reefmate75
Member
they might have jumped out, look around the tank and see
ReefRiyon 75 Gallon Reef Build Diary
- Thread starter reefriyon
- Start date
reefriyon
Member
nope didnt jump out...well all clowns are dead...all from the same store...same shipment...same place. moved around too much bag to bag to tank?? running out of ideas dont know what to think is the cause, dont know if its my tank...my other black percula or gramma or what....i dont know im so pissed off not one of them lived. what am i doing wrong?!?!?!?!?!
reefriyon
Member
should i do a water change now or that chemical stuff? i cant get to the dead fish i think theyre stuck on the overflow behind my rock...i dont think i should pull apart the rock for that or yes? what about that sea water from the store maybe do like a 10 gallon change now or more?
sk8shorty01
Active Member
You need to get those dead fish out as they are just decaying and probably are causing a huge ammonia spike. What you need to do is pull apart that rock and get them out. Don't buy any of those "miracle cycle" chemicals, as most are pretty much a waste of money because you need to cycle the tank on its own without the help of something. Here is what I would do if I was in your position.
- get all fish out of the tank, if this means removing the rock for a little bit then do that as well.
- put rock back in so there is no die-off.
- let the tank sit for a while and make sure you test your parameters every day. Do the tests yourself, do not bring them to a LFS to test, and do not let someone else tell you what they are. You need to test pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and Salinity every day so you can get used to testing them and get into the habit.
- when your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate hit 0 (nitrate as close as you can get it) then add a cleanup crew. I would only use snails, no hermits if you can help it. I would get different types as well as each are very good at getting rid of certain algaes.
- after a week or so with the clean up crew I would buy a fish, preferably something hardy like a clown and continue testing every day, or at a minimum of every other day. Make sure that your system is stable enough to handle this fish while your fish sits in QT. After a minimum of 2 weeks in QT you could add him to the tank and continue testing.
- Keep testing and make sure that your system has balanced out again after the new addition, and I would wait about 2 weeks before you purchase another fish for your QT (which would be 2 weeks). This would keep you at a pace of one fish per month.
Good luck and remember, adding things quickly always takes longer!
- get all fish out of the tank, if this means removing the rock for a little bit then do that as well.
- put rock back in so there is no die-off.
- let the tank sit for a while and make sure you test your parameters every day. Do the tests yourself, do not bring them to a LFS to test, and do not let someone else tell you what they are. You need to test pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and Salinity every day so you can get used to testing them and get into the habit.
- when your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate hit 0 (nitrate as close as you can get it) then add a cleanup crew. I would only use snails, no hermits if you can help it. I would get different types as well as each are very good at getting rid of certain algaes.
- after a week or so with the clean up crew I would buy a fish, preferably something hardy like a clown and continue testing every day, or at a minimum of every other day. Make sure that your system is stable enough to handle this fish while your fish sits in QT. After a minimum of 2 weeks in QT you could add him to the tank and continue testing.
- Keep testing and make sure that your system has balanced out again after the new addition, and I would wait about 2 weeks before you purchase another fish for your QT (which would be 2 weeks). This would keep you at a pace of one fish per month.
Good luck and remember, adding things quickly always takes longer!
redman1221
Member
Sorry for your lost. Take it from me you need to slow it down, I know you want to have everything now but don't do it. I know I was like that at one time and sometimes I get like that now but I know better, good luck and don't give up.
horsin1963
Member
Sorry man I wish I could be there to help you. but distance sucks sometimes when someone is in need... if you havent all ready. get some 10 or 20 gal tanks set them up water only with basic filtration to help with the amonia waste. basic hospital tanks you dont want to lose anymore. Dont worry about the sand in those tanks. Keep an eye on the small tanks because the testing levels change faster do to less water. get every thing out of the tank that you want to keep alive unless you have hardy fish that can survive the spikes.... let the tank cycle if there is a dead fish in it dont worry it will only help with the bacteria levels and the changing they go through... I have been know to go to a store and by raw shrimp the one you would eat throw them in the tank to get it started.... DO more reading on the way to cycle a tank.. just because your tank after three weeks of being set up and you tested all the time doesnt mean the tank has cycled.. levels will spike and then slowly go down with the correct filtration.... KEEP AT IT, ITS A LEARNING CURVE.. people out there if I said something wrong please correct me.... good luck >> BRIAN
reefriyon
Member
thank youuu well i took the rock apart...found skeletons haha... i found onyx and clarkii full bodies decaying white stuff all over them...
<what is that spot on his lip?> "is that ich" or just decaying dead fish? found dead austrailian in rock last night...sooo shrimp was a skeleton...(sooo grosss) yet to find the black austrailian but he was either in the rock or skeleton so yea....if u see my pictures the white rock in the middle to the left with the holes in it thats where they all were....i dunno if that rock is bad because of the holes but mostly all of them were behind that. well anyways topped off after i messed with the rock and made it messy added some purple up and some cycle just for kicks so ill take it easy for now definately for a little while. ill test my water tonight after i feed my gramma and black/white percula and keep it posted. question....if i add water to my rubbermaid container should i be adding salt too or is that gonna make my tank more salty? just wondering because my salt level was higher then usual lately after ive been using it.
horsin1963
Member
Test you water in your tub with your hydrometer get your gravity around 1.023... if you have fish in the bucket dont change the level of salt fast adjust over a period of time the fish might be shocked if it is adjusted to fast.. if the water evaporates from the tub just add normal ro water to it remember salt doesnt evaporate. if your salt level is low then mix a small amount of salt to raise your level if its high just add water and you might have to remove a little salt water from the tub and add ro water to get the level down on the hydrometer that you want, remember dont change the level to quickly. try to keep your temp around 78 degrees keep a good water flow going in the tub... dont worry about adding chemicals to your water in the tank that you are working on.. get a complete test kit if you plan on corals get a reef masters test kit, in that kit you will test calcium (Ca2+), carbonate Hardness(KH), Phosphate(PO4 3-), and Nitrate(NO3-)... YOU WILL NEED salt water master test kit for High range PH, Ammonia, it also has test for Nitrate, and Nitrite.... GET THEM if you dont have them... read about all the tests and why you test for each thing.......... NOW ABOUT THE TANK.... clean up what you can do a partial water change adjust your salt level in the tank to 1.023 same as the tub that your fish are in keep the water flowing let this tank cycle if you were to test the ammonia it should be very high right now because of all of the dead fish that you had keep a eye on it dont add anything to it at all (living that is) when the ammonia reads (0) then its started its cycling process...Benefifical bacteria in the biological filter convert toxic ammonia and nitrite into nitrate.. A high Nitrate level indicates a build up of fish waste and organic compounds, resulting in poor water quality and contributing to the liklyhood of fish disease and death... If you had living things on your rocks that that died this could be a cause of the problem to start with.... what im trying to say is let the tank cycle it will take time but end result is well worth the wait.. keep testing and keep asking questions.. I know this was long but I hope it helps.... Brian... email me if you need to lstrawn@verizon.net
reefriyon
Member
well im adding a trap in my filter because i dont like it the way it is...drained my filter into a seperate megaflow box externally...(cant get 20 gallon sump out of stand) so i glued plexi made a trap and its drying now. tomorrow i will fill it back up... what a mess, and a pain in the you know what doing that under my stand...woww updates will be postedd
rylan1
Active Member
New tank people... my advise is to start with cheaper fish and build your way up. Maybe add 1 fish per month or so...give or take unless they are pairs or schools. Start off with a cleaner crew.... Get a hydrometer... Don't get a tang until your tank has been set up a while to make sure there is sufficient algae growth... most people in the hobby have an incident like this so keep with it..
reefriyon
Member
i finished my sump and added a refugium tank
im scared because i have 2 pumps for it in and out and i dont want it to overflow in case something happens...is there something else i can do to circulate the water back and forth with the sump? i saw the siphon tubes but as the water goes down in my tank itll stop siphoning because of the levels...what else can i do? any suggestions? i need to buy some mud or sand and some algae...please help me get this started and done right.
im scared because i have 2 pumps for it in and out and i dont want it to overflow in case something happens...is there something else i can do to circulate the water back and forth with the sump? i saw the siphon tubes but as the water goes down in my tank itll stop siphoning because of the levels...what else can i do? any suggestions? i need to buy some mud or sand and some algae...please help me get this started and done right.
reefriyon
Member
20 gallon water change today...cant get those nitrates to go down they were at 15 on my test kit and higher at the lfs. trying to trap the gramma into a breeder holder to see if he is the one responsible for the clowns deaths...thats my hypothesis. haha umm yea he flares up when the black went near him so might be a possiblity that he did it. let you know more when i find out. o and before i set up my fuge...is red hair algae better or the green chaeto? i was gonna do 6 inches of live sand and that in case you are wondering...about the pump thing...im gonna drilla hole for overflow and 90 it right into the sump so ill raise it up so theres only one pump.
reefriyon
Member
ok....what is going on?!!? everythings at zerooo salt is perfect...added maybe 25 hermits the other day....they are mostly all still where i dropped them in the tank...snails are dead on rocks where i put them...a handful of hermits are on rocks but most of them are still on the sand where i put them. not moving no tentacle movement whatsoever and i dont know whats going on....can i keep anything alive in my tank?!? im clueless, i had red cyno on my rocks...<slimy red stuff> micro bubbles here and there...in my fuge i added a rock of red hair algae and it turned orange on me meaning it has nothing left to eat to stay alive...what is going on with my tank?
thirdgenfan
New Member
Did you acclimate your snails and hermits? If not you should have.I doubt very seriously your Gramma knocked off your clowns,it was probably toxic water.Why add 25 hermits? there is not enough algae in your tank to keep half that many alive at this point.
reefriyon
Member
what are those bubbles on my rocks in that cyno? i did acclimate them all for at least 3 hours if not more...and my water is perfect right now but my livestock doesnt seem to show the case. the gramma gets aggresive near other fish espiecially since he was the first one in the tank so he claimed a part of a rock and if u ever watched a gramma its mouth flares open and everything so theres no doubt that it couldnt have harmed them...im not taking chances anymore hes out of my tank already. i want to know whats going on in my tank right now with this stuff before i add clowns.
reefriyon
Member
heres the update i added 50 snails 50 hermits and 2 clarkiis this weekend and lets see....all 50 snails are dead since i put them on the rock and hasnt move at all but fall and land upside down....limited hermits are alive still...one clarkii died last night and the other one is hiding in the rocks because i just did a 10 gallon water change. nobody is posting on my thread and nobody is helping me out so im still posting trying to get some help on what to do. im doing my refuge in 20 minutes i got sand and mud to put in after i drill a hole for a overflow for it. please someone help me out and tell me whats going on. i acclimated the hermits and snails for an hour and dont know whats the cause of this.
redman1221
Member
Originally Posted by ReefRiyon
http:///forum/post/2520562
heres the update i added 50 snails 50 hermits and 2 clarkiis this weekend and lets see....all 50 snails are dead since i put them on the rock and hasnt move at all but fall and land upside down....limited hermits are alive still...one clarkii died last night and the other one is hiding in the rocks because i just did a 10 gallon water change. nobody is posting on my thread and nobody is helping me out so im still posting trying to get some help on what to do. im doing my refuge in 20 minutes i got sand and mud to put in after i drill a hole for a overflow for it. please someone help me out and tell me whats going on. i acclimated the hermits and snails for an hour and dont know whats the cause of this.
What are your water readings on your tank? I thought you said you acclimated them for 3 hours and you should really slow down on adding things until you get everything right with your tank.
http:///forum/post/2520562
heres the update i added 50 snails 50 hermits and 2 clarkiis this weekend and lets see....all 50 snails are dead since i put them on the rock and hasnt move at all but fall and land upside down....limited hermits are alive still...one clarkii died last night and the other one is hiding in the rocks because i just did a 10 gallon water change. nobody is posting on my thread and nobody is helping me out so im still posting trying to get some help on what to do. im doing my refuge in 20 minutes i got sand and mud to put in after i drill a hole for a overflow for it. please someone help me out and tell me whats going on. i acclimated the hermits and snails for an hour and dont know whats the cause of this.
What are your water readings on your tank? I thought you said you acclimated them for 3 hours and you should really slow down on adding things until you get everything right with your tank.
fanker
Active Member
Originally Posted by ReefRiyon
http:///forum/post/2520562
heres the update i added 50 snails 50 hermits and 2 clarkiis this weekend and lets see....all 50 snails are dead since i put them on the rock and hasnt move at all but fall and land upside down....limited hermits are alive still...one clarkii died last night and the other one is hiding in the rocks because i just did a 10 gallon water change. nobody is posting on my thread and nobody is helping me out so im still posting trying to get some help on what to do. im doing my refuge in 20 minutes i got sand and mud to put in after i drill a hole for a overflow for it. please someone help me out and tell me whats going on. i acclimated the hermits and snails for an hour and dont know whats the cause of this.
its as easy as this. ask!!!! when u want to buy something, ask everyone here, cause ur tank sounds like it is just killing everything, u NEED a skimmer!!! u should probably find ro water causeu it looks like ur water is toxic. dont just add everything everything is dying u would think u learn the first time
http:///forum/post/2520562
heres the update i added 50 snails 50 hermits and 2 clarkiis this weekend and lets see....all 50 snails are dead since i put them on the rock and hasnt move at all but fall and land upside down....limited hermits are alive still...one clarkii died last night and the other one is hiding in the rocks because i just did a 10 gallon water change. nobody is posting on my thread and nobody is helping me out so im still posting trying to get some help on what to do. im doing my refuge in 20 minutes i got sand and mud to put in after i drill a hole for a overflow for it. please someone help me out and tell me whats going on. i acclimated the hermits and snails for an hour and dont know whats the cause of this.
its as easy as this. ask!!!! when u want to buy something, ask everyone here, cause ur tank sounds like it is just killing everything, u NEED a skimmer!!! u should probably find ro water causeu it looks like ur water is toxic. dont just add everything everything is dying u would think u learn the first time