new fish

[treesprite]

So, I have this nice dottyback now. I haven't had a new fish for several years, so I would prefer checking out what I'm doing with you.

 

The new fish thing makes me nervous, because I hear horror stories about diseases, like Howard's current one. Several years ago, I went to considerable lengths to get my tank free of fish disease and to keep it that way. I left the tank fish-free for 2 months while I treated the fish in another tank with a number of freshwater dips through that time period, medication, and a whole lot of big water changes.

 

I have not seen a trace of anything since that time. My practice after that for new fish was to QT for 2 weeks with low-level copper and freshwater dips.

 

I would prefer not using copper and have noticed that more often people have been advising against it (for new fish purposes). Please advise me on this.

 

I'm planning to limit the freshwater dipping to just 1, when thr fish goes from thr QT into the main tank. Advise please on whether or not that is sufficient - I used to do more of them but will take your advisement on that.

 

I am planning QT for only a week - should I do it longer or is the 2 weeks I was doing before just overkill?

 

QT size. Right now the fish is in a bucket drip-acclimating while I figure out what QT size to use. I have a choice between a 2.5g, a 5g, and a 10g for a dottyback. I believe the 2.5g is too small for more than a day or two for a couple different reasons, so my plan is the 5g. Do you think the 5 is big enough for a week? I don't want to have to deal with the 10g if it's not really neccessary.

 

Water changing. I plan to do a water change every 2 days with tank water, 50% - is that reasonable? I need to keep the water params the same the whole time and I feel like if I do it less with the changes, the params will skew, and that more is really not neccessary.

 

 

Before I put the new fish in the tank I will take the clowns and damsel out for a while and re-do the rockwork, then put the dotty in it by itself for a day.

 

I finally got the part for the uv sterilizer that needed replacing, so I'll be setting that up, and the skimmer is finally past it's break-in period. Maybe with the uv sterilizer I'll feel a little less worried about catching diseases...?

 

Please feel free to give me any advise you think will help, or will keep me from obsessing day and night with thoughts of crypto and amylo. This probably makes me a lot more worried than I should be, but I would be terribly upset if anything happened to my current fishy friends.

 

Thanks!

[bk_market]

good to see u there picking up the fish. I was going to get that one too but i run out of cash :D

[treesprite]

I was surprised to see you, and say thanks to your empty pockets for me.

[treesprite]

well, I just now finished putting him in the 5g. It's painted black on 3 sides to block out stimulation. He's got a cave and I put a few little balls of chaeto in the tank so he is happily using them for cover. That little tank looks a lot bigger to me now than when I was looking at it empty, so I believe it's plenty big enough. Maybe I only need to change 1/3rd of the water at a time - I was afraid the size would make the water get bad very fast and throw everything off, but I don't think it will happen; the chaeto maybe will help a bit too. I just hope he doesn't bring any bugs with him.

[flowerseller]

Is this 5g QT tank covered?

[treesprite]

Definately covered. When I went to put him in there from the bucket, he took a big leap, but fortunately not onto the floor. I didn't realize these are jumpers... I'm going to have to make sure Ive got something to completely cover the main tank top before I put him in.

[yauger]

Definately covered. When I went to put him in there from the bucket, he took a big leap, but fortunately not onto the floor. I didn't realize these are jumpers... I'm going to have to make sure Ive got something to completely cover the main tank top before I put him in.

 

you might want to try using egg crate, you can spray paint it what ever color to match your tank so it is not as visible... keeps fish in and little kids out....

[Guest heejaecha]

Well..

I think you don

[treesprite]

Well..

I think you don

[flowerseller]

I honestly believe I've nothing to worry about, and feel a far more secure with the fish than if it had come from a store, but basing actions on beliefs and feelings increases the viability of Murphy's law and various and sundry superstitious beliefs related to the occurrence of negative and regretable unexpected or unplanned-for events. That and I'm obsessive about fish diseases.

Amen

[treesprite]

He's looking and behaving like a healthy fish aside from me not knowing if he is eating.

 

I have given him flake food and some of the homemade frozen stuff from the food making party, but he isn't eating in front of me. There is chaeto with pods in it in there - could he be eating those instead of the food I put in the tank? Also, I'm wondering if they tend to eat from the bottom, because it looks to me sometimes like he's looking for something, and supposedly they eat bristleworms which would indicate that perhaps the fish tend to eat from below. Maybe he's just not swimming up to the food and waiting for it to come to him?

Edited August 15, 2007 by treesprite