Dead Snails and dying starfish

[cordata5]

Hello,
I'm new to the board and I'm basically new to saltwater aquariums. Recently my fish got some sort of weird skin disease that wasn't ick. It was killing them off so I tried adding some antibiotics which were apparently not safe for invertabrates. This was over 3 months ago. Last week I tried to add new snails and a starfish but the snails have been dropping like flies and the starfish is dying as we speak, arms decaying. My question is...Is this still due to the antibiotics? If so, shouldn't 2 major water changes have taken care of this? If not what can I do to lower the level so I can repopulate with invertabrates? Thanks for any info...Stefan

 

[beth]

Yes, it is probably due to the antibiotics. What type of setup do you have? Filtration? LR and LS? FO, FOWLR, Reef? I ask because the advise will be based on that info.

 

[cordata5]

thanks for the reply...I have 50 lbs. of live rock, and hot magnum filter? Pretty simple tank...

 

[nss11110]

it is probably the antibiotics i agree. it will be in the tank for a long time with the live rock. ddid the anti's have copper in it? if so that could be there forever. never treat a reef with copper.did you change the media in the magum after treating? if not do so, that will make sure that the anti's aren't leaching back from the filter.

 

[karvis]

did the meds contain copper?

 

[cordata5]

No they didn't...it was like penicillin or something.

 

[ophelia]

Obviously the first thing you should do is get them out of there and into a hospital tank with brand new water. Make water changes every day in the main tank, as large as possible, for at least a week or two. Change all your filter media, and clean out the filter. If it is in fact traces of antibiotics that are causing the problem, you need to get rid of it before you put in any inverts, regardless of the fate of the snails and starfish.

 

[ophelia]

One more thing...the medications could have seeped into the substrate and tank decorations if you have any. If you are going to go with an invert tank you may want to consider getting rid of all of it. Give it to someone with a fish only tank and buy new ones.