@Blaise006 has had a hell of a time with Dr Reef fish.
I'm going to guess you had Marine Velvet and this was patient zero: https://www.ultimatereef.net/threads/ich-velvet.843363/#post-7953400I picked up other fish on 23rd, guy giving them away was keeping the magnificant, and changes his mind a few days later when I got it from him on the 28th. For the most part magnificant foxface stayed right infront of the stock tanks powerhead like he loved the direct flow.
I can't honestly say I will start buying only quarantine fish even after this. I have limited budget in general the tangs were probably my biggest cost fish wise in single purchase so that hurts.Man, when it rains it pours. Sorry to hear about this.
As someone who doesn't QT fish, I feel like I've been playing with fire. I'm going to set up a QT tank or buy from pre-QT sources from now on. I appreciate you posting this kind of stuff, it will help us all in the long run.
I know it's hard, but patience and waiting for fish to come up on the bst side, or from tank breakdowns is a good way to expand your fish list at an affordable rate. I'm guilty of not being great here too, and learned a few lessons just this week on it with having to pass on a really good local deal because I added a few fish over the last two months.I can't honestly say I will start buying only quarantine fish even after this. I have limited budget in general the tangs were probably my biggest cost fish wise in single purchase so that hurts.
Of course it is impossible to say with certainty but it is very possible or even likely the ammonia spike was a result of the fish death. Especially if there was any cross contamination between the two tanks with equipment, hands, water change buckets, etc.IMO. The stock tank fish deaths and the frag tank fish deaths weren’t related. There’s no way those fish you got in the stock tank were healthy and suddenly spread ich/velvet to the rest of the fish and your other tank. Stock tank died from an ammonia spike. Frag tank got ich/velvet from the blue tang you got from Aqua Plus.
IMO. The stock tank fish deaths and the frag tank fish deaths weren’t related. There’s no way those fish you got in the stock tank were healthy and suddenly spread ich/velvet to the rest of the fish and your other tank. Stock tank died from an ammonia spike. Frag tank got ich/velvet from the blue tang you got from Aqua Plus. Technically yeah it could’ve been the Yellow Tangs from Biota, but I doubt it.
Agree 99%, -1% since these 55g brute containers are SO HARD to get. Still waiting on mine to be shipped after several weeks.IMO. The stock tank fish deaths and the frag tank fish deaths weren’t related. There’s no way those fish you got in the stock tank were healthy and suddenly spread ich/velvet to the rest of the fish and your other tank. Stock tank died from an ammonia spike. Frag tank got ich/velvet from the blue tang you got from Aqua Plus. Technically yeah it could’ve been the Yellow Tangs from Biota, but I doubt it.
I agree with @SupraSaltyReefer that you should be able to hold a good amount of RODI/Saltwater to have on hand. That probably would’ve been my focus before even setting up the frag or stock tank. Hard to do water changes on either of those with just a 5 gallon bucket. Even a large brute can with a powerhead and heater would do, nothing too complicated.
Also agree on the part that if you’re not buying everything QTd, there’s no point in spending the extra money because a cheap not QTd fish would cross contaminate with the QTd fish.
Very unfortunate experience but definitely a learning lesson. Thank you for sharing this side of the hobby. It’s very real and sometimes people tend to not want to share it. Goes without saying- run tanks fallow and no trading/DBTC coral
44 gallon brute cans…Home DepotAgree 99%, -1% since these 55g brute containers are SO HARD to get. Still waiting on mine to be shipped after several weeks.
Thanks for clarifying that it was most likely the blue tang from Aqua Plus.
Damn sorry to hear about your fishes bro. I can say with complete confidence the one spot foxface, 2 pj cardinals and magnificant fox face did not have ich. They came from a BAR members tank that had them since before 2020. The yellow tang, black tang, purple tang, blue tang, 3 copperbands, 2 Molly miller blenny, and 3 filefishes still has never showed in my friends tanks or my tank.
Tbh, I think you just have too much going on. You should hold off on getting any new fishes and corals until your 210G tank is set up. In my opinion, unless you plan on quarantining ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING (fish, corals, inverts, frags, rocks, etc….) that goes into your tank don’t spend the extra money on buying quarantined fish or learn to QT yourself. Ich is not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. In the meantime read up on QT methods, setup a QT system for the future, and setup a rodi system with 50g+ rodi water reservoir ready to go for emergency like this. Also, have dedicated nets and tools for each tank it will lessen the chances of cross contamination and ich is airborne so if your tanks are not 10ft+ apart it will spread.
I used water from stock tank to top up frag tank in addtion to taking rocks from it for frag tank sump. Plus shared tools for all tanks. In hind site i did a millon things wrong. I screwed up so much It's Impossible to single anything out as the cause of either tanks fish lost. I can only be alot more mindful of my future actions.First of all so sorry to hear about the fish loss it really sucks.
Of course it is impossible to say with certainty but it is very possible or even likely the ammonia spike was a result of the fish death. Especially if there was any cross contamination between the two tanks with equipment, hands, water change buckets, etc.
44 gallon brute cans…Home Depot
Get the wheels too
I thought we covered this.Mantra:
Keep less fish…LONGER
I tend to agree here too. I have multiple tanks, but the 2 fresh and 2 smaller salt are very low maintenance. Soft corals only and not many fish so minimal water changes. I am home all the time and still struggle to find time to do everything I want with the tanks. (Baby problems, she's great though)Tagging on to what @SupraSaltyReefer said, I would use this event to significantly (!) reduce complexity in your reefing endeavors, and slowly build up everything. I could not do what you do unless this was my full time job.
I don't want to pile on here, especially given Michael you're probably bummed, but this is the key theme to take from the thread. There's other valuable stuff too, but using tech industry speak, if you do a root cause analysis or 5-whys analysis, the source of these issues are likely this.Tagging on to what @SupraSaltyReefer said, I would use this event to significantly (!) reduce complexity in your reefing endeavors, and slowly build up everything. I could not do what you do unless this was my full time job.
I also think that some of what needs to be done is too expensive, and shortcuts might costs you more at the end. I would step back and determine what you really want to do and what is affordable. I had concerns with the 200-gallon tank project from the beginning, but I know this is not a popular opinion.