FarmerTy

Gone!

It's like the next zombie apocalypse! Run for your lives! It's spreading everywhere!

Alright, how about 15.7" being the largest recorded sailfin.

I've had a different experience with tang aggression... being that they were all introduced together for the most part and having only a 215-gallon and 125-gallon, I think the ample but not overly large tank gave them enough room to not feel cramped but not enough room to stake out their own little piece of the pie. I think if you're seeing aggression in your 470-gallon, it's because it's so big that each tang has set up a territory and will defend it as best as possible. In Jimbo's tank, I think it'll work like my tanks and the tang populations I kept. Large enough to not feel cramped but not too large that territories will be established and defended. I will say that the sailfin will probably have to go to a bigger tank 5-8 years down the line as they can get up to 18" long but probably fine for now.

I'd let it ride and see what happens. I'd also keep your fish population lower... I think that's the issue with my tank... I'm heavily stocked which just gives them more hosts once the PBT starts off the ich fest.

From some experiences I've read about, hypo on the DT would not be the option I choose. In my unprofessional opinion, I'd be surprised if it didn't affect bacterial populations in the tank. Bacteria are very simple... I just think they'll be affected greatly by a change in salinity. It would affect the osmostic pressure in their systems much more than a it would affect a fish and I say enough to kill them. For clearing of the DT with hypo, I'd imagine it's 76 days just like going fallow. The long timeframe with being fallow shouldn't change based on treatment type, at least that's my assumption.

I've never done hypo. How long do you need to run it for it to clear the tank? I know fallow was 76 days. I wasn't sure if it was different with hypo.

Anecdotal evidence in some of the larger forums say ich management won't work with the acantharus tangs... they are just too prone to succumbing to ich and once they are infected, they become the reproductive catalyst for ich and the population booms, overwhelming your other fish which were showing no infection up to that point with their natural resistance. That's the main reason why I'm treating for ich and going fallow. I want to keep a powder blue and maybe an achilles one day. If I didn't want them, I would have just continued to run ich management and my fish would have been fine. Even more evidence to support that conclusion, I had my powder blue in my sump for 3 months in the same water, no ich on the tang at all and the main DT had 15 fish with an occasional spot here or there, but no outbreaks. The minute I put the powder blue in the main DT, he got ich and it only got worse and worse... and no, he was not getting bullied or stressed in any way that I could see. Once an outbreak broke out on him, he became the one to aid in increasing the population of ich in the tank and all the other fish, which were once able to be resistent to ich, broke out in ich as well. Are you doing hypo in a QT tank with all the fish separately and then leaving the DT fallow for 76 days? Or are you removing corals to another system and then going hypo on the main DT?

Pending

Odd free item, but if I had a new tank and needed something to seed it, I'd want this. I cut the dead portion off my screaming green birdsnest and its chock full of brittle stars, pods, starfish, and sponges. Good way to seed a new tank or refugium. It's sitting in my sump for now but I want it gone before the weekend. It'll go to whoever can pick it up first. If nobody wants it, I'll dry it out and toss it into my CaRX. It's huge!

Oh nooo!!! Are you treating with copper, hypo, chloroquine phosphate, or tank transfer method?

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure your black tang has ich. [emoji12] Nice!

No problem sir. The TTM method is actually pretty easy as far as treatment goes. You just move the fish 3 times in 12 days and don't use any of the same equipment. No chemicals at all. I'll let you guys know how it goes. I'll be doing this after the January meeting at my place.

The best way to have no ich in the system is strict QT of all additions and if you want to be sure, remove all fish and treat them for ich while leaving the tank fallow 76 days. I will be employing a modified version of the tank transfer method (TTM) for treatment. Quick summary, you basically move the fish every 72 hrs from one tank to the other, doing your best to minimize water transfer and not use any of the same equipment between the two tanks. Once transferred to the other tank, the original one is dried, cleaned with bleach or vinegar, and then reused for the next tank transfer. You do this every 72 hrs for 12 days and presto, no more ich. It interrupts their life cycle so once the parasite drops off the fish and starts to encyst, you would have removed your fish to the other tank by then and so there are never any hosts left to continue the life cycle process. My modified version will include my giant UV sterilizer and instead of using new water each time, I will be passing all water through the UV to kill any ich and save time/trouble/money in the process.

No on all fronts. Medicated food generally uses chloroquine phosphate or some derivative of it, which has a metallic taste and is usually not favored by most fish. Assuming you get a fish to eat it, which I have, there are no studies to show that ingestion of chloroquine phosphate would inhibit infection from ich. That and, potentially to be effective, you'd have to maintain a certain concentration in the bloodstream and that would be difficult to achieve or to maintain. I've treated with chloroquine phosphate as a treatment for the water in a separate hospital tank before and that was effective. What you might be able to achieve is what most refer to as ich management. Where you assist in the immune response to ich and keep the outbreaks low. The population will stay small in the tank and though it will always reside in your tank, flare ups will be infrequent and really only when the health of a fish has been compromised or stressful situations. The medicated food may assist in that. Cleaner shrimps do nothing for ich as the parasite is actually under the skin. Once you see the spots, it has more than likely broken the skin and moved out of the host to encyst on live rock or other hard surface to repeat the life cycle. The shrimp will clean up the broken skin or scales. I've actually read a study where the contents of cleaner shrimp stomachs were examined and they have yet to find ich parasites within them.

A nice bottle of scotch and you've got a deal. Ty, how about you come over today and help me aquascape the pool? For a bottle of Yamazaki, I'll LET him throw me in the pool. [emoji16] Now we are talking. Ok, next aquascape is after 5 pm with a glass of Yamazaki I think I got scammed for the first one then!

A nice bottle of scotch and you've got a deal. Ty, how about you come over today and help me aquascape the pool? For a bottle of Yamazaki, I'll LET him throw me in the pool. [emoji16]

Wait a minute. When did I agree to that? Must have been while I was doing all the heavy lifting and you were giving your opinion. I've got 75 seconds of video of you telling me I told you so. I don't think I need any further reminder. It's called consulting! Stand back and advise. [emoji13]

Where's the full tank shot from the front? I bet him an Apex Dos that he wasn't going to be able to put it back together again. Okay, maybe not but he'll be on the receiving end of a bunch of snarky "I told you so's..."

Interesting theory. By observation though, I think he gets about the same since I feed the DT tons of algae. Percentage-wise, the powder blue only makes up probable estimated 1/20th the volume of fish mass in the tank, since he's one of the smaller fish. I think in your tank, he was the biggest, along with the foxface and a wrasse, if I'm remembering right. I'll give the UV being plumbed directly in the DT some more time but if after the January meeting, things haven't cleared up like they usually do, then I'll look into full fish removal for 10 weeks to rid the system of ich.

I've heard there's a rehoming fee for the CRP? He was ich free for 3 months in my sump. Once I put him amongst the general population, he broke out and hasn't stopped. I think I have a population density that's making it really hard for it to go away. It only takes one to not be resistant enough to it and boom, 10x the population of ich in the tank again. I think if I had half the fish, it wouldn't be as much of an issue.

You mean your corals are conveniently disconnected from the rock and arranged for easy picking? Gee, I hope someone doesn't break into your house and run off with them I'm enrolling my corals in an acropora protection program! They'll be moved to an undisclosed place with new identities and start a new life somewhere else safe from predators like you!

Yeah, I don't know about that! I have coral colonies laying everywhere in my tank right now and I'm about a month or so away from wanting to remove all my fish and going fishless if my powder blue never kicks ich. There's always something to fight! Haha.

I'm sure it was full of Iphone 3's... or tickle-me-elmos.

I have a small gate valve you can borrow for your CaRX until you order yours if you'd like. PM me if you would like to borrow it.