lots of questions

[knobigirl]

I started my salt water tank the 1st of January. I have a 75 gallon tank with approx. 85 lbs of live rock, 100 lbs of live and and let my tank completely cycle prior to stocking. I have two power heads, a remora skimmer and the large filstar III filter canister. I started off with 3 clowns middle of January, one goby a few weeks later and on March 10 purchased a 6 line wrasse. I have since added anemone (long tentacle). I have a couple of problems. Last week I lost one of my clowns. It died shortly after being transferred to my 10 gallon quaranteen tank. It simply stopped eating and developed patches of lighter coloration. I had to isolate another clown yesterday. It suddenly stopped eating and appears to have small white spots, so I have begun treating with malachite green and formalin mixture. So far the fish is still alive but looking very pale and emaciated. I read to put a teaspoon of corn syrup in the water to give him some sustenance until he perks up and eats. If he survives by morning I'll be very surprised by the way he looks. All my water parameters are negative when tested. Salinity is 1.022, pH 8.3, temp 76. I have no idea why my clowns are affected. Everyone else in the fish tank at this point is thriving with voracious appetites. My next question - water changes. Such conflicting information! I have been doing 2.4 gallon changes twice a week. Is this enough? I thought a 5 gallon change once a week would be too stressful, but now I'm wondering if I need more. I also have 5 snails and 4 blue leg hermit crabs. Any information would be much appreciated.

 

[jdm_ae86]

i think you shouldve wait a while longer before you added fish..
anyway, depending on your total bioload, water changes should atleast be 10% a week, higher(imo), if you have a higher bioload..

 

[cveverly]

Did you test for ammonia, nitrite or nitrates? Do you clean your canister filter regularly? What are you feeding and how often?
I assume you are not treating your main tank with the malachite green and formalin mixture.
Water change amounts sound good. When you water change do you let it sit for a while with a heater and make sure salinity is ok. I also like to run a powerhead in the container I make my water in. R/O water or tap water? If city tap water do you dechlorinate?
Sorry I had more questions than answers.

 

[jobob]

one, were the clowns small? babies? 2, i was doin water changes like that 5 a week, in the begining. then i got into a car accident and broke my leg, so i couldnt do water changes. i didnt do one for about 2 months and everthing ( corals,fish) was doin better.so now i do them once every 2 months... if that! and i have a heavy bio load. ive lost a couple clowns, they were small. every other fish was fine. they have been shipping such small clowns lately. is the sixline ok? try to get bigger ones, if u get more. they ship better.

 

[mbrands]

It is difficult to keep 3 clowns past the juvenile stage. They do best individually or paired.
You might want to look at adding another powerhead or two. I've now got 3 on my 55 and am considering adding one more small one. Make sure there are no dead spots in the tank and that the water surface is not calm. The waves and ripples on the surface help the oxygen exchange process.
I'd suggest bumping your temperature up a little. I'm not sure what others consider the ideal range, but mine is usually running 80 degrees.

 

[knobigirl]

Thanks for all the info, in reply to all the responses, here goes. Since I have so much live rock I estimate I am actually now about 50-60 gal capactiy. I'm changing 5 gal/wk. splint in two changes, so approx. 10%. I use only RO water for my salt water and age it for 24 hours. I match the salinity and temperature of my tank and aerate it for 24 hours prior to using with a power head. I do believe I've been feeding too often. Three meals per day, different food each meal but needs to be less (freeze dried krill shrimp in am, cyclopeez in afternoon, and frozen mysis shrip at night, thawed of course). All my clowns were tank raised and were not small. I definately plan to add 1 to 2 more power heads to circulate the water and plan on setting these near the bottom of the tank. All my levels, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and phosphorus have remained at zero and there have been no flunctuations of any kind in any of my parameters. Any other suggestions?

 

[snipe]

Since the only thing has died is the clowns I would say since you have 3 they were fighting and caused stress and killed them. As for the water changes you should do like 7.5 at least once a month. The temp should come up to around 80 for corals and the salanity needs to be riased to around 1.025 or 1.026 for anemones and corals also.

 

[sw65galma]

Originally posted by knobigirl
I started my salt water tank the 1st of January. I started off with 3 clowns middle of January, one goby a few weeks later and on March 10 purchased a 6 line wrasse. I have since added anemone (long tentacle).
Way to many fish to fast.
You said you let your tank cycle. Going by this, you let it cycle for 2 weeks before adding fish...Cycles take longer than that.
My bet is that something is the water went crazy and caused stress.

 

[knobigirl]

Thanks for your response. I will raise the salinity, slowly of course and raise the temperature, which may happen naturally since I have upgraded my lighting system. I'll watch it the next couple of days before I up my heater. Is it better to do a larger water change less frequently rather than small more frequently?
As far as letting my tank cycle, I actually waited for about a month before adding fish. After I added my live rock and sand I had a huge spike in ammonia, after that came down to zero I started testing for nitrite. When that came to zero, I then tested for nitrates. That also dropped to zero. This process took approximately two weeks. Is this not cycling? In not then when should I have added fish?

 

[cveverly]

The tests all sound good and you are doing water changes right in my humble opinion. I have to believe it is something to do with the batch of fish.
Clowns are prone to fighting unless you have a really big tank. I have three different clowns in a 125 and they are ok together but the stay in their own area of the tank. I have another tank I put 4 percula clowns in and two were killed within a week. One was abused and not allowed to eat. I had to separate them and all is well.
I have a friend that has 4 perculas in a 125 three of them group together and chase the fourth one away from the food. He has to feed one end of the tank first and then feed the last clown separately.
My “guess” it was just the natural pecking order process that killed you clowns. Especially since the rest of your fish are doing well and all water parameters look good. I suspect the white spots (ick) was caused by the stress of the fish not your water.
Just a guess. I am no expert and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

 

[snipe]

Is it better to do a larger water change less frequently rather than small more frequently?
All I can say is every tank is diffrent. Most ppl do them often like the 10% weekly though some dont. I would do one at least monthly or bi-weekly.