 

[jessp]

don't forget the mojitos lol

 

[Scratch-D]

Jeff have you ever tried any of the ich remedys that are reef safe?

 

[jeffbrig]

No such thing!

I'm of the firm belief that the only guaranteed remedies are hyposalinity and copper, and even then only if they're done right. Unfortunately, neither of these is reef-safe. The reef-safe 'medicines' that are marketed these days tend to be ineffective at best, and some are actually very harmful to corals (someone did controlled experiements with xenia to prove this). Unfortunately, because ich by its very nature goes through cycles of appearing and disappearing, every 'cure' has garned some share of believers. But it's just as easy to find someone who has had that method fail.

I'm not a big fan of adding unknown chemicals and medications to a reef. I have a rule that I don't anything to my tank unless I know exactly what's in it, and I can test for it to see if it's doing what it says. Hyposalinity is a known quantity, easily measurable, and I've always had good results, so that's what I rely on.

Right now we're already down to 26.9mS on the salinity meter, which works out to about 1.0118sg

 

[gasman059]

Jeff have you ever tried any of the ich remedys that are reef safe?

100%BS none work period