The Puffer Forum

Got it and I'm on it.

I hope I wasn't the one who said you should put a DSB in there. I guess I didn't realize the puffer would disturb it to this extent. Only the 1st 1" is ok to have disturbed. It would be best to add a sump with a remote DSB refugium in there with macroalgae, to help control nitrate (along with the VC).

It wasn't you pp. I did about a months worth of research on dsb and thought that would be the way to go. They really don't disturb the sandbed much at all. Most of the sand that Elvis gets on him are from the rocks. There is actually very little space on my sandbed that dosen't have rock covering it. I would say I probally have about 4 sq feet of open sand. Here's a fts so that you can see what I'm talking about:

Pufferpunk,
I came up with a plan. Let me know what you think. I use a 55 gallon drum to mix my saltwater, I can use this to put my lr in. It should hold all the lr. Should I move all the sand out also or can I do hypo with sand in the main tank. My sand is not really live yet. Or should I move the sand into buckets?

My plan:
Move all lr into the 55g drum with a heater and powerhead. Mix my sw in the 30g tank with a heater and powerhead for water changes.
If I have to move out the sand I have 3 buckets I can put it in. I don't have enough powerheads and heaters for the sand. The sand is not really ls yet.
Take the main tank down to hypo (1.009) for 8 weeks.
Replace the sand (no more dsb, make a rdsb instead) and the lr.

Removing the sand might be a real pain without stirring it up and I won't have enough water made for multiple water changes. Should I leave it in or try to siphon most of it out?

I plan to start this tomorrow morning before work and continue working on it once I get off tomorrow night. Please advise if this is a good plan.

Also not sure about lighting for the lr either. The drum is about 4' tall I have the light from the 30g tank I can put over the top if that would help.

Sounds good to me but I've never treated for crypt. Why not post this idea in Puffer Queen's forum over at Marine Depot to be sure?

I had my original post there. Only problem is that she has not logged in since 12/12/08. After watching Elvis get worse over the last week I decided to post here. I left my post there and I have added updates to it. Hopefully she will answer soon.
I'll start working on this disaster in the morning.
Thanks Pufferpunk.

Has anyone here tried treating cryp with flubendazole? I have heard from someone I get fish meds from it will work quite well, but all mechanical and chemical filtration must be disabled, as well as skimming, just powerheads running, and inverts must be removed. It must also be redosed every few days, or often enough to keep the water cloudy, and works even better with metrodazole, because that, while only effective against freeswimmers, stays dissovled in the water for longer periods of time and may help between "reupping" the flubendazole. I may be testing this theory at work soon, as we have a purple pseudochromis with cryp, and possibly adding quinine to the mix as well.

don't know about nick's method but edmlfc1 your plan souns good.

I have treated for ich/crypt several times now (i have a habit of 'rescuing' ich covered puffers (yes, i know) and have used hypo each time. )

If your fish are your priority, then i'd leave the dsb where it is, as the amount of stuff it'll kick up into the tank will only stir up your parameters and stress your fish more. Maybe run your hands through it, see if there are any big critters in there and pull them out first?

Remember to buffer.. please, i lost my first ich patient by not realising the pH crashes as you reduce the salt..

with the live rock in the bucket, you need to be topping up ith RO to stop the salinity jumping sky high, remember to feed every few days to keep the cycling bacteria fed, and light it for a few hours a day if possible.

Let us know how it's going on, you can pm me if you are unsure about something. Wishing you loads of luck, and a strong back for all those Wc's.

t1gerbee wrote: Remember to buffer.. please, i lost my first ich patient by not realising the pH crashes as you reduce the salt..

Do I use something like PH balance 8.2 to buffer the tap water? I have this left over from my cichlids.

t1gerbee wrote:remember to feed every few days to keep the cycling bacteria fed, and light it for a few hours a day if possible.

When you say feed the rock, do you mean drop a piece of shrimp in there to decay? Do I need to test the water daily and do water changes on the lr?

My husband said I should try and put all the smaller rocks in the 30g and leave the two large rocks in the tank so that the eel will have a place to hide. I have a light with that tank and that might work. Also I could still use my 55 drum for water changes which I'm sure I will need.

Just thought about it, lr dying will probally causeing an amm. spike right?

My 30g is full with rock and I have 3 large pieces that will not fit. Should I leave them in the tank or put them outside and let them die off? They don't have much of anything on them. Pictures included:

nice rock stacking! lol its deffinately well packed!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the tank holds all the weight from the rock and don't burst one me.
I moved all the base rock into a trash can. When I get home from work I will lay it out to dry on the patio. Just don't know what to do with the 3 large pieces I have left in the tank. Two would fit in a bucket but I'm out of powerheads and heaters. One won't fit in anything. It's massive and it was a pita getting it into the tank. I have some very upset fish right now.


t1gerbee,
please answer my questions above and here is another one for you....
How fast can I take the tank down to hypo?
The temp on the tank is at 82 degrees should I raise it to 86?

sorry, had to go out shopping... big time difference in the UK/US so if i don't get back to you straight away it's cos i'm probably asleep... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..

Anyways..

Feeding the live rock: Anything, remember live rock eats ammonia, so any ammonia source is fine, a bit of prawn every few daysm anything to keep the cycle going.. otherwise it'll starve to death..

All the bacteria in the main tank will/may die as you lower the salinity, so yeah, you'll get an ammonia spike in theorybut you'll be doing such big water changes to get the salinity down it shouldn't notice.. just keep up big water changes and you'll be fine, if you like testing, then that will help you know whats happening in your tank.

on a positive, once you're down at 1.009 you'll save tons on salt as it takes alot less salt to water change at 1.009...

as for you're live rock i'd take it out... it will mostly die in hypo, which is heartbreaking when you think how much it costs... so i guess i'd take it out and try and keep it alive somewhere.. otherwise if it's going to die an way i'd take it out and leave it out. Put dead rock in for hiding, or guttering or plastic pipework...

least then it is less bacteria dying off in the tank... i've never hypo'd with live rock in, i have killed a piece of live rock though and all these grubs and worms came out... not good for elvis to have that rotting in the tank i don't think..

what is the natural ph of your water? if it is already 8.2 then you should be fine, if not then yes, buffer it with ph balance.. it must stay the same as whatever it is now.

I'd take a couple of days getting the tank intp hypo... just do a large water change a day so it gradually drops the salinity. Your fish are ok, and not critical so you have time. Doing a large change a day will give you time to monitor the fish... see if there are any problems or anyone is reacting badly to it..

I took mine down to 1.009 over about 5 days, but i was in no hurry you see, so wanted to make it as easy for the fish as possible..

leave the temperature as it is, as PP says, ich attacks gills and makes breathing harder for the fish... so upping the temp just reduces the oxygen in the tank and causes further breathing distress..

keep us informed with how it's going.

edmlfc1 wrote:I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the tank holds all the weight from the rock and don't burst one me.
I moved all the base rock into a trash can. When I get home from work I will lay it out to dry on the patio. Just don't know what to do with the 3 large pieces I have left in the tank. Two would fit in a bucket but I'm out of powerheads and heaters. One won't fit in anything. It's massive and it was a pita getting it into the tank. I have some very upset fish right now.

To keep the rock go to your local Homedepot and get some large Rubbermaid containers. I've used them in the past and never had any harm come to anything in them. They're cheap and a quick solution.