emergency advice needed

naso140 · Mar 17, 2008

i checked out my 55 sw tank today and my hogfish is lying on the sandbed breathing heavily. doesnt look good for him. im worried cause yesterday i introduced a foxface to the tank. could the hogfish have tangled with him and his venom? im clueless as to what i should do. help please!!

spiderwoman · Mar 17, 2008

Please post the water parameters and also how long has your tank been running, amount of LR, what type of substrate do you have. Most importantly the water parameters
- nitrates
- nitrites
- ammonia
- Ph
- temp
- salinity

naso140 · Mar 17, 2008

well, i dont have a master test kit. only the generic tabs. everything looked as it has for the past 6 months or so.except ph was low so i buffed it with kent marine ph buffer. i bought the tank 6 months ago from a guy who said he had it established for about a yr and a half. its arganite sub and maybe 50 lbs lr. salinity did change a little yesterday due to a water change but i checked it today too and looked like normal. i also put a damsel from my nano into the 55 along with the foxface so that my mandarin could have the entire nano and all the live pods i bought. (to fatten him up). this is the absolute first problem ive had since i got the tank. i just have a gut feeling its related to what went down yesterday.

notsonoob · Mar 17, 2008

I would say, could be. Do you have a quarentine tank? If you do I would suggest placing the sick fish in quarentine.
If the hogfish was fine up to that point, they may have bumped or maybe tangled overnight.
Did you move the rocks around before you added the new fish? All mine have spots picked when lights go out.

naso140 · Mar 17, 2008

the therm says it 84 degrees in there, but i felt the water and having been a FW hobbyist for most of my life i know its not 84. its def lower. also, ive had 2-4 snails die off in the last week or so. i just kinda tapped the glass where the hogfish is lying and he jumped up off the sand for just long enough to look at me, then layed back down.

naso140 · Mar 17, 2008

just before i went to bed i decided to rotate the piece of solid coraline rock that sitts on top. it solid purple and looks like if you glued together a bunch of marbles. when i rotated it, some pretty nasty stuff came out.

notsonoob · Mar 17, 2008

I would definatly check your parameters after something like that happens.
Maybe something was dead under there and the carcass was trapped? I never had that happen to me. Of course I was a bit taken back once when a Mexcian Turbo Snail launched a stream of waste at my hand when I moved the rock next to him....

spiderwoman · Mar 17, 2008

I'd seriously recommend getting a regular test kits, not use the dip strips if that is what you are using. They are not accurate, sometimes not even close. Also you need an accurate thermometer. it's almost sounding like your water is too warm and the fish are running out of oxygen. I'd do a trip to the LFS today if I were you.

naso140 · Mar 17, 2008

i just spent 5 minutes looking and checkin out all the angles using the back glass and all and the hogfish aka "sheriff" is nowhere to be found. seriously i looked everywhere i could. hes mia now. previously he was laying on the sand in the left front corner. wherever he is hes nowhere near that spot now.

naso140 · Mar 17, 2008

so higher temp equals less oxygen?

spiderwoman · Mar 17, 2008

Yes when you go past 82-83. the cooler the water, the more oxygen is in there and the better your fish can breath. I just got a confirmation for this from a 20+ yr aquarist and lighting expert who gave our reef club a presentation yesterday (Tullio Dell Aquila)

naso140 · Mar 17, 2008

cool. i just unplugged my heater. also looked again for the hog and i cannot find him. i even checked outside the tank. i dont have any large crabs but could a med size hermit have dragged him somewhere? the last i saw him was when he jumped off the sand and layed back down. maybe he's doing better and found a very hidden spot to rehab

spiderwoman · Mar 17, 2008

Do you have any powerheads in there? It might help if you have fairly strong circulation going on.

naso140 · Mar 17, 2008

i had one small PH in there but 3-4 days ago i put it in the nano for really strong circulation to help with the cyanobacteria cycle that is now over. i just put it back in the 55. also i have 2 extra hob filters for FW that are not being used. seeing as how i only have a small PH should i hook those up with no carbon to help with circulation?

spiderwoman · Mar 17, 2008

I'd say any extra flow you can get there will help.

naso140 · Mar 17, 2008

thanks alot SW and NSN. i appreciate your time. ill go hook up those hob's and hopefully find hog , alive.

naso140 · Mar 17, 2008

still cant find my hogfish but i did find this page somehow. talks about hogs laying in the sand while sleeping/hiding. crazy. apperantly my lil hog can get pretty big in the wild. a spearfishermans dream. anyone else ever heard of this behavior?

naso140 · Mar 18, 2008

my hog is fine. found him this mornin just swimmin around like its all good. guess they do sleep in the sand. thanks for everyones help

sepulatian · Mar 18, 2008

Please remove that link, it is against the forum rules. Be sure to get a master test kit so that you will know what your readings are.

naso140 · Mar 18, 2008

sorry about the link its gone. and will def pick up a MTK

emergency advice needed

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