I need HELP, Weird things going on

[sepulatian]

Alssia, I just read that article, and I have to again appologize. I guesse I need better books. I have several, all containing star info and I look online alot, including this site. I can't believe I never caught that bit of info. Thats why I kept it at 1.022 figured that was safe for everyone. Ah well live and learn. The high salinity won't hurt the other fish will it? I have one star left that seems to be doing good. Hides durring the day under a ghost tube but comes out (very quickly I might add) as soon as the lights go off. I will slowly raise it. Thanks again.

 

[alyssia]

The higher salinity will not harm your other fish. I have three tanks, a reef, a FOWLR, and a seahorse tank and I keep them all at 1.026. I have seen stars in the lfs that look like they are chopped up and I thought that was from improper acclimation (but that I'm not positive about). IDK, if you have a mantis shrimp you should hear it snapping at night and I think it would attack your fish also. Hopefully everything will come out allright.
BTW, I apologized in the other thread. I am having a bad day and most definitely should not have taken that out on you. I don't normally react so immaturely. Sorry again.

 

[sepulatian]

me too and thanks for all of your help. I will begin raising it tommorow.

 

[ophiura]

Originally Posted by alyssia
But the specific gravity applies to ALL stars, not just that type.
Where's Ophiura????
I have done LOTS of research on seastars. Every reply I have seen on here when someone asks what sg they need for a seastar is always 1.025-1.026.
Next time do more research before you jump all over someone who is trying to help you!!

I have been on vacation

IMO, a brittlestar losing its arms and with major damage to the disk, that has been in a tank for 2 weeks with a specific gravity that low is most likely suffering from osmotic/acclimation shock.

 

[sepulatian]

thank you. I was thinking about it after understanding alyssia who was quite right about the salt content. Perhapse it was dying and everytime it went to move pieces were falling off. It was a real shock to me. I have perhapse been getting some very bad info. One website that I have always trusted with my freshwater fish has been {EDIT - Link) I looked to them for salt info also. They do not have a mesage board like this site, but they have specifics on each fish, invert, what have you. I just looked there again to see how I could have overlooked the high salinity needed for stars. They say roughly (different with each star for sale) 1.020-1.025 again this is why I thought I was safe with the 1.022 I guesse I was wrong. that sight has never steered me wrong before though. and that is what it is in my books as well. obviously something is wrong though as they both died. I still have one left that is doing quite well. I also read that parasites can't live in low salt, which is why I opted for the low end of the scale to avoid problems. Any thoughts on this?

 

[sepulatian]

alyssia, you have seahorses? I heard and read that they are SO hard to keep because of their dietary needs of constant tiny live food. how do you do it?

 

[sepulatian]

one more thing while I am asking for info.............you all must think I am dumb!lol I have been interested in live rock, I hear it is beautifull once bloomed. I have read about the curing process. I am curious to know if they require special lighting, vitamines? anything other than my fish only with inverts tank need? I won't add any untill all things are living well in my tank, but I would like some info. It is a bit frustrating, all of my levels are now good (with the exception of the salinity for the star) and added a protien skimmer today. Also... ( I know I said one more thing, but bear with me please) The skimmer didn't seem to be producing any foam or that many small bubbles, does it take a little while to season? it is a vistajet I believe, for up to 70 gallons, I have a 55.

 

[sepulatian]

now I am reading more posts and am wondering if I am still misguided. what should the temp be? I had it at 78 and my snails were doing absolutely nothing, turbo snails, 4 of them which I read and was told 1 of them would clean a 55 in no time. 4 of them and I have to use my magnet to get the algae off the front of the tank. I was also informed to leave it on the other 3 surfaces of the tank for grazzing purposes. I was told to lower it to 72 and snails will be more active. I slowly did, well I kept it at 74 didn't want the other fish to be cold. It takes like a week for them to make a line across the tank. I cleaned one of my sponge filters about a week ago, I had to pluck one snail off the hose slowly and he has not moved from the place he was dropped. comes out of shell, but none of them are very active. any sugestions on this one of my many questions? I just want to be well informed. It seems as though everyone has wildly different oppinions. not just the people on this site, but from books, to different sites, to other people, to my LFS. what do you all think?

 

[sepulatian]

while I am asking 12,000 things, hypo treatment means to put in low salt to rid of parasites right? I am still trying to master the lingo. I just figured out that IMO means in my oppinion. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[sepulatian]

arggg I just went back to my trusty website, and they realy sugest 1.020-1.025 I guese to each is own, not saying one is right and one is wrong, just wish I could find a consensus to this. all sites and books are different in salinity levels! I just want happy healthy fish, thats all!!!!

 

[lion_crazz]

No one thinks you are dumb because you are asking questions. Questions are the only way you learn.
Live rock does not need anything special except a regular light over the top of the tank. More coralline algae (the nice stuff) is produced if your calcium/magnesium/alkalinity readings are where they should be.

 

[lion_crazz]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
one more thing while I am asking for info.............you all must think I am dumb!lol I have been interested in live rock, I hear it is beautifull once bloomed. I have read about the curing process. I am curious to know if they require special lighting, vitamines? anything other than my fish only with inverts tank need? I won't add any untill all things are living well in my tank, but I would like some info. It is a bit frustrating, all of my levels are now good (with the exception of the salinity for the star) and added a protien skimmer today. Also... ( I know I said one more thing, but bear with me please) The skimmer didn't seem to be producing any foam or that many small bubbles, does it take a little while to season? it is a vistajet I believe, for up to 70 gallons, I have a 55.
No one thinks you are dumb because you are asking questions. Questions are the only way you learn.
Live rock does not need anything special except a regular light over the top of the tank. More coralline algae (the nice stuff) is produced if your calcium/magnesium/alkalinity readings are where they should be.
The skimmer does take a little while to break in. Give it time.

 

[lion_crazz]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
now I am reading more posts and am wondering if I am still misguided. what should the temp be? I had it at 78 and my snails were doing absolutely nothing, turbo snails, 4 of them which I read and was told 1 of them would clean a 55 in no time. 4 of them and I have to use my magnet to get the algae off the front of the tank. I was also informed to leave it on the other 3 surfaces of the tank for grazzing purposes. I was told to lower it to 72 and snails will be more active. I slowly did, well I kept it at 74 didn't want the other fish to be cold. It takes like a week for them to make a line across the tank. I cleaned one of my sponge filters about a week ago, I had to pluck one snail off the hose slowly and he has not moved from the place he was dropped. comes out of shell, but none of them are very active. any sugestions on this one of my many questions? I just want to be well informed. It seems as though everyone has wildly different oppinions. not just the people on this site, but from books, to different sites, to other people, to my LFS. what do you all think?
Your temp at 78 is fine. They are probably not active due to the low salinity. They too like a higher salinity, closer to the natural ocean's salinity.

 

[lion_crazz]

Hypo is when you lower the SG to 1.009 in order to stop the reproduction of ich.
For lingo, look no further then right here:
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=42388

 

[lion_crazz]

1.025 is the best SG to keep your tank at. It is closest to natural sea water and studies have already been done to prove that fish live lonnger lives when they are kept closest to natural seawater.

 

[alyssia]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
alyssia, you have seahorses? I heard and read that they are SO hard to keep because of their dietary needs of constant tiny live food. how do you do it?

My seahorses are CB (captive bred), much easier than WC (wild caught). I also got them from a very reputable source, which helps alot. They eat frozen mysis shrimp twice a day. I would never have attempted seahorses that weren't already trained to eat frozen. If they need live foods you have to hatch them everyday I think. That's a little too much work for me! :joy:

 

[alyssia]

Originally Posted by lion_crazz
Your temp at 78 is fine. They are probably not active due to the low salinity. They too light a higher salinity, closer to the natural ocean's salinity.

I agree that your temp is fine. Lion is right, all inverts prefer a higher salinity.
Also, no one thinks you are dumb. The only dumb question is the one that isn't asked. Prior to SW I had FW tanks for 10+ years, but when I started my SW tanks I didn't have a CLUE as to what I was doing. I figured it couldn't be that much harder than FW. HA! Boy, was I wrong!

 

[sepulatian]

lol I will raise salinity and I thank you both so much for your help!!!!!

 

[alyssia]

No problem.

 

[sepulatian]

all inverts like high salinity. ok I will keep that in mind, could that be the reason My urchin is losing some spikes, he is still active, but shedding slowly. I have followed the books and other sites, but clearly they do need the higher SG. I tested today at 1.023 I am going slow. 1.025 should be safe for all? ok well I thank you I am trying to learn all I can and I thank you all for helping, Alyssia, lion, my thanks.