RamJet
04-10-2004, 01:31 PM
Remember a post called "New Community Tank," well, that was an April Fools joke, with the post getting locked before I could say "April Fools." The real story is as follows, with a few things I picked up through the years. Hope it helps out.
Ok, here is what happened. I just spent $400.00 on a 15 gallon nano, which I have plans of drilling and putting a 10 gallon under it. The LFS sends their sick fish home with me to cure, wile I was there they had two tangs and a clown that needed help. My other hospital tanks were full up at the time so I had to use the 15. I put live sand in and live rock, took water out of my 75 gallon reef along with one of my reefs filters. I added Bacter Vital along with stress Zyme, to help get it going quickly. I basically built a semi-established tank over night.(this was how I was able to add the fish that same night) Semi-established was ok, since I was going to be doing many water changes with that many fish in it. Not to forget that they were sick and I was going to be medicating, which the meds I have choosen will destroy the biological filter. To counter this I add Stress Zyme and Bacter on a daily basis.
I am medicating with MelaFix, PimaFix, CopperSafe, and also just started using E.M. Tablets. The reason for this is that some times fungus and such will become immune to one med, so its nice to switch up, trading off from week to week.
I let them settle in for a week, the copper brought out many parasits, the tangs were going nuts scraping and one of them kept shaking its head trying to knock them off. They were so bad that I decided a fresh water dip was in order.
Ok, I want to go over this to make sure that after reading this nobody decides to rush out and dip with out knowing what to do. First off, use reverse ossmosis drinking water with no additives such as floride. (By the way, floride is a by produce of aluminum, its great for your teeth, but is a poison. In fact up until the early 1930s was strictly used as a rat poison, and still to this day when purchased in pure ammounts comes in a black container with a skull and cross bones on in. Not something you want in your tank, or body for that matter. If you are worried about your teeth, try brushing with hydrogen peroxide, it will do the same thing and add oxegen to your gums leaving them good and healthy.)
Ok, back to fish. When doing a dip, you not only need to use R.O. water, but you need to get the temp of the R.O. water up to the temp of the tank the fish are in, also your ph is very important and needs to be correct. kent makes some products to help do this, or baking soda also works, or so I have heard.
Once your waters perfect, net your fish and slowly lower the net and fish in the R.O.
Now your fish is going through some shock and more than likely laying on its side not moving. This is OK for now, very gently reach in and up right him, move him back and forth in the water to keep his gills going. He should take off pretty quickly. Also, do him a favor and do this in a quiet enviroment and lower the lighting. KEEP A CONSTANT EYE ON YOUR FISH!!
I hope you also noted the time in which you started the dip, you do not want to exceed 15 mins. Also, if the fish begins to dart around or act in a non-normal way or looses its color, get it back in the tank quickly. If all is going well, 10 to 15 mins. sould do the trick. When you do put the fish back in the tank, add some Stress Coat to the water to help calm the fish, he was just drowning which can be somewhat stressfull. Thats right, drowning! You see saltwater fish dont have the slime coat that fresh water fish have, when we put them in fresh water they will actually begin to take on water and drown. Now, when you put that feeder goldfish in you saltwater tank, the opposite begins to happen to him, because of his slime coat keeping the water out, he will eventually die of dehydration.
Sometimes when fish are not feeling well, they stop eatting, this can be a bad thing. Kent makes a product called Garlic Xtreme, it is an attractant and food supplement. Be careful when using this, it is very strong! The lable says that you can put it on the food, I just add it to the water in a high current area. If you have a sump, add it there. It will increase the appatite of the fish, and in most cases gets them eatting again.
Ok, now lets talk about Ultra-Violet Sterilizers.
Do not run a UV sterilizer in you hospital tank! UV does crazy things to your meds, including copper! If you want trouble, UV and meds are the way to find it, so dont have your UV on your hospital tank! Instead lets put it on the reef tank your fish came from, it has parasites and water born fungus floating around in it. You will want to run it for about two to three weeks, after that turn it off. UV tipically kills all that passes by it, this means all the good little pinhead sized critters and what not will die off along with the bad stuff. Its not a good idea to run one all the time. Unless you WANT to stunt the growth of your reef. You need that good stuff, it feeds your reef and keeps it healthy.
Back to the hospital tank, Ok, the meds that you put in the hospital tank say not to use in a reef tank, this is because it will kill your corals, and invertebrates, this is invertebrates with-out an exoskeleton, which means that you can have a cleaner shrimp in your hospital tank! He will pick off the parasites and fungus. Mine like to ride the tangs around, here is a quick picture I sketched out to illustrate it: http://www.theramjet.com/tank%20photos/shrimp.jpg
How cool is that? I also like to keep cleaner gobies in the tanks for an all around cleaning of the sick fish.
Alright, lets do something with that reef. If you dont have any fish in it, now is the perfect time to really jump start it and get it going. Take a ride down to the fish store, walk right past the fish and all the people running about and straight over to the live rock tank. You know, the tank that nobody spends much time at. Yep, thats the one you want. Now take a good look at the bottom of the tank. See all the brown slime and rubble? Thats the stuff, get a cup of it, its pure goodness. (Also, wile you are there, pick up a bottle of Lugol's Solution, I will tell you why later) Take it home turn off all your filters and nicely layer it on top of your substraight. Once it settles you can turn your filters back on.
So, now your home and your filters are purring like a kitten and your holding a bottle of Lugol's solution in you hand wondering what to do now. Well, first off read the label. If its too small to read, let me blow it up for you:
Kent Lugol's Solution provides a strong source of free iodine and iodide to reef inhabitants and macroalgae. Although it’s very effective when used with stony corals, systems containing xenia and soft corals are particularly benefited by the use of Lugol’s Solution. Used as a dip for stony and soft or leather corals, Lugol’s will help rid the animals of unwanted parasites and harmful bacteria. This product helps foster improved coloration and prevents bleaching of all corals due to changes in light intensity, and enhances coral polyp expansion. Kent Lugol's Solution provides a key nutrient for marine invertebrates and fishes, and contains no phosphate, nitrate, gluconate, or other sugars.
Directions: Lugol's Solution is VERY strong, and must not be overdosed! Add 1 drop per 25 gallons aquarium capacity weekly to sump or an area of high water flow. Can also be diluted in one cup of aquarium water and administered directly over xenia colonies or soft corals with rigid tubing or a pipette. Do not mix with other supplements outside the aquarium. To use as a dip for corals, in a separate bucket add 40 drops Lugol's Solution to 1 gallon aquarium water, and immerse coral for 10-15 minutes.
Considerations for use: Kent Lugol's Solution is a very strong source of iodine, and must be dosed carefully, according to the directions. Lugol's Solution is very useful for xenia, soft and stony corals, and other polyp cnidarians. This product is best applied to an aquarium by adding it to a strong current of water where it can be circulated into the aquarium over a prolonged period of time. Lugol's Solution can also be diluted at a ratio of 1 drop to 4 oz. aquarium water in a separate cup and targeted directly up-current from xenia colonies or soft corals, but take care when using this method (not all corals will react the same; stony corals do not generally appreciate this target method of applying Lugol's).
The benefits of using Lugol's Solution with Concentrated Iodine Supplement™ and Tech•I are that invertebrates are provided with continuous sources of iodine and iodide. When using Lugol's Solution in conjunction with Concentrated Iodine Supplement, administer Concentrated Iodine at ½ the recommended dosage, and do not dose both products on the same day. When using Lugol's Solution in conjunction with Tech•I, administer either product at ½ the recommended dosage and allow 3-4 days between dosing Lugol's and Tech•I.
If you suspect that you have overdosed the aquarium with Lugol’s Solution, add 1 drop of Kent Chlorinex or Ammonia Detox per 2 drops of Lugol’s that was overdosed, to the aquarium. Do not dose Lugol’s Solution within 24 hours of treating an aquarium with either Chlorinex or Ammonia Detox.
Ingredients: deionized water, potassium iodide, and iodine.
Precautions: Not for human consumption. Keep out of reach of children! In case of accidental ingestion, contact a physician or poison control center immediately. Stains skin, clothing, or carpet.
Make note of this part "Directions: Lugol's Solution is VERY strong, and must not be overdosed!" and this " Stains skin, clothing, or carpet." If you get it on the carpet, the wife will not be amused.
Once again if you have a sump, this is a good place to add the Lugol's, if not do it in a high current area. Becareful, only one drop per 25 gallons! Now, do this only once a week, I dont care what the directions say, once a week and once a week only. After the second week half that amount from there on out.
Now all you have to do is sit back and watch you tank spring to life, oh, and worry about them sick fish in the hospital tank.
Well, sometimes our water quallity goes down rapidly in a hospital tank, nitrates can be a big problem. Lets make sure we all know how to correct that, first off, water changes. Remember that 15 gallon with the two tangs and large clown? If not heres a photo:
http://www.theramjet.com/tank%20photos/nano.jpg
I do 2 gallon R.O. water changes every two days, this keeps such a small tank topped off and helps keep the nitrates down. Now when adding the new water, I also mix it out side of the tank in a bucket and add the meds accordingly to keep the level of the meds where they need to be, this includes copper. I also do larger water changes in accordence with the directions of the meds. Now, we all know or should know that tangs love seaweed, well guess what, it just so happens that plants are pretty affective at cleaning the water of nitrates. The meds will evenually kill the plants, but the tangs usually make short work of any plantlife in the tank anyway. I have modified my sump on my reef with livesand, rocks and plants, what a great filter! I got the idea right from nature herself!
I just pull plants from there and put in the 15.
COPPER, IN THE TANK! What ever shall we do? :shock: Lets deal with this now. When the fish are cured, we are going to need to get the copper out of not only the water, but also the substraight. Well, the best way to do this is by water changes, and my friend CupriSorb, made by Seachem. Get your self a copper test kit, and bag of CupriSorb. Do a 25% water change and drop the bag of CupriSorb into the tank and leave it there. Even after your water test negative, copper and other metals can leech out of the substraight, so keep the CupriSorb in the tank until you need to put copper back in the tank! I like to have a bag of this in my reef as well, just as a safe guard. Even substraights taken right from the ocean herself can contain and leech metals. In fact, put one in all your tanks, especially you, with the glasses. 8) Your tanks need it badly.
Well, thats about it for now. Hope you learned something, and had some fun doing it. :-D
Give me a shout if you have any ideas or want to talk about what is written above.
One last thing, NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER put your filters under tap water to clean them. Instead rinse them in the water you take out of the tank when doing water changes.
RamJet
A few more photos for you:
http://www.theramjet.com/tank%20photos/reef.jpg
http://www.theramjet.com/tank%20photos/DSC00511.JPG
http://www.theramjet.com/tank%20photos/carpet%2Bcrab.jpg
Ok, here is what happened. I just spent $400.00 on a 15 gallon nano, which I have plans of drilling and putting a 10 gallon under it. The LFS sends their sick fish home with me to cure, wile I was there they had two tangs and a clown that needed help. My other hospital tanks were full up at the time so I had to use the 15. I put live sand in and live rock, took water out of my 75 gallon reef along with one of my reefs filters. I added Bacter Vital along with stress Zyme, to help get it going quickly. I basically built a semi-established tank over night.(this was how I was able to add the fish that same night) Semi-established was ok, since I was going to be doing many water changes with that many fish in it. Not to forget that they were sick and I was going to be medicating, which the meds I have choosen will destroy the biological filter. To counter this I add Stress Zyme and Bacter on a daily basis.
I am medicating with MelaFix, PimaFix, CopperSafe, and also just started using E.M. Tablets. The reason for this is that some times fungus and such will become immune to one med, so its nice to switch up, trading off from week to week.
I let them settle in for a week, the copper brought out many parasits, the tangs were going nuts scraping and one of them kept shaking its head trying to knock them off. They were so bad that I decided a fresh water dip was in order.
Ok, I want to go over this to make sure that after reading this nobody decides to rush out and dip with out knowing what to do. First off, use reverse ossmosis drinking water with no additives such as floride. (By the way, floride is a by produce of aluminum, its great for your teeth, but is a poison. In fact up until the early 1930s was strictly used as a rat poison, and still to this day when purchased in pure ammounts comes in a black container with a skull and cross bones on in. Not something you want in your tank, or body for that matter. If you are worried about your teeth, try brushing with hydrogen peroxide, it will do the same thing and add oxegen to your gums leaving them good and healthy.)
Ok, back to fish. When doing a dip, you not only need to use R.O. water, but you need to get the temp of the R.O. water up to the temp of the tank the fish are in, also your ph is very important and needs to be correct. kent makes some products to help do this, or baking soda also works, or so I have heard.
Once your waters perfect, net your fish and slowly lower the net and fish in the R.O.
Now your fish is going through some shock and more than likely laying on its side not moving. This is OK for now, very gently reach in and up right him, move him back and forth in the water to keep his gills going. He should take off pretty quickly. Also, do him a favor and do this in a quiet enviroment and lower the lighting. KEEP A CONSTANT EYE ON YOUR FISH!!
I hope you also noted the time in which you started the dip, you do not want to exceed 15 mins. Also, if the fish begins to dart around or act in a non-normal way or looses its color, get it back in the tank quickly. If all is going well, 10 to 15 mins. sould do the trick. When you do put the fish back in the tank, add some Stress Coat to the water to help calm the fish, he was just drowning which can be somewhat stressfull. Thats right, drowning! You see saltwater fish dont have the slime coat that fresh water fish have, when we put them in fresh water they will actually begin to take on water and drown. Now, when you put that feeder goldfish in you saltwater tank, the opposite begins to happen to him, because of his slime coat keeping the water out, he will eventually die of dehydration.
Sometimes when fish are not feeling well, they stop eatting, this can be a bad thing. Kent makes a product called Garlic Xtreme, it is an attractant and food supplement. Be careful when using this, it is very strong! The lable says that you can put it on the food, I just add it to the water in a high current area. If you have a sump, add it there. It will increase the appatite of the fish, and in most cases gets them eatting again.
Ok, now lets talk about Ultra-Violet Sterilizers.
Do not run a UV sterilizer in you hospital tank! UV does crazy things to your meds, including copper! If you want trouble, UV and meds are the way to find it, so dont have your UV on your hospital tank! Instead lets put it on the reef tank your fish came from, it has parasites and water born fungus floating around in it. You will want to run it for about two to three weeks, after that turn it off. UV tipically kills all that passes by it, this means all the good little pinhead sized critters and what not will die off along with the bad stuff. Its not a good idea to run one all the time. Unless you WANT to stunt the growth of your reef. You need that good stuff, it feeds your reef and keeps it healthy.
Back to the hospital tank, Ok, the meds that you put in the hospital tank say not to use in a reef tank, this is because it will kill your corals, and invertebrates, this is invertebrates with-out an exoskeleton, which means that you can have a cleaner shrimp in your hospital tank! He will pick off the parasites and fungus. Mine like to ride the tangs around, here is a quick picture I sketched out to illustrate it: http://www.theramjet.com/tank%20photos/shrimp.jpg
How cool is that? I also like to keep cleaner gobies in the tanks for an all around cleaning of the sick fish.
Alright, lets do something with that reef. If you dont have any fish in it, now is the perfect time to really jump start it and get it going. Take a ride down to the fish store, walk right past the fish and all the people running about and straight over to the live rock tank. You know, the tank that nobody spends much time at. Yep, thats the one you want. Now take a good look at the bottom of the tank. See all the brown slime and rubble? Thats the stuff, get a cup of it, its pure goodness. (Also, wile you are there, pick up a bottle of Lugol's Solution, I will tell you why later) Take it home turn off all your filters and nicely layer it on top of your substraight. Once it settles you can turn your filters back on.
So, now your home and your filters are purring like a kitten and your holding a bottle of Lugol's solution in you hand wondering what to do now. Well, first off read the label. If its too small to read, let me blow it up for you:
Kent Lugol's Solution provides a strong source of free iodine and iodide to reef inhabitants and macroalgae. Although it’s very effective when used with stony corals, systems containing xenia and soft corals are particularly benefited by the use of Lugol’s Solution. Used as a dip for stony and soft or leather corals, Lugol’s will help rid the animals of unwanted parasites and harmful bacteria. This product helps foster improved coloration and prevents bleaching of all corals due to changes in light intensity, and enhances coral polyp expansion. Kent Lugol's Solution provides a key nutrient for marine invertebrates and fishes, and contains no phosphate, nitrate, gluconate, or other sugars.
Directions: Lugol's Solution is VERY strong, and must not be overdosed! Add 1 drop per 25 gallons aquarium capacity weekly to sump or an area of high water flow. Can also be diluted in one cup of aquarium water and administered directly over xenia colonies or soft corals with rigid tubing or a pipette. Do not mix with other supplements outside the aquarium. To use as a dip for corals, in a separate bucket add 40 drops Lugol's Solution to 1 gallon aquarium water, and immerse coral for 10-15 minutes.
Considerations for use: Kent Lugol's Solution is a very strong source of iodine, and must be dosed carefully, according to the directions. Lugol's Solution is very useful for xenia, soft and stony corals, and other polyp cnidarians. This product is best applied to an aquarium by adding it to a strong current of water where it can be circulated into the aquarium over a prolonged period of time. Lugol's Solution can also be diluted at a ratio of 1 drop to 4 oz. aquarium water in a separate cup and targeted directly up-current from xenia colonies or soft corals, but take care when using this method (not all corals will react the same; stony corals do not generally appreciate this target method of applying Lugol's).
The benefits of using Lugol's Solution with Concentrated Iodine Supplement™ and Tech•I are that invertebrates are provided with continuous sources of iodine and iodide. When using Lugol's Solution in conjunction with Concentrated Iodine Supplement, administer Concentrated Iodine at ½ the recommended dosage, and do not dose both products on the same day. When using Lugol's Solution in conjunction with Tech•I, administer either product at ½ the recommended dosage and allow 3-4 days between dosing Lugol's and Tech•I.
If you suspect that you have overdosed the aquarium with Lugol’s Solution, add 1 drop of Kent Chlorinex or Ammonia Detox per 2 drops of Lugol’s that was overdosed, to the aquarium. Do not dose Lugol’s Solution within 24 hours of treating an aquarium with either Chlorinex or Ammonia Detox.
Ingredients: deionized water, potassium iodide, and iodine.
Precautions: Not for human consumption. Keep out of reach of children! In case of accidental ingestion, contact a physician or poison control center immediately. Stains skin, clothing, or carpet.
Make note of this part "Directions: Lugol's Solution is VERY strong, and must not be overdosed!" and this " Stains skin, clothing, or carpet." If you get it on the carpet, the wife will not be amused.
Once again if you have a sump, this is a good place to add the Lugol's, if not do it in a high current area. Becareful, only one drop per 25 gallons! Now, do this only once a week, I dont care what the directions say, once a week and once a week only. After the second week half that amount from there on out.
Now all you have to do is sit back and watch you tank spring to life, oh, and worry about them sick fish in the hospital tank.
Well, sometimes our water quallity goes down rapidly in a hospital tank, nitrates can be a big problem. Lets make sure we all know how to correct that, first off, water changes. Remember that 15 gallon with the two tangs and large clown? If not heres a photo:
http://www.theramjet.com/tank%20photos/nano.jpg
I do 2 gallon R.O. water changes every two days, this keeps such a small tank topped off and helps keep the nitrates down. Now when adding the new water, I also mix it out side of the tank in a bucket and add the meds accordingly to keep the level of the meds where they need to be, this includes copper. I also do larger water changes in accordence with the directions of the meds. Now, we all know or should know that tangs love seaweed, well guess what, it just so happens that plants are pretty affective at cleaning the water of nitrates. The meds will evenually kill the plants, but the tangs usually make short work of any plantlife in the tank anyway. I have modified my sump on my reef with livesand, rocks and plants, what a great filter! I got the idea right from nature herself!
I just pull plants from there and put in the 15.
COPPER, IN THE TANK! What ever shall we do? :shock: Lets deal with this now. When the fish are cured, we are going to need to get the copper out of not only the water, but also the substraight. Well, the best way to do this is by water changes, and my friend CupriSorb, made by Seachem. Get your self a copper test kit, and bag of CupriSorb. Do a 25% water change and drop the bag of CupriSorb into the tank and leave it there. Even after your water test negative, copper and other metals can leech out of the substraight, so keep the CupriSorb in the tank until you need to put copper back in the tank! I like to have a bag of this in my reef as well, just as a safe guard. Even substraights taken right from the ocean herself can contain and leech metals. In fact, put one in all your tanks, especially you, with the glasses. 8) Your tanks need it badly.
Well, thats about it for now. Hope you learned something, and had some fun doing it. :-D
Give me a shout if you have any ideas or want to talk about what is written above.
One last thing, NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER put your filters under tap water to clean them. Instead rinse them in the water you take out of the tank when doing water changes.
RamJet
A few more photos for you:
http://www.theramjet.com/tank%20photos/reef.jpg
http://www.theramjet.com/tank%20photos/DSC00511.JPG
http://www.theramjet.com/tank%20photos/carpet%2Bcrab.jpg