black tip reef shark emergency

Aspect

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That's quite the aquarium. The red marks sound like septicemia. I agree with others, the cleaning perhaps spread the bacteria. Glad to hear they are doing better.
Yeah most likely answer with the information provided
 

Lowell Lemon

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Met with expert from San Diego SeaWorld years ago about shark holding systems before construction and installation for my customer. He recommended injection of ozone directly into the shark system to raise the oxygen levels. Injection was limited to prevent noticeable smell. Injection via protein skimmers of appropriate size is safer. We also used large trickle towers with air injection, protein skimmers with ozone, and a correctly sized UV sterilizer, mechanical filtration and activated carbon in the System Pak with chillers, manufacturered by Aquanetics. Worked great. System was warranted by our company for 10 years after installation. No longer in the trade but many of similar items can be purchased from RK2 Systems today. Sharks are very messy and produce lots of waste all day every day. Make sure your filtration is much larger than normal bioloads for standard aquariums.

This aquarium looks to be under filtered for the bioload but I don't know what you have in the design for the system.

Wish you well.
 
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Jay Hemdal

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Met with expert from San Diego SeaWorld years ago about shark holding systems before construction and installation for my customer. He recommended injection of ozone directly into the shark system to raise the oxygen levels. Injection was limited to prevent noticeable smell. Injection via protein skimmers of appropriate size might be safer. We also used large trickle towers with air injection, protein skimmers with ozone, and a correctly sized UV sterilizer, mechanical filtration and activated carbon in the System Pak with chillers, manufacturered by Aquanetics. Worked great. System was warranted by our company for 10 years after installation. No longer in the trade but many of similar items can be purchased from RK2 Systems today. Sharks are very messy and produce lots of waste all day every day. Make sure your filtration is much larger than normal bioloads for standard aquariums.

This aquarium looks to be under filtered for the bioload but I don't know what you have in the design for the system.

Wish you well.

Ouch! Nobody injects ozone directly anymore! It needs to by administered through a foam fractionator or de-gas tower, and then controlled with an ORP probe. Free ozone is no longer allowed in aquarium spaces as per OSHA, and I bet CAL OSHA is even more strict. All ozone units stronger than hobbyist sized should have ozone gas alarms for work areas and catalytic destruct units to destroy any excess gas.

I'm currently working on a project to identify another issue where "stingray touch tanks" are being overcrowded, so some commercial companies use ozone (in reactors) to artificially boost the oxygen levels. However, there have been multiple cases where these ozone units broke down and the fish died due to lack of oxygen in less than an hour. I'm developing SOPs so that these commercial facilities are not relying on ozone to provide minimal oxygen levels.

Jay
 

Lowell Lemon

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Ouch! Nobody injects ozone directly anymore! It needs to by administered through a foam fractionator or de-gas tower, and then controlled with an ORP probe. Free ozone is no longer allowed in aquarium spaces as per OSHA, and I bet CAL OSHA is even more strict. All ozone units stronger than hobbyist sized should have ozone gas alarms for work areas and catalytic destruct units to destroy any excess gas.

I'm currently working on a project to identify another issue where "stingray touch tanks" are being overcrowded, so some commercial companies use ozone (in reactors) to artificially boost the oxygen levels. However, there have been multiple cases where these ozone units broke down and the fish died due to lack of oxygen in less than an hour. I'm developing SOPs so that these commercial facilities are not relying on ozone to provide minimal oxygen levels.

Jay
You might notice I said it would be safer to inject into a protein skimmer.....it pays to read the whole not just respond to the part. I also clearly stated this was years ago.

OP lives in Thailand so OSHA does not apply.
 

Jay Hemdal

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You might notice I said it would be safer to inject into a protein skimmer.....it pays to read the whole not just respond to the part. I also clearly stated this was years ago.

OP lives in Thailand so OSHA does not apply.

I did read your entire post, and also saw that you edited it after I replied...you first said "might be safer" and after I posted my response, you changed that to "is safer". If it was old advice, and no longer accurate, you should not share it.

OSHA applying or not, it isn't safe to do, for people or the animals.

To reiterate: Even with a foam fractionator, you need to control production and with larger units, you need to have a destruct unit. No systems should be designed that rely on ozone to boost dissolved oxygen to the level where fish rely on that to survive - because they'll die when the ozone fails (and it eventually will).

Jay
 

Lowell Lemon

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I did read your entire post, and also saw that you edited it after I replied...you first said "might be safer" and after I posted my response, you changed that to "is safer". If it was old advice, and no longer accurate, you should not share it.

OSHA applying or not, it isn't safe to do, for people or the animals.

To reiterate: Even with a foam fractionator, you need to control production and with larger units, you need to have a destruct unit. No systems should be designed that rely on ozone to boost dissolved oxygen to the level where fish rely on that to survive - because they'll die when the ozone fails (and it eventually will).

Jay
Jay most ozone systems at the aquarium level do not have the ability to produce dangerous levels of ozone. They are small production units that react quickly in the protein skimmer. The residual ozone can be limited by a simple carbon chamber. It does not take a large injection to create good results. I often edit for clarity. Might be safer was a suggestion and is safer is clarification after consideration.

I now bow before your superior knowledge and wisdom. Sail on good sir, sail on.
 
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update.....both sharks doing well...eating well and all red marks aare gone. left them alone a bit for a while but Thursday we will need to go through a next challenge as we need to clean up display...we will be removing about 50% of the water and spray all resin rockwork. sadely enough we can not remove the sharks while doing this so will create loads of stress for sure....vacuum and add some new extra sand on the bottom of display......
First though tmrw as we will bbe checking out some lical fishing boats hopefully bringing in some life new fish..(fusiliers..squirrellfish..Jacks..trevallies..and if lucky maybe a nice grouper (red)).......
keep you all updated what we get....
 

Jay Hemdal

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update.....both sharks doing well...eating well and all red marks aare gone. left them alone a bit for a while but Thursday we will need to go through a next challenge as we need to clean up display...we will be removing about 50% of the water and spray all resin rockwork. sadely enough we can not remove the sharks while doing this so will create loads of stress for sure....vacuum and add some new extra sand on the bottom of display......
First though tmrw as we will bbe checking out some lical fishing boats hopefully bringing in some life new fish..(fusiliers..squirrellfish..Jacks..trevallies..and if lucky maybe a nice grouper (red)).......
keep you all updated what we get....


Just work carefully (but quickly) so you don't spook the sharks, and consider working in two steps. 25% water change each time.

Jay
 

Aspect

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Jeez... 50% sure is a significant amount. Like Jay said I would definitely consider doing less than that. Unfortunately, if you do decide on the 50% I would prepare for worst case again. Live and learn, live and learn.
 
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Just work carefully (but quickly) so you don't spook the sharks, and consider working in two steps. 25% water change each time.

Jay
ok...wont be a full 50% though I guess....we will have 30.000lt new water on standby so more will depend as you mentioned how fast we can get most of the dirt out of the system seeing how much we will actualy pump out...
 
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little clip recorded from our newly installed security camera looking out for our sharks....
night before the big clean......
looking all quiet....

 
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what would you guys add with the sharks......knowing it all could end up as a meal...though I guess could be a good thing for the sharks....
would it be a bad idea to add big crabs to the display...help clear out maybe?
 

Aspect

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what would you guys add with the sharks......knowing it all could end up as a meal...though I guess could be a good thing for the sharks....
would it be a bad idea to add big crabs to the display...help clear out maybe?
I'm thinking you can add large grazers such as Yellowfin Surgeonfish, Unicorn Tang, Vlamingi Tang. All of those get 2 foot or larger. Any other tang that size should be good as well. Make sure they're grown out first. Horseshoe crabs should be left alone as well.
 
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today received a nice red grouper about 30+cmm (1')
in quarantine now so lets see how he evolves....
would be a nice addition I think?
anyone object to the idea of adding a red grouper?
 

Jay Hemdal

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today received a nice red grouper about 30+cmm (1')
in quarantine now so lets see how he evolves....
would be a nice addition I think?
anyone object to the idea of adding a red grouper?

That shouldn't be an issue with the sharks, but groupers will pick off smaller fish over time.

Jay
 

Jay Hemdal

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ok sweet
was also thinking to add large seacrabs to the display...at best thay help cleaning up left over food i guess right.....or would they be able to hurt the sharks?

I'm not sure, depends on their size and species. Most likely, they would never come in contact with the sharks. Using animals to clean up after other animals does not always work - the excess food is still in the system, it just get converted to crab waste. It is better to control nutrients by careful feeding, and then, to not overload the systems with animals.

Jay
 

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