Quarantine 40-50 fish from existing 500 gallon reef

[Stylo328]

Time to go fishing!

Best of luck!

 

[tj w]

Jeff, do you have a list of all the fish you have in qt? Just curious because I have a 300g that I pray I don't have to do this with

 

[Jeffdstafford]

Ha, I'll say a prayer for you!

I think this is everyone, might have forgotten a straggler or two:

8 yellow tangs
2 naso's
2 vlamingi tangs
salfin tang
purple tang
Kole tang
3 convict tangs
2 pseudanthias
3 lyretail anthias
5 bartletts anthias
Blotched anthias
4 pyramid butterflies
4 clowns
Magnificent foxface
Royal gramma
Peppermint hogfish
Probably 5 misc. fairy wrasses
3 tail spot blennies
3 chromis
Bangai cardinal
Red stripe tilefish

 

[MatsReef]

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I think I'm going to link this thread to everyone who says setting up a 10g QT is too much work and isn't necessary. Might help them put things into a different perspective.

Absolutely. I applaud @Jeffdstafford for his commitment. Stick with it man. I been through a a similar situation (TTM, then observation & fallow period) but on a much smaller scale. It was a great decision and it's nice knowing everything in my tank is as healthy as possible at all times. Now nothing wet goes near my two displays without proper and complete quarantine. Keep us updated buddy.

 

[Jeffdstafford]

Appreciate the kind words! This thread has been a HUGE help and motivation to me..Can't tell everyone how great it's been knowing I'm not alone in this venture, and having much smarter folks than myself lending advice on how to properly care for my aqua-children!

It's been 24 hours since I dumped the bottle of Dr Tim's into my filter pad bucket, and shockingly ammonia has gone from .25 to zero...That's some great stuff! I'll continue to test ammonia daily, and nitrates are getting high, so I'll do a water change soon.

Meanwhile, I've got my trap in the display tank, so I'll see how that goes.. Hopefully my cleaner shrimp will stop with the Gandalf "You Shall Not Pass" bit and let the wrasse in.

I'm going out of town for the Xmas weekend, so I'm going to hold off on starting coppersafe until next week.. Assuming I can catch that lone survivor.

 

[Jeffdstafford]

Had to leave the skimmer off for 2 days according to the Dr Tim's bottle directions..Holy moly, turned it back on and this is 1 hour of skimming..That's a lot of fish turds crammed in a small garage trough!


I also dug out a little hang on filter from the attic and threw another sponge in there, and finally maintaining zero ammonia, thank goodness!




No luck so far with the fish trap, but I will persevere.

Merry early Christmas everyone!

 

[melypr1985]

Had to leave the skimmer off for 2 days according to the Dr Tim's bottle directions..Holy moly, turned it back on and this is 1 hour of skimming..That's a lot of fish turds crammed in a small garage trough!


I also dug out a little hang on filter from the attic and threw another sponge in there, and finally maintaining zero ammonia, thank goodness!




No luck so far with the fish trap, but I will persevere.

Merry early Christmas everyone!

You're doing great! I forget what kind of wrasse it is, but maybe you could scare him into the sand and scoop him out with the net. I do that at work with yellow coris wrasses. It's the easiest way to catch them You probably don't have a sand burying wrasse to catch though.

 

[Jeffdstafford]

Well funny you mention that..It's a royal pencil wrasse who I have seen dive in the sand before. 2 nights ago I isolated him to the left 1/3 of the tank by sectioning off the rest of the tank with some netting material. I then removed all the rock over there and no visible wrasse, so I spent an hour digging through the sand but never found that sneaky little guy.

I may try it again, but try to actually watch where he buries himself this time.

 

[melypr1985]

Well funny you mention that..It's a royal pencil wrasse who I have seen dive in the sand before. 2 nights ago I isolated him to the left 1/3 of the tank by sectioning off the rest of the tank with some netting material. I then removed all the rock over there and no visible wrasse, so I spent an hour digging through the sand but never found that sneaky little guy.

I may try it again, but try to actually watch where he buries himself this time.

Yeah. the only way it works for us at the store is because the sand is shallow and there is very little rock in the tank they are in. It's easy to see where they go under. But it's probably possible to do it in a regular tank too. Just something to keep in mind and take advantage of if you see where he dives in.

 

[Jeffdstafford]

I'll definitely keep an eye on that dude and see where he goes if I can get him cornered again..and that's a BIG if..he knows my gameplan now

 

[Jeffdstafford]

Well, I'm quickly losing my patience with this last fish in the tank; it won't go anywhere near the trap, and rarely even comes out of the rock, and my fallow period and the copper treatment can't begin until he's out, so it's time to take decisive action. I was up until 3am this morning unsuccessfully trying to catch it, so I've left all the rock out of the tank until he's caught, and just have the coral on the sand. He's currently buried himself in the sand so I have no clue where he's at, so I'll wait until he appears again to go on the hunt. I've strategically placed the coral to allow multiple open spaces that run front to back, and found that one of my BRS screen tops will almost perfectly fill the tank to section it off, so once I see it, I'll trap it in whatever side he's on to lessen the getaway space, and hopefully drive him into the sand, and should be able to see where he goes now that the tank is pretty open.

This fish deserves a medal for perseverance!

 

[Brew12]

Well, I'm quickly losing my patience with this last fish in the tank; it won't go anywhere near the trap, and rarely even comes out of the rock, and my fallow period and the copper treatment can't begin until he's out, so it's time to take decisive action. I was up until 3am this morning unsuccessfully trying to catch it, so I've left all the rock out of the tank until he's caught, and just have the coral on the sand. He's currently buried himself in the sand so I have no clue where he's at, so I'll wait until he appears again to go on the hunt. I've strategically placed the coral to allow multiple open spaces that run front to back, and found that one of my BRS screen tops will almost perfectly fill the tank to section it off, so once I see it, I'll trap it in whatever side he's on to lessen the getaway space, and hopefully drive him into the sand, and should be able to see where he goes now that the tank is pretty open.

This fish deserves a medal for perseverance!

Sounds like he takes after his owner!

 

[Jeffdstafford]

Ha, that little 3" fish has taught me patience like no other life experience has!

 

[Swoody]

Maybe sectioning it off into 3-4 sections now with some of those screen tops and just wait to see in which section he appears will speed things up for you. Good luck with your ongoing saga!!

 

[melypr1985]

It's a solid plan for sure. Though I have another idea if you're up to it...

That sand doesn't look very deep. If you're set up to do a water change, I might try dragging your finger (or a chopstick) through the sand until you hit him. He'll pop out and run.

 

[Jeffdstafford]

Maybe sectioning it off into 3-4 sections now with some of those screen tops and just wait to see in which section he appears will speed things up for you. Good luck with your ongoing saga!!

Ha, a saga it is! That was my original plan to keep the dividers in, however they cannot fully seal off the tank, so unless I'm actively pushing it up to the back, there's enough room for it to slip past. I've almost caught it several times, and he always darts to the back, so if I can corner it, I'll push the divider up the back bottom side, and hopefully can net it before he swims higher up in the tank.

It's a solid plan for sure. Though I have another idea if you're up to it...

That sand doesn't look very deep. If you're set up to do a water change, I might try dragging your finger (or a chopstick) through the sand until you hit him. He'll pop out and run.

I tried this on a small scale last night.. I had him in a 2ft section on the right side of the tank and started raking the sand..the problem I found quickly is that I have unbelievably dirty sand, so within 2 or 3 passes, I couldn't see anything down at the sand, so even if I found him, my poor sand husbandry would prevent catching him...now I wish I would have been cleaning my sand all along to be able to do that!

 

[melypr1985]

I tried this on a small scale last night.. I had him in a 2ft section on the right side of the tank and started raking the sand..they problem I found quickly is that I have unbelievably dirty sand, so within 2 or 3 passes, I couldn't see anything at down at the sand, so even if I found him, my poor sand husbandry would prevent catching him...now I wish I would have been cleaning my sand all along to be able to do that!

Ahhh. yes, that can be a problem with this method. Oh well! You still have a good plan in place

 

[Jeffdstafford]

I may or may not have used a bit of profanity around 1am this morning..I actually saw the guy bury himself in the sand toward the front in a pretty easy to reach spot, just had to move a few rocks. Got them out of the way, plopped a big net over the sand right where he was, took a second to congratulate myself, and watched him shoot up out of the sand about 1/4" outside of the net; it was by far the lowest point of this entire operation so far...

 

[justingraham]

U are the best fish owner ever

 

[Jeffdstafford]

Haha..this experience has really opened my eyes to how truly obsessed I am with this hobby!