[RobG]

Here's the situation:

My 90g has been up and running since April. I've been careful to slowly add livestock to the tank.

Current fish are 3 green chromis and 1 yellow tang.

Inverts include: Bubble coral, 2 sarco. sp. leathers, 2 anthelia colonies, red/green mushrooms, several colonies of hitchhiker polyps (zooanthid, I think), 1 Sally Lightfoot, lots of snails, red hermits, couple of emerald crabs, 1 coral banded shrimp, 3 peppermint shrimp and a red skunk cleaner shrimp

Either way, that's just some background. My friend called me today to see if I wanted to take a mated pair of maroon clowns off his hands, free of charge. I wasn't quite ready to add more fish yet, but that's hard to resist.

The one catch, is that he's giving them away so he can tear his entire FOWLR tank down and start again. The reason he's starting again is because just about everything else in the tank was wiped out in a 2 week span. He is unsure of the reason for the mass death (I feel for the guy, really unfortunate event), but has a feeling that it was mercury poisoning. One of his thermometers broke about a month ago, and he believes that may have poisoned the tank. It was not Ich, it was not water params (he swears by this, at least -- I didn't check them myself)... It could have been another disease, and that's what scares me.

So the question that took me a really long time to get to (sorry for the long post, but if I don't provide the info, someone always asks for it later ) is:

Should I take them and add 'em to my reef? Maroon clowns were on my list of must-have fish, and they aren't all that cheap around here -- with mated pairs almost impossible to find.

One more note: I don't have a quarantine tank for them so they'd go directly into the main tank.

Really wanting to do it (compulsive), but holding off for some advice (I actually do think straight sometimes),

Rob

[saltjunkie]

I am not sure of the affects of mercury, but if the fish seem healty, and i knew more about the above.... I would take them?

[organicreefer]

first off im pretty positive that the thermometers sold for use in fish tanks have no mercury in them ,so i doubt that was the reason for the deaths.so i would say youre definitely taking a chance with the health of youre tang and chromis.i know i would want them too so you have some tough decisions to make .isnt there any way you can set-up a ten gallon or so tank to hold them in for a couple weeks?

[Neal359]

w i would go with them and maby dip them in a low salinity dip just to be safe

[Mikeman]

I would go for them, if they weren't showing any kind of sickness

[tendar]

I would take them. Ihave a pair of gold stripe maroons in my reef and they are the coolest. If they seem helathy and all his other stuff died 2 weeks ago they should be fine, but then you never know.

[hcp28]

I'd say to be on the safe side put them in a quarentine for a few weeks just to make sure. Maroon's are really hardy fish and may have fought off whatever killed the other or they may just be taking longer to die. I'd say put them in quarentine and keep a good eye on them I wouldn't want an outbreak of some disease wiping out my fish and corals. HTH

Henry

[FishKid]

I would buy a 10 gal tank ($8) a thin layer of gravel, and an aqua clear 150 or even a aquaclear mini, if you want to go cheap. use water from your tank, instead of disgarding water change water...

thats how i would do it, unless you have some type of filter, you would most likely have to pay $30 or so.. I wouldnt put a fish straight in like that.. If you do, remember to say your prayers before lights out, and definatly knock on wood!

mark

[Penguin]

I agree with organicreefer. Aquarium thermometers don't usually contain mercury so the fish probably died from something else. If you can't quarantine them I wouldn't take them.

[RobG]

Thanks for all the responses. Basically, the voting speaks for what I think I should do, but I'm going to try and get a quarantine together first.

I have the following extra equipment lying around. Is this acceptable for a quarantine? Or will I need skimmer, better lights, powerheads, sand, live rock etc?

35g long tank
HOT Magnum filter w/ Biowheel attachment
NO Single bulb lighting

I know I'll need a heater, but that's cheap. Will that equipment do the trick for the couple of weeks I'd want to quarantine them?

On that note, how long should I quarantine them for?

Thanks,

Rob

[RedFishBlueFish]

That equipment sounds fine for a quarantine tank - I have a 20g with a penguin power filter and a heater - that's it. I don't have any substrate - I put a dark color towel underneath the tank . I broke a ceramic flower pot in half to give the fish a hiding place.

As to the clowns - I would keep them in there for at least 3 weeks.

Good luck - I have a mated pair of Maroon clowns - by far my favorite fish. They are beautiful and very active.

[organicreefer]

robg:sounds like an excellent quarantine setup.i would take water from youre display ,as weel as some sand/ gravel(maybe even a couple hunks of live rock),and you have an instantly semi stable(as long as you dont feed often)enviroment if the filter has been running on the tank even better.
i agree with redfishbluefish on the three weeks,and im glad youre doing the right thing

[hcp28]

I think ix-nay on the substrate aye. If there is a disease on these fish it will get into the substrate and you will never be able to use that substrate again, plus ifyou were to choose to dose with copper it would leech into the substrate and rocks and you would never be able to use them again in your main tank, or in your quarentine since some fish are very sesitive to copper ie. tangs. I think blue has the best alternative since you can disgard the flower pot when you are done medicating. I would also add that I would have the penguin running on the main tank to seed it with bacteria so when it is transferred over to the quarentine tank it can do it's job more efficently. HTH

Henry

[organicreefer]

i suggested the rocks/sand only if you dont have another active biological filter you can add .as was stated in the original post the fish appear healthy ,in the event you need to medicate yes you would remove the rocks/sand.as far as any disease is concerned leaving the rocks /sand in quarantine from fish for a couple weeks takes care of that jmo