soggycookies

Some fish like tangs(yes all members, blue tangs just have that label cause their general temperament is also a bit more crazy than other tangs lol) are more susceptible to these parasites cause they lack a slime coat to fight them off. Also sort of explains why when a tank has ich you sometimes only see the tangs, or in this case blue/hippo/regal tangs having the worst of it. Doesn’t mean that the other fish don’t have it. Just take it as an indicator that your tank definitely has it cause it won’t be limited to a single fish. The other fish just have a better resistance/immunity to it due to their own genetic makeup. As for ich vs velvet, from personal experience and extensive reading, when visible, the former is more like salt sprinkles on the fish while the latter is more of a fine sugar dusting, almost powder-like coat on the fish. If you can count the no. of spots, it’s probably ich. If they’re smaller and more numerous it’s probably velvet. Also, if it’s velvet.. sometimes you’ll see the fish dead before you even see any symptoms. They can be dead in less than a day with no signs. That’s how deadly it is. On the contrary fish can develop a longstanding immunity from ich and generally are able to fight it off with good system conditions and feeding. Not the same case with velvet. Usually if it’s ich and you don’t treat immediately, it’s still ok. Fish will live for months and with good conditions can fight it off and develop immunities. For velvet, if you don’t treat ASAP, it’s a death sentence more or less, very few fish even survive the initial attack let alone develop an immunity. Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

Yes. It’s very common in the hobby though still very possible to run a completely ich-free tank. But once you kena velvet before.. you realize ich isn’t a big deal unless your system conditions are plain awful Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

Also to add on to my previous post, if the fish was in QT but not treated with at least 0.2mg/L of copper in the water for at least 2 weeks, it could have been that the ich was on it but didn’t infest its skin but was in its gills. And due to stress in the main DT perhaps from other fish harassing it, it lost its resistance/immunity and the parasite could spread further on the fish Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

Yes. Ich is not always going to show white salt-like spots on the fish’s body, especially if the fish are resistant or immune to it. But as Long as there is a host fish in the tank, there will be ich if it’s introduced into the system earlier or later on either a carrier fish and/or anything wet that has an irregular surface area for their cysts to latch onto and lay dormant like coral frags, clean-up crew etc. Honestly it’s hard to completely avoid, which is why most people just adopt the “feed them well and have a stress-free environment/stable water parameters etc” policy. The fish can fight things like that off, but not so much things that are more deadly like velvet(and very similar but much more lethal). Generally it’s unlikely you’ll bring in these parasites into your system via other things than infected fish though, but there’s still a chance. Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

It’s alright bro, if you are new the urge to get everything done quickly is definitely there. Even seasoned hobbyists sometimes cannot wait hahahaha. But with time you’ll realize the importance of quarantine. It can determine whether your entire tank crashes or not in the worst cases Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

It’s best to quarantine every new fish to observe them and place them in half dose of copper before putting them in your main system. Reason being some fish that carry protozoan parasites like ich and velvet don’t show any signs of carrying the parasite either because they’re in the gills or they are immune/resistant to it but carry it on their bodies anyway. By having the fish in a copper-treated tank for a couple of weeks you essentially halve or even completely eliminate that issue. But that said i wouldn’t go through with the full dose of copper unless I can confirm the fish has ich or velvet. Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

You will have less temperature fluctuation issues indoors with adequate ventilation IME. Higher or lower doesn’t exactly matter for fishes in our tropical climate unless you’re getting coldwater species, stability is more impt Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

I would recommend Iwarna. They also openly place many of their fishes in a copper treated system which could help to minimise the risk of you bringing lethal diseases like marine velvet and uronema home. For variety, I used to go to Pacific Reef(Ah Beng). Some folks have said fish from there aren’t healthy and rumors are that many are caught with cyanide but hey, if it’s true, then it’s probably also true for other LFS as long as the source supplier was from parts of Indonesia/Philippines. Personally, I’ve not had many issues from Pacific Reef’s livestock that differ much from other LFS I’ve gotten my fish from. In the past I’ve bought from places like Aquamarin Aquatic Pets, Coral Farm, Pinnacle Aquatics, the Fish Channel, and Jireh Marine. Bought enough to ultimately realize that it’s really more up to your care of the fish and careful selection/acclimation and quarantine procedures than it is which LFS you get it from. After all, we as the end buyer can’t determine exactly how the fish were caught, handled and shipped. It’s up to us to trust whichever LFS we want and do our own part to make sure the fish gets into our system as healthy as possible and stays that way. Personally I QT all my fish for a minimum of 2 weeks before placing them in my main system. I’d say if you lack a quarantine tank, go for iwarna or an LFS you know you can place a deposit for and let your fish sit in quarantine and get if after a week or 2 to see for yourself if it’s healthy. Fishes from SAS are much pricier from what I’ve seen, but their establishment does seem a lot more reliable in terms of fish health(they probably quarantine a lot and accept nothing but the most premium shipment(just my assumption). They also seem to cater to the more upper-class crowd.(Just my observation) For variety I’d still say Pacific Reef and Iwarna. Coral Farm has fishes in very poor condition from what I’ve seen many times. I’ve bought Clownfish from them that never survived more than a week despite quarantine. But that said, I also got a marine betta from them that survived marine velvet. So yeah hope you get the point. With no clear idea of where individual fish are specifically sourced, you can never be 100% sure. Lengthy post but I hope this helped. Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

Thanks for the heads up bro [emoji1360] Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

Anyone selling theirs/seen any at LFS recently? Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

I think it’s a better idea to wait for your AI Prime to arrive. Reason being that if you get cheap lighting, while only temporary- may allow algae to get a head start and potentially by the time you want to start growing your zoas, pest algaes may have gained a foothold in your tank because lights will no doubt grow algae sooner or later. Especially if it’s not a suitable spectrum for reeftanks. Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

Eventually you’ll get algae growth, the difference between going bare-bottom vs sand is algae is more likely to grow all over the base of the tank that isn’t covered by live rock or sand. In the long-term some people like that cause you can practically get a bottom that is purple with coralline algae, but in the short-term it may look like the worst thing ever when there’s undesirable algaes or diatoms taking up real estate on the bottom of your tank. (Though imo diatoms on white sand look worse) As Long as you’re not overstocked with fish and have some manner of a clean-up crew a sandbed isn’t much maintenance at all, dare I say vacuuming isn’t even necessary in those cases. Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

7.8-8 pH is just fine. Definitely safer than a ph of 9 which is too high. The highest end of the spectrum is 8.5 and he lowest is 7.8 for a stable range. Generally the ideal value is 8.3 only if you’re going for fastest possible coral growth. Otherwise, as long as your pH doesn’t dip below 7.8, it should be alright. What substrate are you using, if any? High quality sand(aragonite, sand from a reef/coral skeletons) will help to maintain a higher pH range in both small and large systems. Having a refugium with macroalgae that operates on an inverse light cycle(i.e refugium lights come on display lights go off) and using the bubbling method can also help prevent pH swings(especially at night). You can read up more about the latter two if you’re interested, but they tend to work only if applied consistently. Hope this helps in some way Cheers Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

I got mine from ah Beng back when they were still in Pasir Ris. And yes can confirm, seaview sells it too. Prazigold by EIHO. Just got a new bottle last weekend. They’ve moved to 8 Chencharu Link Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

Are you adding bacteria to seed your rock? It drastically shortens the length of the cycle(less than a week in some cases). Getting live rock from an LFS will also help to speed up the process. Be sure to have test kits on hand too. Once you test for 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite, you’re good to put fish in. Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

While very unlikely, there is a chance that their cysts settle on any hard surface like the shells of inverts. The same can be said for velvet. It all comes down to how lucky(or unlucky) you are I guess , though I’m certain the chances of it coming from LFS water or a healthy-looking fish that can still carry these parasites are much, much higher. Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

More specifically it would signify stability. You can have good water at any one time like after a big water change but if it isn’t consistently decent at least, you probably won’t see much coralline growth in the long term Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

Looks like coralline algae to me Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

Couldn’t agree more on point no. 2 I think customer service is what truly sets the various LFS apart, cause like you said, even though we can assume and place our trust in our most patronized LFS, we can’t exactly be sure where and how they were caught either, cause most of the fish probably came a long way and went through a number of middlemen before the LFS, then to the consumer. Then again it’s not so bad here as it is in the states or UK cause Singapore is also part of SEA/tropical Asian regions which is where most of the fishes come from IMO the LFS that are most transparent about where their fish were from and how they were obtained are perhaps the more reliable choice, but who knows how the fish were actually obtained and transported at the source? In that time they may have been bundled with plenty other fish for hours with no food. This is probably why many LFS promote pellet-eating, ‘stable’ fishes. But again, it’s up to the consumer to do their due diligence to Ensure that the fish truly is alright. I’ve seen fish that are feeding well suddenly die 2 Days later due to diseases like velvet. Very common in the aquarium trade due to the way fishes are shipped/transported together en masse. Also I’m pretty sure unethical practice of capture like via cyanide is still common in places like Indonesia and the Philippines. And with more and more bans from other more reputable places like Hawaii and Australia(the latter tends to really jack up the prices too), our bargain hunter of a community is certainly more prone to getting the cheaper options that tend to come from sources like Indonesia and the Philippines. Either way, TLDR; catch your own fish so you know exactly how it was obtained heh [emoji51] Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

‘Black ich’ is actually a parasitic worm. If I’m not mistaken, praziquantel works for this. Doesn’t work on regular ich cause regular ich is a protozoan parasite and not a worm. Praziquantel should be Reef-safe unless you have ornamental worms in your system. But as with any other treatment a QT is always the most ideal Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

Found. Mods please assist to delete this thread. Thanks SRC Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

Hahahah. Stuff like this reminds me of the Dettol method of dipping corals. Effective, but can go horribly wrong if you don’t know what you’re doing Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

Thanks for the insight! Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

In a large system, sure. In a nano tank? Fish, sure. Can’t say the same about the anemones and soft corals Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

If you can accommodate a large refugium with ample macroalgae, that’s one of the best ways of nitrate export without water changes imo. Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app