Yup, the end has come. ok, not really...but...
I've lost my sweet Kole tang, 2 clowns and a damsel. The tang and damsel were both velvet. We noticed the odd behavior of swimming into the current of one of the powerheads, but we didn't know what it meant until it was too late. The only thing left in the 29g is Tony, the long-nosed hawkfish. I spent the last two nights after work immersed here in the fish disease section. I only had about 1.5hrs each night, since I work such long hours, but that's what I spent that time doing.
Then today as I sat in front of my 55g studying everyone, I saw it. Dante, my scopas, has some white spots, they weren't easy to see but they were there. He was eating at least, his breathing seemed normal. I say seemed, because I didn't know. So...
I started reading closely here, cracked open my new book by Jay Hemdal and a few other books I have. I started cleaning up my 20g to get it ready and discovered that it wasn't going to hold water. Well, at least I wasn't going to trust it to do so. It's at least 25 years old, probably older, and it's been empty for the last 10 years. Crap.
As I sat on the bathroom floor, angry, hurt and feeling very, very beaten the vet tech in me took over. Not only the vet tech, but the warrior as well. I take care of furry and feathery pets every day! These are fish, I've had fish for almost 50 years! I have nursed wounded koi back to health. I got up at 2am in the morning during a severe windstorm and fetched all of my koi out of the 300 gallon stock tank after a tree had fallen and ripped a hole through the bottom of it, putting them in my spare bathroom tub to live until spring when I could fix the tank. I've brought back cichlids from the dead (true story) after they were poisoned by aerosolized paint stripper. I can do this. I can save my fish that I love so much. My husband is on board now, too, so I have his help.
The August fishapocalypse was just a warning shot. It tested me, "can she take it?"
Yea...I can take it. Bring it.
I have to play by the rules now. I can't just do things the way I want. This isn't freshwater anymore, it's not brackish either. The margins for error are much narrower than I'm accustom to working within. I wanted to play with the big kids and even though my nose is bloody, a tooth is missing and the wind has been knocked out of me, I'm ready to fight.
As soon as my husband came home from work I explained the situation and he was practically out the door before I was done. LOL We picked up supplies and another 20g aquarium, mapped out our plan of attack. I already had the copper and copper test kit, so there's that. Sadly, due to circumstances beyond our control the scopas will have to hang on at least another 24 hours.
Here's the situation in the 55g. Only Dante is showing signs of illness, but there are other fish and they all need to join the party. So between the two tanks all together there is:
1 Naso Tang
2 clownfish
1 Jeweled lawnmower blenny
1 Scopas
1 long-nosed hawkfish
I also have a used 20 long that I decided on my way home that I would also set up. My thought is that they're going to have to stay in the 20g until the 76 days are up. I don't want them feeling crowded and stressed. I'm going to put the 2 clowns and the hawkfish in one and the 2 tangs & blenny in the other. That way I can put the 2 clowns & hawkfish in the 29g.
Tomorrow morning I'll feed everyone some mysis with selcon, give the tangs their last strip of nori and hit the road for the rest of the supplies I need.
My questions:
1. What is the best solution to disinfect the tanks before and after they've been used to house sick fish? I have access to professional stuff, so long as it's not Rx only I can usually get it.
2. What do I feed my 2 tangs and the blenny? They're used to eating algae and nori, but the rules say not to feed nori and there's not going to be any algae to eat.
3. Is this going to totally blow the use of one of my 20g tanks as a frag tank in the future? My intention was to use just one of the 20g as a hospital/quarantine, but I'm afraid to shove all 6 fish into just one.
4. I want to make sure that I'm clear, NOTHING is to be added to the two tanks while they're fallow? No inverts. No corals, no anemones, not even one tiny snail or shrimp. NOTHING. Right?
If this is accurate, I'll also set up my 10g to hold the corals I'm going to get when I go to Orlando in February from WWC.
5. I will try to get some chloroquine phosphate if I can talk one of the vets I work with to script it out. We do business with Diamondback so I can order it if I get the script. I'm a little concerned since the local compounding pharmacy just told me that it's on back order indefinitely. In the meantime, the copper is the best choice, right?
6. Last question. Light a candle for my fishies, will ya?
Thanks for any help anyone can offer.
I've lost my sweet Kole tang, 2 clowns and a damsel. The tang and damsel were both velvet. We noticed the odd behavior of swimming into the current of one of the powerheads, but we didn't know what it meant until it was too late. The only thing left in the 29g is Tony, the long-nosed hawkfish. I spent the last two nights after work immersed here in the fish disease section. I only had about 1.5hrs each night, since I work such long hours, but that's what I spent that time doing.
Then today as I sat in front of my 55g studying everyone, I saw it. Dante, my scopas, has some white spots, they weren't easy to see but they were there. He was eating at least, his breathing seemed normal. I say seemed, because I didn't know. So...
I started reading closely here, cracked open my new book by Jay Hemdal and a few other books I have. I started cleaning up my 20g to get it ready and discovered that it wasn't going to hold water. Well, at least I wasn't going to trust it to do so. It's at least 25 years old, probably older, and it's been empty for the last 10 years. Crap.
As I sat on the bathroom floor, angry, hurt and feeling very, very beaten the vet tech in me took over. Not only the vet tech, but the warrior as well. I take care of furry and feathery pets every day! These are fish, I've had fish for almost 50 years! I have nursed wounded koi back to health. I got up at 2am in the morning during a severe windstorm and fetched all of my koi out of the 300 gallon stock tank after a tree had fallen and ripped a hole through the bottom of it, putting them in my spare bathroom tub to live until spring when I could fix the tank. I've brought back cichlids from the dead (true story) after they were poisoned by aerosolized paint stripper. I can do this. I can save my fish that I love so much. My husband is on board now, too, so I have his help.
The August fishapocalypse was just a warning shot. It tested me, "can she take it?"
Yea...I can take it. Bring it.
I have to play by the rules now. I can't just do things the way I want. This isn't freshwater anymore, it's not brackish either. The margins for error are much narrower than I'm accustom to working within. I wanted to play with the big kids and even though my nose is bloody, a tooth is missing and the wind has been knocked out of me, I'm ready to fight.
As soon as my husband came home from work I explained the situation and he was practically out the door before I was done. LOL We picked up supplies and another 20g aquarium, mapped out our plan of attack. I already had the copper and copper test kit, so there's that. Sadly, due to circumstances beyond our control the scopas will have to hang on at least another 24 hours.
Here's the situation in the 55g. Only Dante is showing signs of illness, but there are other fish and they all need to join the party. So between the two tanks all together there is:
1 Naso Tang
2 clownfish
1 Jeweled lawnmower blenny
1 Scopas
1 long-nosed hawkfish
I also have a used 20 long that I decided on my way home that I would also set up. My thought is that they're going to have to stay in the 20g until the 76 days are up. I don't want them feeling crowded and stressed. I'm going to put the 2 clowns and the hawkfish in one and the 2 tangs & blenny in the other. That way I can put the 2 clowns & hawkfish in the 29g.
Tomorrow morning I'll feed everyone some mysis with selcon, give the tangs their last strip of nori and hit the road for the rest of the supplies I need.
My questions:
1. What is the best solution to disinfect the tanks before and after they've been used to house sick fish? I have access to professional stuff, so long as it's not Rx only I can usually get it.
2. What do I feed my 2 tangs and the blenny? They're used to eating algae and nori, but the rules say not to feed nori and there's not going to be any algae to eat.
3. Is this going to totally blow the use of one of my 20g tanks as a frag tank in the future? My intention was to use just one of the 20g as a hospital/quarantine, but I'm afraid to shove all 6 fish into just one.
4. I want to make sure that I'm clear, NOTHING is to be added to the two tanks while they're fallow? No inverts. No corals, no anemones, not even one tiny snail or shrimp. NOTHING. Right?
If this is accurate, I'll also set up my 10g to hold the corals I'm going to get when I go to Orlando in February from WWC.
5. I will try to get some chloroquine phosphate if I can talk one of the vets I work with to script it out. We do business with Diamondback so I can order it if I get the script. I'm a little concerned since the local compounding pharmacy just told me that it's on back order indefinitely. In the meantime, the copper is the best choice, right?
6. Last question. Light a candle for my fishies, will ya?
Thanks for any help anyone can offer.
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