And for the good, the bad, and the ugly...my fish update. First, I'll start off and say I have never used a QT. This may be a dumb thing, but in 12 years of fish buying I had never had a bad experience....until recently. Long story short, my LFS owner medicated all new arrivals, could tell you exactly how long they had been in the store, were they eating, etc. He got out of business for a short time and I questioned the staff about medicating practices, etc. I was assured they were medicating. Well, they weren't. Previous owner came back and told me he found out they were cutting corners. He was very disappointed, and also heard that others were having fish problems.
I think the problem may have originated from a fairy wrasse. My beloved yellow tang got sick suddenly, and before I could get to the fish store and start medicating, I lost him. It literally happened overnight. He was a favorite. I had him for 6 years and everybody loved that tang. First time I shed a tear over a fish.
Meanwhile, I still didn't know what exactly was going on until the clown started the white stringy poo, along with the flasher wrasse. My favorite LFS (now back under the original owner) was almost destroyed in a tornado and had shut down, so I ventured to another LFS and was told to try General Cure and Focus, which I did for several weeks after reading some of the disease threads. I thought all was well and stopped the treatment. The white stringy poo came right back. After reading more threads, I started fenbendazole and Focus, again for several weeks. Once again, I thought all was well.
In total, I had lost my tang, the fairy wrasse, and my dragonet. I am still in watch and wait mode and have the clown (12 years), cherub angel (6 years), clown goby and 2 damsels (probably 2 years) and the flasher wrasse and watchman goby (most recent additions, probably 6 months or so).
I think the clown may be resistant to cure, so if I see the white stringy poo, he goes in the hospital tank and I will treat the water plus start treatment with medication and Focus in the hospital tank and the DT. I'm not buying ANY fish until I'm 100% sure this problem is over. I've never spent so much time staring at what comes out of fish butts!!! So far, nice brown little poos out of most of them, except I'm still watching the clown. We wouldn't have this problem if they didn't enjoy eating each other's poo so much. ;Vomit
As far as my future stocking plans, I would like to add two more wrasses, maybe an exquisite, mystery, Lubbock's, or a red head solon. My last fish will be a tang. I know a yellow is pushing it in a 90-gallon tank, but my other one did great for over 6 years. I don't know. I may do a bristletooth or a Kole tang. There might be room for a little blenny. Meanwhile, I keep staring at fish butts and watching fish poo. Fun, fun! ;Joyful
This started making me really nervous, so I decided it's time to replace the heater.I bought a new Finnex with a controller, very similar to what I had. I have attached the new one, but still have the old one in turned down to about 75. I want to make sure the new one is doing exactly what I want it to before disconnecting the old one. I will keep it as an emergency backup.
