.OptimusPrime.

So I received an order of 5 fish today. 4 - anthias and 1 royal gramma. While I was acclimating them to my QT tank, one only of the anthias was swimming normally. All the rest were upside down. Still alive and breathing from what I could tell but not much movement. I temp acclimated for 20 mins and dripped for about 40. I tossed in a powerhead to help aerate the water inside the acclimating bucket, since their breathing seemed labored and I thought this would help. I was on lunch so I didn't have more than about an hour or so. Dropped them in the QT and left. Just got back home and 2 of the 4 anthias seem to be doing well. Swimming normally and all. The other two of the anthias are still alive, but in the same condition as when I left. Still breathing, but upside down / on the side, not moving just in the corner of the QT. The royal gramma is also still alive but not moving and pretty much sticking to the corner of the tank. What can I do? Edit: They have been this way for at least 5 hours now.

Sorry to see you go. I hope everything works out for you in the end and wish you the best of luck in your future. This build thread was a great read.

Since everyone seems to be updating their threads for the holidays, I guess I'll jump on board. Here is what Santa was generous enough to bring me: Put an orange clown in the DT on Sunday after two weeks of QT. The b/w clown that has had free roam of the tank did not seem interested in the least. Fast forward to Monday and the two of them have been going at it inside the PVC opening for at least an hour. I believe the b/w clown turned out to be the victor/female because the orange one seems to "shivering" and showing signs of submission. Update on the RBTA - moved about 2-3inches last week from where it has been since I placed it in the tank. Nothing has changed routine wise/parameter wise. Still eats and hasnt moved since. All seems well. This is what I am currently battling in my tank. HA lots and lots of HA. Here it is on the rocks. Here it is on the left corner of the tank, next to a lovely patch of cyano. Front middle of tank More front middle Some more on the rocks Front right side Back right - More Cyano with HA (even on the back wall) Back wall (right) - you can see where ive scraped some of it off when ive been siphoning out water. Back wall (left) HOB refugium with chaeto - you can see algae is starting to grow inside there too. I don't know how people keep theirs clean...I cycle the light with the main lights on the DT. So that's it for me. I've been trying to do everything to take care of this problem. Feeding less. Less lights. Siphoning out the cyano and HA. Scrubbing the rocks. Skimming more wet. More WC frequency. Setting up a refugium with chateo (only been up two weeks so may need some time to break in). I've tried dosing peroxide as well. Nothing seems to work. I test weekly and all the parameters are in check. Obviously the nitrate/phos readings will be off since the algae is consuming them all. I'm debating whether or not to start siphoning the sand bed as a result of weekly maintenance. I know this is a risk since the sand hasn't been cleaned/touched every and its been setup for a little over a year now OR just start siphoning out the sand completely... Any advice is greatly welcome...

No way knowledgeable on the subject but, I made roughly 40G of water the last two days. My DI was probably where yours it at now before I started and still looks that way. So there may or may not be an issue. I have the 150GPD, in case that makes any difference. Whats your TDS before it even goes in the system? I have about 130-60 TDS(if i remember correctly) coming into the unit before it even hits the sediment filters and comes out at zero. Can't believe our water would be so greatly different since I'm in Rockville. No idea about the noise from the RO section, can't say I've heard any noise from mine and I have hung on a piece of wood to the studs.

Here are a few more: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/quarantining-marine-fish-made-simple http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/23584-fish-quarantine-process-step-step.html

Monthly Update: Picked up a RBTA about two weeks ago. Dropped it in the tank and it hasn't moved since. I feed it everyday and it seems happy. My b/w clownfish seems to have gotten an attitude towards me. Started about a week ago, nips me every time I put my hand in the tank. It doesn't hurt, but I keep having to shoo it away if I need to do something. It even attacks the feeding tongs I use for the anemone and eel as well as the magnet cleaner. Should be picking up an extra helfrechi firefish with 2 skunk cleaners from quantum reefs in about two weeks. I also plan on getting another clown. I do have a concern, the sand in the front of the tank is really dirty compared to other sections(see pics). Is there a reason for this? Lack of flow? Too many nutrients? or is this normal? I don't know if you can see it in the picture but there seems to be a smudge of red developing. I dont know if this is the start of cyano or something else. Is there anything I can do to try and remedy the situation? FTS: RBTA: Clown: Firefish: Sandbed:

Wow that looks awesome! liking the foam rock wall!

I hope you aren't like this when your fiance/wife is pregnant. There's no selling/trading the baby for something else after 9 months... With the money you got from selling the radions, you have more money to build that awesome pc now... Sorry had to jump on the bandwagon. Just giving you a hard time

That's the thing, the clown seemed perfectly fine! It was swimming around like normal since i put it in the DT. Ate like normal, behaved like normal. Kissed the females butt like normal. I have an 1.5" drain, so the water is pretty forceful. Didn't see any markings on the dead body, but what do I know. Nope, brand new pair. The DT was fallow for almost 4 months or so before I added the eel and almost 2 months with just the eel before I added the firefish. Clowns were added to the DT two weeks after the firefish, after they were in QT for 6 weeks.

I thought about this, but didn't think it made sense.

Woke up this morning to fed the DT and found my ocellaris clown to be missing. Now this is unusual as both clowns have stayed together since I bought them first week of August. First thought was the eel got em, but the eel never comes out and wants nothing to do with my fish. Looked everywhere, found him in the filter sock in the sump. His dead body small enough to get thru the teeth of the overflow. Both clowns went thru 5 weeks of copper at .5ppm and 1 week of prazi-pro. I put them in my DT last Sunday with my eel and the remaining helifrichi I have. Since Sunday, I have kept the same routine as always (minus the meds), feed Jan's food every other day 2x a day. Only thing that changed was my the clowns were added to the DT. I changed the DI resin yesterday and topped off the tank. No TDS in the water. The clown showed no visable sign of illness (no ich/velvet/flukes/popeye/fin rot) and seemed perfectly healthy since being added to the DT. Water parameters were all in check as of this morning. Salinity was 1.025 as always. My b/w clown and firefish are still alive with no signs of any disease or stress and carry on like nothing happened. Even though I think the b/w female is searching around for the male. How can the clown be perfectly fine the 6 weeks in QT but as soon as I add to the DT it flops in 4 days? Something doesn't add up. Any thoughts?

So water parameters are in check. Ammonia:0 ppm Nitrate:5-10ppm Nitrite: 0ppm Phosphate:0ppm pH: 8.0 I guess I will chalk the missing firefish to a victim of gettting eating by the eel. Unless, I am missing something?

So the clowns have been treated with copper at around .5ppm for about 3.5 weeks now, no spots seen at all. Is it safe to say I can add them to the DT? I managed to pick up a pair of helfrichi firefish from Steve from Quantum Reefs last week and meant to take a picture of them. Remember to do it yesterday, but only ever saw one come out...I'm hoping the eel didn't get to the other one as they both usually come out together. I feed the eel everyday. I hope he wasn't extra hungry yesterday. Will check water parameters when I get home. I have a net top over my tank and did not seen any bodies carpet surfing, so I don't think he jumped. Also, have an overflow lid which he couldn't have jumped into.

Interested in seeing what you come up with. I have 1.5" pipe in my tank for my Skeletor Eel ( yellow spotted moray). Had him almost a month and he has yet to try the pvc housing. He has his own set of caves under the rockwork I put over the pipe he likes to hide in. Never see him unless its feeding time. Not that im complaining, to me it just means provided adequate aquascape for him to hide and feel safe. Hopefully he'll take to the pipe as he gets bigger. Good luck with the build!

I have a 30G rated on my 20L..works fine for me. I do about a 5G change every week. Always checking the ammonia once a day.

Welcome to the club!

Welcome to the club! 120 is a great size and what I eventually want to upgrade to from my 75. If you're not deadset on custom, a member is selling their 120 RR tank with dual overflows. Might want to check if its still for sale. http://www.wamas.org/forums/topic/51508-fs-120g-rr-tank/ And local (depending which part of MD you are in)

I thought about hypo after I posted. I may go the hypo route. My only concern is I usually water change the QT with fresh made saltwater. Yesterday I used water from my DT (about 5 gallons worth) and now they have spots. Is it possible the DT has ich? I left the DT fallow for more than 8 weeks, before I even added in the eel. Or did the clowns have ich when I purchased them and are just showing the spots now?

Both clowns showed spots this morning. Time for the copper.

That's what I figured. Is there any sure fire remedy for the bristles other than picking them out(GLOVES!)?? I've seen a few small ones for the first time about 2 weeks ago. I've had the tank up and running for almost a year now and I added some LR from a members tank probably 5 if not more months ago. I've never seen the worms up until about 1 week or so ago. Is it possible that they've stayed hidden all this time? I assume they came from the LR, since I started with all dry pieces prior to that. This is the first time I've seen the star.

so are they keepers or tossers?

Saw these two today on a small piece of raw shimp the eel left behind. I think its a bristleworm (seen one a little bigger than this one) and a serpent star. Serpent stars seem to have a good rep. and bristleworms not so much. Just trying to confirm and ask what to do with em?

The eel has been doing great for almost a month now. Eats 2 chunks of shrimp every other day. Hides all day and is leaving my snails alone. Here is a pic of the clowns I picked up last week. They are currently in the QT. The black one is from Quantum Reefs: The clowns are eat of my hand and are showing no signs of any disease. All parameters look good. If they continue like this for another week is it safe to put them in the tank or still too soon ?? (Would be 2 weeks of observation) Should I treat them with prazi and copper regardless of whether or not I see spots??

So I was over there last Sunday due to their clown sale. Despite the store being in the basement of a townhouse, I was pleasantly surprised at how clean and organized they had the place. Both Steve and Vince were great and friendly. I had asked Steve to hold a vibrant orange clown for me along with a b/w one, not only did Steve have one for me waiting for me, it was a pretty awesome looking clown at that. One he had in his on personal tank for 3 months. The fish in their tanks looked to be healthy along with the corals they had. Now, here is where they get even more awesome! Unfortunately, the nice orange one I got did not make it 2 days into the QT. Which sucked knowing how long it had been alive. All my parameters were in check and no meds were dosed. I messaged Steve just say how great the store was and that the clown he gave me did not make it. Steve not only offered to replace the clown, but drive it down to me as well during one of their trips. I opted against the clown and was given a credit, being a first time customer. Additional I had asked for pricing on two helfrichi as I planned on those being my next additions. Not only they get me a H-E-double hockey sticks of a deal (IMO) on a pair, they will QT the fishes for 3 weeks for a awesome low (I mean LOW) fee due to my QT being housed by clowns atm. Steve even offered to take them up to the meeting. All in all, I will definitely be back for more fish and supplies due to super competitive prices and awesome customer service. Thanks Quantum Reefs for making my first experience with you guys a great one!

Wow this thing is awesome! I love your stand. Looks like its coming along nicely!