Fish Tank Gone BAD!

[ctissot941]

Hi, I hope ya'll can help me with my problem.
I have a 38 gallon tank with a Marineland Emperor 280 Powerfilter, a Eihem Professional I Caniser filter, and a Marineland Powerhead. I have about 50 LBS of live rock, and a 2 inch layer live sand bed. I started my tank about Sep. 1st, and have been watching it go through its cycle. At about the 21st, the amnonia was 0, and nitrite was 0, and the nitrate was just about 0. I added 10 large turbo snails, 20 blue leg hermits, and 1 damsel fish. Everything was going great until about the 24th when I noticed a few light green algae patches on the tank. A day later, the sand was turning brown, and the light green algae was all over. I cleaned the light green algae off, and then the next day the sand was 75% brown, and the algae was now brown, and not just on the tank, but covering my live rock. I use RO/DI water, and can't figure out what's wrong. I have 2 96wat, power compacts, and I keep them on about 10 hrs/day. Today I came home from work, and my damsel fish was dead =( This is very upsetting and I hope someone can help me.
Thanks,
Chris

 

[badkharma]

The algae you're describing sounds like diatoms - which is a normal part of a maturing tank. It usually occurs just after a cycle is complete. They will eventually go away. It's not very pretty, but it's usually a sign that things are off to a decent start. What baffles me is how your damsel died. Usually you have to beat them with a stick to kill them (DISCLAIMER: that was a figure of speech - I don't actually beat damsels with sticks - although they can act like they deserve it...). :yes:

:scared:

 

[kablamo]

i agree with bad kharma,
Your tank actually sounds like it's doing great, with exception of the hair algae problem, which is just ugly, not damaging at all. Diatoms are awesome, when they show up, you know your cycle is over, after they use up all of the calcium in the sand, they will go away. They don't harm anything.
To get rid of the algae, I would say get a cleaner crew, Try some hermit crabs for the hair algae, and get a sand sifting star and some nassarius snails to sift the sand for the diatoms. It doesn't kill them, it merely hides them by sifting the sand, which is very important, because often times, a lot of stuff gets trapped under the sand and decays. After it decays, you got this little pocket of ammonia, and if the sand gets disturbed, boom, you get a mini cycle, and possibly lose some fish in the process.
About the damsel, The culprit here seems to be disease, because nothing that was bothering you is truly detrimental to the health of your fish.
Losing fish is hard, I just lost my lawnmower blennie, but don't feel guilty, you did what you could to give him a nice home, and I'm sure he was happy with it.
HTH

 

[ctissot941]

Thanks for your replys. What about the brown algae on the glass, it seems a little harder to get off than the green algae, and the brown algae on the live rock? Will that dissapear in time as well?
thanks
chris

 

[bigarn]

Keep cleaning it and snails will help out also. Yes, as your tank matures even more the diatoms will dissapear.
IMO Emerald crabs clean hair algae really well.

 

[sw65galma]

Originally posted by ctissot941
Hi, I hope ya'll can help me with my problem.
I have a 38 gallon tank.
I added 10 large turbo snails
20 blue leg hermits
1 damsel fish.
Thanks,
Chris
I think the general rule of thumb is 1 Turbo/20Gallons. They will run out of food and starve. (I made the same mistake

)
Also make sure you feed your hermits some pellets.