grostanzo
09/08/2003, 08:56 AM
I’m not sure where to go from here.
To cut to the end of the story, fish are doing okay in our tank but any invert that we put in there is dying.
Current water conditions:
PH 7.8 <-- Maybe a little low
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate .025
SG 1.024
Copper undetectable
Using DI water
Tank setup:
46 gallon bow
2 power head – 700 gph total
1 protein skimmer (I forget the brand but it seems to be working fine)
1 power filter running carbon only
about 4 inches of LS
about 80 Pounds LR
History:
After the tank had cycled (only took about a week) we started adding livestock. Crabs and sails first. About a week later in went 4 fish; two clowns, a scooter goby and an orchid dottyback. The next week brought an anemone and the following week two more anemones.
Being new to this, I made the beginner mistake of too much too soon. Anyways that setup seemed to be okay for about two weeks until we noticed that one of the anemones was not looking very good. It would be withdrawn most of the time. Then it detached. I assumed it was just moving to a new spot. It did end up reattaching to a new spot but never really looked healthy.
After a day or two I notice something stringy coming off of the anemone and decided it was probably dead and went in to remove it. When I lifted it a cloud of debris came out of it and quickly spread through the tank. This seemed to have an immediate affect on the other anemones. They quickly withdrew and never recovered. They were removed about two or three days later.
The night before I remove the first anemone, I had checked the water parameters and they were similar to what is listed above. Within a couple days of removing the first anemone, things started dying. The snails were first followed by the crabs and then some of the fish.
We started a new cycle. Two of the fish survived this with large and frequent water changes. Everything else in the tank died. All the hitchhiker clams, the bugs, and worms are gone. The only thing that seems to have made it was some aptasia. How the two fish survived, I’m not sure.
Now any inverts I add die. What else should I be checking for? Fish seem to do okay but Inverts are dying within a few days of being added.
Is it possible that there are some kind of toxins that were release by the anemone that are being picked up by the feeding crabs and snails?
Would it be a good idea to remove and scrub the rock?
Anyone have any ideas?
To cut to the end of the story, fish are doing okay in our tank but any invert that we put in there is dying.
Current water conditions:
PH 7.8 <-- Maybe a little low
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate .025
SG 1.024
Copper undetectable
Using DI water
Tank setup:
46 gallon bow
2 power head – 700 gph total
1 protein skimmer (I forget the brand but it seems to be working fine)
1 power filter running carbon only
about 4 inches of LS
about 80 Pounds LR
History:
After the tank had cycled (only took about a week) we started adding livestock. Crabs and sails first. About a week later in went 4 fish; two clowns, a scooter goby and an orchid dottyback. The next week brought an anemone and the following week two more anemones.
Being new to this, I made the beginner mistake of too much too soon. Anyways that setup seemed to be okay for about two weeks until we noticed that one of the anemones was not looking very good. It would be withdrawn most of the time. Then it detached. I assumed it was just moving to a new spot. It did end up reattaching to a new spot but never really looked healthy.
After a day or two I notice something stringy coming off of the anemone and decided it was probably dead and went in to remove it. When I lifted it a cloud of debris came out of it and quickly spread through the tank. This seemed to have an immediate affect on the other anemones. They quickly withdrew and never recovered. They were removed about two or three days later.
The night before I remove the first anemone, I had checked the water parameters and they were similar to what is listed above. Within a couple days of removing the first anemone, things started dying. The snails were first followed by the crabs and then some of the fish.
We started a new cycle. Two of the fish survived this with large and frequent water changes. Everything else in the tank died. All the hitchhiker clams, the bugs, and worms are gone. The only thing that seems to have made it was some aptasia. How the two fish survived, I’m not sure.
Now any inverts I add die. What else should I be checking for? Fish seem to do okay but Inverts are dying within a few days of being added.
Is it possible that there are some kind of toxins that were release by the anemone that are being picked up by the feeding crabs and snails?
Would it be a good idea to remove and scrub the rock?
Anyone have any ideas?