benjipang

All fish accounted for. Ric and live rocks are still on sale

Hello: As a member of WAMAS for two years, I am sorry to say that I am relocating in the next couple of months. My fish and tank cannot survive a coast to coast ordeal (not good for them anyway) and so I am selling everything and restart in CA. Here are the livestock available. They have all been in my tank for over 12 months with no disease ever during those time. Feed mainly a home recipe with almost everything healthy to the fish. Flame Angel 3" - $40 (very active and healthy. Not aggressive and eat a variety of food including Nori) Foxface 4.5" - $35 (very active and friendly. Will eat off your hand. Big nori eater) ($10.00 off if someone want to take both) six-line wrasse 3" - $10 (love to dash around. Very hardy fish for beginner) Yellow Goby 3" - $10 Perc Clown 2" - $5 I prefer selling the livestock before the following item below for the sake of water chemistry and health of fish. Stay tuned Ricordea (2 Purple and 1 green) - $5 each Live Rock - $2/lb (should have around 30 lbs) In addition, I have some really good dry rock that comes directly from Fiji. They make good decoration pieces. $1/lb PM me if you are interested. benjipang

Fish does have personalities though. My foxface is extremely lazy. He will eat HA that I pull out and float in the water, but only infrequently nibble on HA attached to rocks. However, he does not mind violently tearing up the nori I place.

Should get a refractometer instead... more accurate than hydrometer

I also agree.... In the midst of the frustrations, opinions, etc, we see people expressing their views. I believe most LFS is not in it for the money (I can think of many more businesses they can open with less headaches), and they can really take what everyone says and make an assessment of what are the takeaways. They cannot be all things to all people, but at the very least everyone who post here is a potential/existing customers for them. I personally learn a lot from this post, and it makes me think a lot. WAMAS is a diverse group with a dedicated core group, and many members benefiting from the wealth of knowledge in the community. Rarely do I see a thread where people say things from their experience, their heart, and their frustration.

One thing I don't seem to understand.... and maybe I will raise the question here. If the purpose of both bioball and LR is to house anaerobic bacteria for nitrate/ammon/nitrite cycle, then what is the different? They are both porous and you run water through it. I know people says that bioball needs to be rinsed because they accumulate film and junk, but what about LR? They should have the same problem right?

Thank you for being in the business BRK. I wish that I can visit you every week, but you are just way too far from me. When I visit you it is more like a pilgrimage.

sigh.... the VA crowd is quite active... I wish we have more cool deals in the MD side. It is quite a trip from Germantown to save on shipping, and price in liveaquaria for this current week is not that great. However, I am looking forward to their black Friday deal, and check out what they will offer.

Where in N. VA will you be hosting the group buy?

I move from CA.... I keep wondering why I move from perfect weather to here.... maybe away from 9.75% sales tax?

Ewww.... VA has everything.... lower electricity, more active local fish store, more Wamas members, chaper cigarette price (actually I don't smoke).... Why am I still stuck in MD?

- It was eating until day 9 (mainly algae and occasional brine shrimp) - No external mark (although I have to say I see him scratching a couple of time) - Mouth was open when it die. Actually the dying process took the whole day from the morning to night. When I observe that it is not eating, I did a 50% water change. - No gill flaps flare that I can observe. - I monitor Ammonia everyday and it did not spike (partly because I put std dose of amquel everyday to control). Interestingly, I was never able to bring Nitrate down to 0 (it was at around 20-40ppm). I suspect the nitrate is coming from the fact that I use DT water. Tang die due to nitrate poisoning? - I monitor the salinity using a refractometer everyday and it is okay. I did not check alk though. Should I? My hypothesis so far is nitrate poisoning because it is the only thing I cannot control (and being elevated). It could also die due to parasite (because of the "scratching" I observed), but it does not have visible symptom.

The Tang die in day 9 of QT

Hello all expert reefers: I just lost a 1" Hippo Tang while in quarantine tank. I was devastated because it is the first fish I lost. I have been doing saltwater for 1.5 years and I have been extremely careful and slow with my hobby. I only added a clown and a six-line during these time with my 55g setup and I hate it when this third possible addition die on me. I research the QT process online and thought that I am doing the right thing too. So disappointed. To help me understand what goes on, I want to describe what happened and see whether fellow hobbyist may shed a light on what I can do differently. First, the QT setup. I have a 10 gallon clear storage bin. With a heater, air stone, a fake rock, couple of PVC, and a small piece of live rock from the display tank. Here are questions: 1) Anything that should not be there? 2) Air stone is used to water circulation. Will it do more harm than good? 3) Will the LR from DT do more harm than good? I use DT water for initial setup and should have min die off. But then will the different water chemistry cause it to die? Second, the initial QT procedure. I setup the tank with DT water, Have the Tang drip acclimate when it arrive. Then I perform a 1.5 hours paragard dip. The dip is a minimal effort to kill off some parasite and bacteria before going to the QT. 1) Anything that you would have done differently? Then, my regular QT maintenance involves: A) 15% daily water change using DT water, B) standard dose of Amquel (so that I don't have Ammonia spike), and C) Standard dose of Kordon's "Ick Attack". I know the Ick Attack maybe nothing but snake oil, but then it is not harmful to fish and I am thinking why not. Since my QT is new, I use Amquel to control cycling (I only plan to QT for 3 weeks). 1) Anything wrong with regular maint. steps? 2) Would you use new water vs. DT tank for daily water change? Lastly, any improvement that you would recommend? I am thinking of using a Eheim ECCO that I purchase instead of air stone next time (with nothing but a sponge filter). Will it make the QT better? I know it is a long post. I am writing partly to vent my frustration and partly wanting to know how you do it. I know QT tank is a must but it is a great pain trying to manage a small tank that is new (and prone to cycling and sudden change in water parameter). Thank you guys.

Thank you for all the suggestions. It seems like any unflavored sushi nori (non roasted) is a good candidate. Unfortunately, my Hippo Tang die in quarantine (I am greatly disappointed but I will make another post asking for advice and comments). It is the first fish I lost through quarantine. I will nonetheless keep this in mind if I am brave enough to try a tang in the future.