Identifying polyps on side of tank

[thegrins]

Hi! I am a brand new aquarist and have only been at this for about 6 months. I have definately made my share of mistakes but think I'm getting the hang of things now. I have a 10 gallon tank with ceramic media that has been seeded with bacteria. I have had two unsucessful attempts at adding fish. The first was a Bangaai Carndnial bought from a retailer that didn't quarantine the fish before sale (should have read the yelp reviews first!) and died within a week. Several weeks passed and I introduced a clownfish. The fish did well and then developed MI (which I assume was in the tank from the first fish) and then died a few days later. The tank has been fish-free for over 4 weeks now, however during this time I have noticed small, cilliated polyps on the side of the tank. They are about 1/16th to 1/8th of an inch in size with 6-8 clilia.

Can someone help me identify what these might be? I would like to add more fish without fearing that whatever these polyps are won't kill my fish? Would you suggest starting over from scratch by emptying the tank, steralizing it and recycling it?

Please help. Thanks!

[Original Fin]

We would need pictures to help you on that one, but 4 weeks fallow is not quite long enough to starve ich of hosts.
You need to wait another 4 weeks for the potential ich lifecycle to play itself out.
A 10 gallon tank is too small as a permanent home for all but a few very tiny tropical marine fish, including cardinals and anemonefish. I would use the 10 as a quarantine tank, and get something a bit bigger, like a 29 if you want to try again with a Bangaii Cardinal or smaller clownfish (percs/occelaris).

Also, I'd ditch the ceramic media and go with live rock (1.5x system volume for moderate stocking, 2x for heavy) and a skimmer. That's the best filtration method for marine fishkeeping.

You didn't mention anything about your water parameters. I'd like to know more about that before advising you to add any more fish. An unsuccessful string of attempts to acclimate fish might be an indicator that your water conditions are unsuitable, so we need to try to rule that out first before assuming the fish were already diseased upon introduction.

Let us know.


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[Reefing Madness]

We would need pictures to help you on that one, but 4 weeks fallow is not quite long enough to starve ich of hosts.
You need to wait another 4 weeks for the potential ich lifecycle to play itself out.
A 10 gallon tank is too small as a permanent home for all but a few very tiny tropical marine fish, including cardinals and anemonefish. I would use the 10 as a quarantine tank, and get something a bit bigger, like a 29 if you want to try again with a Bangaii Cardinal or smaller clownfish (percs/occelaris).

Also, I'd ditch the ceramic media and go with live rock (1.5x system volume for moderate stocking, 2x for heavy) and a skimmer. That's the best filtration method for marine fishkeeping.

You didn't mention anything about your water parameters. I'd like to know more about that before advising you to add any more fish. An unsuccessful string of attempts to acclimate fish might be an indicator that your water conditions are unsuitable, so we need to try to rule that out first before assuming the fish were already diseased upon introduction.

Let us know.


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That about covers it for questions.
And

[thegrins]

Thanks. I should have mentioned the water parameters. At the time the each of the fish were introduced and during the time they were in the tank the parameters were as follows (using the API saltwater liquid test kit):

Temp: 80 F
Sg: 1.025
pH: 8.2
TAN: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 0-20ppm

I will try to upload a photo.

I did a lot of homework prior to and since on the tank size and other hardware considerations and agree that a larger tank would be the better choice for a beginner. (I just need someone to reassure me!) I had the smaller tank and thought I could make it work with diligent maintainence.

[Reefing Madness]

The other element that would help us out is, what is your Phospahte level? That may tell us if you are just at the start of a problem algea or not.

[thegrins]

I did not check the phosphate levels.

I have actually decided to go with a larger tank that a collegue is giving me.

Thanks again for the advice.