Tank Journal Archive

ajkdark

Member
Aug 17, 2014
154
81
This has been devastating so many tanks in S.A. the last few weeks, has really made me question how prepared or "safe" I am. Lesley, do not feel like a failure - I know how much time and care you put into this tank and I don't think you could have done much more.

As for what to do next, my advice is simple. Don't shut the tank down, run fish less for a few months. This will let your corals thrive at the low nutrients and give you time to build the desire back again after a devastating loss. Once the hunger returns, plan a basic-ish list of fish that are known to be fairly hardy and add them slowly from reputable sellers with quality fish.

If you need help with anything in the mean time, I'm happy to come over and lend a hand with whatever needs to be done. Just don't sell up, you will regret that.
This is excellent advise Lesley. Don't give up :)
 

fordy

Member
Feb 6, 2013
29
20
Caroline Springs
Hi Lesley very sorry to hear about your loss, I know how you feel as i am going through a bad case of marine velvet.
I have lost all but 6 fish, had about 35 before the velvet hit my tank.
A very disheartening time but it is part of the hobby and i still think its the best hobby around.
Good luck and hang in there.
Steve
 

Lesley

Member
Apr 2, 2013
2,086
1,079
Hi Lesley very sorry to hear about your loss, I know how you feel as i am going through a bad case of marine velvet.
I have lost all but 6 fish, had about 35 before the velvet hit my tank.
A very disheartening time but it is part of the hobby and i still think its the best hobby around.
Good luck and hang in there.
Steve
I really appreciate your openness, I suppose you so often see the good photos and great amazing exciting things that happen in this hobby on forums FB etc. I know I am so guilty of that too, look everything is great !
You don't hear so often about our failures, so that's when you perhaps, think "'Is it only us, what did WE do wrong"
I have thought and thought about how we did things and I honestly don't think there was anything else we could have done differently.
So thank you. Sorry about you situation, hope you also get through it, I appreciate you sharing it a lot. We are clearly not alone.
Thanks.
 

Lesley

Member
Apr 2, 2013
2,086
1,079
Thank you to every single one of you guys, for your support and non judgement, Sometimes you don't want to share because of fear of being seen as non caring, or stupid.
We are concentrating on the stock we have left, treating the tank with Medic, have made inquiries on a UV.
Will take a step back, see what happens and go from there.
From my heart,
Thank you all.

P.S. Dragons are still covered in ich but are both still eating actively with frozen but not picking around the tank during the day, just sitting very quietly in the one spot, until food time.
Clowns look worse, 2 x yellow and 1 x purple doing great.
Stupid thing that does make me laugh is the cleaner wrasse who normally chases the fish to be cleaned is now being chased by the fish instead.
And he is also covered in ich as well. Who would have thought, cleaner wrasse being chased down instead. got to smile at that one.
:)
 

holly

Member
Jul 10, 2013
1,806
832
Melbourne
I agree with @Buddy the science is clear on how to interrupt the lifecycle of ICH. 70 days fish free, and tank transfer method or copper treatment. You can be ICH free by maintaining a strict quarantine procedure for each new addition.

I have been through this before and the sooner you get those fish out, the more success you will have at having them come through. The hardier fish with thicker coats will survive, while the rest will be overcome and die.

The misconception that 'just leaving things be' is an adequate treatment is damaging, and your two experiences should be an example of that to everyone reading this. The fact that hardier fish will do okay and appear ICH free is what perpetuates the misconception. Your tank will continue to reinfect new fish as you add them (as appears is what has happened) unless you interrupt the lifecycle of ICH.

UV does not work. It's hard work to do 4 tank transfers (one every 3 days) and then keep your fish in a QT tank while your display remains fallow for 70 days (minimum). You have to bleach, rinse and dry all your equipment between each transfer so you need two sets of pumps/heads/airstones etc. I did it when I had ICH and it worked. Fish have remained completely healthy and once I got the fish out of the display, I had no further losses.

I'm sorry for your pain and suffering but you need to do the best thing for your tank.
 

Cb2

Member
Mar 15, 2014
3
1
Hi Lesley, don't give up! We've just had white spot in our tank too not that long ago, and because this our first time, the inexperience, indecisiveness and everything in between led to a lot of deaths too. We thought we were doing something right by QT'ing, but then our yellow tang, who actually doesn't have any visible spots on his body decided to jump out of the QT tank! I think over time you just grow so attached to your fish and when they die, you just don't feel like getting a new one any more as it simply cannot replace the personality and livelihood of the old one. We've spent many moments pondering why, what have we done wrong but at the end of the day I think the beauty of this hobby is it's not easy, there is a lot of hard work and persistence involved. If the corals just grow like weeds and the fish are just so easy to look after, I don't we would get as much enjoyment as we're getting out of it now. We love it as much as we do because we know how hard we've worked on it. Your tank looks amazing by the way.