MrsHaggis
12/30/2008, 08:31 AM
Hi Guys,
I was hoping someone could help shine some light on the death of my electric blue hermit crab. I have my own suspicions but I just want someone else's opinion.
My tank has been up and running since 11th of December this year. On Dec 24th I took water samples to the LFS who tested everything and told me that I could add one fish and one crab. So I bought a clown and the crab. I also bought my own testing kit and was horrified when I tested my own water (having added the fish and the crab) to find out that my nitrates were really high (between 60 and 80 mg/litre). The source of the problem was my tap water (used for top ups) so I went out and bought an RO/DI unit and made water changes to bring my levels back down.
I checked all of my levels again yesterday after the water changes and got the following:
Salinity = 1024
Nitrates = 0
Ammonia = 0
Nitrits = 0.1
Phosphates = 0
Iron = 0
Magnesium = 1200
Calcium = 400
PH = between 8.0 and 8.5
However, I noticed 2 days ago that the crab was not looking very sharp (very lethargic) and not eating any of the food I put in the tank for it. And today, whilst checking water levels again (because I think I am actually still cycling) I found that the crab was dead. Today, all my water levels were fine again.
My thoughts : should not have listened to LFS, it was way too soon to add livestock......
The clown seems to be thriving - hope that lasts!!!
I'm currently setting up a quarantine tank, just waiting for more RO water to be made. Once I have that tank's water levels OK (Should take about 4 weeks to cycle right?) I would like to add livestock one at a time but do you think that would be too soon?? Also, I want to get more crabs so I was going to keep the old shell - is that OK and if I do should I also quarantine the shell??
I was hoping someone could help shine some light on the death of my electric blue hermit crab. I have my own suspicions but I just want someone else's opinion.
My tank has been up and running since 11th of December this year. On Dec 24th I took water samples to the LFS who tested everything and told me that I could add one fish and one crab. So I bought a clown and the crab. I also bought my own testing kit and was horrified when I tested my own water (having added the fish and the crab) to find out that my nitrates were really high (between 60 and 80 mg/litre). The source of the problem was my tap water (used for top ups) so I went out and bought an RO/DI unit and made water changes to bring my levels back down.
I checked all of my levels again yesterday after the water changes and got the following:
Salinity = 1024
Nitrates = 0
Ammonia = 0
Nitrits = 0.1
Phosphates = 0
Iron = 0
Magnesium = 1200
Calcium = 400
PH = between 8.0 and 8.5
However, I noticed 2 days ago that the crab was not looking very sharp (very lethargic) and not eating any of the food I put in the tank for it. And today, whilst checking water levels again (because I think I am actually still cycling) I found that the crab was dead. Today, all my water levels were fine again.
My thoughts : should not have listened to LFS, it was way too soon to add livestock......
The clown seems to be thriving - hope that lasts!!!
I'm currently setting up a quarantine tank, just waiting for more RO water to be made. Once I have that tank's water levels OK (Should take about 4 weeks to cycle right?) I would like to add livestock one at a time but do you think that would be too soon?? Also, I want to get more crabs so I was going to keep the old shell - is that OK and if I do should I also quarantine the shell??