'Tis Better to Have Loved and Lost...?

[+C Lo Slice]

I bought a Carpenter's Fairy Wrasse from RCA two weeks ago. This is a fish that normally goes for $50 online and I snagged him for $23. I bought a Strawberry Psuedochromis with him because my wife loved her pink color. Three days after getting them home, the Chromis had Ich REALLY bad; covered in white spots and laying on the sand bed breathing really heavy. I was thisclose to scooping her out of the tank and flushing her, but decided against it. Surprisingly, she made a full recovery and is one of the healthiest fish in the tank now.

Well I just got home from work and was telling my wife about how I hadn't seen Rico the Wrasse all day yesterday, which was strange. He usually hung out at the top of the tank right in the middle of the powerhead, swimming against the flow. Before I could even finish telling her about how I thought it strange, I noticed a peppermint shrimp gnawing on Rico in the back of the tank. He looked to be dead for awhile, as his tail was nearly completely gone. Needless to say, I'm pretty upset. I hate losing fish, as I'm sure everyone here does. But the deal that I got when buying him makes it even worse. Add in the fact that he seemed completely healthy and maybe you can feel my pain. I had a Green Mandarin die last month after only four days in the tank (and I know there's an abundance of copepods in the tank, but still I wasn't shocked).

Anywho...

I'm not so much wondering how he died as I am wondering what's best to do with a dead fish. The pep shrimp had him in the back corner of the tank underneath a rock so he was hard to get to. I wanted to get him out of the tank to minimize an ammonia spike, but in doing so, I kicked up some sand. For those that read my Recessed Acans thread, the acans were slowly making a comeback, but the kicked up sand greatly affected them, as well as other corals and all of my living fish. So is it best to just let the clean up crew do its' job, or should I continue to extract the dead fish?

[Aqua Girl]

I'm so sorry you lost your Rico. I would try and remove it but my tank size is small in comparison to most that I worry that any dead thing will cause some sort of spike in something. I wish I had better advice for you but all I can offer you is comfort in that I feel your pain

[+C Lo Slice]

I'm so sorry you lost your Rico. I would try and remove it but my tank size is small in comparison to most that I worry that any dead thing will cause some sort of spike in something. I wish I had better advice for you but all I can offer you is comfort in that I feel your pain

I know you do. I was thinking about your post while I was typing this one. Like I said earlier before I knew Rico was dead: It sucks to lose a fish.

[Timfish]

I am sorry to hear about your loss. I would try to take out the fish but would give your corals priority. Your clean up crew is doing it's job (kinda gruesome though). I have had a lot of fish disappear over the years and sometimes there is no apparent effect on the aquarium and sometimes there's an algae bloom that's pretty obviously associated with it's death. As far as the Mandarin if a fish dies that quickly I'm inclined to think the fish had a problem to begin with. At the very least it takes several weeks for a fish to starve.

Having also read Aqua Girl's thread I would encourage you both to look into quarantine tanks and or UV sterilizers. There's plenty of info online and in other posts here.

[+C Lo Slice]

Yeah, I have a 10 gallon tank with PVC fittings and a HOB filter. I've just been lazy in setting it up. After this second fish death in a month, I think it's finally time to get it up and going for a QT.

[MasonHoff]

clo and aqua girl! i recomend you both to soak your food in vitamins (i.e. kents zoe) and garlic extract. a kent product as well! Clo you should think about crushed coral as would haved saved you the problem with sand dust cloud. and I recomend you going to aquatek or fishy b. and buying your selfs TLC for saltwater. add once a week. (its nitryfying bacteria) and aqua girl stabilty is not the best for saltwater im my opinion. oh and clo your manderin prolly wasnt eating for days before you bought him. to be quite honest! i have zero fish deaths using TLC! and my tank is thriving and is cleaner than heck!

[+C Lo Slice]

i recomend you both to soak your food in vitamins (i.e. kents zoe) and garlic extract.

I soak my food overnight in garlic extract and pure vitamin c once a week. I've had two fish near death with ich who have pulled out of it after boosting their immune system this way.

[jbharlan91]

i recomend you both to soak your food in vitamins (i.e. kents zoe) and garlic extract.

I soak my food overnight in garlic extract and pure vitamin c once a week. I've had two fish near death with ich who have pulled out of it after boosting their immune system this way.

Can I ask - what do you feed your fish? We have mostly damsels, one goby, and soft polyps, but I've been wondering what the best thing is to feed the fish / corals.

[+C Lo Slice]

i recomend you both to soak your food in vitamins (i.e. kents zoe) and garlic extract.

I soak my food overnight in garlic extract and pure vitamin c once a week. I've had two fish near death with ich who have pulled out of it after boosting their immune system this way.

Can I ask - what do you feed your fish? We have mostly damsels, one goby, and soft polyps, but I've been wondering what the best thing is to feed the fish / corals.

You'll probably get a lot of different responses as to what's "best." I feed frozen mysis (which is what i soak with the garlic and vitamin c) in the middle of the week, then something from a frozen variety pack on Saturdays, which is one day before my water change. The frozen cubes are easy, convenient, and inexpensive but definitely aren't what is "best."

I'm probably going to try some homemade recipes soon. That's really the only way you will be able to regulate exactly what you're feeding your tank. Anything homemade will probably be healthier than the vast majority of store-bought foods.

[MasonHoff]

i feed my tank

RODS FOOD.

and supplement every once in a while with:

brine shrimp or cyclopeeze as a treat every once a week!

and some flakes of diffrent sorts bi-weekly

ROD'S FOOD

includes:

Shrimp, Scallop, Oyster, Clam, Squid, Octopus, Perch, Green Nori (porphyra sp), Red unroasted nori (porphyra sp) Mysis, Krill, Pacific plankton (Euphausia sp.) Brine shrimp, Frozen red cyclops, Fish eggs, Oyster eggs, Golden pearls (all sizes), Broccoli, carrot, Garlic, Selco, Astaxanthin (Haematococcus pluvialis), Beta-meal (Dunalliella Salina), Freshly harvested rotifers, freshly hatched baby brine shrimp.

and you really couldnt ask for more

and feed every third day! and feed lightly if you wanna to keep a clean tank. and every third day is enough

Edited September 9, 2011 by MasonHoff

[Aqua-Dome]

Clo, Hikari has been perfecting their fish food diets based on over 100 years of experiments with keeping and breeding fish, not looking for the cheapest shrimp salesman. Quality frozen foods are formulated with vitamins and minerals in amounts useable and beneficial to aquarium fish. Mincing some seafood from HEB is fine to feed your fish, but there is a science to frozen foods that actually goes above and beyond what you are able to achieve personally. Frankly we are lucky that it is so affordable.

Mason, unless you have a pufferfish, scallop, oyster, clam, squid, and octopus are not necessarily anything that most of your aquarium fish eat naturally. I also believe it is highly unlikely that any of your fish eat perch or broccoli and carrots. If you want to feel like you are feeding a catch all diet stick with the Rod's. I like to actually cater to the needs of particular species. Also, i can assure you that NONE of your fish eat every third day in nature.

[bige]

Clo, Hikari has been perfecting their fish food diets based on over 100 years of experiments with keeping and breeding fish, not looking for the cheapest shrimp salesman. Quality frozen foods are formulated with vitamins and minerals in amounts useable and beneficial to aquarium fish. Mincing some seafood from HEB is fine to feed your fish, but there is a science to frozen foods that actually goes above and beyond what you are able to achieve personally. Frankly we are lucky that it is so affordable.

Mason, unless you have a pufferfish, scallop, oyster, clam, squid, and octopus are not necessarily anything that most of your aquarium fish eat naturally. I also believe it is highly unlikely that any of your fish eat perch or broccoli and carrots. If you want to feel like you are feeding a catch all diet stick with the Rod's. I like to actually cater to the needs of particular species. Also, i can assure you that NONE of your fish eat every third day in nature.

Feeding everyday is important. no fish goes days without eating in nature. While they can, not the best plan. Fish die for many reasons. And if you tried again you would probably get a different result.

[Timfish]

. . . Also, i can assure you that NONE of your fish eat every third day in nature.

I would reiterate Aquadome's point. I myself don't understand where this idea of feeding every few days came from. It is true some species like lionfish will not "go hunting" for a day or two after eating a big meal most reef fish are constantly feeding all day long. My own experiences with Anthias is the only feeding regime that will maintain them for years is many small daily feedings. A lot of fish can be kept on just once daily feeding but if you watch them they are constantly picking at the rocks. While it's geared towards feeding corals an interesting perspective on this is Dr. Shemiks article on anorexic tanks in the Nov/Dec issue of Coral.

[subsea]

I have made batch foods with good quality marine flake food. While oysters, scallops, clams and shrimp may not be a normal food in the wild for these fish, I have no problem including it in there diet. When I make this mix, I add enough water to pour this mixture into ice trays. After freezing I have ice cubes of food for the sea critters for the next couple of months.

[+C Lo Slice]

Clo, Hikari has been perfecting their fish food diets based on over 100 years of experiments with keeping and breeding fish, not looking for the cheapest shrimp salesman. Quality frozen foods are formulated with vitamins and minerals in amounts useable and beneficial to aquarium fish. Mincing some seafood from HEB is fine to feed your fish, but there is a science to frozen foods that actually goes above and beyond what you are able to achieve personally. Frankly we are lucky that it is so affordable.

Mason, unless you have a pufferfish, scallop, oyster, clam, squid, and octopus are not necessarily anything that most of your aquarium fish eat naturally. I also believe it is highly unlikely that any of your fish eat perch or broccoli and carrots. If you want to feel like you are feeding a catch all diet stick with the Rod's. I like to actually cater to the needs of particular species. Also, i can assure you that NONE of your fish eat every third day in nature.

Well, I stand corrected. I guess I've just been using the wrong stuff!

[Teresa]

Here's a link to the article: http://masa.asn.au/p...p?f=48&t=226931 (see below for better version).

It's really interesting, though I'm a "get to the point" type of person. So if you're a, "Okay, I get it. What I'm feeding is not correct, just tell me what is," kinda person, you can skip down to the IF IT TASTES GOOD, IT IS GOOD section.

Happy reading

Article from the magazine pinned by the author: http://coralmagazine.coverleaf.com/coral/20101112#pg73

Follow up article also pinned by Ron Shimek: http://coralmagazine.coverleaf.com/coral/20101112#pg87

[MasonHoff]

Clo, Hikari has been perfecting their fish food diets based on over 100 years of experiments with keeping and breeding fish, not looking for the cheapest shrimp salesman. Quality frozen foods are formulated with vitamins and minerals in amounts useable and beneficial to aquarium fish. Mincing some seafood from HEB is fine to feed your fish, but there is a science to frozen foods that actually goes above and beyond what you are able to achieve personally. Frankly we are lucky that it is so affordable.

Mason, unless you have a pufferfish, scallop, oyster, clam, squid, and octopus are not necessarily anything that most of your aquarium fish eat naturally. I also believe it is highly unlikely that any of your fish eat perch or broccoli and carrots. If you want to feel like you are feeding a catch all diet stick with the Rod's. I like to actually cater to the needs of particular species. Also, i can assure you that NONE of your fish eat every third day in nature.

Great info! a apreciate your knowledge! and would love to research and use thier products! if my fish like it

oh and i do have green spotted puffer in my FW! (about 3 years old, and needs to be converted to SW) but now where near the type or size of puffer to be eating scallops in the wild! j/j but he does get a once a week supply for days! of ghost shrimp and snails to eat! plus he LOVES all types of flake food, freeze dried krill (hand fed), blood worms, and now recently DUNGH DAH DAH! sinking pellets! (it crazy to watch his craze like a catfish) and for all those sensitve people out there close you ears! his main diet is ballon molly fry!

i varied diet is good in my opinion!

and i cant lie there are long streches where i do give them snack on a daily basis! gotta give all diffrent live stock you own a healthy diet of thier "natural" desire.

Edited September 11, 2011 by MasonHoff