All my fish are dead...

[FlameAngel]

Hi everyone,

I didn't attend the meeting on Sunday, cuz I had a bit of a crisis on my hand. I was dealing with oodinium, which has by today wiped out all my fish.

All from a nasty Kole tang sold to me.

Now, I still love J&L Aquatics, but my trust of their stock and their advice has taken a hit. I think I learned, (first of my own stupidity and second that you can't fully trust ANY LFS)

FlameAngel

[terryp01]

Sorry to hear about your losses.

Do you have a quarantine tank for any new additions? It is never safe to put any new fish in your tank without quarantining them first. You can put together an entire 20-30 gallon system for about 50.00 US and will save you hundreds in the long run.

I quarantine all of my fish for a minimum of 2 weeks. The more they cost, the longer I keep them there. This allows you to immediately prevent any spreading of disease the fish may be carrying and allows for quick treatment.

There is a new product on the market to treat ICH that I have been testing. The results are amazing if you catch it early enough.

Anyway, you should seriously consider the small investment to prevent long term heartache and frustration.

BTW, Tangs are my favorite fish (see my login) but they are infamous for ICH.

Take care.

duss

[FlameAngel]

Quarantining fish is necessary if you don't know what you are getting, and I guess in many situations that is true. I thought, I could trust what I was getting, but it seems that I think I must quarantine now.

FlameAngel

P/S It was more my fault for trying to mix zebrasomas with koles.. Now I know (I was told it would be ok... yeah right)

[DJ88]

Flame,

You should quarantine a fish no matter what. Whether you trust the store or not. I did. Now tho I won't be buying any new fish.. But even when I trusted a store the fish would sometimes get sick with Ick or anything..

It happens no matter how good a store is..

It seemed the times I didn't, I lost fish..

Better safe than sorry..

Sorry to hear about your loss.

[ruck'n'reefer]

What's wrong with mixing zebrasomas and kole's? Cuz I just did. Is there going to be a problem?

[Dale D]

Hi Rob

If you have had the Kole and the Zebrasomas in the tank for awhile and they are getting along fine I would not worry about it.

A problem usually occurs when you are trying to introduce a new tang into a tank that already contains a zebrasomas species, as they can be very aggressive to new introductions. Thats why most people will tell you to make a Zebrasomas species tang as the final addition to your tank.

Dale

PS. Like the others have already said all new fish should be quarantined. No matter how good the LFS is they can not guarantee a fish to be 100% problem free. It is up to you as well as the LFS to observe the fish at the store and decide it's condition. If it does not look right for some reason then you should not buy it and they should not sell it to you.

Having said that,it is still possible for a completely heathly looking fish to cause different types of problems when introduced to a new tank. Thats where a Q tank comes in.

I myself have never used a Q tank. I know I should and I know the risks of not using one, but I have had very few problems with new fish introductions. Just pure luck. I have also never in 10 years of keeping SW fish and reefs and a lifetime of keeping FW fish taken a fish back to a LFS and told them that one of their fish died prematurely or killed other fish in my tank.

As long as the LFS does everything possible not to sell you a sick unhealthy fish, the rest is up to the hobbyist. It's up to us to do everything we can to insure that the fish we take home and the others already in the tank have the best chance at survival.

[DJ88]

Very well put Dale.. images/smiles/icon_smile.gif

[terryp01]

They key to mixing zebrasomas is to add them in reverse order of aggressiveness. Tangs are my favorite fish and I have seven in my 180 gallon tank.

Kole tangs, small ones, are the least aggressive tang in my experience (other than the regal/i.o. blue/hippo, whatever you call it).

The most aggressive tangs are sohal, powder blues and (my favorite) dussumieri. (again, imo).

Never only have two tangs in a tank, there must be one (1), three or more. Having only two in one tank will almost mean certain death for the least aggressive one. I have had problems in the past with even cross species if the least aggressive was added last.

Again, QUARANTINE, QUARANTINE, QUARANTINE. Anyone that gets a fish from me, I suggest they quarantine it. Regardless of how well you know the person and their tank it is best to quarantine. The fish is adjusted to their tank and any parasites/diseases that may be present. Adding them to your tank my introduce the new parasite/disease.

Better safe than broke and unhappy.

duss

[FlameAngel]

It is not that I didn't do anything and everything with these fish, but it wasn't to any effect (although aggressive nature did subside)

I still think that if you know what you are getting (compatibility wise) and health wise, qt'ing is not a necessity but just a precaution. Inappropriate qting can also be very detremental.

FlameAngel
images/smiles/icon_smile.gif

[reefburnaby]

Hello Flameangel,

Sorry about your fishes....

Before you go out and buy more fish...you may want to leave your reef fishless for two weeks to a month. This will allow the parasites to die off due to lack of hosts. Using UV to kill the parasites is another option, however, UV kills good and bad bugs.

Ummm...QTs. I have two QTs and always use it for all new introductions.

- Victor.

[ 23 September 2001: Message edited by: reefburnaby ]

[FlameAngel]

Tank will remain empty till Christmas time,
It's time to focus on corals!! yippee!

FlameAngel