Rocketman's New Dual 175g Bullnose Build Thread

Another update:

- The Potters are not looking good and I fear they will not make it through the next 24 hours.

- The LT tang is likewise not looking good, but he has been in that state for a while. The Purple and Sailfin are showing some signs, but likewise have been showing similar signs for a while.

- The Six Line Wrasse and new Tribal(?) Blenny are showing no signs whatsoever.

- I witnessed a very interesting phenomenon this morning. The Six Line was actually cleaning the LT Tang. Never seen nor heard of that before.

- I am trying to decide if I should completely break down the rock work and pull the remaining fish to be medicated.

 

As far as the sixline wrasse phenom you mentioned, I have heard/read a few folks that have seen the same thing. It sounds like it may not be common, but can happen. I think I even read someone else on 3 reef post something about. I've also heard that they will sometimes "pair up" with another fish and become almost inseparable.

Kinda cool I think...

 

Very sorry to hear of the troubles.

If the system goes fallow for long enough, will the marine velvet die off like ich? How long would that have to be?

Any suspicion as to what introduced it?

 

Velvet, like nearly every parasite, needs a host to remain viable. If you leave the system void of fish for long enough then it will die off like ich does. The only good news here is that it has a shorter lifecycle than ich. The bad news for me is that it will be nearly impossible to get the tank empty because I will never be able to catch the new blenny.

Another option for me is to isolate the tank and take the salinity down. I can much more easily remove the few corals I've got in the tank and move them over to the other, keep it in hypo-salinity mode for a couple weeks then bring it back up again. I've read that 1.010-1.012 will do it.

As to what brought it in, it could have been anything - even just a single snail. As a matter of fact, it could have been in the tank already and then "allowed" to become a problem due to a stressed fish. The issue with any parasite in a tank is that if not controlled they breed to unnaturally high levels and then overwhelm even the healthiest of fish.

The possibilities are:

- It came in on one of the original FL fish or existing fish in the tank

This I consider unlikely because there was no sign of anything until just a couple weeks ago.

- It came in on the last load of fish/rock/corals/crabs that I put in the tank a couple weeks ago.

This is the most likely timing and it could have been any of the above. As I mentioned earlier, the last tank I had this in it came from a new piece of live rock. That was a tough one too. I had a nice, healthy reef tank with a number of very cool fish and a single piece of rock destroyed it - leaving the corals and inverts, of course.

 

Would a UV filter help with Velvet?

 

Velvet is more susceptible to UV than Ich (about 3 times). With that said, it would still take a pretty high dose.

UV sterilizers are typically rated for their specified GPH at a dosage of 15,000 microwatt-second/cm2. Velvet requires 105,000 mW-s/cm2, or 7 times the rated amount.

If I were to isolate one tank (completely doable) and run a UV sterilizer at a turnover rate of 4 times per hour (probably low, would like higher), I would need a sterilizer rated for 175*3*7 = 4900 gph = 82 gpm

Lifeguard Aquatics makes a 120 watt model for just under $700 that would do it.

 

Good to know. I figured the scale of your setup would be a challenge. I would be curious to see what you come up with. Good luck!

 

wow, what a thread! i can't believe that i missed this build. I,m sorry to hear about the velvet but the tank is fantastic. i love the lights and th DIY seaweed clip.

 

Amid my velvet woes, when I went to the fish room this morning to do a water change, I was greeted by a bunch of teeny Nessarius Snails in my fuge - as in a ton of them. I tried to get a pic, but not too successful with my IPhone. Will try with a camera tonite.

 

Hope the velvet issue gets resolved fast!