Formalin Bath
In a separate dedicated container fill with water from your display. Use a 37% formaldehyde solution [brand name Formalin which is sold in the hobby] at 20 drops for each gal of water. Be sure to aerate the bathe water using an airstone that is deadicated to formalin bathes. Place infected fish in the bathe for 45 minutes, every other day, 3-5 treatments.

Warning: This is a toxic medication so don't overdose. When finished with the bath, safely disgard the bath water. Do not use the same water for subsequest treatments. Take care not to have contact with the formalin.

Ich: A Hippo Tang's worst enemy.

Another picture of a clownfish with Brooklynella. It is highly contagious amoung clownfish.

The Brooklynella Battle.

SunnyD Shines

Time for a splash of brightness! After the previous losses, it was time to try again. I headed to Marine Life USA selected a Yellow Tang. I must say that I couldn't be happier. This fish has ton of personality. It is curious, actively swims around the tank, and is not agressive. Typically you should not mix tangs unless your tank is very large. Perhaps one exception is that of Hippos and Yellows. After a couple of months I say that I agree.

Protein Skimmer

A protein skimmer is VERY important in a saltwater tank. It removes dissolved organic material from the water. It does this by making countless tiny bubbles inside a chamber. Dissolved junk hitches a ride on these bubbles and gets collected in a cup. After a while, the cup gets full of smelly dark gunk that is thrown away. I got the AquaC Remora in order to replace the useless piece of junk I used to have. This skimmer is great! I recommend it if you have a tank that is less than 75 gallons.

If you are interested in learning more about skimmers, check out this great page.

A Little More Advanced

This is the latest book I have purchased increase my "skillz." This book was highly recommended in saltwaterfish.com boards. It is by Robert M. Fenner. It is very good. I got it because the first book I had purchased on marine aquariums was a good intro, but after what I had already learned I needed something a little more advanced. I recommend it.

Sea Cucumber

Another addition was this sea cucumber. They say that cucumbers can poison a tank by "exploding" if they are bothered by tank mates, however, this particular type is very safe and not likely to poison anything... Let's hope what they say is true. I acclimated this dude for 2 and half hours using the drip method. Cost: $2.99

Serpent Starfish

New tank buddy! The tank had been lacking in critters to help clean the sand and eat fish poop. So today I went to Marine Life USA and picked up this guy for $5.99. He was pretty active right away... The wife doesn't like it though. Oh well, function over form I say.

Joy Abounds

Finally! Joy happily swims in her old new home. She loves to swim agains the current of the MaxiJet 1200 power head. This happines would not last long ...

A Protein Shaker?

Here is the supposed "skimmer" that came with the Wet/Dry Filter I got from Brian. To say that this piece of junk didn't work would be a major understatement. It was useless. It never collected a single thing! I ended up junking it since I would likely get sued for trying to pass this off as skimmer.

Tank is Ready

A couple of weeks later, I was able to get the large tank ready. First I had to clean the tank with vinegar and water. The reason for this is that you should NEVER use chemicals in or around the tank. Traces of these will remain and cause problems sooner or later.

A Fish Out of Water, Back in Water

At first, Joy (as we named our only fish) was very very shy. She, like all blue hippos, hid by wedging herself underneath rocks and "playing dead." This made me very nervous since I couldn't tell if she was stuck or not! As you can see, she was ok.

29 Gallon Home

I was able to set up the 29 gallon tank with all the live rock, the canister filter, and a small power head. I started the acclimation process. The tang is in the bag. At this point I had the shrimps and hermit crabs in another container.

Tank Arrives

The first day there was chaos! It was a mad rush against time in order to get something ready so that my newly acquired Blue Hippo Tang could be back in a tank.


Another view, capturing some more of the items I got.

First Encounter

tank
Originally uploaded by efb7.

Now that I had read up on the subject, I was eager to get a tank and start for myself. I went to several fish stores in the area looking for good deals, but I was always dissapointed with the prices.

One day, I was browsing classifieds and saw the following posting:

For Sale, 55 Gallon Tank, Custom white wood stand and canopy, W/D Filter with Pump and built in skimmer, Lights, 30-50lb live rock, 15-20 scarlet hermit crabs, cleaner shrimp, 2- peperment shrimp, Hippo Tang, Food, chemicals, test kets, 29 gallon sick tank setup, test kits, heaters, and many other items.All for sale for $500.00. I live in Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood Florida area. Buyer will need to pick up at my home. I no longer have time to devote to the hobby. Looking for a good home for my Hippo Tang.

An Itch To Scratch...

Here is the book that started it all. I had always been interested in salt water fish. One day, I did a little research @ Amazon and thought that this may be a good source of information. I really wanted clarification on a lot of conflicting information. Marine tanks had a reputation for requiring really complicated filtration systems, being expensive, and in general a whole lot of work. I hoped that this book would tell me if all this was true.