RSM (Red Sea Max) Owners Club

[bryceK]

I have a about 8 other fish in the aquarium. The two that died, had no visible signs on their bodies.

On the saltwater side(for Reefmack) my ammonia,nitrites, and nitrates are now finally undetectable in my system,not quite 48 hours after setting up the refugium. I had been fighting those levels for the past few weeks since having the two gobies disappear in my tank.
Ok am out the door for a little while my LFS that is shutting down apparently is having a going out of business sale right now....29g aquariums $15 and 75g R/R for 75 bucks...........gotta run

 

[bryceK]

Well I picked up one 29g tank and a couple of mj1200's. Don't know what I am going to do with it all yet but I am sure I will find some use. Started to buy the Aquamedic Turboflotor with pump brand new in the box for 140.00 but knew I definitely had no room for it anywhere.

 

[Reefmack]

brycek - great news on the saltwater parameters. How are the nitrates in the freshwater tank? Good buy on the 29g tank! Probably best that you passed up the Turboflotor - a good price on something you can't use is a wise decision.

AC working here now. Both my tanks were 78 when I got home so the temporary window AC unit, plus the lights off, with the cooling fans left on, really helped. Hopefully the stress of the heat and 5-6 degree temperature variation won't have a negative effect on the corals, or cause the fish to develop any diseases. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.:lookaroun

 

[Witfull]

I failed chemistry in High School(Although I do have college credits for chemistry, oceanography and physics) so will leave it to the store bought stuff.

if you leave it up to the LFS,,,,you will spend money, kill stuff and they will blame you~

 

[Witfull]

cloudy eye is usually bacterial infection,,,,clean water at proper parameters will cure it on its own.

check out LEEBCA's threads.

 

[doubleduece]

BrentI have used a product called "melafix" by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, for my 18yr old Red Devil and it worked great, well at the time he was 15yr, so now he has cataracts........

 

[Brent F]

Yes, Melafix works on both the bacterial infections (translucent eye covering) and the fungal infections (cottony / stringy covering).

There are a pile of different treatments available which is why figuring out which type of infection it is is important.

 

[Witfull]

dudes,,,proper husbandry fixes/avoids bacterial infections,,,,do not treat the tank...this is BAD!

 

[Brent F]

Witfull is right; maintaining high water quality will usually keep your fish healthy.

For a freshwater tank with bad infections the best approach is large water changes to improve water quality.

In cases where the fish is very sick medicating in a quarantine tank is sometimes necessary to save the fish (Don't medicate your main tank). The important thing is not to let the tank slide to the point where this is required. A bit of salt works as well as many medications so is usually a better approach.

For salt tanks keep your water quality high and consider a pair of cleaner shrimp as a "swim in clinic". A pair of cleaners will control many parasites for you.

 

[Reefmack]

dudes,,,proper husbandry fixes/avoids bacterial infections,,,,do not treat the tank...this is BAD!

Witfull - I totally agree, but there have been times for me in FW when I'll be honest and admit that I let the proper husbandry slip, and to save a tank from mass extinction all I could do was treat a whole tank in a hurry to save as many fish as possible, rather than watching them all die while I got things corrected.

 

[bryceK]

Wow I never expected us to get into all of the freshwater conversation here. Anyways, Since I picked up the 29g earlier today and some melafix and pimafix package, I will use the tank as a quarantine if I need to. However I am going to be using the aquarium salt first to see if that will cure before using the melafix. As for the parameters of the tank I didnt bother to test before doing a water change. Kind of a knee jerk reaction get the dead fish out and do water change as quick as possible.
For the Max though I did pick up a blenny and a coral banded shrimp...photos to follow a little later.

 

[Witfull]

freshwater isnt a reef....two totally different beasts!

 

[grandy]

I'm back ... wow, so much to catch up on, and I see another couple of our old friends have found us here!! :hallo: And hi to everyone!!!
I have spent the past 4 days cleaning up a 'parasite' on my 'puter. Watch out for XP Antivirus 2008 ... it is not something you want on your computer!:flaming:
In the meantime I am still battling the green hair algae beast ... I've done water changes (RO/DI), added fresh Rowaphos, sucked & plucked drooool as much of the pest out as I can ... but, I can't get it all, and it grows so gawdawful fast!!
We're off to the lake late tomorrow afternoon, again, & will be gone for 3 days. Do you think if I leave the lights off for that time, it might help????

 

[bryceK]

No photos tonight. I drip acclimated both the blenny and the banded coral shrimp and placed in the tank both headed for the rocks and I haven't been able to get any good photos yet.

 

[Brent F]

We're off to the lake late tomorrow afternoon, again, & will be gone for 3 days. Do you think if I leave the lights off for that time, it might help????

I have heard breaking up the light can control algae. Try something like 3 sets of 4 hours on, 1 hour off. That will give your corals teh light they need but screw up things for the algae.

Have a good weekend at the lake.

 

[Reefmack]

Hi Grandy. Sounds like you're making the most of the weekends. Brent's idea on the lights is a good one. I've also read that leaving the lights off for a few days may not affect the corals. I really don't know - I've never tried either method. How's your skimmer working? After getting mine working again last weekend just about all of the brown algae or cyano on my substrate is now gone, and the skimmer is pulling a lot of crud out that must have been building up for a few weeks as the skimmer efficency gradually got worse.

 

[DontXtripNfall]

Donna have you ever considered a lawnmower blenny? Reefmack sure loved his... just a thought.

And I'm going away to a lake house for the weekend also.

 

[lcstorc]

You people and your lake houses. I am so jealous.
Anyway, the corals will be fine without light for a couple of days. It's just like bad weather in the ocean. To really give the algae a kick do a complete blackout of the tank for a couple of days. Put cardboard around it so it gets no light at all. Meanwhile starve it out. With no light and no nutrients it will go away quickly.

 

[Reefmack]

Icstorc - I'm jealous too! At least in Cocoa, FL you must be closer to the ocean than I am.

Grandy - my lawnmower blenny never touched the little bit of hair algae I once had - it seemed like he'd rather eat the algae off the tank sides. It's a good choice but not a 100% guarantee. These fish need to be trained in what their behavior is supposed to be! I did however once have a big sea hair that not only ate the green algae - it even cleaned up the brown cyano looking stuff. Unfortunately mine didn't live but maybe 2 months. I don't think it starved, but it developed an open wound on it's back (maybe bitten by something?) that just wouldn't heal, and got worse till it died.

 

[grandy]

Thanks everyone for your input on my algae problem. I am going to try the no light attack while I am away. DontXtripNfall: I've had a lawnmower blenny in a previous tank, and like Reefmack's, mine preferred cleaning off the glass & nipping coraline off the LR. I have no room for any additional fish, either.

Brent F: I will try the alternating light method after the week-end. That's a really good idea. Thanks!

My Tunze skimmer seems to be working OK ... it pulls out about 1/4 - 1/2" of dark gunk every 3 days. Is that good enough?

lcstorc: This is probably our last week-end at the lake house. We have sold it & will be moving things out after the week-end. It's been in our lives for the past 12 years, but we are ready for a change. Due to the nature of my husband's job, we only used the cabin 6 times in the last 2 years.