Torch head died after lights were off two days

[nuro]

sooo... i acclimated a new fish, and during that period i typically leave the lights off for two days, when i kicked them back on, one of the heads of my newest(like 3 months old) torch had disinigrated. my levels are perfect and i have another torch that is about 9 months old on the other side of the tank that is also doing excellent. any ideas? i refuse to belive two days with out light is the culprit
*i have 216 watts of t5ho and this torch is placed midlevel in a 55 where the other is on the bottom.. could i have burned it? this head was the highest up.

 

[nuro]

anyone have ideas?

 

[fishhunter]

Originally Posted by nuro
http:///forum/post/3172908
sooo... i acclimated a new fish, and during that period i typically leave the lights off for two days, when i kicked them back on, one of the heads of my newest(like 3 months old) torch had disinigrated. my levels are perfect and i have another torch that is about 9 months old on the other side of the tank that is also doing excellent. any ideas? i refuse to belive two days with out light is the culprit
*i have 216 watts of t5ho and this torch is placed midlevel in a 55 where the other is on the bottom.. could i have burned it? this head was the highest up.
UMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmm yaaaaaaaaaaaa...... Waaaaaa????
Why would you do that, thats a first in my books. There is no need to turn off the lights when adding fish! But there could be lots of things that did it. I need to know more to really help. what is your flow, and perameters even if you say they are perfect there could be a problem!

 

[skate020]

you turn the lights off when adding new fish so aggresive dominant fish in there dont attack them.....
you've never heard of that before?

 

[calbert0]

Originally Posted by skate020
http:///forum/post/3174223
you turn the lights off when adding new fish so aggresive dominant fish in there dont attack them.....
you've never heard of that before?
It is more to help them get used to their new environment. If they get tossed in, in the dark than they can acclimate to their new surrounding, but if the lights are on its like getting immediately thrown into a new foreign planet.
This is the same reason that it is recommended to transport fish in dark bags instead of the clear ones that you get at cheap fish stores. If the fish is kept in the dark it is not as startled by all the changes in its surroundings.

 

[fishhunter]

Originally Posted by calbert0
http:///forum/post/3174366
It is more to help them get used to their new environment. If they get tossed in, in the dark than they can acclimate to their new surrounding, but if the lights are on its like getting immediately thrown into a new foreign planet.
This is the same reason that it is recommended to transport fish in dark bags instead of the clear ones that you get at cheap fish stores. If the fish is kept in the dark it is not as startled by all the changes in its surroundings.
Ive done a HUGE amount of reserch, had many many tanks and I have never herd of this! You are doing more shock then good to the rest of your tank inhabitants esspesaly corals! Hell corals can die if you change time that the lights come on, throws there systems off.

 

[nuro]

wow. um... a) corals go for days with limited light in the wild. b) if you put a new fish in a tank with the lights off, therefore a dim enviroment, it allowes the fish to see, find a good hiding spot and acclimate while the other fish in the tank are in a less active mode and less apt to be aggressive. same reason you move rocks around before addign a new fish, the current stock will be less territorial
anyway back to the topic....
ive done this sinc ei started the tank and never had a coral react in such a way, which is why i think it may be unrelated... more specifically im asking if my placement of the coral midlevel may have been too high
thanks for all the replies so far

 

[btldreef]

You're absolutely right about acclimating a new fish with the lights off. CORALS AND FISH SHOULD BE ACCLIMATED WITH LIGHTS OFF, IF YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF THIS, YOU HAVEN'T DONE MUCH RESEARCH. (just my honest opinion)
I usually acclimate corals with just actinics at the end of the day before the lights go out and then they're without any light for twelve hours or so and it seems to work out. I do this with fish as well.
Anyways, two days is a little long in my book. That being said, two days is not long enough for any coral, even a fully photosynthetic one, to die. And mid level should not have killed it, torches are pretty hardy about adapting to different lighting situations and flow. I've beat the h*ll out of mine, moved it to all different levels of the tank and had no issues.
Here's my theory, especially since NOTHING else died in your tank (if you start noticing other things dying, please let me know): You have something in your tank that ate it. Something nocturnal that went on a little feeding frenzy while your lights were off for so long. I had a little nudibranch DESTROY a colony of zoanthids in one day without lights on the tank.
This being said, can you humor me and post your water parameters.

 

[btldreef]

Originally Posted by skate020
http:///forum/post/3174223
you turn the lights off when adding new fish so aggresive dominant fish in there dont attack them.....
you've never heard of that before?
This is not completely true.
While it's recommended that you acclimate fish with no lights, it's more than just for aggression.
New fish are extremely stressed, with the lights off they can calm down and adjust easily (or more calmly).
Here's what I have noticed from acclimating fish with lights on vs lights off:
~~When the lights are on, all your fish are out swimming freely, and quite interested in the new addition. Even if your existing fish are not aggressive, just their curiosity of the new fish can stress it out. This can cause ich, a floor surfer (jumping out of the tank) or cardiac arrest. It's like taking you to a different country where you know nothing and dumping you in the countries major city during rush hour with high blood pressure and an anxiety disorder.
~~When the lights are off, most of your fish are sleeping, or in their territory. Most won't venture out into the open water of the tank once the lights are off. You still may get the one curious fish that wants to know what that new object is in the tank, but one fish vs ten with the lights on is much easier to handle for the new addition. The biggest difference I've noticed is that with lights off and the fish going to bed, the new addition knows where everyone has already established territories and where the existing fish sleep. The new fish can acclimate to it's surroundings and learn, "Oh this rock can't be my bedroom, I guess I'll check somewhere else. Oh, this rock is okay, but that one over to the right isn't either." The new addition can easily find a peaceful, safe space to call home without being harassed and calm down before it has to deal with the pre-existing members of the tank. I have a much higher success with fish that I acclimate with lights off and I attribute the large majority of it to this reason.

 

[nuro]

ill retest and report tomorrow, im at work now. when i tested before the fish was added everything was perfect, maybe a shade of a tingeof trates but nothing noticbale. im religous about my water changes doing at least 20% a week, never had any problems with levels out of wack except when the A/C broke a few times and the tank got pretty warm,

 

[fishhunter]

Originally Posted by BTLDreef
http:///forum/post/3174719
You're absolutely right about acclimating a new fish with the lights off. CORALS AND FISH SHOULD BE ACCLIMATED WITH LIGHTS OFF, IF YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF THIS, YOU HAVEN'T DONE MUCH RESEARCH. (just my honest opinion)
I usually acclimate corals with just actinics at the end of the day before the lights go out and then they're without any light for twelve hours or so and it seems to work out. I do this with fish as well.
Anyways, two days is a little long in my book. That being said, two days is not long enough for any coral, even a fully photosynthetic one, to die. And mid level should not have killed it, torches are pretty hardy about adapting to different lighting situations and flow. I've beat the h*ll out of mine, moved it to all different levels of the tank and had no issues.
Here's my theory, especially since NOTHING else died in your tank (if you start noticing other things dying, please let me know): You have something in your tank that ate it. Something nocturnal that went on a little feeding frenzy while your lights were off for so long. I had a little nudibranch DESTROY a colony of zoanthids in one day without lights on the tank.
This being said, can you humor me and post your water parameters.
I’ve read hundreds of reef mags and books, have done countless hours of research on the net and I say again this is the first time I have heard of completely turning off the lights for days at a time when new live stock is added. I have heard of putting corals in low light areas at start to get use to the light. I have heard to turn off the daylights and leave on the actinic but never cold turkey the lights for a couple days.

 

[btldreef]

Originally Posted by fishhunter
http:///forum/post/3175847
I’ve read hundreds of reef mags and books, have done countless hours of research on the net and I say again this is the first time I have heard of completely turning off the lights for days at a time when new live stock is added. I have heard of putting corals in low light areas at start to get use to the light. I have heard to turn off the daylights and leave on the actinic but never cold turkey the lights for a couple days.
This is not what you originally said. You basically told the guy that turning off the lights was unnecessary. And I've heard it and read it in plenty of forums, magazines, books, etc. especially if the coral was under different lighting in the LFS than it will be in your home tank.

 

[fishhunter]

wow. um... a) corals go for days with limited light (not cold turkey off)in the wild. b) if you put a new fish in a tank with the lights off, therefore a dim enviroment, it allowes the fish to see, find a good hiding spot and acclimate while the other fish in the tank are in a less active mode and less apt to be aggressive. same reason you move rocks around before addign a new fish, the current stock will be less territorial( I understand this and do it myself but I leave some light on ie: actinics. The way I understood it you left ALL light off)

 

[fishhunter]

Originally Posted by BTLDreef
http:///forum/post/3175850
This is not what you originally said. You basically told the guy that turning off the lights was unnecessary. And I've heard it and read it in plenty of forums, magazines, books, etc. especially if the coral was under different lighting in the LFS than it will be in your home tank.
It is unnecessary to turn off all light. It may be nessesary to lower the light but not turn it off.

 

[cranberry]

Turning lights off for a couple of days will not kill a healthy coral. Something else happened. You can even completely cover your tank in blankets leaving them in complete pitch black darkness and a healthy coral will not die. I'm 100% positive of this.
Many people turn off lights for a day when adding a new fish, where the only thing illuminating the tank is ambient room light. This is a long standing and very common practice.

 

[btldreef]

Originally Posted by fishhunter
http:///forum/post/3175853
It is unnecessary to turn off all light. It may be nessesary to lower the light but not turn it off.
Even the acclimation video on this website tells you to acclimate livestock with lights off and leave the lights off for the rest of the day.

 

[btldreef]

Originally Posted by Cranberry
http:///forum/post/3175855
Turning lights off for a couple of days will not kill a healthy coral. Something else happened. You can even completely cover your tank in blankets leaving them in complete pitch black darkness and a healthy coral will not die. I'm 100% positive of this.
Many people turn off lights for a day when adding a new fish, where the only thing illuminating the tank is ambient room light. This is a long standing and very common practice.
AHH, the voice of reason has spoken!
Since he had no other deaths, do you think some little critter went on a nocturnal feeding frenzy? That's my thought at the moment since I've had it happen to me.

 

[cranberry]

Originally Posted by BTLDreef
http:///forum/post/3175857
Since he had no other deaths, do you think some little critter went on a nocturnal feeding frenzy? That's my thought at the moment since I've had it happen to me.
I think it was a coincidence. Do you see any brown jelly anywhere on the coral?
I'm the voice of reason?

 

[btldreef]

Originally Posted by Cranberry
http:///forum/post/3175868
I think it was a coincidence. Do you see any brown jelly anywhere on the coral?
I'm the voice of reason?
LOL .. sometimes you are. I just really needed someone who people respected to come in and say that it was a common practice.

 

[reefkprz]

Originally Posted by Cranberry
http:///forum/post/3175855
Turning lights off for a couple of days will not kill a healthy coral. Something else happened. You can even completely cover your tank in blankets leaving them in complete pitch black darkness and a healthy coral will not die. I'm 100% positive of this.
Many people turn off lights for a day when adding a new fish, where the only thing illuminating the tank is ambient room light. This is a long standing and very common practice.
agreed.
I in fact have done this on more than one occasion (the blankets part, only it was cardboard) when trying out various things to affect cyano. my tank is a mixed reef with both high and low light corals. I have never expirienced a coral die off during my no light sessions.