Where do you put YOUR nori clip?

[Grace]

My bf and I are the proud new owners of a beautiful powder blue tang (going through her second stage of ich, and she's eating like a champ, never hiding really healthy... aside from the ich.) Ich isn't the problem. The problem: obviously since we have a tang we need a clip for nori so she can nibble throughout the day (and other fish enjoy it as well.) Well, they nibble on it before our mexican turbo snail gets ahold of the nori, then the snail just inhales the rest (which is about 2-3") and leaves a little 1" piece left for the fish. We go through Nori like mad because of the turbo. So, any ideas or do i just get to live with a snail inhaling my nori :lol

[LoneStar]

I put it towards the top of the tank, away from the pump. I use the magnet clip so its easy to move lower to the tank without getting my hands wet ;)

[hammondegge]

zip tie one to another and clip it to the center brace,(get rid of the suction cups) or if you dont have a center brace this will work from the side. this also solves the problem of the suction cups wearing out.

[hobogato]

i have a short piece of fishing line tied to the clip and fastened to the insid of the canopy, then i just suction cup it to the side of my overflow about 3" down. when the fish rip it off of the glass ( and they always do ) the fishing line keeps me from having to dig it out of the rocks when it sinks.

[Reef69]

Grace- Ich is very much the problem.. Ive never heard of fish going through gradual stages until it disappears...if ich is there..and if its not treated, it will stay there.. (i dont know if you are doing copper or hypo right now)..From what i hear you are not doing either since you have it with tubo snails..I dont mean to be the party pooper but PBs are VERY tough fish..and may cause an ich outbreak in your tank..it just happened to a fellow reefer on this site..Just thought you should know..

[Grace]

Grace- Ich is very much the problem.. Ive never heard of fish going through gradual stages until it disappears...if ich is there..and if its not treated, it will stay there.. (i dont know if you are doing copper or hypo right now)..From what i hear you are not doing either since you have it with tubo snails..I dont mean to be the party pooper but PBs are VERY tough fish..and may cause an ich outbreak in your tank..it just happened to a fellow reefer on this site..Just thought you should know..

I already know all about Powder Blues and we're doing all we can for her. She's still really new to the tank and has to get rid of it herself, as it's about inevitable for her not to go through it. The tank is stabalized, been up 2years and she isn't stressing out the other fish for outbreaks of ich. Thanks for the warning though.

[Reef69]

No problem, just making sure..Im sure you know about the swimming stages of cryptocaron irritans and all that stuff..But im glad to know shes eating, might help to fight the parasite.

[don-n-sa]

Actually ick can be defeated naturally....when I say naturally, it means by using garlic to help keep the fish eating. I have had several cases ( in my tank ) where one or more of my fish get ick, fight it off, and it goes away. There is risks involved in doing it that way. 1. your fish lose the battle and die 2. most likely ( like reef69 said ) ick will always be present in your tank since you never actually get rid of it, which could hurt you in the long run when you add a new fish, or if something happens to stress your tanks inhabitants.

IME it is pratically impossible to rid your tank of ICK....you would have to remove all of your fish, put them in QT and use copper and/or hypo for up to 6 weeks , while your tank has absolutely no fish.

The way I have done it is risky but it definitly is less stressful on your fish and you.

BTW I have lost only one fish to ICK in the last 2yrs...and that fish died while in QT after treatment.

HTH

[scuba_steveo]

I too think the ich is the problem. Are you treating it? If so, how?

[Grace]

I too think the ich is the problem. Are you treating it? If so, how?

Hmm how is ick relevant to my snail eating my nori or where to put my clip hehe^^; (granted I mentioned it because I am proud of my Powder Blue, and in honesty I can't say she doesn't have it in her new state :) )

But in any case: We have a UV light on to help kill the parasites in the water channel (I've heard both sides of the argument of the pros and cons of the UV light) and we put garlic, zoe and zoecon in the fish food when we feed (have always done this even when we didn't have ich, or blue.) She eats normally, and never hides.

[Ram_Puppy]

comeon guys, were obviously not talking to a noob if she has had the tank up and running for 2 years. ;)

grace, I think the above suggestionis about placement of the clip are great, but I also think, for the most part, keeping a turbo off nori is like trying to keep the sun from setting. it's just one of those things.

Not an alternative to grazing, but CB Pets sells an outstanding food made locally that is jammed full of sea weed and krill, my purple tang and lemon tang loved it.

[scuba_steveo]

Sounds like you are doing all you can for it inside the tank. Like you I have heard both sides of the UV debate. I use UV and like.
I hope the fish does well, I am sure it will.

[lachrimae]

I've also seen ick "go away" for good after fish became tolerant of it. I can't recall the source (wetwebmedia?) but there are reports of fish becoming resistant or, perhaps, immune to ick once they've had it once or twice. Personal experience has shown me that once a fish has ick once or twice, it doesn't get it again... Naturally, this is NOT the best method for beating ick due to the risk of losing the fish during the "immunization".

One thing that I haven't seen an answer to is whether or not ick can continue to survive once all fish in the tank have become tolerant or immune to it. Either it continues to thrive on the fish though not visibly or it dies, not sure which. If ick does die away once fish can naturally defend against it, there wouldn't be a risk for new additions to the tank. I'd like to know if that's the case.

Nori? I use an all-plastic chip clip (no metal spring) glued to a mini mag-float. LoneStar mentionend the same method... MarineDepot used to sell pre-made magnetic nori clips but stopped carrying them for whatever reason last I checked. I couldn't find them elsewhere which is why I made my own ($4 for small mag float & $1 for plastic chip clip). Works wonders...

[Grace]

I have my fingers crossed Steveo :) I think at this point that's all I can do! On a side note, I really like the UV lights too and haven't had problems with it! What UV system are you running?

Ram Puppy, I'll have to tell my bf about this food, sounds yummy! Right now I'm feeding Life Line (Herbivore Minced) for the Tang and Foxface Lo. (Btw, is it called anything special?)

lachrimae: what a neat idea for the nori clip!

Thanks alot for sharing your methods everyone :)

[Ram_Puppy]

Grace, I can't remember the name of the food, but you can't miss it, it's sold in bulk so you can either have them put it in a paper bag for you, or you can take a tupper wear with you and fill it up there. it truly is great stuff.

For a good part of last year my tank was practically burried in a room where my wife and i were putting stuff while we worked on remodeling our apartment (old furniture, general crap you grow out of.) doing maintenance on the system was tough as it was hard to see much less get to. One of the things I gave up on was feeding a varried diet of frozen foods and nori, I just wasn't capable of it and even considered getting rid of everything and shutting the system down until I could clear the room out (finally done! :) )

Anyhow, long story short, my tangs did great on this stuff for many months with out showing any of the degenerative conditions you see from a non-varied diet in tangs, no HITH, no lateral line erosion, they were fat and healthy.

Sadly, When I broke down the tank to make room for the new one I had the tangs in a big 16 gallon tub, and one day left the RO line in there while topping off and forgot about it. 12 hours later I had a fresh water reef system. I lost all my invert life but the fish survived, however this I think stressed the tangs quite a bit and when I moved them to a quarantine system at a friends while I went on a cruise, the purple killed the lemon and then the purple game down with a disease I am about to butcher, I think it is called guligia, i would have to be sure, but it's incurable and destroys the fish from the inside out. i.e. the purple was euthanized. :( such a pretty fish.

Now I have decided not to transfer any live rock to the new system without first nuking it (leave it out in the sun, then rinse it, put it in a tub with a good piece of LR to cook it for about 8 weeks. I do not want that disease in my new tank. I have bleached all my old equipment and sterilized everything as best I can... here's hoping...

anyway... that was a lot of text to say it's awesome food.

[Grace]

What a horrible tragedy! I'm so sorry you had to go through that :(

[Ram_Puppy]

It was my own stupid self that did it, and There really wasn't very much to lose. I did really like that purple tang though. :) no biggie and I don't want to hijack your thread.

[bigdscobra]

Get rid of the turbos they always messup stuff anyways :wacko , I have my clip halfway up the glass and have had no problems with the snails getting to it.

[Ram_Puppy]

this is true, the pacific trochus is a much better grazer, but turbos have their place.

[GaryP]

In case my less then socially adept brethren forgot to take care of the formalities, welcome to MAAST Grace.

[LoneStar]

anyway... that was a lot of text to say it's awesome food.


good cause thats all I read LOL

[technomex]

I just krazy-glued the suction cup of a nori clip from the LFS to a mag-float.