tiggs
Active Member
So I've had my latest nano up for a little over 3 months and things were going great. I had a pair of Grade A Davinci clowns, a nice selection of inverts, and a tank full of colorful frags of all types waiting to grow in. My levels are extremely consistent and with the combination of automation, good husbandry, Prodibio products, and religious maintenance, I'm starting to venture into the ULNS arena. This is especially hard with a skimmer-less nano that's only a few months old.
Skip to about a week ago and I'm starting to plan out a new coral grow-out setup. Since my options for stocking fish are limited in a 14G nano, I decide I'm going to get something to occupy the grow-out system that's a bit more of an open water swimmer. I happen to be at Petco picking up some frozen food and noticed that they had a nice selection of fairy wrasses on sale. Impulsive as hell, I decide I'll pick one up now and house him with my other two fish until my grow-out tank is cycled.
Fast forward to today and now all of my fish are gone, wiped out by a velvet infestation brought in by the new fish. By the time I noticed it, it was too late. The worst part about this is that I've been keeping reefs of all types and sizes for the last 15 years, so I should know better than this. I always preach to QT everything and plan out livestock purchases instead of acting on impulse. Unfortunately, I didn't take my own advice and even though it's been over a decade since I've introduced a fish into my DT without a proper QT, it really bit me in the butt. All it takes is one slip up to really set you back quite a bit and my clowns paid the ultimate price.
The only purpose I have for posting this is to hopefully stop someone else from making the same mistake I did. As easy as it is to get caught up in all the cool advanced stuff that we monitor and tinker with, you can't skip the basics ever. Properly QT'ing fish is about as basic as it gets for good husbandry and for whatever reason, I disregarded that. Now I'm stuck with a fallow tank for 2.5 months. PLEASE, learn from my mistake and don't let this happen to you.
Skip to about a week ago and I'm starting to plan out a new coral grow-out setup. Since my options for stocking fish are limited in a 14G nano, I decide I'm going to get something to occupy the grow-out system that's a bit more of an open water swimmer. I happen to be at Petco picking up some frozen food and noticed that they had a nice selection of fairy wrasses on sale. Impulsive as hell, I decide I'll pick one up now and house him with my other two fish until my grow-out tank is cycled.
Fast forward to today and now all of my fish are gone, wiped out by a velvet infestation brought in by the new fish. By the time I noticed it, it was too late. The worst part about this is that I've been keeping reefs of all types and sizes for the last 15 years, so I should know better than this. I always preach to QT everything and plan out livestock purchases instead of acting on impulse. Unfortunately, I didn't take my own advice and even though it's been over a decade since I've introduced a fish into my DT without a proper QT, it really bit me in the butt. All it takes is one slip up to really set you back quite a bit and my clowns paid the ultimate price.
The only purpose I have for posting this is to hopefully stop someone else from making the same mistake I did. As easy as it is to get caught up in all the cool advanced stuff that we monitor and tinker with, you can't skip the basics ever. Properly QT'ing fish is about as basic as it gets for good husbandry and for whatever reason, I disregarded that. Now I'm stuck with a fallow tank for 2.5 months. PLEASE, learn from my mistake and don't let this happen to you.
