bad tank days.

[packrat05]

man, had my 30g reef tank going for two years. come home from work yesterday to find two of my fish not there. my flame angle and bicolor blenny who always swam together were both missing. after looking around i find remains of them not much left. i been racking my brain as to what could have killed both in one night as the only other thinks i have in there are. 2 springers dottybacks, 1 serpent star, 1 really beaten old red emerald crab with one claw, 1 small stone crab ( less then a half inch in size, raise them for puffer food) and my hermits and snails.

 

[flower]

Do you have a cat?

 

[alexknight]

I have had fish gone missing, Two ways, one a cat and two a carpet nem.
The tank got covers so fish could not jump out and I got rid of the Carpet nem. Sorry to hear your loss

 

[packrat05]

yes i have a cat, he is allergic to fish as well. the fish died in the tank. i found both there skulls as i was searching threw the tank. so i know the clean up crew had a good meal. starting to wonder if my salt mix i use was bad or if i had something on my hands that got them. i was doing some cleaning the day before. only other thing i can think of is my nitrates. i do a 1gal water change every two days due to a nitrate problem.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by packrat05 http:///t/395774/bad-tank-days#post_3524510
yes i have a cat, he is allergic to fish as well. the fish died in the tank. i found both there skulls as i was searching threw the tank. so i know the clean up crew had a good meal. starting to wonder if my salt mix i use was bad or if i had something on my hands that got them. i was doing some cleaning the day before. only other thing i can think of is my nitrates. i do a 1gal water change every two days due to a nitrate problem.
You found their left over bones...your CUC is slipping. LOL...I never find anything. Nitrates don't bother fish...it can go into the 100s and they will be fine.
The dwarf angel is pretty hard to keep live in a new tank. (other have done it, I never could. Any tank under 1 year, is considered a new set up) during that first year, your tank goes through all kinds of adjustments and changes in the chemistry. The dwarf angels just don't handle those changes well.
I have a rule....always rinse your hands all the way up to your arm pits before putting your hands in the tank. I have gadgets to move stuff around, so I can avoid putting my hands in the tank as much as possible. I had a coral eating bobbit worm in my tank once, I had a cold when I started examining the rock to find it. I nearly killed all of my fish because I had used puffs with lotion. I had such a runny nose and I kept wiping....the fish developed what looked like fin rot, some fish lived, but they looked awful for a long time....I did get the worm out.
if you are using API test kits, you may not have high nitrates, those tests are very inaccurate. If you really do have high nitrates... I use an Aquaripure filter, the thing is awesome, and all I have to do is add 4ml of vodka to the filter once a week, and make sure the hose drips slow. It never needs cleaning, and it really works.

 

[packrat05]

well the tank is not new its over two years old. had the angel and blenny pretty much from day one. helped cycle it along with water and a few rocks from my larger tank.
i been looking into them aquaripures, are they only sold strait from the manufacturer? i been wanting to use my 30g as my coral tank but my nitrates have killed every zoa and star polyps i put in it.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by packrat05 http:///t/395774/bad-tank-days#post_3524605
well the tank is not new its over two years old. had the angel and blenny pretty much from day one. helped cycle it along with water and a few rocks from my larger tank.
i been looking into them aquaripures, are they only sold strait from the manufacturer? i been wanting to use my 30g as my coral tank but my nitrates have killed every zoa and star polyps i put in it.
If it was an established tank, it could be something introduced on your hands, or in the change water...what a shame.
Yes you can only get Aquaripure from the one person who makes them, I'm not sure how big his company is. I will say he's very helpful, and quick to respond to any questions. They are slender, so they don't take up much space. Make sure if you go that route, that you purchase the right size for your tank. If the filter is too large it will cause a bacterial bloom, and the tank will look foggy, so the larger the filter the better, doesn't apply with a nitrate filter.
I haven't had any problems with the two I have, except that once I didn't realize the line was clogged, and not dripping like it should, I purged the line right into the sump. It smelled bad, but I had done it before in the 90g, and since the whole idea of the filter is a bacteria factory that eats nitrates, I didn't give it thought.....well by next morning all of my Erectus seahorses were dead. All the fish and corals were just fine, but the bacteria had to have been too much for seahorses. I now purge the line into a bucket, and not directly into the system. a very hard lesson learned.
The results are very much like vodka dosing, except the filter holds all the bacteria and the tank is safe, you don't need a fancy skimmer like you do with regular vodka dosing. It's honestly the only equipment I ever had that actually did exactly as it was advertised to do. I have one for my 90g, and one for my 56g.

 

[ibew41]

have you done any water tests?

 

[packrat05]

only the basic four. my nitrates were around 40 every thing else was good.
put another 20lbs of sand in. it only had 20lbs to start with so seeing if upping it might help. other then that think i am going to try the aquaripure on it when i can get one.
just lost a yellow watchman i picked up last friday, looked good. he was eating at the store went in the tank strong and my dotties left him alone. started to get thin and stopped eating much. he went today to the great sea in the sky. should have paid more attention to him being so thin when i picked him out. think im just going to wait on buying more fish till i can get other things in check for the tank.