Desperate Housewife taking care of Husbands' Tanks

[usmcwifey]

My husband is currently deployed in Iraq & I have assumed responsibility of the tanks... he's been gone for 5 1/2 months without problems, until now... I honestly don't know the exact size of the tank I'm having problems with, other than it's between 35-45 gallons. I watched my husband for months to learn all this stuff, and every week he would do a water change of 3 gallons... not quite the 25% I've heard about, but everyone has their theory on the precentage you should cycle out. I came home from work today, and a lot of the corals don't seem to be doing so hot. They aren't all expanded out, not shrivled, but even the xenia are looking like crap! I used my test kit and the nitrites & nitrates were ridiculously high. I did a water change no more than 4 days ago of the 3 gallons I've always done so I'm not sure what's going on!! To make all matters worse, I discovered this green bubble algae on some small rocks... I'm not sure what it is, but I'm fearful to move them in fear that the bubbles will burst and the tank will crash or something. My husband LOVES his aquariums and is even contemplating starting up a small business in this industry... if I kill his tank... I would rather die. PLEASE HELP!!!

 

[digitydash]

How high is high?I would do a 25% every other day till it down.If the bubble algae is on a rock you can remove from the tank.Take some of you water change water your removed and pluck the bubble off then scrub with a tooth brush to get all the seed off.How ofter do you feed the fish?What kind of water you using to do water changes

 

[usmcwifey]

The nitrite level was 5ppm and its not a new tank. The past 5 months I've been testing the tanks, it's always been at zero and I'm not doing anything different. The nitrate was at 40ppm... which has also always been no more than 5 at any given time. Even the ammonia was slightly higher too. Not nearly as bad as the nitrite and nitrate, but still something to be concerned about. As far as the kind of water I use, I have a coralife RO filter. I usually feed them frozen mysis shrimp and the lion fish I specifially feed her raw uncooked scallop. And don't be alarmed, not the whole thing, just little chunks of it. Anything sounding wrong? I'm actually in the process of another water change to hopefully cure this thing over the weekend and it's a full 25%-- any suggestions?
Also, I removed the rocks with bubbles and used a toothbrush like you had suggested.... what is that anyway?

 

[nate0729]

it's just bubble algae. Are any fish missing? How old are your test kits? Somethings causing decay. Is there any leftovers that the lion fish doesn't eat? How often do you feed? Sorry for all the questions, just tryin to help. I'm not sure, but i think i remember reading some where that test kits are only good for about a year. Not sure though. Something definately has to be causing decay though. How old is the tank bythe way?
Nate

 

[bhfccsr198]

i have heard that to about test kits but it is false i work on pools everyday and i talked to a test kit manufactor about thast he said no way

 

[usmcwifey]

I usually hand feed the lion fish, but she has been kinda fickle with her food lately. Definitely no fish missing. I usually feed them every other day with the mysis and the scallop ever 3rd or 4th day. I have upped the feeding of mysis from half a cube to almost a full cube only because I've been out of town every few days and feel the need to compensate for the missed feedings. That could possibly be what's going on I suppose, but for it to be that drastic?? I'm assuming that bubble algae isn't something to be worried about then? I honestly don't know how old the test is, my husband bought it shortly after he bought the tank... I'm guessing not quite a year yet, but close. The tank is a little over a year old now. I've racked my brain about this for the past few hours trying to think of what it could be... I need people to ask questions so maybe it can be pieced together.
Also, how often should you change filter pads and the gravel stuff that goes in the bags? I rinse out the filter pad every 2 weeks or so and actually replaced it tonight as well as the gravel stuff in that little bag. I rinse that out as I'm doing the water change. Do you think not replacing that filter pad for this long could contribute to this as well? Forgive me for not knowing the lingo!

 

[salty420]

replacing the filter media should definitely help. don't worry about the bubble algae, it's no big deal but sounds like you got rid of it by scrubbing. if no fish are missing (dead) then the rise in nitrites and ammonia must be due to overfeeding. i'd cut way down for the next week or so. and i'd do another water change here in a day or so. don't worry too much but be careful about overfeeding!

 

[socal57che]

If you have areas of low flow, food can build up (like in barnacles) and create little "nitrate factories." Over time they could cause levels to rise.
Where are you located?

 

[maxalmon]

I agree sounds like overfeeding. Could also be a buildup of detritus, if there are any filter sponges take them out and seriously rinse them, try and use tank water during a water change as it the SW won't kill off the nitrifying bacteria on the filter sponge surface but FW will kill the bacteria. Run some carbon for few days, cut back on feeding and keepup with the water changes....Goodluck and keep us posted.

 

[dennis210]

With that drastic a rise Showing ammonia, some nitrite, and 400 ppm nitrate I would guess that something died in the tank. If it was from overfeeding there should have been a slower rise, unless it was one massive feeding. Try the water changes - just do 5 gallons a day for a week. In the mean time just make sure you put in a new filter pad and change out the filter material within the filter. And by all means just keep up testing the tank daily. Same time of day each time. Write down pH, temp, amn, nitrite, and nitrate levels. If something else happens then you can ask and you'll have the parameters to tell us. Once levels are down, if they go back up then we can ask you again about overfeeding. Good luck and don't be afraid of asking for help! Good luck.
Dennis

 

[sigmachris]

Thanks goes out to your husband for his service and also to you for watching out for the fishies.

 

[maxalmon]

As she mentioned there are no missing fish, when you cleaned the LR with a toothbrush to remove the algae, did you rinse the LR with tapwater or SW?......Clean all the filter pads and run some FRESH carbon..

 

[usmcwifey]

So far, so good. I finally finished the water change last night, and even by this morning, the frogspawn is looking much better. The xenia still looks like crap, but even they have improved. I have found that xenia are probably the easiest of corals to take care of and actually very much of a pain because they tend to spread pretty fast-- mine however look like stumps with tiny little arms. I replaced the filter sponge entirely. I figured, rather safe than sorry. I've cleaned out that same pad since he's been gone (almost 6 months). I replaced the carbon as well to ensure that I'm not overlooking anything.
No fish are dead, missing, or sick. I'm guessing some chucks of scallop went not eaten and contributed to the tank spiking. I'm going to do another water change tomorrow and test the tank again tonight to see if there has been any change, even gradual. I appreciate all the helpful suggestions, and I will certainly keep you all posted as to how the tank is going.
A few questions just strictly out of curiousity-- can frozen mysis or any frozen fish food go bad? and if so, how do you know? Secondly, I'm wanting to surprise my husband when he gets home with an addition to our fish family. We currently have a blennie, a green chromis, 2 cardinals, and a dward lion fish.... what would be a good match for the ones we already have? Oh, and one last thing-- I know someone asked where I'm located, and I'm here at Camp Lejeune.
Thanks!!

 

[maxalmon]

Glad to hear that things are stabilizing

This is a classic example of how filter pads can be a major source of problems when not cleaned on very regular basis. I clean the ones in my tanks every few days. As far as adding another fish, it's debatalbe since you have the lion which produces a considerable amount of waste, but it depends on how much LR is in the tank, I'd wait a while before adding another fish...

 

[sh2000]

God Bless Your husband for defending our freedom and we only wish him a safe return home to you he is truely a hero and an inspiration to me and to us all. Just wanted to say that.

 

[usmcwifey]

Okay, here's the update. Everything BUT the nitrate is back to normal.... what could be the cause of this??

 

[1journeyman]

First off, thank you to you and your husband. This is a very friendly forum anyway, but trust me when I say we'll do everything we can to help you both out.
Quick chemistry lesson here for ya to better understand what is going on in your tank. Fish waste, decaying food, etc. produce Ammonia. Ammonia is deadly to fish and inverts. ANY Ammonia. So even though it was slight in comparison to your Nitrate, it was the biggest immediate concern. The fact that you had Ammonia present is proof something was decaying (as all of your fish are present is was probably too much food. You said you had increased feeding). Bacteria develops in your tank to feed on Ammonia. This bacteria then produces Nitrite. While not good for fish or inverts, it's not as deadly as Ammonia. Then a different bacteria in your aquarium feeds on the Nitrite and produces Nitrate. Nitrate is more harmful to inverts than fish.
Here's where it gets a bit tricky, and why you are seeing Nitrates. The previous bacteria that I talked about lives on your aquarium rocks, glass, on the sand, pumps, etc. So every tank has a good amount of it once the tank is established (cycled). However, Nitrate-eating bacteria is harder t c ome by. It lives in the anaerobic (oxygen low) regions (deep in a sand bed, deep within cracks in your live rock, etc.). Most aquariums do not have enough habitat for this type of bacteria. Therefore Nitrates slowly build up in the tank.
There are ways of getting rid of Nitrates. The easiest way, at the moment for you, is doing water changes. Now, Nitrate will not disappear immediately. Consider the math behind it;
If you have a 10 gallon tank (just for easy sake let's say it is) and you remove 2.5 gallons of water that has 40ppm of Nitrate, and add 2.5 gallons of water at 0 Nitrate your tank's Nitrates will now be 30. So, you can see it will actually take a few water changes to mathmatically get Nitrates down as low as you want them.
Don't worry too much about Xenia. While it can grow like a weed, it is also extremely tempermental. Keep up on your water changes and it should spring back soon.
Do you test for salinity and at top off water as your water evaporates? This si often one of the biggest mistakes new hobbyists make.

 

[alan1]

It sounds like this is all going to work out well. I'm just curious as to who the tank will really belong to once her husband returns.

 

[sepulatian]

Do you test for salinity and at top off water as your water evaporates? This si often one of the biggest mistakes new hobbyists make.
This is something that I have been wondering while reading this post. I too, think that the spike was from the scallops. I am glad that the readings are back down now. Please keep us posted.

 

[usmcwifey]

The chemistry lesson explains a lot. I never quite understood it entirety, it was just much easier to smile and nod after hearing about this stuff for hours. Actually journeyman-- I remember reading some of your threads when my husband was home-- slowburn22? I used to sit next to him and whine about how often he was on this thing... now I know why!!! But that's him. Anyway, it was very helpful and makes complete sense as to why everything else has dropped drastically (the ammonia is back to normal) except for the nitrates. I was very confused last night when I had ran the tests!! I did find some low flow areas where there is limited room between the glass and the LR and it somewhat creates this harvest ground for crap to accumulate and rot. I used my suction/syphon thing (again, I don't know the lingo!) to get in the sand really well and clean it out. I think the way he set up the LR has created a few of these, so I may have to look into moving some stuff around. I'm sure he won't be crazy about this, but I think he'd rather have an ugly living tank than a pretty dead one. I'll do another water change tonight and let you know what my tests are reading. Thank you guys so much for the help!!!

It's hard with my husband to be gone, having an infant by myself, working, and keeping 3 tanks healthy... I just know how much these means to him-- it's the least I could do. We appreciate the thoughts, prayers, and the acknowledgements. He'll be home sometime in May (keep your fingers crossed!) so don't be surprised when you get a personal THANK YOU for saving his tanks!