The Fire Swamp's 50g SCA Starfire Cube- 🔥🐊. Upgrade Coming Soon

[jack1978]

If you want a more detailed rundown, let me know.  It's so much easier than you probably think.  It seemed daunting to me, and I put it off for a few days.  Lost some fish, ran to Petco for a 10, easy. 

[jack1978]

2 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

So maybe just a 10g tank tomorrow. I don't have a powerhead, but I have that finnex HOB pump/filter that I ran on the jar and it pumps out at like 96gph. Plus the air stone and a good heater. Just would feel better with a little more room. It would add insult to injury to wake up and find one had managed to jump to its death in the night because the 5g was way too small. I'm in deep enough dog poo as it is with the 9 year old and his father. Finally got out of the corner with my 7 year old because I (mostly) saved his freshwater tank and have kept his animals alive since the great bacteria debacle. The filter I stuck on that thing is working like gold. But this disaster with my SCA-- it's heartbreaking.

Buy a glass lid. 

Run zero media in your filter.

Airstone is a good idea

[ECLS Reefer]

24 minutes ago, jack1978 said:

Buy a glass lid. 

Run zero media in your filter.

Airstone is a good idea

Glass lids? Where do you get those? All we have are petsmarts near us, but both they and Walmart have plain 10g tanks. Would have to find a lid extra anyway. But these glass ones intrigue me- they at petsmart too?

 

just checked on them again and the little clown and mandarin are both doing pretty well. The big mandarin and the tang are still alive but the mandarin now takes the lead for looking crappiest. I can just bet on having two more lifeless bodies in the morning 😫. 

This sh$& SUCKS by the way. Jeez. Can’t escape work even at home, even with freaking fish.

[jack1978]

9 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

Glass lids? Where do you get those? All we have are petsmarts near us, but both they and Walmart have plain 10g tanks. Would have to find a lid extra anyway. But these glass ones intrigue me- they at petsmart too?

 

just checked on them again and the little clown and mandarin are both doing pretty well. The big mandarin and the tang are still alive but the mandarin now takes the lead for looking crappiest. I can just bet on having two more lifeless bodies in the morning 😫. 

This sh$& SUCKS by the way. Jeez. Can’t escape work even at home, even with freaking fish.

Sorry to hear.  I lost so many before going with the copper.  It really sucks. 

 

I grabbed the tank at Petco.  Theh sell matching glass lids.  Cheap and easy. 

[ECLS Reefer]

Just now, jack1978 said:

Sorry to hear.  I lost so many before going with the copper.  It really sucks. 

 

I grabbed the tank at Petco.  Theh sell matching glass lids.  Cheap and easy. 

I’ll have to look. That would be easier than lifting the black plastic one. 

 

Does anyone know how to catch a CBA without a net? Because I learned last time when handling him nets are a hard nope. 

[ECLS Reefer]

I’m afraid to even say anything out of superstition but at least my Evo is looking good today. Can’t find that RFA- guess he got abducted or dissolved. I can’t imagine what black hole it disappeared into. It was so small (nickel sized) it could still be in a hole in a rock for all I know. BUT everybody else is behaving. 

[jack1978]

8 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

I’ll have to look. That would be easier than lifting the black plastic one. 

 

Does anyone know how to catch a CBA without a net? Because I learned last time when handling him nets are a hard nope. 

Drain the water and scoop him up.

Put the water back in.

[ECLS Reefer]

2 minutes ago, jack1978 said:

Drain the water and scoop him up.

Put the water back in.

That’s a lot of water to drain!! Holy cow. I don’t even have enough buckets for that 😂

[jack1978]

2 hours ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

That’s a lot of water to drain!! Holy cow. I don’t even have enough buckets for that 😂

Brute trashcan ..... itll be easy to catch him with no water 

[ECLS Reefer]

31 minutes ago, jack1978 said:

Brute trashcan ..... itll be easy to catch him with no water 

Wonder if I can possibly herd him into a bag. Before I drain the swamp.

[Snow_Phoenix]

I have a small suggestion (hope that's okay with you + not sure if it has been mentioned before): Why not use a large container/plastic storage bin (like rubbermaid?) to hold all the fish? I think you can pick up a large bin from a home dept. store (here we can even get them at hardware or sundry shops) and plastic bins are easier to clean out, carry and store after use than a glass tank. You just need a place to temporarily hold all the fish, right?

 

I have kept a 2' ft long fire eel in a 20G plastic storage bin for slightly over a month with no issue (had to keep weights on the lids though) - for treatment of fungus/bacteria/fin rot. And my QT 'tank' for my present SW fish is actually a small ~10ishG plastic storage bin with the usual PVC pipes and plastic caves in it for cover. 

 

Also, sorry to hear about the Brook. That disease sucks. I've lost clowns years ago to Brook - nothing I did seemed to help. 😞

 

 

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

How are the fish doing today? Were you able to grab a 10 or 20 gallon tank today?

[ECLS Reefer]

11 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

I have a small suggestion (hope that's okay with you + not sure if it has been mentioned before): Why not use a large container/plastic storage bin (like rubbermaid?) to hold all the fish? I think you can pick up a large bin from a home dept. store (here we can even get them at hardware or sundry shops) and plastic bins are easier to clean out, carry and store after use than a glass tank. You just need a place to temporarily hold all the fish, right?

 

I have kept a 2' ft long fire eel in a 20G plastic storage bin for slightly over a month with no issue (had to keep weights on the lids though) - for treatment of fungus/bacteria/fin rot. And my QT 'tank' for my present SW fish is actually a small ~10ishG plastic storage bin with the usual PVC pipes and plastic caves in it for cover. 

 

Also, sorry to hear about the Brook. That disease sucks. I've lost clowns years ago to Brook - nothing I did seemed to help. 😞

 

 

That’s a good thought- be way cheaper than getting an actual tank.

[ECLS Reefer]

40 minutes ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

How are the fish doing today? Were you able to grab a 10 or 20 gallon tank today?

The tang died, the big Mandy died, the small Mandy is gonna end up dying, but the clowns and CBA and the YTD are all okay. 

 

I CANNOT catch the CBA. He’s such an Ahole!!!! I may actually have to drain the whole damn tank for him.

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

2 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

The tang died, the big Mandy died, the small Mandy is gonna end up dying, but the clowns and CBA and the YTD are all okay. 

 

I CANNOT catch the CBA. He’s such an Ahole!!!! I may actually have to drain the whole damn tank for him.

oh man sorry for your losses. Hope you can catch him and get him medicated. Are you considering a plastic container? That actually sounds like a good idea.

[ECLS Reefer]

6 minutes ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

oh man sorry for your losses. Hope you can catch him and get him medicated. Are you considering a plastic container? That actually sounds like a good idea.

yeah that sounds expedient and probably more comfortable for them. and a good sized one could store the QT tanks when I'm done. of course now, they can probably all fit in the 5g more comfortably since there's so few of them left. Oh and I remembered there's a tiny little prawn goby in the tank. God knows how I'll catch him, since I only see him rarely.

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

13 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

yeah that sounds expedient and probably more comfortable for them. and a good sized one could store the QT tanks when I'm done. of course now, they can probably all fit in the 5g more comfortably since there's so few of them left. Oh and I remembered there's a tiny little prawn goby in the tank. God knows how I'll catch him, since I only see him rarely.

My fingers are crossed the remaining ones will be ok. Again sorry you have to go through all this shit.

[ECLS Reefer]

43 minutes ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

My fingers are crossed the remaining ones will be ok. Again sorry you have to go through all this shit.

Man I tell you what I’m beyond tired of trying to catch this damn fish. SOOOOO BAD!!

[ECLS Reefer]

So, the body count ended up being 5 fish lost 😢. Have saved the 5 others-the clown pair (according my son the only ones that matter out of everybody) the wee goby, the CBA who we caught by finally just draining the whole tank ( @jack1978 for the win there), and the YTD from the sump. It's a very lonely SCA tank with just corals, crab and two shrimp now. The fish are all tucked into a 5g tank and whenever I've checked on them, they've been getting along. At some point we will move them over to a bigger new container, after giving them formalin dips. They all seem happy and healthy in the QT, though the little clown still has spots. He hasn't lost his appetite and he's never acted down, just has spots that shouldn't be there. So hopefully, they'll all be okay. 

 

Unfortunately for them both myself and my husband have been called into work emergently this weekend, so they'll have to get on in their 5g for at least one more day. Hopefully I can get them into the bigger container tomorrow. Thats it for now--just hope nothing happens to the corals during all this fallow period.

[jack1978]

4 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

So, the body count ended up being 5 fish lost 😢. Have saved the 5 others-the clown pair (according my son the only ones that matter out of everybody) the wee goby, the CBA who we caught by finally just draining the whole tank ( @jack1978 for the win there), and the YTD from the sump. It's a very lonely SCA tank with just corals, crab and two shrimp now. The fish are all tucked into a 5g tank and whenever I've checked on them, they've been getting along. At some point we will move them over to a bigger new container, after giving them formalin dips. They all seem happy and healthy in the QT, though the little clown still has spots. He hasn't lost his appetite and he's never acted down, just has spots that shouldn't be there. So hopefully, they'll all be okay. 

 

Unfortunately for them both myself and my husband have been called into work emergently this weekend, so they'll have to get on in their 5g for at least one more day. Hopefully I can get them into the bigger container tomorrow. Thats it for now--just hope nothing happens to the corals during all this fallow period.

Corals will be fine.  

Funny, when I put all my fish in the 10g QT, seemednthey became less aggressive towards each other when put back into the big display.  

I'm sure everyone will be besties in the QT. 

-Glad you got them in. 

[ECLS Reefer]

1 hour ago, jack1978 said:

Corals will be fine.  

Funny, when I put all my fish in the 10g QT, seemednthey became less aggressive towards each other when put back into the big display.  

I'm sure everyone will be besties in the QT. 

-Glad you got them in. 

Too bad I caught it so late that I lost so many. But at least these will survive. 

[ECLS Reefer]

Also, it’s amazing how when you pull all the fish out the nitrates immediately drop, and the corals act like they’re hungry. 🤔

[ECLS Reefer]

FINALLY got the chance to get the fish out of the tiny 5 gallon tank and into a big container. They seem much more relaxed now. Much better accommodations for a six week stay. The CBA is in the tank, but he's evidently fallen completely in love with the faux tree trunk and only comes out for food. He will look at you thru the hole like "whut??" but won't come out otherwise. 

 

 

Hard to see but it's the yellow prawn goby exploring the sides of the container

 

 

The blue dude (YTD)

 

 

The "most important fish in the tank" according to my son.... his clown pair Hector and Pearl.

 

Oh and as far as I could tell from a close up look last night, everybody's spots had disappeared, and no one has been making excess slime, so I guess the cupramine is working.

[jack1978]

Glad to hear things are turning around!

-Id run longer than six weeks .... I think I went 9 weeks.  

[WV Reefer]

16 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

FINALLY got the chance to get the fish out of the tiny 5 gallon tank and into a big container. They seem much more relaxed now. Much better accommodations for a six week stay. The CBA is in the tank, but he's evidently fallen completely in love with the faux tree trunk and only comes out for food. He will look at you thru the hole like "whut??" but won't come out otherwise. 

 

 

Hard to see but it's the yellow prawn goby exploring the sides of the container

 

 

The blue dude (YTD)

 

 

The "most important fish in the tank" according to my son.... his clown pair Hector and Pearl.

 

Oh and as far as I could tell from a close up look last night, everybody's spots had disappeared, and no one has been making excess slime, so I guess the cupramine is working.

 

Thats good news. 😊