some ideas

airframer

airframer

Member
Ok heres the lowdown... I have a newly aquired 36 gallon bowfront that I have been having issues with, I think they are all handled but not sure... In the past few months I have added a total of 6 fish and they all have died everyone of them in the first few days but now last Saturday I added a Blue hippo tang, A mated pair of perc clowns, and Ive had a yellow tail damsel in there for about 3 weeks prior to that... Now since then Monday I found one of the clowns bouncing up and down inside my skimmer ( the berlin airstone model ) so I just assumed that he swam up there and counldnt get out ooopppssss... The Tang was doing fine swimming around here and there but hiding most of the time and playing dead which Ive heard they are known for... But all of a sudden as of Thurs. she came up missing also no sign of her until Saturday morning found a discolored carcass on top of the rocks... Ive been doing everything by the book and doing the best I can to rid everything of all problems but cant seem to get back on top of the ball, ohhh yeah and Ive also brought my water to the lfs for sampling and she said I should have no problems keeping stuff in the tank everything is within limits... Except for my Nitrates which I posted ?s about that before and I just cant seem to bring those down but everything has always lived fine with the trates the way they are at 140-160... My acclimation is well over bare minimum I always do a drip for an hour or better... But cant get anything to survive... Ohhh yeah with the clown and tang I also got a coral banded and a feather duster which are doing really good, so what now should I just keep adding fish until they stop dieing off or more tests What :notsure: I just dont know what to do...
 
airframer

airframer

Member
ok but my lighting is only 65 watts I think, I thought clams needed alot more light than that... And when I acclimate them I do a drip acclimation, I put them into a container with their origional water and drip 5-10 drops a sec for alittle over an hour usually then I net them and throw them in... And I hate to get of the subject but if ur familiar with corals at all what kind can I keep with 65 watts... I know sun corals but hoping for some ideas like mushrooms, polyps, and well any ideas and if I get somthing that needs moderate light cant I just position it up towards the top to get enough light???
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
did the LFS test your nitrates also and where they the same as your readings.
High nitrates are toxic to fish and inverts some are overcome faster than others.
Do you spray anything around the tank or your house like carpet fresh, air deoderizors, or febreeze anything like that.
I wouldnt add anything to the tank untill you can figure out and get a handle on what is causeing the deaths. thats not a good sign.
mike
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Originally Posted by airframer
last Saturday I added a Blue hippo tang, A mated pair of perc clowns, and Ive had a yellow tail damsel in there for about 3 weeks prior to that...
Ok, first off tank is way, way too small for a Tang. I say that now to get it out of the way.
Are you testing your ammonia? How did you cycle the tank? Sounds to me like you might be adding too much livestock too quickly which is causing your ammonia to spike.
 
snapperboy

snapperboy

Member
First off you need to do a 1/3 % water change with ro-di water. If you go to buy some at the local grocery store, take a look in the meat-fish section and see if they carry live cleaner clams. I think this is what someone mentioned, i have about 15 or so throughout my sandbed. ( just place them in a bowl of tankwater, for them to 'burp' and expell other used water)
The point is you need to get the nitrates down and establish a higher natural bio-load (denitrifying bacteria)
Consider getting the tang out of that tank (try returning/exchanging at lfs) it need a LOT of swimming room, they are also big POOPERS

Do another 20-25% water change in 1 week
then add snails (possible trade for tang exchange at lfs) nassarius-a turbo-asteria-cerith
after another week do another water change add possibly add a lawnmower blenny for algae growth.
possibly add CURED live rock
get a plan for those nitrates, feed a little less
 
shogun323

shogun323

Active Member
Originally Posted by MichaelTX
I wouldnt add anything to the tank untill you can figure out and get a handle on what is causeing the deaths. thats not a good sign.
mike
That is great advice. The goal is not not just eliminate the nitrates, but to eliminate the cause of the nitrates.
 
puffer32

puffer32

Active Member
Yep, you need to get that tang out of that tank. I would do a 50% water change weekly until you get the trates under control. 20/25% didn't work for me, so I got aggressive and did 50% for 2 weeks in a row, then tapered it to 30% then 20. In 3 weeks mine went from 40 to 0.
 
murph

murph

Active Member
If it were me I would stop sinking money into livestock until you get the tank stabilized. Return any high dollar specimens and toss in a few damsels.
There is a learning curve to this hobby and most new hobbyist/new tanks will go through a a certain amount of changes (equipment upgrades, large water changes, substrate adjustments etc) until whats right for your tank is arrived at. This could take a year or more.
The last thing you want while all these changes are made and experience is gained is a bunch of high dollar live stock to worry about as all this takes place.
 
shogun323

shogun323

Active Member
Originally Posted by airframer
The Tang was doing fine swimming around here and there but hiding most of the time and playing dead which Ive heard they are known for... But all of a sudden as of Thurs. she came up missing also no sign of her until Saturday morning found a discolored carcass on top of the rocks
A few people have mentioned that he should get rid of the tang. If you reread the original post you'll see he is already a goner......
 
airframer

airframer

Member
wow sry I havent reposted nething I dont normally get this much advice haha... But thanks everyone in advance... Ummm yeah tang is a goner. Im not really sooo new at this persay I have been doing this for over 2 yrs but as Ive mentioned in another post I made a rookie mistake and shocked the system by replacing the filter and I havent came back from that... As for the water changes Ive also had someone advise me to stop doing that... I was doing 50/50 water changes for a few weeks then down to 25% then 10% but to no avail... the lady at my lfs said that I may be messing it up because Im doing so many water changes... I well recycled it over 2 months ago... I tried to do it with fish and they kept dying I did keep testing and my ammonia never went up because I removed the fish right away... I finally got a damsel that survived hes still in there causing havoc... the salinity has been staying at between 22-23, temperature is 77-79... Ummm as I asked earlier dont clams have to have alot of light???
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
most yes but the cleaner clams just need sand they bury themselves into the sand bed and send up a siphon to take in water. They do not require light.more like a mussel than a true calm that we think of as far as the deco clams.
Mike
 
airframer

airframer

Member
my trates were about the same... And no nothing gets sprayed next to the tank everyone knows not to do that, and I dont really have access to RO/DI water is there a cheaper way to get that kind of water... Cause I think the tapwater here may be why I have some oily looking film on top of the water. Ive had 2 pretty strong power heads pointed up top and my outflow is right up at the top...
 
pallan

pallan

Member
shooting from the hip here any meds been used in the tank. maybe copper based ones
id also try a new batch of test kits. high quality ones. your trates are to high expecially with having been doing that many water changes. leads me to believe your test kit or even the LFS test kit is being compromised by something in the water or faulty kits. possible giving a false positive.
how have you messured salinity
also what is your PH.
if your using tap water are you doing anything to remove clorine etc.. before putting it in the tank.
dont add anymore livestock to the tank until you are sure things have settled down.
the oily film on top is protein scum (i believe) powerheads pointed up to keep it mixed or a surface skimmer to rid yourself of this.
 
airframer

airframer

Member
ummm no no copper based meds at all in the tank... I use tap water conditioner before I add the water and I use a hydrometer for testing , and my ph stays at 8.3 or so... you know now that you mention it like I said I made a real bonehead move and put a used canister filter on the tank and started the cycle over but I never thought of the filter having somthing in it... Ive pretty much replaced all of the media, but if they treated their tank with copper then it sticks to whatever it can... But at the same time Ive got a coral banded and approx 10-12 hermits living just happy as can be...
 
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