mold??

bizkitpug

bizkitpug

Member
I have had my tank for about 5 months. It is a 55 gallon with plenty of live rock. I have had great luck with everything in my tank, except recently all my snails are dying even new ones that I buy and my rock has something moldy growing on about 4 pieces. The mold is fuzzy, whitish, and kind of hairy. It is slimy and doesn't really come off, I tried blowing it off. Also, all my old snails are dying so I bought new ones a couple times and they only last about a week. I don't know if one has anything to do with the other but I was wondering if I could get some advice. I currenly have a lobster, cleaner shrimp, sand sifting star, green emerald crab, 5 little blue leg crabs, pink tail trigger, yellow tang, saddleback clown, and a few damsels. Any thoughts?
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
hi welcome to the boards.
do you acclimate your snails? snails and other invertebrates are very sensitive to changes in water parameters and if they are not acclimated to your tank in a method like the acclimation button (flash) on the menu bar to the left, for a lengthy period of time, it can take up to a month for them to die of acclimation shock.
the white stuff sounds like a sponge of some sort, but it too hard to tell without pics.
also, are you just seeing shells? your trigger (which is probably too big to be in a 55) might be eating them, and your lobster - do you know what kind it is? could definitely be a culprit for chowing on some Es Cargot
 
bizkitpug

bizkitpug

Member
No they are not eating them. They will be fine and then fall off the sides. If you put them back on they just fall off again. I have a purple/orange lobster. Neither of them are aggressive and they are not the cause. I was acclimating them, maybe I was just not doing it long enough. That doesn't explain the first batch of snails though. They were fine for the first 4 months and then they died off one by one, all of a sudden.
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
what are your parameters?
i think you have a purple reef lobster. i had to get rid of mine because it was a menace and ate many crabs and nipped at fish. not sure if it ate my snails tho.
 
bizkitpug

bizkitpug

Member
I am not sure. I am not at home so I can't find out. I will check when I get home. Does anyone think the moldy stuff could be dangerous?
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
Originally Posted by bizkitpug
I am not sure. I am not at home so I can't find out. I will check when I get home. Does anyone think the moldy stuff could be dangerous?
Are you responding to my question about your salinity/SG? If so I'm sure that it is probably the cause of your snail deaths. This isn't a flame but you should know what your sg is at all times. I can tell you right now my SG will be at or very near 1.027 b/c of evaporation. When I get home and add my 1/4 gallon of top off water it will be back down to 1.026.
 
bizkitpug

bizkitpug

Member
I have an in tank hydrometer and I can't tell you the number but it is in the proper range. I will look later. I also don't know how I feel about the measurements it takes. It bounces around and when I had one that you just dipped in, you get a different reading from the one you took 30 seconds before. What is the best kind of hydrometer to get?
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
hydrometers are junky and they are very inaccurate. purchase a refractometer if you are planning to maintain a reef.
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
Originally Posted by bizkitpug
Ok, I went home and looked and it is 1.023.
This is why your inverts are dying. However, when measured on a refractometer your SG could very well be 1.027 that's how off a hydrometer can be. Take a sample to you LFS and have them test with a refractometer and if it is low raise your SG and I bet your snails, crabs, shrimp etc. will be happy.
 
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