SeanH

No evidence of it on the exterior of the fish, but I was thinking "ich" also, but thought about it too late. I didn't get to perform a necropsy on the fish because the scavengers got it. I'm going to be moving my reef from a 66 gal to 150g. I think I'll set up a fish only tank for the fish and treat them for ich - I think it's highly likely that the tang died from late stage ich after reading more about the parasite's progression. - Sean

No changes to livestock at all for months. I had a skimmer impeller fail and have been running the repaired skimmer and a large Remora to catch up, but I've done that before. The temp spiked in the tank due to an AC failure even though I had a spot cooler on the tank (86F). Lost some hard corals and the softies are still kind of pissed, so I've had a lot of skimmate. The tang was like this before these other calamities occurred. I tried feeding him some of his favorites and hatched some live brine shrimps to see if he would have more interest. The other fish were really happy, but his feeding response was zip. The temp is back down to 78F and I don't see the tang at all today. It may be that he has succumbed at this point and the star fish has drug him in to the reef. Salinity is 1.026. I haven't tested the other parameters, but everything else in the tank is happy, including my shrimps, crabs and other fish. - Sean

Yes, fast breathing.

I've been extremely busy and haven't been watching my tank lately. I was sitting at my desk (first time in months I've just sat here) and noticed the yellow tang was sitting in the front corner of the tank in an eddy. I had noticed that the tang hadn't been racing around for food during feedings and, looking more closely, the fish's belly is very pinched. This fish has always eaten well, both on pellets, nori, frozen foods and tank grazing. Now the fish is hanging out in one place and seems disinterested in food, but I can see no reasons for this change. My other fish are doing well. I believe this fish to be about 5-6 years old, perhaps older. Does any one have any thoughts of what I might check or is this fish at end of life?

So, for a QT/hospital tank, what is an effective filtration method? Obviously you can do mechanical filtration sans activated carbon. And sponge filters. Can you use wet/dry filtration? I am planning on moving my reef to a larger tank, which will be the only time I can catch some of my fish. Some of my fish are significant in size, so I'm probably going to use a substrateless 55 with some PVC tubes, etc. The question would be whether I use the 55 I have with an overflow or one of my other 55s, currently holding live rock for the larger tank. If I'm reading that article you posted correctly, the fish are going to be in the hospital tank for about 4 weeks?

Probably should test the fans for the lights and the evaporative cooler and replace them if they are noisy. They aren't expensive. I've never used a heater on my tank - the pumps keep everything running at around 78F if the ambient temp in the room is 71-72F, at least in my room. In the summer, I run the tank with the evap fans and the front of the hood open. It has a tendancy to run hot otherwise. If you don't have an Auto Top-off (ATO) get one. The RSM 250 skimmer runs best if the water level on the sight glass (left rear) stays @ 1 notch down from the top. This is also the best setting for water level for the evaporative cooling to work, in my experience. Not having an ATO on this tank makes running the skimmer a pita. The optimal shutter setting for the overflow is about 2cm down from max, I think. With all the pumps running, the main water level will be just even with the little troughs the hood supports sit in. It will take 3 minutes for the level to stabilize in the rear portion of the tank when you turn the pumps on. For this reason, I turn off the main pumps, the skimmer (it will wet skim with the main pumps off) and the ATO when I feed. The process I use for turn up after feeding is main pumps on, wait 3, skimmer on, ATO on. If you don't turn off the ATO, it will overfill the rear compartment and the skimmer box will float a little until the excess water evaps. http://www.redseamax...max/FAQ250.html The RSM 250 is a neat tank, but like all set ups, it has it's idiosyncrasies. Hope this helps you.

Check the skimmer pump - if it's a hydor, call Red Sea and buy a new pump assy from them (sicce) as the impellor design on the hydor is noisy and fragile.

Had an aiptasia show up on the stalk of my toadstool. Put some peppermint shrimps in to deal with the incursion. The shrimps are the aiptasia overnight. That was 2 weeks ago. Finally the toadstool polyps started poking out yesterday eve. Glad I'm so patient - I thought they were toast but gave them a chance since decay was not evident.

I suppose it depends how well fed I keep it eh?

I have a blue damsel of about 2.5" size, coral banded shrimp of about 3.5" (body size), a 2" ocellaris clown and a Sally lightfoot crab of about 2 inches. Would any if these be in danger? The other inhabitants are too large to be eaten. I think.

What will be unsafe with a marine betta of about 4-5 inches?

I was hungry?

I took down a couple 150g fish-only tanks at a sushi bar last week. There were some pretty nice fish in the salt tank - nothing really special, but healthy. One of the fish was a Fiji blue damsel which I thought would be a nice splash of color in my reef so I tossed it in. A day or so later I noticed my sunburst coral was covered with aggregate, reached in with the gripper, blew it off with the Koralia and put it back. I checked to see if I had done anything to cause a severe scouring and couldn't find anything wrong. Two days later, the coral was covered with aggregate again, so I moved it away from the rock wall to a more open area. That seemed to do the trick and the coral was actually happier in that position anyway, evidenced by a much more active polyp extension. I was watching the tank today and the damsel dropped in to the crevice and did a quick tail shake which sent aggregate flying all over the place, digging a pit in the substrate where the coral had been. He/she was also backing in and out of the holes in the live rock next to that area. I'm not familiar with the behavior of these damsels - what is this fish doing, exactly? I've seen clownfish scour pits in aggregate, which I assumed was a nesting behavior, but this damsel is a single fish of this species.

I thought you already had a cat-fish in the tank?

I have been asked to take on several fish from a reef system that crashed. The people who have the tank are moving to Japan, so they aren't going to rebuild. There is a hepatus tang, anemone-less tomato clown (the 'nem bit it with the corals), yellow tang, what I think is a Dascyllus of some species and a marine Betta, which I didn't even notice at first since it's so reclusive. The tang and the clown are pretty straight forward, but I don't know much about the betta other than it is basically a shy grouper, needs an out-of-the-way place to live and can be a picky eater. I believe it's eating flakes and pellets, but I haven't actually seen it eat. I have a number of nice caves in my reef, so I think it would be able to find some where to live, but I'm concerned about it getting along with my other fish. I have a kole tang, lawnmower blenny, juvenile sailfin tang and (3) Ocellaris Clown along with (2) black mollies (lol). The mollies were in the tank when I set it up to help break in the tank. There were 3 mollies , but one got sick and subsequently died (and was cleaned up by the serpent star or the GBTA). The clowns get on very well with the current tank mates and all three are hosting in the GBTA. I was really surprised all three put up with each other, but I have to believe it's similar to cichlids where you have a female, a dominant male and a sub-dominant male. Or my clowns are just weird. In any case, at night the GBTA is a full house - it looks like a clown fish toast rack with all three crammed in to it. I can pull the mollies and acclimate them for a fresh water system and that removes them from the system (unless gwweber wants them back.) I guess I have several concerns: 1) Do I have enough filter in a 65 gallon tank to take on (5) more fish? 2) Will the clowns have issues with each other? 3) Will all of the tangs get along, since they are very different from each other? 4) Will the Betta find this tank sedate enough to be happy? 5) or should I get off my ass and transfer everything to the 90 gallon tank I have? heh. My current tank is a Red Sea Max 250 with a 1.5-2" aragonite substrate and I think 80-100lbs of live rock. The current tank the other fish are in is a 150 tall with a Megaflow 4 sump, an aragonite substrate and live rock. It was a functioning reef tank, but is essentially a FOWLR set up now. Dimensions on the Marineland tank they are in is 48x24x31".