Cali Kid Corals

Lyn's 46 gal. Bowfront, 2nd of 3

Lyn

Guest
OK, since some of you out there are not afraid to post pics of your less than pristine tanks, you've given me the courage to do the same.

This is my 46 gallon low light Bowfront. It is an unplummed tank and has no overflow. It has been running for over a year. It is devoid of fish because we had an Ick outbreak. They are all in quarantine, as you'll see below.

Equipment: 46 gallon Bowfront, 96 watts 10,000K PC, 20 watts 50/50 daylight/actinic regular flourescent, Aqua C Remora skimmer, Penguin filter used to run carbon, phosban, and provide some circulation, 2 rotating power heads (can't remember the name) soon to change out one or both due to encrusting algae always gumming up the works, 1 koralia nano. Used to have a heater, but all the equipment and lights running keep the tank at about 79-80 degrees.

Inhabitants: (This tank is too crowded, look for my upcoming 75 gal. tank journal.) 1 cleaner shrimp (the psycho one that killed and ate the other 5 shrimp), 1 royal Gramma, pair of Ocellaris clowns, 1 Pyjama Cardinal, 1 yellow tang, 1 Kole tang. Assorted hermits, snails, and good/bad algae, mushrooms, kenya tree coral, star polyps, anthelia, tiny bits of pumping Xenia, one green protopalythoa (I think), Dyngoes Zoas, and the lone Orange Crush Acanthastrea (far away from any coral it could kill).

Supplemented with iodine, calcium, vitamins, baking soda, and try to do 7-8 gal. water change weekly.

Tank devoid of fish- waiting for 2 month quarantine to get rid of Ick. You can see the coraline algae water line where we removed 16 gallons for a water change. ;D

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Close ups of inhabitants. Fish in Quarantine. I'm using Nat'l Fish Pharmaceuticals- Crypto-Pro

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Truffle, our Kole tang should have died. This is day 4 of being medicated. He looks great compared to what he looked like when he went into quarantine. He was so covered in ick, he looked like a gray fish. He lay on his side for 2 days with rapid gill movement and eyes fixed. Tissue, scales, and slime were sloughing off his body. I wanted to kindly put him out of his misery, but my daughter kept praying for his recovery. On day two, he got up and swam in circles, the same way, over and over. I thought, oh, oh, brain damage. His eyes were fixed. Again, I wanted to put him down. At one point, he spazzed, shot up to the top of the tank, hit the glass canopy, and floated down immobile. He was not breathing. A few seconds later, he started again. I thought this was it. He will be dead by morning. Day 3 came, Truffle still laying on his side breathing rapidly. I can't believe he is still alive. Tonight, day 4, he is vertical. His eyes are looking around. He looks alert. He is not swimming in circles, but slowly back and forth! He is now hiding in a piece of PVC pipe. He has not eaten yet, so we are not totally out of the woods, but this is nothing short of miraculous. Do you believe God loves fish? I do, and the little girl who prays for them. :)

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The corals (Sorry for the blurry pictures)

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Thanks all.

Last night, Truffle tried to eat his favorite food-Bloodworms. This is a good start. I am hopeful. :)

All the fish have depressed appetites due to being medicated. It must make the food taste bad. Before Truffle (and the others) got Ick, he was our piggiest, fatest fish. This has helped him pull through too.
 
Yup yup. There is a frag of zenia and some calepera. Lots of live rock and a dsb. There is a pic of it in my tank thread.
 
I would leave the Tangs in QT the longest, but they look ok. You can try medicated food as well. Good luck.
 
Thanks Arnold,

Should I treat them longer than the others? The medication says 10-14 days. I was going to do 12 for all.
 
Try to soak food in garlic before feeding the fish. Hope your tang will recover. I have seen fish worse than your tang. It took months to recover but it recovered.
 
Truffle sounds like one determine tang. Hope he pulls through. I have heard of miracle fish stories like this in that there was no way they could survive, yet they came back full swing. Good luck Lyn. I also like your tank, especially your GSP looks nice and lush.
 
I'm an idiot! I killed most of the fish in quarantine. :'( :'( :'(

Last night I decided to do a 50% water change. We made sure the replacement water was the same temp as the water to be changed, but what I didn't account for was the old glass heater being exposed to the colder air.

This morning I got up and found the tank cloudy. When I turned on the light, the water was green, the heater was broken with all the inner workings laying on the bottom of the tank, and some of the fish were laying down and floating a little weirdly. I quickly set up a smaller tank with new water. I transfered the fish to the little tank, but all the fish perished except for the Ocellaris clowns. (Why would only the clowns survive?)

I am so sick about this. Especially since we were nearing the completion of quarantine for Ich with no losses. My kids are really sad. We have had the Royal Gramma and Pyjama Cardinal for 5 years, since My daughter was 3 yrs. old. We even mailed them from Hawaii to California because they were our pets.

I told the kids maybe we should go fishless. They said they wanted fish because they were the funniest part of the tank. I don't know, I'll have to see. :(

Here is a picture of the poisonous water of death...

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Questions: 1. Is there copper in the water which causes the green color? And if so, why weren't the clowns as affected?

2. Can any of this equipment be used again?
 
ARGH! I'm so sorry to hear that Lyn. I have a baby perc if you guys are interested. It's about an inch long right now. Maybe your kids would like it?
 
Thanks for the offer Crispy, but we have a partially blind Percula that we got as a sort of rescue. Plus, I don't think my Ocellaris pair would tolerate the little guy.

I really appreciate the thought. :)
 
sorry to hear that Lyn, that must be very frustrating. i dont know enough yet if your stuff is ok to keep but i definitely dont think you should give up on fish. We all hit bumps along the road and eventually things will even out. Maybe go fishless for a little bit until the ich passes ???

crossing my fingers it works out for you!
 
sorry to hear about this - I think if you will use the equipment again on a QT tank it should be fine. If you use it in a reef tank - clean it off as best as possible.
 
Lyn,

Clowns are pretty hardy fish, it's one of the reasons say they are a great beginner fish (not saying your a beginner)

Sorry to hear about your losses, if you decide you do want to add fish again (which I'm sure your kids will convice you to do) just add them slowly and streach it out over a long peroid so your kids get time to enjoy each fish.
 
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