pa1ntbru5h
Well-Known Member
I'm going to be documenting and sharing my experience with Tank Transfer Method and Fallow Tank here in this thread. Hopefully there is useful info in here that people can learn from. I apologize if my thoughts are all over the place.. I'm not going to spend too much time proofreading this because it's about to get lengthy. I'll do my best to keep things interesting with pictures and stuff.
Okay storytime...
I set up my Red Sea Reefer 250 sometime in August 2016. I upgraded from a Innovative Marine 10 gallon so this was a huge step for me. I transferred over my 2 clownfish that I've had for almost 2 years now. I also have a Melanurus Wrasse that I've transferred.
So my Reefer 250 started with 3 fish. I really wanted a Purple Tang so that was my next addition.
Now, I've only been in the hobby for about 2 years. I know about quarantining new fish but I never did it. Why? Because I didn't have the space or patience to QT. Who wants to buy a new fish and not be able to put him into your display tank right away?
So I found a product called Ruby Reef Hydroplex. It claims to rid fish of any pests in 10 minutes!
Of course I bought it and would use it to "dip" any new fish.
I ordered the Purple Tang from an online vendor and when it arrived, I acclimated and used the Hydroplex by the instructions. The fish looked healthy. Nothing out of the ordinary, so in he goes!
About a few weeks pass by until I start to notice a few white spots on the Purple Tang.
I panic a little and start to look up what it means. I have an idea that it could be Ich but then again some tangs get spotty when they sleep and then it goes away during the day. A few more days pass and I notice a few more spots. "Crap... it's Ich"
By this time, I've already added a Helfrichi Firefish and Sunburst Anthias to the tank.
None of the other fish showed any symptoms of Ich. Tangs are more susceptible to Ich because they lack or have less slime coat compared to other fish.
I start soaking all the food in Selcon and Garlic to help boost the immune system of all the fish. It seems to be working. The tang is still active and happy, no signs of itching or rubbing against rocks. But he still has maybe 5 spots of Ich on him.
I wake up one morning and my Sunburst Anthias is dead. Before this he seemed perfectly fine. Swimming around, eating, etc..
Fast forward another week or two.. Helfrichi dead.. Same thing.. It was fine before and died overnight.
I read that Neon Gobies tend to eat Ich. So I bought two ORA Sharknose Gobies and thought they would help mediate the issue.. WRONG.
They got COVERED in Ich. Both died.
I know what you're thinking... I'm a terrible person. Don't get me wrong. I definitely felt terrible for the fish.
At this point I've already upped my water changes from 10% to 20% a week and I've been siphoning the sand to try to get any of the Ich in the sandbed. I wanted to try to solve the ich the natural way. No dosing medicines because I have inverts and corals. I was hoping that I could get all the fish fat and healthy and they would naturally fight off the Ich.
I even added a UV Sterilizer to try to kill of the free floating stage of Ich.
So after another week or two, I haven't noticed any improvement. The tang still has a couple spots and now it looks like my female clown might have a couple spots. "No! Not the clowns!" I have an attachment to these guys because I've had them since the start.
I'm finally fed up and decide instead of trying to manage the Ich, I'll actually try to eradicate it.
I didn't really have space for another tank but I had to make space.. The two TTM tanks are set up on my work bench in my garage.
January 23rd, 2017 at 9:00 PM PST marks the first day of TTM and the 76 fallow period in the main display tank.
I think I spent about an hour and a half chasing the fish around the main tank to catch them. Eventually I got all of them. Hopefully I didn't stress them out too much.. I know the wrasse was pretty ticked. Once he went in the QT tank he was darting around the bare bottom. I think he was looking for sand to burrow in. I actually do have a Tupperware container filled with sand but he needs to swim upward a bit in order to get into the container. I left the fish in the dark so they could calm down and relax after being chased. And that's the end of Day 1.
I'll try to update and add more when I have more spare time.
Wish me luck!
Okay storytime...
I set up my Red Sea Reefer 250 sometime in August 2016. I upgraded from a Innovative Marine 10 gallon so this was a huge step for me. I transferred over my 2 clownfish that I've had for almost 2 years now. I also have a Melanurus Wrasse that I've transferred.
So my Reefer 250 started with 3 fish. I really wanted a Purple Tang so that was my next addition.
Now, I've only been in the hobby for about 2 years. I know about quarantining new fish but I never did it. Why? Because I didn't have the space or patience to QT. Who wants to buy a new fish and not be able to put him into your display tank right away?
So I found a product called Ruby Reef Hydroplex. It claims to rid fish of any pests in 10 minutes!
Of course I bought it and would use it to "dip" any new fish.
I ordered the Purple Tang from an online vendor and when it arrived, I acclimated and used the Hydroplex by the instructions. The fish looked healthy. Nothing out of the ordinary, so in he goes!
About a few weeks pass by until I start to notice a few white spots on the Purple Tang.
I panic a little and start to look up what it means. I have an idea that it could be Ich but then again some tangs get spotty when they sleep and then it goes away during the day. A few more days pass and I notice a few more spots. "Crap... it's Ich"
By this time, I've already added a Helfrichi Firefish and Sunburst Anthias to the tank.
None of the other fish showed any symptoms of Ich. Tangs are more susceptible to Ich because they lack or have less slime coat compared to other fish.
I start soaking all the food in Selcon and Garlic to help boost the immune system of all the fish. It seems to be working. The tang is still active and happy, no signs of itching or rubbing against rocks. But he still has maybe 5 spots of Ich on him.
I wake up one morning and my Sunburst Anthias is dead. Before this he seemed perfectly fine. Swimming around, eating, etc..
Fast forward another week or two.. Helfrichi dead.. Same thing.. It was fine before and died overnight.
I read that Neon Gobies tend to eat Ich. So I bought two ORA Sharknose Gobies and thought they would help mediate the issue.. WRONG.
They got COVERED in Ich. Both died.
I know what you're thinking... I'm a terrible person. Don't get me wrong. I definitely felt terrible for the fish.
At this point I've already upped my water changes from 10% to 20% a week and I've been siphoning the sand to try to get any of the Ich in the sandbed. I wanted to try to solve the ich the natural way. No dosing medicines because I have inverts and corals. I was hoping that I could get all the fish fat and healthy and they would naturally fight off the Ich.
I even added a UV Sterilizer to try to kill of the free floating stage of Ich.
So after another week or two, I haven't noticed any improvement. The tang still has a couple spots and now it looks like my female clown might have a couple spots. "No! Not the clowns!" I have an attachment to these guys because I've had them since the start.
I'm finally fed up and decide instead of trying to manage the Ich, I'll actually try to eradicate it.
I didn't really have space for another tank but I had to make space.. The two TTM tanks are set up on my work bench in my garage.
January 23rd, 2017 at 9:00 PM PST marks the first day of TTM and the 76 fallow period in the main display tank.
I think I spent about an hour and a half chasing the fish around the main tank to catch them. Eventually I got all of them. Hopefully I didn't stress them out too much.. I know the wrasse was pretty ticked. Once he went in the QT tank he was darting around the bare bottom. I think he was looking for sand to burrow in. I actually do have a Tupperware container filled with sand but he needs to swim upward a bit in order to get into the container. I left the fish in the dark so they could calm down and relax after being chased. And that's the end of Day 1.
I'll try to update and add more when I have more spare time.
Wish me luck!
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