- Well, hello there.
Fancy seeing you here.
My name is Matthew.
I am your BRS beginner guru,
coming at you with episode 38, part B
in the beginner how to guide
for saltwater aquariums and reef tanks,
top 10 beginner mistakes.
In case you missed episode 38 part A, check it out.
But here's a recap of the first three mistakes
we talked about.
Common issue number one, new tank syndrome.
It is when ammonia and nitrite,
both of which are quite toxic for fish,
rise rapidly in a new aquarium.
How do you fix new tank syndrome?
Well, first of all, you got to do a large water change.
The common beginner mistake number two,
which I still make to this day,
is not preventing nuisance algae growth.
But what I did next was the worst thing I could possibly do.
That was a pretty good recap.
But without further ado, here we go, episode 38, part B.
Number three is causing a cyanobacteria problem.
Cyanobacteria looks very similar to algae,
but it's actually a bacteria.
It typically grows on the surface of the sand bed
and on the rockworks, and when left unchecked,
it can cover everything in your tank.
Let me see if I can find a picture or a video.
But I had some instances where it just blanketed everything
in the purple-looking slime that looked terrible.
It's highly photosynthetic, it loves areas of low flow,
and it seems to thrive in low-nutrient environments.
And I'm talking about if you use too much GFO
and you bring your nitrates and phosphates down to zero.
Typically it shows up in tanks
where the owner is obsessive compulsive about maintenance.
I'm very guilty of that.
I've gotten better, but I'm very guilty of that.
In their quest to prevent green hair algae,
or other turf algaes,
what these beginners will do is go crazy with maintenance,
do huge water changes,
and usually will use some sort of chemical media, like GFO,
to make sure they keep their nitrates and their phosphates
zero, like below zero.
But cyanobacteria thrives
in those low-nutrient environments.
It used to be that we thought zero nitrates
and zero phosphates was a good thing,
but we now know that your corals need nitrates
and phosphates to grow and to thrive,
so keeping zero nitrates and zero phosphates
is a terrible idea.
In fact, I shoot to keep my nitrate levels
somewhere between three and five parts per million,
and my phosphate levels somewhere between 0.05
and 0.15 parts per million.
So with any new tank, you're really walking this tight rope
between two little nutrients,
which can cause cyanobacteria outbreak,
and too many nutrients, which can lead to green hair algae.
It's a fine line to tread, but if you test frequently,
you'll be able to get on top of the problems
before they spiral out of control.
There are chemical treatments for cyanobacteria.
I've used Chemiclean many times in the past,
and it does work well.
A Chemiclean is an antibiotic
so it has the potential to kill off some beneficial bacteria
in your tank.
The problem I've noticed with Chemiclean,
if I rely on Chemiclean too much,
I can eventually get a dinoflagellate outbreak,
which is way, way worse.
But that's a conversation for another day.
So then what's the best way to prevent cyanobacteria
from ever showing up in your tank?
Number one is having a good flow rate
throughout your entire tank,
making sure there are no dead spots anywhere,
and also being sure you test frequently,
and that your nitrates and your phosphate levels
are at least detectable, certainly not at zero.
If you do end up getting cyano, which you probably will,
I've gotten cyano in probably all of my tanks
at one point or another,
I found the best way to get rid of it,
if you don't want to rely on antibiotics like Chemiclean,
is just increase your flow in the areas that it's growing,
do some sort of manual removal
using a gravel vacuum every single day,
and increase your nitrate and phosphate levels.
Usually if I do all three of these things,
I can get rid of cyanobacteria probably in about a month.
Beginner mistake number four
is not planning for fish aggression.
Most fish are at least somewhat territorial,
and in a small home aquarium,
they're going to protect their space to some degree.
Some fish start out relatively peaceful,
but over time may develop more territorial tendencies.
There are a plethora of ways to deal with fish aggressivity,
from choosing the right fish to begin with,
learning when best to introduce a new fish,
creating more hiding spaces and feeding more.
For example,
let's say you want to add a semi-aggressive fish,
like a Six-line wrasse.
If you do any sort of research,
you're going to find some people
who absolutely love Six-line wrasses and who have them,
and they live peacefully with the other fish,
and then you're going to find examples of people
who think they are the devil in beautiful purple stripes
because they go after everyone.
But I love my Six-line wrasse
and my Six-line wrasse is actually really peaceful.
But the trick for a Six-line wrasse
and for other aggressive fish
is you need to add them last to your tank.
Whenever you're adding fish to your tank,
you should always add the most peaceful fish first
and the most aggressive fish last,
because what ends up happening,
if you add a Six-line wrasse first to your tank,
he or she is going to think the entire tank
is his or her territory,
and then is going to defend it a lot
when you add any other sort of fish.
But if you add more peaceful fish first
and they're able to find their own area and their territory,
then you add the Six-line wrasse at the very end,
the Six-line wrasse already knows that this territory
is for these other fish and tends to leave them alone more.
Let's say you followed our stock list from episode 31 B
and everything goes fine for the first few weeks,
but then let's say you start to notice
some aggressive behavior and some nipped fins.
What do you do now?
The first thing you could do
is try feeding a little bit more.
Maybe everyone's not getting enough food
so just adding a little bit more
might make the aggressivity die down.
You could also try feeding different parts of the tank
because maybe the one area you're feeding
isn't getting to all of your inhabitants,
so maybe try feeding two or three places at the same time
and see if that helps.
Another option, if this is possible for you,
is to rearrange your aquascape,
and do it in such a way that gives more hiding places
and more visual breaks
so the fish don't always have to be staring at each other.
Then again,
there are some fish species that tend to do better
with more of their species, rather than less.
For example, if you have two Chromis,
you might have one Chromis just constantly pecking
at the other Chromis and maybe eventually killing it.
But if you put in five, six, seven Chromis,
then they may be able to spread the aggression around,
which is better for everyone.
Sometimes another trick that works
is that you can catch an aggressive fish
and put it in the breeder box.
Sometimes giving a fish a timeout in a breeder box
for like a week, allows all the other fish
to reassert their authority over the aquascape,
and then when you release that aggressive fish back,
things can even out.
It doesn't work all the time, but it does work sometimes.
But if all else fails and sometimes it just does,
then you're going to have to remove the aggressive fish
and find a new home for it.
Oftentimes, your local fish store
is more than happy to take that fish back.
Or you can find a friend or local aquarium club
that will take it for you.
Number five, not knowing how to treat fish disease.
When I started out in the hobby,
I really tried to become a fish doctor.
I learned everything I could about bacterial,
viral, and fungal infections and diseases.
I knew the difference between gram-positive, gram-negative,
and broad-spectrum antibiotics,
and I knew which one to use to treat which disease.
I could theoretically tell you if a fish had Ich,
Velvet, or Brooklynella,
and which treatment would work best for each.
Then I bought a whole bin of medications,
including some dangerous ones, like formaldehyde,
which I have long since gotten rid of, safely of course.
I've had some success in treating sick fish in the past,
but I've had way more failures,
and I've come to the realization
that I'm just never going to be an expert.
I don't deal with the volume of fish on a daily basis
to be able to see the diseases
and know how to treat them frequently enough.
I actually don't really treat any of my fish
for disease anymore.
If I do notice a disease
and it's something that's really obvious,
whether it's Brooklynella, Ich, or Velvet,
I will treat them in a quarantine tank,
but I only use reef-safe medications now.
I rarely use copper.
And to be honest, usually the fish end up dying anyways,
because Ich, Velvet, and Brooklynella,
by the time you notice them, are really fast killers.
If you're interested in learning more about this topic,
check out these two really long and detailed blogs
I wrote on my personal website, myfirstfishtank.com.
We'll put links down below if you're interested.
The best thing you can do for your fish,
besides treating them with medication,
is giving them an adequately-sized tank
and a stress-free environment,
because a fish that is stress-free
is usually a healthy and happy fish.
But if, and when you do notice a sick fish
in your display tank,
my recommendation would be to remove them
as quickly as possible
and put them in some sort of hospital quarantine tank.
Even if you don't treat them in the tank,
it will be less likely
that they will be able to infect the other members.
It'll also be helpful to learn the basics for fish disease,
because you will know the difference about when to panic
because your fish is in imminent threat of death,
and when to just sit back and see what happens.
One good example of this would be fungal infections.
They seem to show up in fish from time to time,
and I've had Clownfish that get them.
Oftentimes, they look like some sort of white cottony growth
near the gills or on the body.
And the first time I saw it, I panicked.
But I've learned that most fungal infections
that are exterior in nature tend to resolve on their own
so there is no need to panic for those things.
But then there were other issues that appear like white dots
or some sort of white slime all over their body,
and the most likely culprit is going to be Ich, Velvet
or Brooklynella.
These will kill really quickly.
If you see a fish with that in your display tank,
you can either cross your fingers and hope the other fish
are strong enough not to get it,
or you can remove that sick fish and try to treat it.
But typically, by the time you notice it in one fish,
it's had a chance to spread throughout your tank.
If you do have an outbreak
of one of those three terrible things,
and it kills all your fish,
then you're going to have to let your tank sit fallow
for three to four months with no fish
to make sure that when you put new fish in,
they also won't get sick.
The moral of the story for this
is just quarantine all new fish.
Even if you don't learn how to treat fish at all,
worst case scenario, those new fish die in quarantine,
but on the bright side,
those new fish won't bring disease to all of your other fish
because there isn't nothing worse
than having a thriving tank and thinking,
I'm just going to add one more fish,
that one brings Ich, Velvet or Brooklynella to the tank,
and now you have a tank with no fish.
Okay, I'm going to make a promise to you guys.
That was way too long.
We took two whole videos
to sum up the first five of the common beginner mistakes,
but we're only going to do one more video,
episode 38, part C.
And I promise, I promise we will do the remaining five.
As always, everyone, thanks for watching.
Happy reefing, be well.
We'll see you next time.
(upbeat jazz music)