what is one the bottom of my tank?

[fishcurse]

i have a 50 gal tank i have had for over 2 years. we moved 4 months ago ever since then i have had nothing but problems and fish deaths. lately i have been having white slime stuff growing on the bottom of tank/on top of live sand. i have a protien skimmer and uv sterilizer as well as phosguard filter.
my nitrites and nitrates are at 0 but my ammonia is between 1.0 and 2.0. i keep doing water changes every 2 weeks and i clean my filters every week at least. when i had gotten down to a hippo tang, and a blenny i went to get some chromis so that hoping to get some fish in there and get all the levels right. the guy at the fish store told me my ammonia might be high cause i dont have anything cleaning my sand so i got some crabs, a cucumber, and a banded bullet. he also sold me some melafix and ammolock to make things better.at this point i dont know if im putting too much stuff in there or what. please help. i keep taking out the slime with my net and it keeps coming back. my husband thinking he was doing a nice surprise bought me a blue tang and put it in my tank. now im worried it will die too. i need help. thanks

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by fishcurse
i have a 50 gal tank i have had for over 2 years. we moved 4 months ago ever since then i have had nothing but problems and fish deaths. lately i have been having white slime stuff growing on the bottom of tank/on top of live sand. i have a protien skimmer and uv sterilizer as well as phosguard filter.
my nitrites and nitrates are at 0 but my ammonia is between 1.0 and 2.0. i keep doing water changes every 2 weeks and i clean my filters every week at least. when i had gotten down to a hippo tang, and a blenny i went to get some chromis so that hoping to get some fish in there and get all the levels right. the guy at the fish store told me my ammonia might be high cause i dont have anything cleaning my sand so i got some crabs, a cucumber, and a banded bullet. he also sold me some melafix and ammolock to make things better.at this point i dont know if im putting too much stuff in there or what. please help. i keep taking out the slime with my net and it keeps coming back. my husband thinking he was doing a nice surprise bought me a blue tang and put it in my tank. now im worried it will die too. i need help. thanks
First, Welcome to the boards!!!! Second, your lfs gave you some VERY bad advice. Ammonia is caused by either fish waste or something rotting in the tank. It is deadly to all aquatic life. You have had this tank for over 2 years? Were you the one caring for it? Melafix is for open wounds. You should be mixing water for water changes, not buying more things that will not live in that water. What fish have you kept before? The first step to fixing this is water changes.

 

[lion_crazz]

I agree with both of the above points. You need to stop listening to the person at the LFS because they are giving you very bad advice. Stop adding the Melafix and Ammolock and start doing weekly water changes. At this point, I would be doing 2 or 3 partial water changes a week, just to get the ammonia down. Ammonia is very deadly and could mean the death of your fish in that tank.

 

[fishcurse]

ok the fish store told me that water changes would make the levels spike and not to do one more than every two weeks. but i will do one today. yes i was the one caring for the tank. the tank had been stable for over a year and a half i had a niger trigger, purple tang, hippo tang, clown, blenny, and a coral bueaty. after we moved ive lost everything but the hippo and the blenny. i change my filters constantly. could something be rotting in the sand? should i take out live sand and get new? also i was reading some of the posts and someone said they cleaned the bio balls. ive never done that cause i was told thats where all the bacteria lives. is that something i should do? could that be causing my ammonia to stay so high?

 

[fishcurse]

the lfs told me the ammo lock was causing my ammonia reading to be so high (false/Positive) but the blue tang my husband bought me started doing upside down circles then was dead this morning. and my hippo tang has hlle and is sluffing off his slime coat. i dont know what to do

 

[fishcurse]

i did a half water change yesterday and tried to get most of the brown stuff off of the sand with my net.

 

[sepulatian]

The only time you might get a spike after water changes is if you stir up the sand bed. You may get a small nitrate spike, but you should not be stirring the sand anyway. How long ago did you set this tank back up? Did the rocks and/or sand die durring the move? Have you had any other spikes since you set this tank back up? Have you ever had nitrate readings? Please explain what all happened since you moved.

 

[fishcurse]

my nitrates and nitrites are reading 0. since i have moved i have lost all but 2 fish. i had a fungus outbreak that went after my coral beauty and purple tang because they were healing from hlle from heater putting electricity in the water. i was treating with maroxy and meracin. then outta nowhere my niger trigger (which has always been my sturdiest fish) for seemingly no reason. then i lost the coral beauty and my clown. things settled down for a month or so and then my purple tang started circling upside down and my hippo started sluffing his slime coat. i was putting stress coat and melafix trying to save my tangs ive had them well over a year. four days later my purple tang was dead. i have to say it might have been stupid on my part i bought one of those little signs that hangs in the tank and tells you if your ammonia is getting high. instead of rechecking with my test kits when it started going high i just started water changes and when it still was high i started the ammolock. now they tell the ammolock will give my test kit a false/positive so i dont know what my true ammonia is at. my husband thought that since my tank has been clear that things were ok since nothing had died in a few weeks. he went out and bought me a blue tang after a 2 days it started circling and on the fourth day it was dead (today). the only thing ive put in the tank in the past four months is some chromis and a banded bullet and crabs to sift the sand since once my trigger found out the crabs were food i had to quit getting them so nothings been cleaning my sand for at least 6-8 months so i thought that might be causing the ammonia to stay high. at this point i just dont know what to do, and i hate losing fish it breaks my heart. i cant figure out how to make this tank healthy

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by fishcurse
my nitrates and nitrites are reading 0. since i have moved i have lost all but 2 fish. i had a fungus outbreak that went after my coral beauty and purple tang because they were healing from hlle from heater putting electricity in the water. i was treating with maroxy and meracin. then outta nowhere my niger trigger (which has always been my sturdiest fish) for seemingly no reason. then i lost the coral beauty and my clown. things settled down for a month or so and then my purple tang started circling upside down and my hippo started sluffing his slime coat. i was putting stress coat and melafix trying to save my tangs ive had them well over a year. four days later my purple tang was dead. i have to say it might have been stupid on my part i bought one of those little signs that hangs in the tank and tells you if your ammonia is getting high. instead of rechecking with my test kits when it started going high i just started water changes and when it still was high i started the ammolock. now they tell the ammolock will give my test kit a false/positive so i dont know what my true ammonia is at. my husband thought that since my tank has been clear that things were ok since nothing had died in a few weeks. he went out and bought me a blue tang after a 2 days it started circling and on the fourth day it was dead (today). the only thing ive put in the tank in the past four months is some chromis and a banded bullet and crabs to sift the sand since once my trigger found out the crabs were food i had to quit getting them so nothings been cleaning my sand for at least 6-8 months so i thought that might be causing the ammonia to stay high. at this point i just dont know what to do, and i hate losing fish it breaks my heart. i cant figure out how to make this tank healthy
I am very sorry that you have had these losses. To be pefectly honest, I am very surprised that the others lived as long as they did. You had way too much bioload and fish that simply do not do well for long periods of time in such a small tank. When using ammo-lock, tests will read the actual ammonia in the water. Ammo-lock is supposed to neutralize that ammonia. It is still there just not in a toxic form..........the bottle says so anyway. If I can test for it and there is a reading, it has to be taken care of. That chemical is only a temporary fix if that, being that your fish are still dying I would say that the chemical is garbage. Crabs not sifting through your sand would cause high nitrate, not ammonia. I personally think that after the move, once your tank was set up for them again, they were just putting off too large of a bioload. Your tank may have had a mini cycle. If you were not on top of testing everyday and doing water changes as needed that could be a serious problem. How far did you move? Are you using RO water? There could be the issue of different water that you filled the tank back up with. Please tell us how you moved them. NEVER trust little hang on devices for testing. Pick up a liquid test kit.

 

[fishcurse]

we only moved across town but i didnt keep much of the original water. i did leave water in the tank to cover the sand cause i knew it needed to stay wet. i used tap water that i put chlorout in. but i do know the water is alot harder here than where we were. when i change the water i try not to stir up the sand but i have been trying to vacuum some of the brown stuff off of it. but the white slime stuff i have been skimming off the sand with my net because i dont think its good for it to be in there. the brown of the sand im assuming it is brown algae. could too much gunk on my bioballs cause high ammonia? the lfs now says that all the water changes are wiping out my bacteria and i need biospire. is this true? would live rock help stabilize my tank? i already have the protien skimmer.

 

[fishcurse]

do you have any idea what the white slime is?

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by fishcurse
we only moved across town but i didnt keep much of the original water. i did leave water in the tank to cover the sand cause i knew it needed to stay wet. i used tap water that i put chlorout in. but i do know the water is alot harder here than where we were. when i change the water i try not to stir up the sand but i have been trying to vacuum some of the brown stuff off of it. but the white slime stuff i have been skimming off the sand with my net because i dont think its good for it to be in there. the brown of the sand im assuming it is brown algae. could too much gunk on my bioballs cause high ammonia? the lfs now says that all the water changes are wiping out my bacteria and i need biospire. is this true? would live rock help stabilize my tank? i already have the protien skimmer.
First, I would be printing out this page and raising hell at the LFS if it were me. Don't listen to them. They clearly do not have a clue about SW fish keeping. When you moved the tank, did you fill the tank with FW and then add the salt? You have never tested the phosphate level, Alk or any of the metals from this new wtaer? Do you add a dechlorinator? How did you refill this tank? Please explain.

 

[fishcurse]

no i declorinate and mix salt before adding. no ive never tested for those things i thought that was something i only needed to do if i had corals/live rock.