sid67ii
New Member
This is a long post, but I thought it would be helpful to share the full amount of info i have up front.
I cannot figure it out, somehow my tank is a flush farm.
I started my tank back around thanksgiving. I gave it plenty of time to cycle - about six weeks, then i bought some tank janitors. About a week or two later, I bought two engineer gobies. One of them promptly disappeared, leading me to believe it had been crushed under an unstable rock it had dug under. The other engineer goby is still there hard at work ruining my aqua scape.
Next, I bought a peppermint shrimp, which disappeared. I bought another peppermint shrimp, it is still there.
I next bought a scarlet hawk and a percula clown. The scarlet hawk is still there doing wonderfully, the percula clown disappeared that night. Due to my cats' suddenly taking a great interest in the back of the tank area for the next couple of days, i concluded it had jumped to its death.
A couple of weeks ago, I took the plunge again and bought a leopard wrasse. I made the mistake of not researching this fish, and did not realize the shape they usually arrive in (this was a new arrival to the lfs). The wrasse was, in retrospect, very unhealthy and not suitable for a relatively unestablished tank like mine. As a result it hid under the sand for about 36 hours, then came out and floated around dying for about a day before finally giving up the ghost.
The same day I bought another percula - it's doing great.
So, I thought the first couple were flukes - the goby and the clown, and the wrasse was simply me being an idiot. Therefore, I spent time and researched my next purchase - a lawnmower blenny. The internet said they were very hardy, and were good algae eaters. These were two good qualities in a fish, so I bought one. It hid in my lr for a couple of days, but then today, what do I find, but it's dead!
What am I doing so wrong? I know, I KNOW that I need a quarantine tank, I just haven't had the resources to establish one yet, and I'm about to move. However, this isn't a case of "i poisoned my tank by putting a sick fish in it". Are these all just flukes? Will quarantining help that much? Should I be drip acclimating? Is that that big a deal?
Two other disasters - I bought a cucumber from the lfs. When I got it home I noticed a wound on its side and it began leaking white stuff in the water, next day, it eviscerated itself. i got it out of the tank in time.
I bought a sea lettuce - disappeared. Bought a second one, doing just fine.
I test my water every week, I've built the bio load really slowly, so the nitrate, nitrite, ammonia and phosphates always reads nil. The Ph, calcium, and alkalinity read fine, too. The salinity is fine.
This cannot be a common occurrence, I must be doing something horribly wrong, but I just don't understand what it is.
I inspected the body of the wrasse and the blenny, neither have wounds that would make me suspect a mantis shrimp or something like that, and neither showed signs of disease.
I have a lot of coral frags, they are all doing really well, just not the fish.
I cannot figure it out, somehow my tank is a flush farm.
I started my tank back around thanksgiving. I gave it plenty of time to cycle - about six weeks, then i bought some tank janitors. About a week or two later, I bought two engineer gobies. One of them promptly disappeared, leading me to believe it had been crushed under an unstable rock it had dug under. The other engineer goby is still there hard at work ruining my aqua scape.
Next, I bought a peppermint shrimp, which disappeared. I bought another peppermint shrimp, it is still there.
I next bought a scarlet hawk and a percula clown. The scarlet hawk is still there doing wonderfully, the percula clown disappeared that night. Due to my cats' suddenly taking a great interest in the back of the tank area for the next couple of days, i concluded it had jumped to its death.
A couple of weeks ago, I took the plunge again and bought a leopard wrasse. I made the mistake of not researching this fish, and did not realize the shape they usually arrive in (this was a new arrival to the lfs). The wrasse was, in retrospect, very unhealthy and not suitable for a relatively unestablished tank like mine. As a result it hid under the sand for about 36 hours, then came out and floated around dying for about a day before finally giving up the ghost.
The same day I bought another percula - it's doing great.
So, I thought the first couple were flukes - the goby and the clown, and the wrasse was simply me being an idiot. Therefore, I spent time and researched my next purchase - a lawnmower blenny. The internet said they were very hardy, and were good algae eaters. These were two good qualities in a fish, so I bought one. It hid in my lr for a couple of days, but then today, what do I find, but it's dead!
What am I doing so wrong? I know, I KNOW that I need a quarantine tank, I just haven't had the resources to establish one yet, and I'm about to move. However, this isn't a case of "i poisoned my tank by putting a sick fish in it". Are these all just flukes? Will quarantining help that much? Should I be drip acclimating? Is that that big a deal?
Two other disasters - I bought a cucumber from the lfs. When I got it home I noticed a wound on its side and it began leaking white stuff in the water, next day, it eviscerated itself. i got it out of the tank in time.
I bought a sea lettuce - disappeared. Bought a second one, doing just fine.
I test my water every week, I've built the bio load really slowly, so the nitrate, nitrite, ammonia and phosphates always reads nil. The Ph, calcium, and alkalinity read fine, too. The salinity is fine.
This cannot be a common occurrence, I must be doing something horribly wrong, but I just don't understand what it is.
I inspected the body of the wrasse and the blenny, neither have wounds that would make me suspect a mantis shrimp or something like that, and neither showed signs of disease.
I have a lot of coral frags, they are all doing really well, just not the fish.
