Snow's 60G Secret Predatory Sanctum 🐲🐉 - Shutting Down

[Snow_Phoenix]

We have new guys in QT! 

 

 

 

 

 

They're a pair of aquacultured misbar black occys. So relieved I managed to get aquacultured ones! 🥰

 

Media in HOB is cycled & seeded with bioptim, and TTM will begin soon. Not sure if I should give them both a peroxide bath - I wish to observe them first. 🤔

 

They were eating at the store, but store gave me a head's up - the last batch of fish came in with Ich, so I *assume that these guys have Ich as well, although they were not in contact with the infected fish. Will also treat them with Prazi as a precaution. 

 

I need to reread my steps - and recalculate the dosages etc. Lots of work coming up, but I'm happy. 

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CYi8KTQLNdq/?utm_medium=copy_link

 

Also will be picking up a brain coral soon! 🥰

 

 

 

^Preferably the one on the left in the first pic. It's actually dark green with yellow dots. Very pretty. 🥰

[Snow_Phoenix]

Also, here are some bonus pics from the store. Enjoy! 😊👍

 

 

 

 

 

 

[debbeach13]

1 hour ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

They're a pair of aquacultured misbar black occys. So relieved I managed to get aquacultured ones! 🥰

Congratulations on the new fish. I hope they do well for you.

[Snow_Phoenix]

3 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Congratulations on the new fish. I hope they do well for you.

Thanks, Deb. I hope so too. There was a tiny firefish which I wanted to pick up as well, but that was already reserved by another customer. 

 

The store is having a lot of difficulty pulling in nanofish, so I guess I'll have to be patient & wait. 

[debbeach13]

3 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

The store is having a lot of difficulty pulling in nanofish, so I guess I'll have to be patient & wait. 

They are just helping you restock slowly. LOL

I love the common fire fish. I am thinking of getting a couple for IM 10 I will be setting up if they are any when I am ready. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

12 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

They are just helping you restock slowly. LOL

I love the common fire fish. I am thinking of getting a couple for IM 10 I will be setting up if they are any when I am ready. 

Restock slowly indeed! 

 

I'm not complaining too much because the downtime helps me think & plan more for future stocking. Plus, I can concentrate on QTing small groups of fish (2 or 3) at time, which is less stressful & more manageable for me. 

 

Yeah, the common firefish looks lovely. I love dartfish - only downside is that they're jumpers, but otherwise, they're peaceful and come in various colors. The scissortail, purple & zebra barred are among my favorite types. 😊

[kimdawg]

Congrats on the new fish Snow.  The tank will be swimming with happy health fish soon.

[DevilDuck]

Congrats on the clown pair! Looks like you have a really good LFS near you! 

[Snow_Phoenix]

3 hours ago, kimdawg said:

Congrats on the new fish Snow.  The tank will be swimming with happy health fish soon.

 

10 minutes ago, DevilDuck said:

Congrats on the clown pair! Looks like you have a really good LFS near you! 

Thanks, guys! The LFS is actually quite far from my home and the drive is very taxing. I was exhausted after I returned, but I think it was worth the trip. Will check on the new guys shortly - hopefully they made it through the night safely. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

They made it through their first night! 

 

 

 

 

However, I am little worried over the misbar in the 1st pic. He seems to be breathing a lot faster than usual and isn't as active as the other one, so I'm quite worried. 😕

 

Ammonia is at 0ppm so far, so no spikes there. I'm going to try and add a pair of airstones in there to see if that'll help. Foxy is fine in the other QT - she'll be moving into the main DT in a few more days. 

 

I still haven't WCed my main DT - but I need to do it somehow before I move Foxy back in. I'll be removing the heater from that tank as well quite soon. Worse come to worse, I'll simply WC the sump. 

 

Since the DT has no corals yet, it shouldn't cause any issues with the system as a whole. 

 

Hope the two clowns make it - they are quite beautiful (and pricey!). 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I have some bad news. The little clown that was struggling in QT yesterday finally died some time overnight - I only found out today morning: 

 

 

On an unrelated note, I lost my pulchra in my FW predator tank as well - it has been unhealthy since last month, and today it was dead too: 

 

 

I was quite crushed. 😔

 

Both fish are extremely expensive for me and also difficult to acquire (the pulchra is missing pieces because the other predators had started to eat it). Definitely not what I wanted to wake up to. 😭

 

But I still have my other fish, and thankfully, they appear to be fine. I'll WC my predator tank later. Might also WC the QT that holds my last clown. 

 

I'm thinking of shifting my foxface back into my 60G's DT, to free up space so that I can have an extra QT bin. Sigh. This sucks. 😔

 

 

[Tamberav]

😞 sounds like the clown had disease

[Snow_Phoenix]

11 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

😞 sounds like the clown had disease

Yes. And this might sound wrong, but a tiny part of me is relieved that I didn't add it directly to my DT. 

 

I have to assume whatever it has has been passed on to the remaining fish too. Looks like I'll have to draw up a schedule & hybrid-TTM this round again. 👍

[debbeach13]

So sorry for the losses. Just hoping whatever was wrong with that little clown didn't affect that larger one. Sounds like you already have a plan of treatment. You really deserve a good result for all your hard work.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Day 74 of fallow - Foxy is now the first fish to be re-added to the 60G DT: 

 

 

 

So excited and relieved too. 😊

 

The clownfish is still alive and doing okay - he's due for a peroxide dip & TTM after lunch. I decided to name him Pickle, and I personally find him adorable. 🥰

 

Will be mixing up the new SW for the next QT bin shortly, and also prepare the peroxide bath. 😊👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Peroxide bath is being prepared and calculations have been done (hopefully it's correct! ) :

 

 

 

 

New QT bin and the second HOB is on standby too. Hopefully the lil' guy won't stress out too much in the bath. I usually try not to exceed 25 mins, if possible. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Pickle did very well during the peroxide bath - phew! 😅

 

I only have several blurry images of him, but that's because he loves to swim and seldom hovers in one spot for too long. 

 

In the peroxide bath (sideview) :

 

 

 

The new second QT bin:

 

 

Pickle after the first phase of hybrid-TTM: 

 

 

 

I only included one hideout since he's the only fish in there & I wanted to give him as much swimming room as possible. 

 

I truly hope he makes it through the entire duration of the hybrid-TTM. 

 

Also, I believe he has worms as well - there were white clumps on the bottom of the previous bin. So 2 days from now, approx. ~24 hours before the next TTM, I'll be dosing some Prazi in the water. 

 

He's a small eater for now - hopefully his appetite will perk up in time. 

 

I've already given a general fish list to my LFS - wrasses, dragonets, clowns (looking for a skunk for my nano, and another Occy or Perc to be paired up with Pickle) as well as tiny gobies & blennies. It'll take a while (weeks to months) for them to acquire anything on my wishlist since shipments are slow, but I'm more than happy to wait. 👍

[debbeach13]

Welcome home Foxy!

[Snow_Phoenix]

A quick vid. of Foxy chasing her reflection along the glass:

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CYq8zapIj5w/?utm_medium=copy_link

 

She's so happy. 😊👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Turned on the tank lights since we now have a resident. Caught Foxy swimming out in the open and exploring the tank. 😊

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CYscpqsp2F4/?utm_medium=copy_link

 

 

 

 

 

 

She seemed very excited this morning. Now that the lights are back on, I'm pretty sure some algae will return, so I'll need to pick up more CUC when they do. 🤔

 

Also - *might tweak the direction of this tank. Not entirely sure yet, but stay tuned! 👀

[Snow_Phoenix]

Managed to pick up more small plastic plants for future QTs just now:

 

 

The slightly larger one is meant for the 10G AIO QT-Observation tank (for post-TTM fish). I had to shift the smaller rock & pipe forward a little to accomodate it, but I think the setup finally looks complete:

 

 

The tank itself finished cycling some time last week, but I haven't WCed it yet - I only plan on doing so before I add a fish to it. I do ghost-feed the tank once/twice a week. No lights on for now, but I'll add a cheap strip over it after it has a resident. 👍

[Tamberav]

Looks good and foxy looks good too… nice colors 🙂

[Snow_Phoenix]

5 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

Looks good and foxy looks good too… nice colors 🙂

Thanks, Tam! 😊

[Snow_Phoenix]

Pickle in QT this evening! 😊

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CYtbbZSpH4m/?utm_medium=copy_link

 

^That's his third helping of NLS pellets. 😅

 

I'm trying to fatten him up as much as possible, especially before each Prazi dosing because Prazi might cause him to lose his appetite for a bit. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I just dosed Prazi in Pickle's QT bin:

 

 

 

 

I fed him first to make sure he was full before dosing. Tomorrow will be the next phase of TTM, but no additional meds or peroxide baths during this time. 

 

Pickle is still in high spirits though. Lil' dude is quite the trooper. 😊👍