gmusick
Member
I have posted a couple of posts on the New Hobbiest forum, but have gotten little feedback. I have recently resumed this hobby after a 15 year layoff and things have changed dramatically. I have had bad luck so far, so i want to see what my next steps are.
I started my 35 gal hex tank 3 months ago. I used some controversial "Quick Start" bacteria to get my tank started and it seemed to work, at least initially. I added 4 damsels, a blue, a yellowtail, a domino and a striped, and 10 lbs of live rock, as well as the packet of bacteria. My tank had cycled, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 20 nitrates after 2 days. I had some amount of stress in my tank right from the start. The blue damsel immediately chased and killed the yellowtail, within 24 hours. He also chewed the tails off both the domino and striped. I removed the dead damsel and the blue from my tank and the other two did well for 2 weeks. My parameters were still solid, so I purchased a flame hawk and 2 green chromis. Within one day, the domino was dead after eating and acting normally the night before. One more day and the striped damsel was dead, again after acting normally the night before. I chalked all my deaths up to the initial damage done by the blue damsel. Again, a couple of weeks passed. My hawk and chromis did well, and are still doing well. Along the way, one at a time, I purchased a lyretail anthias, a bicolor blennie and a yellow tang ( I now know the rule about tangs ). I had the tang for 2 weeks before he seemed to contract a combination of ich and velvet. He had spots on his fins, but his body, including head, turned white like he had a powder on him. Since I was planning on making this a reef tank, I didn't want to use copper, so I used a combination, based on the recommendation of the lfs, of "Kick Ich" and medicatedgarlic-infused food. All of my fish were scratching against the rocks and CC. The lfs also recommended a cleaner shimp and a brittle star. They recommended the shrimp to help clean the fish during treatment and the brittle star to help keep excess medicated food from making my trates shoot up. The shrimp and star are both really doing well, in my tank, but within a couple of days, my blennie, anthias and tang all died. I have been doing 10-20% water changes at least once a week. I am using RO water and boxed seawater to add water back in. I have also been adding in "Stability" to help add beneficial bacteria. The hawk, chromis' and my 2 inverts are all doing well, but I am getting frustrated about all the losses that I have had. I do not have a QT, due to space limitations, but I have been using the drip method for acclimation. My tank stays within safe invert parameters, except my trates seem to stay fairly high (40). I test my water regularly and also let my lfs test my water regularly. I fed my fish a combination of Tenera Blue, Emerald Entree, Brine Shrimp Plus and basic flakes.
Here is the deal... I know I probably made more mistakes than I should have. I can't go back and change how I started up my tank, nor can I change the the order or frequency of the fish I introduced to my tank. I need to know what to do next. I do have 1 piece of my live rock that is still brown, but does have some polyps on it (maybe this is causing my trates to stay up). I have CC substrate, and Emporer 280 bio wheel filter, about 15 lbs of live rock, about 20 lbs of base rock, a couple of small pieces of decorative coral and one piece of artificial branch coral and a heater (stays about 79 degrees). What should I do to make my tank more stable? Add equipment of some type? Is there some additive I should be adding? Should I remove my fish, inverts and rock, add live sand and start over? Help... i am ready to take it down and set it out by the road.
Thanks!
Glen in Atlanta
I started my 35 gal hex tank 3 months ago. I used some controversial "Quick Start" bacteria to get my tank started and it seemed to work, at least initially. I added 4 damsels, a blue, a yellowtail, a domino and a striped, and 10 lbs of live rock, as well as the packet of bacteria. My tank had cycled, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 20 nitrates after 2 days. I had some amount of stress in my tank right from the start. The blue damsel immediately chased and killed the yellowtail, within 24 hours. He also chewed the tails off both the domino and striped. I removed the dead damsel and the blue from my tank and the other two did well for 2 weeks. My parameters were still solid, so I purchased a flame hawk and 2 green chromis. Within one day, the domino was dead after eating and acting normally the night before. One more day and the striped damsel was dead, again after acting normally the night before. I chalked all my deaths up to the initial damage done by the blue damsel. Again, a couple of weeks passed. My hawk and chromis did well, and are still doing well. Along the way, one at a time, I purchased a lyretail anthias, a bicolor blennie and a yellow tang ( I now know the rule about tangs ). I had the tang for 2 weeks before he seemed to contract a combination of ich and velvet. He had spots on his fins, but his body, including head, turned white like he had a powder on him. Since I was planning on making this a reef tank, I didn't want to use copper, so I used a combination, based on the recommendation of the lfs, of "Kick Ich" and medicatedgarlic-infused food. All of my fish were scratching against the rocks and CC. The lfs also recommended a cleaner shimp and a brittle star. They recommended the shrimp to help clean the fish during treatment and the brittle star to help keep excess medicated food from making my trates shoot up. The shrimp and star are both really doing well, in my tank, but within a couple of days, my blennie, anthias and tang all died. I have been doing 10-20% water changes at least once a week. I am using RO water and boxed seawater to add water back in. I have also been adding in "Stability" to help add beneficial bacteria. The hawk, chromis' and my 2 inverts are all doing well, but I am getting frustrated about all the losses that I have had. I do not have a QT, due to space limitations, but I have been using the drip method for acclimation. My tank stays within safe invert parameters, except my trates seem to stay fairly high (40). I test my water regularly and also let my lfs test my water regularly. I fed my fish a combination of Tenera Blue, Emerald Entree, Brine Shrimp Plus and basic flakes.
Here is the deal... I know I probably made more mistakes than I should have. I can't go back and change how I started up my tank, nor can I change the the order or frequency of the fish I introduced to my tank. I need to know what to do next. I do have 1 piece of my live rock that is still brown, but does have some polyps on it (maybe this is causing my trates to stay up). I have CC substrate, and Emporer 280 bio wheel filter, about 15 lbs of live rock, about 20 lbs of base rock, a couple of small pieces of decorative coral and one piece of artificial branch coral and a heater (stays about 79 degrees). What should I do to make my tank more stable? Add equipment of some type? Is there some additive I should be adding? Should I remove my fish, inverts and rock, add live sand and start over? Help... i am ready to take it down and set it out by the road.
Thanks!
Glen in Atlanta
