First Saltwater Tank

[paddyob]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

ok quick question..... my friends dad left town for a week and when he came back all his saltwater fish were dead except for one.

he called me this morning and asked if i could take this one fish and keep him in my tank.

i went and picked it up. Its a small foxface rabbitfish (about 2 inches)
hes not even yellow, he's kind of a brown color with white spots.

is it sick or something? is it safe to put in my tank?

i realize that its gonna outgrow my tank, but hopefully my friends dad will get his tank up and running to take it back soon

I would worry about it. If all his fish died in a week... what was the cause? You could potentially bring a disease or parasite into your tank.

I would say if his tank is empty.... might be better to leave it in that tank until you know what the cause was.


Picture of the fish possible? Seeing the "white spots" would make things easier for those with knowledge of illnesses.

[MarkoD]

Originally Posted by paddyob

I would worry about it. If all his fish died in a week... what was the cause? You could potentially bring a disease or parasite into your tank.

I would say if his tank is empty.... might be better to leave it in that tank until you know what the cause was.


Picture of the fish possible? Seeing the "white spots" would make things easier for those with knowledge of illnesses.

i've done some reading in the last little bit. its not white spots like ich.

apparently when the fish is stressed it loses its color and becomes blotchy.

i just called him and he said his nitrates were off the scale of his test kit..... over 100ppm

i cant really get a picture, he's in a plastic container

i think im gonna try and acclimate him to my water and see if anything changes before putting him in

[MarkoD]

i also have an empty 15 gallon long..... maybe ill set up a quarantine tank and see what happens

[paddyob]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

i also have an empty 15 gallon long..... maybe ill set up a quarantine tank and see what happens

This is a good idea... but the only issue with a newly set up QT is that since it is not established it can create a whole new ball of stress for the fish.

I would still try that over putting it right in with your nice new clowns.

[MarkoD]

ok im setting up the 15 gallon.... pumping water from my 55 into it and gonna replace with new saltwater (PWC while im at it)

it probably doesnt need sand right?

[paddyob]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

ok im setting up the 15 gallon.... pumping water from my 55 into it and gonna replace with new saltwater (PWC while im at it)

it probably doesnt need sand right?

Skip sand for a QT. Makes it easier to clean/sanitize the tank.

[MarkoD]

thanks. already filled it up. gonna slowly acclimate him

[cale262]

I'd QT him for a bit first if it were my tank...If you need a small tank to do so, LMK I have a bunch of smaller tanks (10's & 20's) sitting around dry...


guess ur a faster typer than me, lol...

[paddyob]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

i've done some reading in the last little bit. its not white spots like ich.

apparently when the fish is stressed it loses its color and becomes blotchy.

i just called him and he said his nitrates were off the scale of his test kit..... over 100ppm

i cant really get a picture, he's in a plastic container

i think im gonna try and acclimate him to my water and see if anything changes before putting him in

Its no surprise his NO3 would be off the chart with all his fish dying. Dead fish decomposing in the tank create NO3/NH3. But the questions is why did they die to begin with?