Fish/Invert only Saltwater

The tank should balance itself out eventually. I just need to tend it until it finds that balance.

I think the clowns will do fine so long as I don't mess up copper dosing once I finish the round of General Cure that I have added. Dosing both at the same time would be a toxic mix so I need to do a couple good large water changes after general cure. The clown showing infection has not reached a distressed state. Both are still eating and swimming fine. I think it has ich but I talked to some reefers and they don't think it's a protozoan infection but didn't have any answers. I suspected something was off 2 weeks ago when I saw white dots on the fins but that can sometimes be a broken fin ray.

The image quality is really poor. There are a lot more spots that either look like they are under the scales, attached, or bumps...hard to tell.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/gGXOoLQ.jpg

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Originally Posted by Trinityblood

I think it has ich but I talked to some reefers and they don't think it's a protozoan infection but didn't have any answers. I suspected something was off 2 weeks ago when I saw white dots on the fins but that can sometimes be a broken fin ray.

The image quality is really poor. There are a lot more spots that either look like they are under the scales, attached, or bumps...hard to tell.

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I hate that you're having to deal with an outbreak of anything, but I'm with you on suspecting ich. I know it's not the only thing that causes white dots, but it's definitely the most common. I've never tried my hand at salt water, but at least on the fresh water side API Ich Cure has has been my go to for a few years. I hope that it's just ich because in my experience it's been relatively easy to treat. Regardless, good luck and keep us posted!

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Originally Posted by Hugsplox

I hate that you're having to deal with an outbreak of anything, but I'm with you on suspecting ich. I know it's not the only thing that causes white dots, but it's definitely the most common. I've never tried my hand at salt water, but at least on the fresh water side API Ich Cure has has been my go to for a few years. I hope that it's just ich because in my experience it's been relatively easy to treat. Regardless, good luck and keep us posted!

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It's not ideal but I was expect setbacks to happen that I was going to have to push through to have a successful tank.

General Cure is one of API's ich treatments. It's for freshwater use, too. Fresh and saltwater care aren't much different when its not a planted/reef tank. All the same meds work between them.

I've been reading that, though it drops the ich off the fish, it can still be in the fish's gills and the ich is still present in the water. If the fish's immune system ever weakens they will be re-infected. The current practice to completely get rid of ich is to let the main tank go fallow for 3 months to disrupt the ich life cycle (no fish host, ich dies off). And do therapeutic copper dosing to eradicate all ich from the quarantine tank. API gets it off the fish then copper kills the ich in the water and 'shields' the fish from reinfection while it works to kill it all off. So long as I don't under dose or add the fish back too soon, I should never see ich again. I'll try this and see if it works.

Copper will kill inverts and leech into rock so it shouldn't be used in the main tank.

The clown improved overnight. Almost all of the white crud has fallen off it. I'm going to wait another day and start doing big water changes for 2-3 days to get rid of the General Cure. Then I'll start a copper treatment.

The clownfish have been in quarantine for 3 weeks and have gone through 2 weeks of general cure dosing. The one that was infected (bottom) has gained a lot of its color back after the treatment, though it looks like it has some scars from the ordeal. I haven't seen any re-infection in a week. They'll still be in there for a good while to try and let whatever it was die off in the main tank and observe to make sure it doesn't come back.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/3S70Fi2.jpg

During the water change on the main tank I took the live rock out to scrub off some hair algae and found a big ol sponge growing underneath it. Kind a neat and gross looking.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/WGdXHst.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/efs1hIp.jpg

Well. Everything seemed to be going well and I was going to move the fish back into the main tank in a couple weeks...but I had a quarantine tank disaster. The tank started a new cycle and both clowns died overnight. I did a 50% water change, and though it happened a week ago, the tank is still showing ammonia and nitrites. I've started dosing bottled bacteria to see if it does anything to stabilize the cycle. There was no overfeeding, the water was changed regularly, and the tank had been stable for over a month with media pre-seeded from the main tank. I talked to the people at the fish store and they don't understand either. They called it a freak accident. It was upsetting to lose both fish but I'm going to try to stabilize this tank and try again.

I am sorry Trinityblood. That's a real shame. It's tough keeping tanks and things happen. It does sound like a freak thing and I wouldn't be kicking yourself at all.

Really sorry for the loss of your fish. Keep your chin up.

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Originally Posted by dakski

I am sorry Trinityblood. That's a real shame. It's tough keeping tanks and things happen. It does sound like a freak thing and I wouldn't be kicking yourself at all.

Really sorry for the loss of your fish. Keep your chin up.

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Thanks. I'm really not sure what happened and I'm still trying to figure it out. Their deaths were two days after a routine water change and there were no meds in the tank. I can only guess the beneficial bacteria died off for some reason. It's strange that there's still ammonia + nitrites a week later. I want to wait for it to be ammonia free for a week before I try again. I've dropped some food in the tank and I'm letting the bacteria eat that. I suppose I can see this as a time to rethink my stocking. I will still be getting a clownfish for sure.

I had a heck of a time trying to figure this fish thing out but I think I finally have it stabilized. I tried eliminating every variable that could be causing problems and spent 2 months just experimenting with water changes. I tore down the 10 gallon quarantine and my friend said I should get a spider or something to put in it. I'm not ready for more animals yet heck no lol.

The main tank was fishless for long enough that I felt comfortable getting another pair of clowns. I found a guy who sells quarantined animals that he pre-medicates for common diseases. I was impressed with the clowns he sent. They have been eating and were healthy from the get go. At first they would only eat a mix of Mysis and brine shrimp, but after a week I had them being bold enough to come to the surface to eat pellets. The orange one now chews on the pipette if I don't dispense food fast enough where before they were both afraid of the water that squirted out of it.

I still haven't come up with names, but so far so good. They're so tiny!

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/QkHuMys.jpg

I'm happy to say my clowns are still doing awesome. My tank isn't the prettiest thing and I'm still a total noob, but I feel accomplished that I've been able to keep a stable tank for 6 months with two thriving fish. They've gotten a bit bigger and are cute, always swimming together. They burry themselves in the sand, like my dog digs holes in the dirt to lay in, next to the orange coral and sleep there snuggled up together at night.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/KJRgmli.jpg

I'm still battling algae and have had a crop up of bubble algae. I've been siphoning them out but they're persistent suckers. The feather dusters in the tank have really taken off and its cool to watch them come out of the tubes when I put food in the tank. I also have tons of tiny pineapple sponges. I haven't seen a single starfish in months since I had been culling them with prejudice.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/8rbFbQ8.jpg

I added more fake coral. It looks goofy and I'm not sold on the placements, but I like having them. I'm also curing dry rock that I'll be adding in about a month to replace the dragon rock. I'm getting tired of buying distilled water and have been looking into an RODI system. I'm not sure what brand I'll grab. I want to add a black or blue background as well.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/9virc9C.jpg


I ordered a pack of various snails to take care of the algae and my last two fish. A yellow clown goby, and a chalk bass. I'll probably get them in a little over a month since they're coming from my quarantine guy. It'll be nice to have some more fish swimming around since the clowns are homebodies and hardly move from their favorite corner. I'm a bit nervous about adding more fish but hopefully they will get along and thrive. By the time they get shipped my new rocks should be done curing and I'll rearrange the rock work to prevent territory aggression from the clowns when adding the new fish.

I'm rather late to this thread & know zip about keeping fish except that they can be very challenging. So sorry about your previous freak losses- looks like you're making wonderful progress though, & what I can see is beautiful- no wonder that many get hooked on keeping fish (no pun intended). :gj: