Questions on corals (newbie)

[40B Knasty]

Man the more I do and find out about this hobby makes me feel so dumb. But honestly I know youre saying my LFS wants money and I completely agree but if they want money he should've told me to just grab one of the clowns I was eyeballing a pair for 160$ and he told me to wait better to risk damsels than those clowns but I know what youre saying they aren't into my tank setup at all they just said "hey youre water is good" ect.
But if that is an inevitable future of having ich I'll probably bring them back soon.. I just didn't want my first fish to be expensive you know. Cause with these two (if they are chillin) I want to basically have as my first trial and error.. But I woke up this morning and they aren't lethargic or anything (suppose it could take another day but tested my ammonia it's actually more yellow than yesterday) no heavy breathing/spots signs of anything as far as I know.
edit: forgot to mention I really dont know how to tell if my tank is cycled thats why I was being so cautious I suppose.

Don't sweat it man. I got suckered into the damsel and green chromis to cycle your tank bit. Then i found out from my buddy to take a table shrimp for 30¢ at your grocery store and stick half in your sand bed and let it rot. It will stink for a few days, but who cares. It is done right. Ammonia goes up. Nitrates & nitrites go up. Nitrites and ammonia go back to zero. Big water change like 70% to pull nitrates out. Give it a few days. Done. Fish in and enjoy. That's what they should just say.

 

[Subuchef]

Don't sweat it man. I got suckered into the damsel and green chromis to cycle your tank bit. Then i found out from my buddy to take a table shrimp for 30¢ at your grocery store and stick half in your sand bed and let it rot. It will stink for a few days, but who cares. It is done right. Ammonia goes up. Nitrates & nitrites go up. Nitrites and ammonia go back to zero. Big water change like 70% to pull nitrates out. Give it a few days. Done. Fish in and enjoy. That's what they should just say.

Definitely trying not to get bummed out because I know its just being a beginner, but would you think my plan is a bad idea? Keeping the damsels to basically learn how to take care of fish ect. fill my tank with coral and have it up and running before swapping them for the fish I wanted in the end?

 

[LBReefer]

Definitely trying not to get bummed out because I know its just being a beginner, but would you think my plan is a bad idea? Keeping the damsels to basically learn how to take care of fish ect. fill my tank with coral and have it up and running before swapping them for the fish I wanted in the end?

Don't sweat it. I did the very same thing based upon the recommendation of my LFS. I would pull the damsels now before you get attached to them or rock work.

Long story short, I had to tear apart my whole tank to get the three damsels out. I couldn't figure out why any new fish I added would die after 3-4 weeks.

 

[40B Knasty]

+1 about ripping apart the rock work.
Ask yourself a series of questions when eyeballing a fish.
Do you know 100% you cycled your tank? If yes. Get what you want.
When did the fish come into the store? After 2 weeks there will be signs of all the don'ts you want in your tank.
Is your tank big enough?
Did I honestly look over the fish for a good 10m for things like ich and velvet. Come back to it after an hour later of browsing and in that time frame amount has it showed any different behavior towards other fish or just in general?
Is it 100% eating before I take it out the door?
Do I have a habitat that would work well for the fish? Whether it be a swimmer, cave dweller, dart in and out fish, digger/sand sifter(soft/fine sand), perching, etc..
Did you do a water change before you bought the fish so it won't be bothered for a week while it settles in for a week and does it's fishy things?
Tight lid/covered screen?
This is a good checklist.
As far as money goes towards a fish. Say I spend a $130. I get 5 years out of it. That is $2.16 a month to have the fish that I really wanted. Doesn't seem so bad does it now

 

[77railer]

+2 on having to take tank apart....humbug damsel was in a 300g live rock vat...used to feed it small pieces of Doritos...asked lfs owner if I caught it could I have it for .25 he said sure but you don't want to do that...long story short using a Dorito as bait I caught that little bugger. 3 months later in tearing down my whole tank just to catch 1 fish since he took so much pleasure in knocking over all my corals on a daily basis....evil little sucker went back in the live rock vat

 

[Subuchef]

Don't sweat it. I did the very same thing based upon the recommendation of my LFS. I would pull the damsels now before you get attached to them or rock work.

Long story short, I had to tear apart my whole tank to get the three damsels out. I couldn't figure out why any new fish I added would die after 3-4 weeks.

+1 about ripping apart the rock work.
Ask yourself a series of questions when eyeballing a fish.
Do you know 100% you cycled your tank? If yes. Get what you want.
When did the fish come into the store? After 2 weeks there will be signs of all the don'ts you want in your tank.
Is your tank big enough?
Did I honestly look over the fish for a good 10m for things like ich and velvet. Come back to it after an hour later of browsing and in that time frame amount has it showed any different behavior towards other fish or just in general?
Is it 100% eating before I take it out the door?
Do I have a habitat that would work well for the fish? Whether it be a swimmer, cave dweller, dart in and out fish, digger/sand sifter(soft/fine sand), perching, etc..
Did you do a water change before you bought the fish so it won't be bothered for a week while it settles in for a week and does it's fishy things?
Tight lid/covered screen?
This is a good checklist.
As far as money goes towards a fish. Say I spend a $130. I get 5 years out of it. That is $2.16 a month to have the fish that I really wanted. Doesn't seem so bad does it now

+2 on having to take tank apart....humbug damsel was in a 300g live rock vat...used to feed it small pieces of Doritos...asked lfs owner if I caught it could I have it for .25 he said sure but you don't want to do that...long story short using a Dorito as bait I caught that little bugger. 3 months later in tearing down my whole tank just to catch 1 fish since he took so much pleasure in knocking over all my corals on a daily basis....evil little sucker went back in the live rock vat

Well you're all saying the same thing so.. I think i'll be taking them back monday or tuesday if i have time, first off how would I transport them back? I know its a simple thing but I'm kind of stumped.. Like what kind of bag, does it matter?

 

[40B Knasty]

Tupperware and send it back with your tank water.

 

[Subuchef]

Tupperware and send it back with your tank water.

Easy enough, quick question when I take them back can I instantly bring home some clowns or do I still need to wait? My water is fine no ammonia spikes, they were both eating happily, but yeah I can see the aggression you guys talked about, the smaller damsel just doesnt do anything cause if he starts swimming the other just goes after him..

 

[40B Knasty]

Yeah man. You should be all set. Just make sure the fish you want are eating. Don't be afraid to ask to see it feed. If they refuse there might be a reason, because a little bit of food for the price of less than a dollar for the exchange of maybe $160 for two clowns. That's a no brainer for them for business. Check them over for white dots or sores. You don't want to be salesman next victim. With clowns. Make sure they have a wobble when they swim. If they swim like a normal fish. That means their swim blatter is messed up.

 

[77railer]

I personally think that $160 for two clowns is way to much....especially if they are regular clowns.

 

[Subuchef]

Yeah man. You should be all set. Just make sure the fish you want are eating. Don't be afraid to ask to see it feed. If they refuse there might be a reason, because a little bit of food for the price of less than a dollar for the exchange of maybe $160 for two clowns. That's a no brainer for them for business. Check them over for white dots or sores. You don't want to be salesman next victim. With clowns. Make sure they have a wobble when they swim. If they swim like a normal fish. That means their swim blatter is messed up.

I personally think that $160 for two clowns is way to much....especially if they are regular clowns.

I agree 160$ is a lot for clowns especially my first, I got a pair for 50$ here are the cute little guys, asked them to feed looked over them no spots, irregularities. Super excited for these two they are tiny as well anyone know how much bigger they will get, they are normal Ocellaris clowns.

 

[77railer]

Paid $25 for Maine Mocha Clown...and $50 for Wyoming Snow Clown

 

[40B Knasty]

Nice fish! The female will get double in size easy. About 6 months of going through the change if and when they are to pair up as mates. $160 is ridiculous for 2 clowns. I don't know what kind of differences there are. All I know is the maroons I love, but the worst to get. Tomatoes not a fan of at all and they are 2nd on the nasty little buggers list. The longfins are very cool and pricey, but who knows what they mutated them with. Almost looks like a coy fish. Give me a good old fashion clown. I am lucky to have a last bar gray for $25. A little different. Never seen them either.

 

[Subuchef]

Paid $25 for Maine Mocha Clown...and $50 for Wyoming Snow Clown

Nice fish! The female will get double in size easy. About 6 months of going through the change if and when they are to pair up as mates. $160 is ridiculous for 2 clowns. I don't know what kind of differences there are. All I know is the maroons I love, but the worst to get. Tomatoes not a fan of at all and they are 2nd on the nasty little buggers list. The longfins are very cool and pricey, but who knows what they mutated them with. Almost looks like a coy fish. Give me a good old fashion clown. I am lucky to have a last bar gray for $25. A little different. Never seen them either.

Ok so i'm going crazy with this tank, I swear these little guys didnt have anything wrong with them before I bought them but now this morning I can clearly see both of them have very short white stringy, something, hanging off the anal area of them..Been reading and it sounds like it might be internal parasites. So since they are the only thing in the tank is there meds I can dose or something to help them out? I tried to feed a tiny bit but only 1 ate a tiny bite that floated right into his face so i'm kind of worried.

 

[40B Knasty]

Maybe this can help with ideas till someone gets on @Humblefish
Internal parasites/intestinal worms:

Symptoms - Internal parasites are worms which live inside and damage a fish’s intestines. As a result, the main symptom is white stringy poop. It has to be white; brown stringy poop, for example, can just mean intestinal irritation which requires no treatment.

Treatment options - It is preferable to food soak a medication in this situation, as opposed to dosing the water. Food soaking delivers the med directly into the gut where the worms live. In order to food soak, you should also use a binder (ex. Seachem Focus) to prevent the medication from leaching out. Binding also makes the treatment reef safe.

Knowing which medication to use can be tricky as there are many different types of internal parasites to consider. For example, tapeworms are best treated using praziquantel whereas only metronidazole will eradicate Hexamita. I personally have had the most success usingmetro; however I will be experimenting with fenbendazole in the future. Below is a list of medications to use; in most cases you can dose them into a QT or food soak:

• API General Cure (contains both praziquantel and metronidazole)
• Prazipro
• Seachem Metroplex (dose every other day or use 1 scoop of Metro & 1 scoop of Focus in 1 tablespoon of food. Add a few drops of saltwater and mix well.)
• FishVet Metro-MS or Hikari Metro+ (same as using Metroplex)
• Dr G's De-Wormer (contains praziquantel) or Dr G's Anti Bacterial (contains kanamycin & metronidazole) frozen fish food. It would be optimal to feed one in the morning, the other in the evening, for full coverage.

Due to the resilience of these critters, it is recommended to treat (or food soak) for a minimum of 10 days or up to 3 weeks. When using a prazi based product, you can initially only dose once; however a second dosage should be administered 7-10 days later. Do a 25% water change beforehand.

 

[Humblefish]

^^ Agree. Need to food soak metro: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/metronidazole.298762/

 

[Subuchef]

Maybe this can help with ideas till someone gets on @Humblefish
Internal parasites/intestinal worms:

Symptoms - Internal parasites are worms which live inside and damage a fish’s intestines. As a result, the main symptom is white stringy poop. It has to be white; brown stringy poop, for example, can just mean intestinal irritation which requires no treatment.

Treatment options - It is preferable to food soak a medication in this situation, as opposed to dosing the water. Food soaking delivers the med directly into the gut where the worms live. In order to food soak, you should also use a binder (ex. Seachem Focus) to prevent the medication from leaching out. Binding also makes the treatment reef safe.

Knowing which medication to use can be tricky as there are many different types of internal parasites to consider. For example, tapeworms are best treated using praziquantel whereas only metronidazole will eradicate Hexamita. I personally have had the most success usingmetro; however I will be experimenting with fenbendazole in the future. Below is a list of medications to use; in most cases you can dose them into a QT or food soak:

• API General Cure (contains both praziquantel and metronidazole)
• Prazipro
• Seachem Metroplex (dose every other day or use 1 scoop of Metro & 1 scoop of Focus in 1 tablespoon of food. Add a few drops of saltwater and mix well.)
• FishVet Metro-MS or Hikari Metro+ (same as using Metroplex)
• Dr G's De-Wormer (contains praziquantel) or Dr G's Anti Bacterial (contains kanamycin & metronidazole) frozen fish food. It would be optimal to feed one in the morning, the other in the evening, for full coverage.

Due to the resilience of these critters, it is recommended to treat (or food soak) for a minimum of 10 days or up to 3 weeks. When using a prazi based product, you can initially only dose once; however a second dosage should be administered 7-10 days later. Do a 25% water change beforehand.

^^ Agree. Need to food soak metro: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/metronidazole.298762/

Where can i buy these i cant find anywhere but online

 

[Subuchef]

Wont let me edit but, I found API general cure, went to 3 places no seachem metro or focus either so I followed the directions and dosed the tank (nothing but the clowns) so i figured it would be ok to dose.. Suppose its a waiting game now.

 

[40B Knasty]

^^ Agree. Need to food soak metro: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/metronidazole.298762/

Haha I hope you agree. I copy pasted it from what you had put on a thread. Till you showed up here to help

 

[Humblefish]

Wont let me edit but, I found API general cure, went to 3 places no seachem metro or focus either so I followed the directions and dosed the tank (nothing but the clowns) so i figured it would be ok to dose.. Suppose its a waiting game now.

General Cure is fine, but it needs to be soaked in food so it can be delivered into the gut where the worms live. You also need to use a binder (ex. Seachem Focus) to prevent it from leaching out.