HELP, major mess up!

[craig_08]

I helped a friend of mine set up a small reef tank about two months ago. He got a 36 bow corner tank. He got 50 lb. LS and 50 lb. LR and a BakPak II skimmer on my recommendation. He also got a 250 watt 10000K MH with 110 watts of actinic VHO supplementation. He recently got a chiller because it was running a bit hot. After I set his tank up is where the fun began. He ordered 2 yellow tangs 2 oscillaris clownfish and a Pink Tip Haitian. He ordered these a week after putting in the LR. I told him to take the tangs back and get something else and that the anemone would probably die. He didn't. Instead he got an emperor angel and a bunch of coral. He then rearranged his rock to give his fish more swimming room and now his tank is messed up. He said after he rearranged the rock the water turned a milky color and hasn't settled in 4 days. Also there has been a major outbreak of red slime completely covering the sand and LR. He said you can't see the LR even for the milkyness of the water. He did a 15 gallon water change and it is still milky. He started with tap water against my recommendation but has been changing it slowly to RO/DI. What can I tell him to do to fix it other than get rid of half the fish and keep doing water changes? He is leaving for Spring Break on Friday.

 

[maroonclownfan]

First off....too many wrong fish in that tank...emperor and tangs should go. Anenome is a toss up, under the lights he has it "might" be okay if the tank wasn't cloudy.
Now for the mess.....the cloudiness is probably due to stirring up the sand bed during the rearrange. The reason it clouded up is that the sand has not yet seeded with bacteria which would normally "hold it down"
So in summary.....remove fish, turn off all powerheads and fast circulating pumps so that the sand has a chance to settle. Once that has happened start things back up but make sure no current is directly pointed at sand. Check parameters, ammonia and nitrites, if all is good add fish, on the smaller side.
Good luck with this one..........

 

[beaslbob]

geesh where to start.
yea and most important get the fish out.
try no feeding and lights out for about a week.
Add plant life.
But basically what a mess.

 

[craig_08]

I had thought of turning off the lights and not feeding for a week to 10 days to get rid of the cyano, but he has that anemone and the corals that rely on the light. I would put them in my tanks but I have a 75 FO that could hold the fish for him but is only lit by NO strips. I have a nano that is decently lit by PC but not good enough for the anemone. I will tell him to turn off his PHs and filters to let the sand settle. Thanks for your help and keep the advice coming if anyone has anything to add. I have never messed up that bad so I don't know what to tell him. My tank is big enough for the yellows but the emperor needs to go to a fish store, correct? It is a small juvi. Would I be able to keep him until this summer in my 75 if I could steal them for a deal from this guy?

 

[craig_08]

Update:
I went over to help him last night and the water wasn't exactly milky. It was a yellowish cloudy. It is not from sandstorm, something else. The ammonia, nitrite, salinity, and pH were fine but the nitrite was at 25-30 ppm despite a 50% WC the day before. I told him he had to get the fish out and he only let me get out the emperor angel. He said I could get one of the yellow tangs out too but I couldn't catch it since he didn't want me to move his rock. The emperor was swimming sideways and losing color until I got him in my tank and he quickly perked up. I caught his 2" blue tang and he told me to put it back. I said it was the most delicate fish and most suseptible to ich and he replied "we will see how it goes". The two yellow tangs are about 4" and the emperor was 3.5". He also has 2 1" percs and a 1.5" fridmani dottyback. I am thinking the stuff will all be dead by the time he gets back from SB. He isn't even having anyone feed them. I offered to take all his fish for the week and quarantine them and feed them for no charge until things were in order and he didn't want me to. I am done helping unless you guys have a suggestion. I am just going to try to buy the emperor and yellow to save them.

 

[maroonclownfan]

A juvi emperor would do ok in a 75 short term, so would the yellow tang provided you are not currently at full capacity (several fish).
My prediction is that everything will be dead if he leaves the tank in its present state and leaves for Spring Break!!! Bad timing my friend, but obviously he is not the type that gives a rip about killing a few fish. So what can ya do?
You've done all you can, he doesn't want to listen and probably won't. Those nitrite levels will probably kill everything, hope it doesn't though.........
Good luck man....makes a person mad to hear about so many beautiful fish on Death Row.
The presence of cyano corresponds with the high nitrites, sounds like the tank wasn't stable before adding all those fish and it started to re-cycle.

 

[beaslbob]

Wow that much in a 36? even just the 4" tang is too much.
nitrites up you betcha.
Bout the only thing you can do is to stop all feeding until the nitrItes come down. It's the only way to save anything.

 

[craig_08]

Yeah, I only have a lunare wrasse and blue damsel in the 75. I have a lot of filtration (large wet/dry and turboflotor skimmer) also so that will help. Any advice on how to keep the emperor healthy. I know he needs nori to graze on and sponge included in his diet to survive (niether of which he was doing), but are there any other secrets. Adding the yellow shouldn't put me too much over the limit short term. The angel looks much happier being able to swim around. He was doing laps all night.
Maroon, what type of mechanical engineering do you do? I am one as well.

 

[flydan]

Hey,
If it were me, and it's not, I'd just tell him "Good luck! Talk to me when you want to listen to what I'm telling you."
Wish I had that kind of money to waste. Too bad he's killing everything in the proccess.
BTW, can you tell most people have more tollerance than I do?
Dan'l

 

[misty927]

Direct him to this site! If he won't listen to you...maybe he'll take some advice from us! Hopefully...but doubtful... :nope:

 

[maroonclownfan]

Craig...
I work for an automotive supplier as a Product Engineer.

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by Craig_08
Yeah, I only have a lunare wrasse and blue damsel in the 75. I have a lot of filtration (large wet/dry and turboflotor skimmer) also so that will help. Any advice on how to keep the emperor healthy. I know he needs nori to graze on and sponge included in his diet to survive (niether of which he was doing), but are there any other secrets. Adding the yellow shouldn't put me too much over the limit short term. The angel looks much happier being able to swim around. He was doing laps all night.
Maroon, what type of mechanical engineering do you do? I am one as well.
I would get some live macros. Not sure of sponge but it think there is some sponge based foods available.

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by MaroonClownFan
..
My prediction is that everything will be dead if he leaves the tank in its present state and leaves for Spring Break!!!
...

I agree.
except that maybe the best thing that can happen is he leaves for spring break. the last thing that tank needs is food.

Maybe this way He will leave it alone and nitrItes can come down.

 

[maroonclownfan]

I see your point, but it sounds as if the tank is in extreme disarray, I not sure that doing nothing can bring it back.
Chances are this guy will come home to a big smelly box of water!!

 

[soccer4life94]

This guy shouldnt even be keeping animals if he is more concerned about going away on SB than he is about feeding his pets. It still blows me away how people can not feed something because it isnt convienent at the time. If you cant be mature enough to maintain the life in your care then you shouldnt be in this hobby. Im sorry but this just really ticks me off. Those animals are swimming in poison AND starving.

 

[barry cuda]

It sounds like feeding is the least of his worries. The biggest concern seems to be the deplorable tank conditions. It seems that not only is he too lazy to rescue his animals from his own inattention, but for some reason (misbegotten pride?) he won't let a friend save them for free! I just don't get people like that.

 

[soccer4life94]

Oh I totally understand the guy... he wanted the tank because it looks pretty (obviously his doesnt) but he doesnt understand or worse just doesnt care about the life inside the tank. oh well..what can ya do. Maybe this will shock his wallet enough that he will stay out of the hobby until he grows up a bit.