jsteph24
Member
Ok I am officially confused now. I set my tank up a couple months ago (55 gallon 60lbs of LR and 60lbsLS, bottled RO water). I let the tank cycle(took almost a month) Ever since my water levels have remained consistent.
Ammonia-0 Nitrites-0 Nitrates-always below 20, ph 8.2, SG 1.024-1.025.
I started with a cleaning crew of about a dozen Blue leg crabs and a dozen snails. A week later I added a cleaner shrimp, 2 emerald crabs. Two weeks later we put in our first fish(3 stripe damsel). Another week later we put in a clownfish(percula-aquacultured). About 2 weeks later we added a Lawnmower Blenny. The next day we returned the Damsel because he was a butthead.
We drip acclimated everything as per SWF.com.
Everybody seemed to be fine. The fish and inverts all ate fine and swam around happy. Then maybe a week goes by and the clown all the sudden is acting weird. He wasn't as active, not swimming the same but still eating. Then the next day he started breathing with his mouth open all the time. Then he stopped eating and died. The whole time we had been checking our parameters daily and they always checked out fine.(API master saltwater test kit) Being as he was one of our first fish I just chalked it up to it being a new tank or maybe he was just not healthy to begin with. So we purchased another clown from a different store a week later. He seemed to be fine and all was well. Then all of the sudden yesterday he starts doing the same thing the first one did. He had been in the tank for a week and a half i think. He just died tonight. I am really confused because I thought clowns were supposed to be fairly hardy? I keep thinking maybe my water conditions are bad but the tests keep coming out fine. Plus the LMB is still doing great! Not to mention the cleanup crew is all still alive. Haven't even lost a single snail!
Any ideas? We have a new fish that we put into our new QT and he also didn't survive. (we didn't know what to expect with him though because he seemed like he was in rough shape when we got him home and started acclimating him (I hate ***** ) The one thing that the two clowns had in common: they were both babies and they were both little. I feel bad because I hate it when they die(my wife hates it more, she actually cried!). I just want to figure out what is going on, I do not want anything else to die. Any ideas?
As a side note... I am getting my new protein skimmer and powerheads in the mail on Monday, maybe that will help.
Ammonia-0 Nitrites-0 Nitrates-always below 20, ph 8.2, SG 1.024-1.025.
I started with a cleaning crew of about a dozen Blue leg crabs and a dozen snails. A week later I added a cleaner shrimp, 2 emerald crabs. Two weeks later we put in our first fish(3 stripe damsel). Another week later we put in a clownfish(percula-aquacultured). About 2 weeks later we added a Lawnmower Blenny. The next day we returned the Damsel because he was a butthead.
We drip acclimated everything as per SWF.com.
Everybody seemed to be fine. The fish and inverts all ate fine and swam around happy. Then maybe a week goes by and the clown all the sudden is acting weird. He wasn't as active, not swimming the same but still eating. Then the next day he started breathing with his mouth open all the time. Then he stopped eating and died. The whole time we had been checking our parameters daily and they always checked out fine.(API master saltwater test kit) Being as he was one of our first fish I just chalked it up to it being a new tank or maybe he was just not healthy to begin with. So we purchased another clown from a different store a week later. He seemed to be fine and all was well. Then all of the sudden yesterday he starts doing the same thing the first one did. He had been in the tank for a week and a half i think. He just died tonight. I am really confused because I thought clowns were supposed to be fairly hardy? I keep thinking maybe my water conditions are bad but the tests keep coming out fine. Plus the LMB is still doing great! Not to mention the cleanup crew is all still alive. Haven't even lost a single snail!
Any ideas? We have a new fish that we put into our new QT and he also didn't survive. (we didn't know what to expect with him though because he seemed like he was in rough shape when we got him home and started acclimating him (I hate ***** ) The one thing that the two clowns had in common: they were both babies and they were both little. I feel bad because I hate it when they die(my wife hates it more, she actually cried!). I just want to figure out what is going on, I do not want anything else to die. Any ideas?
As a side note... I am getting my new protein skimmer and powerheads in the mail on Monday, maybe that will help.