Biggest mistakes you made?

[Dieselhybrid]

Trying to cure ich in a ray tank. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Never again... Lost my best pup I ever produced.
I will literally pull every fish out that has parasites before that ever happens again.

For this exactly reason. Along with wasting bioload, and of course disease transmission I no longer buy and collect non stingray species for the most part. I have some old monster aros and dats and Cichla but I won't buy or rescue them anymore, the risk is too great.

 

[Dieselhybrid]

Hard to quarantine and treat a 20-30" fish anyway.

 

[Charliea36]

Didn't realise this was for stingrays. now THAT was my mistake

Lol it doesn't only have to be stingray related

 

[SHARK13]

For this exactly reason. Along with wasting bioload, and of course disease transmission I no longer buy and collect non stingray species for the most part. I have some old monster aros and dats and Cichla but I won't buy or rescue them anymore, the risk is too great.

I'm right there with you on that. Ray's only from here on out. Maybe a couple exceptions but only for a rare monster...

 

[SHARK13]

Dam. That really sucks trying to save one life ended up costing another. Did you end up buying another ray?

Of course, I have many since then. Problem isn't with ray keeping, it's other fish at times. I actually went out and bought 2 of the rarest rays I could find not long after that (Boesemani,) I called it my grieving period. LOL
Here is my little buddy I lost in the process. He just so happened to be in the same system as the fish I was trying to save. We all make mistakes.

 

[Dieselhybrid]

Everyone really should read that sticky about ray safe medications.

I make it easy for myself. I bought bulk metrondiazole, nitrofurazone, praziquantel, and diflubenzurone. from nationalfishpharm.com. Cheap, pure.

Metrondiazole- treats internal infections, bacterial and protozoan plus some parasites
nitrofurazone- treats disc rot, and any external bacterial or fungal infections (love this med!)
praziquantel treats for internal parasites (also known as prazipro but WAY cheaper here)
Diflubenzurone treats fish lice and anchor worms

These are all ray safe and will treat nearly every infection or infestation your rays can get. I've never had something that one of these 4 won't fix. I've seen rays with nasty disc rot and cotton fungus make miracle recoveries with nitrofurazone. This is my #1 ray medication for fungus and bacterial issues. It's totally safe for them and doesn't crash your bio. Just dissolve completely in warm water first. For internal infections or parasites that Praziquantel can't clear up I like metrondazole and epsom salts dissolved in water then food (pellets) soak and fed to treat internally.

If you've invested 4 or 5 figures into your stock like a lot of us, you really should keep all 4 of these meds on hand 247 especially if you are getting new stock in and out of your systems or feeding live foods.

 

[Woefulrelic]

Buying a pup at a meet up where I couldn't see exactly what condition it was in. Make the extra distance to see it in the tank...

 

[feeling2good]

Impulse buy without knowing anything. Didn't turn out too well. It was a little retic.

 

[MariaS]

Dieselhybrid ... just as a matter of interest...if you have a new ray that is still not taking pellets how would you administer the metrondazole?

 

[SHARK13]

Everyone really should read that sticky about ray safe medications.

I make it easy for myself. I bought bulk metrondiazole, nitrofurazone, praziquantel, and diflubenzurone. from nationalfishpharm.com. Cheap, pure.

Metrondiazole- treats internal infections, bacterial and protozoan plus some parasites
nitrofurazone- treats disc rot, and any external bacterial or fungal infections (love this med!)
praziquantel treats for internal parasites (also known as prazipro but WAY cheaper here)
Diflubenzurone treats fish lice and anchor worms

These are all ray safe and will treat nearly every infection or infestation your rays can get. I've never had something that one of these 4 won't fix. I've seen rays with nasty disc rot and cotton fungus make miracle recoveries with nitrofurazone. This is my #1 ray medication for fungus and bacterial issues. It's totally safe for them and doesn't crash your bio. Just dissolve completely in warm water first. For internal infections or parasites that Praziquantel can't clear up I like metrondazole and epsom salts dissolved in water then food (pellets) soak and fed to treat internally.

If you've invested 4 or 5 figures into your stock like a lot of us, you really should keep all 4 of these meds on hand 247 especially if you are getting new stock in and out of your systems or feeding live foods.

Lots of good info there... when I was treating I was using medication on the ray safe list, however something didn't agree with my rays. I think salt crashed my bio a bit and the pup couldn't handle it. Big rays in the system were pissed for a week or so then came back around.