The third time with Harlequin Tusk was a failure!!!

[kboogie]

I tried my third Harlequin Tusk in a year. The first one was from a southern island closer to Australia than Indo so he had lost of red on tail way more blue than normal but wasn't a true Aussie. He never ate and died of stress born ich within three weeks. The second one was from the Philippines, he had apparent cyanide poisoning. He would swim in loops, upside down, rarely ate, and died within three weeks. The most recent was a Philippine as well. He ate from day one. I had him on rehydrated krill within a week transitioned from frozen mysis, clams, and IQF krill. After three weeks in an unmedicated quarantine tank, he stopped eating and hid. A week later he died. I think he was backed up from the freeze-dried krill but I'm not sure.

The whole reason I went with a 300G FOWLR was to get a Tusk which is why I've tried three times in a year. I'm not sure I have a fourth attempt in me. Any thoughts about what I'm doing wrong. Using the unmedicated QT tank allowed me to finally have success with a Powdered Blue Tang. My PBT eats well, grazes constantly, and is very very active. I just wish I could crack the code on a Tusk. Any thoughts?

 

[blaxsun]

Maybe switch fish vendors...? Tuskfish can be real **********, so are you sure you didn't dodge a bullet?

 

[vetteguy53081]

3 weeks in an shutting down questions method of how fish was caught
As for quarantine tank- I would medicate with at least ruby rally pro
acvlimation- are you acclimating fish to quarantine tank equalizing the salinity in the bag with that of the qt ?
I find these fish rather easy to acclimate-feed and raise
What is your salinity-ph-ammonia and nitrate levels?
What test kits are you using?

 

[mehaffydr]

I tried my third Harlequin Tusk in a year. The first one was from a southern island closer to Australia than Indo so he had lost of red on tail way more blue than normal but wasn't a true Aussie. He never ate and died of stress born ich within three weeks. The second one was from the Philippines, he had apparent cyanide poisoning. He would swim in loops, upside down, rarely ate, and died within three weeks. The most recent was a Philippine as well. He ate from day one. I had him on rehydrated krill within a week transitioned from frozen mysis, clams, and IQF krill. After three weeks in an unmedicated quarantine tank, he stopped eating and hid. A week later he died. I think he was backed up from the freeze-dried krill but I'm not sure.

The whole reason I went with a 300G FOWLR was to get a Tusk which is why I've tried three times in a year. I'm not sure I have a fourth attempt in me. Any thoughts about what I'm doing wrong. Using the unmedicated QT tank allowed me to finally have success with a Powdered Blue Tang. My PBT eats well, grazes constantly, and is very very active. I just wish I could crack the code on a Tusk. Any thoughts?

I would order from Drreefquarantinedfish, This way you know hes eating and parasite free.
Costs a little more but compared to buying 3 its a bargain

 

[lion king]

Sounds like the 1st one could have benefitted from a general cure treatment for internal parasites. Internal parasites are a scourge and is likely the blame for many fish not eating. Cyanide is back and back in the day, the Philippines lead the charge. Be careful of copper exposure, even from lfs running sub-therapeutic levels, this can have an effect on many tusk. Cyanide, copper, or internal parasites can have an effect weeks later. Any sources running sg below 1.020 are doing so to suppress disease and parasites, they explode when the sg is raised. There;s no help for cyanide and it is rampant. Don't buy from sources running copper and low sg. Even prophylactic treatment for internal parasites have proven safe.

 

[kboogie]

3 weeks in an shutting down questions method of how fish was caught
As for quarantine tank- I would medicate with at least ruby rally pro
acvlimation- are you acclimating fish to quarantine tank equalizing the salinity in the bag with that of the qt ?
I find these fish rather easy to acclimate-feed and raise
What is your salinity-ph-ammonia and nitrate levels?
What test kits are you using?

I do drip acclimation. It is a 45 minute to 90 minute process depending on the volume of water in the bag / size if the fish.

I use the Hanna checkers.

I use bio media in my QT since I run no meds and typically go 60 to 90 days fallow between new fish. All test are zero or near zero in the case of nitrates. PH is 8.1

I also run a chiller to keep the tank at a constant 76.7 degrees.

I run my salinity at 1.014 to 1.016 and recently started doing hypo at 1.009 to 1.010.

 

[kboogie]

Maybe switch fish vendors...? Tuskfish can be real **********, so are you sure you didn't dodge a bullet?

The first was from the LFS. The other two were from the same online retailer. I will change vendors.

 

[kboogie]

3 weeks in an shutting down questions method of how fish was caught
As for quarantine tank- I would medicate with at least ruby rally pro
acvlimation- are you acclimating fish to quarantine tank equalizing the salinity in the bag with that of the qt ?
I find these fish rather easy to acclimate-feed and raise
What is your salinity-ph-ammonia and nitrate levels?
What test kits are you using?

I’ve been trying to go with no meds but I do think I may want to trying using Ruby Rally Pro.

 

[blaxsun]

The first was from the LFS. The other two were from the same online retailer. I will change vendors.

That's too bad. Over the past few years I've noticed the quality of fish has severely declined.

 

[SlugSnorter]

74 may be too cold for them, also may be better to introduce once hypo is done.

 

[kboogie]

74 may be too cold for them, also may be better to introduce once hypo is done.

My QT is 76.7.

Since I don't do medications in my QT I started doing a constant state of hyposalinity. Are you saying Tusks are sensitive to hypo?

 

[SlugSnorter]

My QT is 76.7.

Since I don't do medications in my QT I started doing a constant state of hyposalinity. Are you saying Tusks are sensitive to hypo?

If a fish is already stressed, and doesn't ship well, hypo may stress it further. IDK if they are particularly sensitive though

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thinking back, the only tuskfish I've had that did really well were short supply chain ones, direct from Cairns Marine. Any from Indonesia or the Philippines are suspect to have been collected with cyanide, and any that go through a wholesaler's tanks have a tendency to pick up whatever diseases they got cooking. My sample size isn't huge - 8 from Indo and 2 from Australia. Those two were acquired in 2015. One got eaten by another fish after a few years, but the other is still going strong.

Jay

 

[Zionas]

Good info. How big is the surviving one and how big was it when you got it?

 

[kboogie]

I was at my LFS last week picking up a Spanish Hog I ordered and they had a juvenile Harlequin Tusk, I thought it was a sign from above that I should do it because I've always believed a juvenile would transition to captivity better than an adult. He was eating live brine aggressively at the store. He ate frozen brine in my quarantine tank two hours after being introduced. I had him eating frozen mysis and plankton and just started him on rehydrated freeze-dried mysis and plankton with Vitamin-M. He was very active and eating aggressively. This morning seven days after being in my quarantine tank with the Spanish Hog I found him dead under a rock. I GIVE UP! After four HTs in one year, I'm done with trying to keep an Harlequin Tusk.

 

[matthew_coletta]

I tried my third Harlequin Tusk in a year. The first one was from a southern island closer to Australia than Indo so he had lost of red on tail way more blue than normal but wasn't a true Aussie. He never ate and died of stress born ich within three weeks. The second one was from the Philippines, he had apparent cyanide poisoning. He would swim in loops, upside down, rarely ate, and died within three weeks. The most recent was a Philippine as well. He ate from day one. I had him on rehydrated krill within a week transitioned from frozen mysis, clams, and IQF krill. After three weeks in an unmedicated quarantine tank, he stopped eating and hid. A week later he died. I think he was backed up from the freeze-dried krill but I'm not sure.

The whole reason I went with a 300G FOWLR was to get a Tusk which is why I've tried three times in a year. I'm not sure I have a fourth attempt in me. Any thoughts about what I'm doing wrong. Using the unmedicated QT tank allowed me to finally have success with a Powdered Blue Tang. My PBT eats well, grazes constantly, and is very very active. I just wish I could crack the code on a Tusk. Any thoughts?

I second trying a different vendor. Also would go for a full Aussie tusk. Have kindle shyed away from Philippines and that general area for that exact reason. I had one lfs who had fish that weren’t cyanide and their duration supported that. But most fish are cyanide/not humanely caught. Also I’ve found them to be quite peaceful in my experience. They don’t really like competing for food and will back down from competition

 

[Zionas]

Yeah colorful show fish and Indonesia / Philippines often don’t go together well. Bali Aquarich used to breed them but I don’t know if they’ve stopped.

 

[Eric Cohen]

I tried my third Harlequin Tusk in a year. The first one was from a southern island closer to Australia than Indo so he had lost of red on tail way more blue than normal but wasn't a true Aussie. He never ate and died of stress born ich within three weeks. The second one was from the Philippines, he had apparent cyanide poisoning. He would swim in loops, upside down, rarely ate, and died within three weeks. The most recent was a Philippine as well. He ate from day one. I had him on rehydrated krill within a week transitioned from frozen mysis, clams, and IQF krill. After three weeks in an unmedicated quarantine tank, he stopped eating and hid. A week later he died. I think he was backed up from the freeze-dried krill but I'm not sure.

The whole reason I went with a 300G FOWLR was to get a Tusk which is why I've tried three times in a year. I'm not sure I have a fourth attempt in me. Any thoughts about what I'm doing wrong. Using the unmedicated QT tank allowed me to finally have success with a Powdered Blue Tang. My PBT eats well, grazes constantly, and is very very active. I just wish I could crack the code on a Tusk. Any thoughts?

I have three finished with qt. Eating like pigs. Here’s a video of this mornings feeding.

 

[kboogie]

I have three finished with qt. Eating like pigs. Here’s a video of this mornings feeding.

Tempting!

 

[Nemo&Friends]

Why do you switch so fast from frozen mysis and brime to rehydrated food? Fish was eating well, and you switched right away. After 3 failures, I would have kept giving them frozen, rather than switching food. At least I would have waited until they were fully acclimated to my tank, like a few months, before switching.
Buying a pre quarantine fish is another option for you.
Rehydrated shrimps may not agree with them.