Bakbay's 450g - Final Upgrade?

[EliMelly]

I might buy another smaller tank (60-90g) just for QT since I need to do 10+ fish at a time. The current 20g is not going to cut it!

How big are your QT tanks?

I think most people just use a 10-15 gallon and only do a couple at a time.

 

[EliMelly]

For what you are trying to do a 60-90 gallon is your best shot.

 

[fishguy242]

yes the rock will absorb copper, level must stay consistent to work

 

[Jimbo327]

I would not put too much rock in the QT. Aragonite rock and sand will absorb some of the copper, so you will have to adjust. Most people just put some PVC elbows for the fish to hide/sleep.

Edit: I think you will do 30 day copper, so you should be fine with 175g QT.

 

[bakbay]

I would not put too much rock in the QT. Aragonite rock and sand will absorb some of the copper, so you will have to adjust. Most people just put some PVC elbows for the fish to hide/sleep.

Edit: I think you will do 30 day copper, so you should be fine with 175g QT.

I know — it was already there so removing them was a pain. I test for copper daily though.

Yes, planning to go copper for 30d in the 175g. I’m buying a 60g tank and move all these QT’ed fish over for observation for another 40d. If everyone is healthy, I’ll move back to DT.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Frag tank update — things are growing well but a little crowded atm.

Actually, we considered ourselves very fortunate and didn’t plumb the frag tank into the DT. The velvet breakout would wipe out both tanks! I’m now super conscious about mixing tools and dipping hands into different tanks, risking cross contamination.

Just had a minute to look at your thread, I see you dumped everyone in what looks like your frag or 175?. Noticed my old female Maroon doing what she does best, lol!

Figure if your gonna qt the rest, may as well qt what you got from me as I told you and your son, those fish ain't QT'ed, lol.

 

[bakbay]

Just had a minute to look at your thread, I see you dumped everyone in what looks like your frag or 175?. Noticed my old female Maroon doing what she does best, lol!

Figure if your gonna qt the rest, may as well qt what you got from me as I told you and your son, those fish ain't QT'ed, lol.

All the old fish from the 450g went to the 175g and most of yours went to the frag tank, which has a 40w UV and everyone has been clean for a year. If they have problems, it’s fairly trivial to catch and QT all in the 175g.

I’m going to QT all fish that are destined for the 450g going forward, regardless of where they came from.

In the end,
450g: all fish from 175g and frag tank
93g frag: Haddonis and clowns
175g: shut down
Hospital: shut down

 

[bakbay]

It’s going to take me 4-6mos to get through this. At a minimum, I’m waiting for the fallow period to end in 2.5mos.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Got it! Love the plan, btw. You've had a heck of a time, so I'm hoping this round goes well!

 

[bakbay]

Got it! Love the plan, btw. You've had a heck of a time, so I'm hoping this round goes well!

lol - well, I’m happy the second time around to redo the aquascape - very open now. Not so happy about losing a lot of sleep but worst feeling of all: many [expensive] fish died under my care. I’m still perplexed as to what caused the outbreak and will likely never find root cause. At this point, I’m just focused on putting all the fish back! I will assume that all fish are suspect until QT’ed — that is, they need to pass thru copper and observation first.

Thanks for your encouragement— I really need some luck in the coming months.

 

[danreef55]

Hey bakbay
how long do you intend to maintain copper levels. I don't like using copper, but you didn't have a choice.

 

[bakbay]

Hey bakbay
how long do you intend to maintain copper levels. I don't like using copper, but you didn't have a choice.

30 days at 2’ish then move to observation tank. I need to buy another tank this week

One of the hippo tangs was pretty bad so I did a FW dip, followed by RallyPro, then put in copper tank.

What do you think?

 

[danreef55]

30 days at 2’ish then move to observation tank. I need to buy another tank this week

One of the hippo tangs was pretty bad so I did a FW dip, followed by RallyPro, then put in copper tank.

What do you think?

I would try to stabilize everything possible. The fish have been stressed. Running at 2 is advisable but I would start stepping it down to 1.75 after two weeks. Best of luck

 

[bakbay]

I would try to stabilize everything possible. The fish have been stressed. Running at 2 is advisable but I would start stepping it down to 1.75 after two weeks. Best of luck

Got it - thanks. I need a WC anyway so good way to dilute and step down before observation.

I can’t wait to get past this — I can understand why many people would simply exit the hobby! I’m not one of those though…just don’t wish this upon another reefer.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Got it - thanks. I need a WC anyway so good way to dilute and step down before observation.

I can’t wait to get past this — I can understand why many people would simply exit the hobby! I’m not one of those though…just don’t wish this upon another reefer.

Velvet is a brutal one. It hits fast and there isn't a lot you can do quick enough to stave it off when you figure out what it is. Also the mortality rate is high as can be

 

[bakbay]

Velvet is a brutal one. It hits fast and there isn't a lot you can do quick enough to stave it off when you figure out what it is. Also the mortality rate is high as can be

All my 30+ years in the hobby — this was my first velvet encounter. I’ve dealt with ich before - so was no big deal catching a few fish and QT. However, I felt so helpless and devastated— can’t save my favorite fish. Now I remember that I hate raising fish — SPS corals are easier actually! lol

I’m always trying to learn and try to be better next time but honestly — I still don’t know what I did wrong or where the parasites came from! It’s possible that there was/is something toxic in the tank which stressed out the fish so ich/velvet took over? I’m going to do an ICP test while we wait.

 

[Jimbo327]

You might look into the who aquabiomics tankDNA test. It is supposed to tell what kind of diseases is in your tank including ich and velvet. I don't know if this would be a useful tool to see if your fallow tank is ready to fish introduction. You might want to hit up the owner and see if that has been done.

 

[bakbay]

You might look into the who aquabiomics tankDNA test. It is supposed to tell what kind of diseases is in your tank including ich and velvet. I don't know if this would be a useful tool to see if your fallow tank is ready to fish introduction. You might want to hit up the owner and see if that has been done.

Interesting— never heard of it tbh. Will do more research. Thanks

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

All my 30+ years in the hobby — this was my first velvet encounter. I’ve dealt with ich before - so was no big deal catching a few fish and QT. However, I felt so helpless and devastated— can’t save my favorite fish. Now I remember that I hate raising fish — SPS corals are easier actually! lol

I’m always trying to learn and try to be better next time but honestly — I still don’t know what I did wrong or where the parasites came from! It’s possible that there was/is something toxic in the tank which stressed out the fish so ich/velvet took over? I’m going to do an ICP test while we wait.

I went through it a total of twice over the years. Last time was when I was starting out (again) in 2018. Bought some stuff from a random store instead of my usual haunts, fish was ALL dead within 96 hours. Never figured out if it was the fish or cuc I added.

Previous to that was a Fowlr in late 2014. Probably was a godsend as I was going through a divorce also. That was due to cuc from a unscrupulous store. Said store is still around and is one of biggest fw stores in the area.

 

[bakbay]

So that means that I should get all my CUC in now and reset the clock? I need a lot more snails. It would suck after gone through all this 2mos later and one snail ruined the whole tank?

Treat the CUC with copper prior to bringing over? Basically, dip/copper/prazi everything wet?