Help! There's a creature in my tank!

[julied]

I have a saltwater tank with a few large pieces of established live rock and one really cool lobster--can't remember the name but he's purple and orange. He's just a little guy, and he's doing well, unfortunately, every kind of fish my husband and I have carefully selected at the recommendations of our fish store, has died. We check our water. We water change. We have the right lighting. But we kill all of our fish. Even our chromis died after a few months. Putting that aside, I discovered a freaky centipede snake like thing lurking under one large rock. I saw about 3 inches of it--the rest of it was under the coral. When we put the net near the area it slipped under the rock, and we haven't seen in since. We did a water change this morning, cleaned out the tank and checked the rocks. Couldn't find it anywhere. Must be buried in the rocks. What could this be? And what should we do about it?

 

[payton 350]

your centipede is most likely a bristle worm, they are harmless and would have nothing to do with the fish losses...what should you do with it ....nothing and it's probably gone into the rocks....they find the little crevices and holes and hide in there....i'm sure if you just picked up some rock you would find them on the underside

 

[dragonladylea]

Agree on the bristle worm, now to figure out why your losing fish?
How long has the tank been running?
What tests do you run and what were the results?
What equip are you using etc - the more information the better.
With all the knowledgeable people here, bet you will have fish swimming in your tank in no time.

 

[anthropo]

Originally Posted by Payton 350
your centipede is most likely a bristle worm, they are harmless and would have nothing to do with the fish losses...what should you do with it ....nothing and it's probably gone into the rocks....they find the little crevices and holes and hide in there....i'm sure if you just picked up some rock you would find them on the underside
actually it depends on the kind of bristleworm and what part of the ocean it came from. chances are though it's not the problem though.

 

[julied]

Thank you for helping me solve the "creature" issue. If you all say it's harmless, I'll take your word. So back to the issue of dying fish. We have a 36" corner tank. 3 very nicely established pieces of live rock. Just right for the tank in size. We have a few silk plants, some interesting pieces of small rock for fish to hide in. Ultimately we hope to have coral, but we haven't been able to keep our fish alive. We have had 3 different clownfish, a trio of chromi, domino damsel, peppermint shrimp, cleaner shrimp, chocolate starfish, one orange starfish (only lived two days before the lobster ate him), and two tiny crabs. The only survivor is our orange and purple lobster. He seems to be doing great. Please note that we haven't had all of these at one time! There have never been more than 3 fish at a time. And they don't die instantly like from shock to the tank, they usually live for a few weeks up to a few months. We check our water weekly. Always looks great. We've even compared our results to the fish store. We have a reputable local dealer that our friends with very established tanks swear by. Our goal is to just have a few healthy (preferably colorful) fish for the kids to watch and enjoy. We aren't looking for anything challenging or difficult to care for. Your suggestions are so welcomed. It's so discouraging to see our beautiful tank so bare.
One thing I just thought of...I do have a piece of real coral from the ocean from about twenty years ago that my father sent from Cuba. It's been bleached and dried. Before I added it to the tank it was thoroughly bleached again, cleaned and dried. Should I keep that in--or take it out? Any chance it may be unsafe?

 

[dragonzim]

When you r fish die are you finding their bodies or are they just disappearing? I'm wondering if your lobster isnt just becoming very well fed.....

 

[rhino]

I would have to know a litlle about your filtration. Do you have any biological filtration and a protin skimmer. When I was just starting out I jumped into the hobby and hadn't pruchased a protien skimmer yet. My fish all died within 3 weeks. The water looked great but there was alot of disolved toxins that built up. Please give us more insight on your tanks setup. Also I used bleached corals in my tank for years. Just make sure that you rinse and rinse them off again to get rid of the bleach.

 

[doglvr]

What are the actual readings on the tests your doing for salinity, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, etc.? Have you taken your water to the LFS for a 2nd opinion? They usually are happy to test water for customers. What kind of water are you using, tap, RO? Temperature?
Bristle worms are do a great job of cleaning up the tank and are fine to have. If they get too big or multiply too quickly, take it/some out as they can become a problem. After I feed, I can usually count about 20 or so in my tank, they clean up the food that gets caught on & around the LR.

 

[ophiura]

In addition to specific water results (really it is critical to have the SPECIFIC values), how long did it take the shrimp and crabs to die? If they died relatively fast, that might be an acclimation issue, and relatively unrelated. The things that cause fish to die are often not the same things that cause inverts to die.
But the values and more information on your filtration and circulation are a very important step.

 

[julied]

Our filtration system is the Cascade 700. Our water tests come out fine, and we have double-checked the results with the fish store for accuracy. The temperature is always around 79-80. We have had our tank for about two years.
Our first purchase was one clownfish. He died within a week. After purchasing three, we gave up on those and just settled our tank. We bought one chocolate chip starfish, and a peppermint shrimp. We brought the chocolate chip starfish back to the store when we picked up supplies because a friend told us he would ruin our LR. (They didn't mention that at the store). That was disappointing, because he was doing great. So then it was jst the peppermint shrimp and the crabs. The peppermint shrimp lived for months, and we didn't have the lobster yet when he died. After we waited another month, we bought three chromis and an orange starfish. They lived the longest, for at least a few months. The lobster was our last purchase. He's all we've had for four months. The fish don't disappear, so the lobster's off the hook, but he did eat some of the orange starfish after it died (we're assuming he didn't kill it). We also bought three fiddler crabs, and they lived for a very long time, but they disappeared a few months ago when we cleaned the tank. They must have been hiding inside something since we've never seen them again. Sorry this is so confusing, it's been very trying.

 

[rhino]

Do you have a protien skimmer?

 

[julied]

Okay, we are truly novices, so I'm not sure. If you explain it, I can tell you if we do or not.

 

[f14peter]

Originally Posted by julied
Our filtration system is the Cascade 700. Our water tests come out fine, and we have double-checked the results with the fish store for accuracy. The temperature is always around 79-80. We have had our tank for about two years.
.
I don't want to speak for ophiura, but I believe exact readings are what's being asked for, not just that they're "Fine" as that can be somewhat ambiguous . . . what may be fine in a general sense may not be fine under specific circumstance, or a combination of the readings may indicate other issues.

 

[julied]

Very sorry. Here are the water test results from this afternoon.
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0.25
pH 7.8
Temp 80
The pH is low, but it's normal range for us over the past 6 months has been been 8.2.
If anything has ever been off, it is the nitrates, which happened once. We resolved that by adding carbon to the filter.

 

[watson3]

Originally Posted by julied
If anything has ever been off, it is the nitrates, which happened once.
Dead things tend to do this

 

[kogle]

Well right from the start I would say your amonia is too high. It should be zero. Your pH is also a bit low. The amonia may be from dead fish though. Did all of your fish just kill over or did they show signs of being sick before hand?

 

[catawaba]

Did your tank fully cycle before you added a fish?
Do you have sand in the bottom of the tank?
When the fish die--do they go to the bottom or to the top? Is there mouth open--like they are gasping for air?

 

[rhino]

Your fish are dying from toxic build-up. Get a protien skimmer. GOOGLE it and read up. It is the most important filter second to a biofilter. Unless you do heavy, frequent water changes toxins build up in your water which are toxic to fish. A protien skimmer in an essential part of a filter. And besides your nitrates the readings are ok. The spike in ammonia could be because of the death in your tank but will go away.

 

[ophiura]

What brand of test kits do you use? One, I believe Red Sea, is notorious for a ".25" reading.
When did you last clean your filter? What circulation do you have in the tank?
Do you use any kitchen sponges? Do any cleaning near the tank with sprays? Paint? etc? Wash your hands with soap or have lotion on before putting hands in the tank?
How do you "clean" the tank? How big are your water changes? How do you mix your saltwater? Do you use RO water or tap water? How often do you top off with water (again, tap or RO?). What additives do you put in the tank?
Do you have an alkalinity reading?
The chocolate chip star does not destroy LR, but it will eat other invertebrates. The orange star, I am sad to say, was a very poor choice. Seastars are extremely delicate animals, and need very specific conditions.

 

[rhino]

Listen people I DONT THINK SHE HAS A PROTIEN SKIMMER. Has anyone here had a sucessful aquarium without one? The only way without it is to do weekly big waterchanges.