Nandez13
08/17/2013, 07:42 AM
It’s a long one; thank you to anyone that takes the time to read this and offer their advice.
I started my tank about 2.5 months ago. It’s an 18 gallon tank with a Hydor canister filter rated for 25 gallons (no sump). LED light fixture: bright lights 10-12 hrs, nocturnal lights 2-3 hours, lights off overnight. Tank contains about 23 lbs of live rock, 2-3” of live sand, macroalgae (Dragons Breath). The tank completed cycling and I introduced the cleaning crew: 5 nassarius snails, 5 Astraea snails all from the same store (about 2 weeks ago). I then added 2 small zoa frags (5-8 polyps). Parameters: No ammonia/nitrite, small traces of nitrate; SG= 1.024-1.026; pH=8.1; temp= 78 F. My first issue was with the Astraea snails. I acclimated both types of snails by floating first then removing bag water/adding tank water. I did this for about 35-40 minutes and confirmed the SG was equal to that of the tank. The nassarius snails took cover in the sand but come out when the lights are off and are still doing well (as are the zoas). The Astraea snails barely moved the first day and not at all the second day. On the third day they hadn’t moved so I decided to smell them (3/5 were dead). I left the other two in but they didn’t make it past the following day. I attributed this to not doing the drip method. I considered it a rookie mistake (first tank- no freshwater experience either).
Since they died, I did a couple water changes a week (10-15%) however did not experience an ammonia spike (checked daily). The couple stores around me both happened to be out of Astraea snails/dwarf blue legged hermit crabs so I have to wait for the next shipment. I saw two small ocellaris clownfish in the store that looked great. Both were small (<1”) but one was slightly smaller than the other. I did a drip acclimation method this time over 2.5 hours. This was done with air tubing/ gang valve and my pH/SG were not that far off from the bag water to begin with. They were a little shy the first couple of hours and kept hiding in the rock but then came out and both seemed happy. They’d swim together (no irregular movements), approach the glass when I got close and were happy to eat the pellets I fed them. I fed them once a day; about 6-8 pellets each. After 3 days, I passed by the LFS since I was close by. I picked up 4 sexy shrimp which were active at the store and another small zoa frag (12 polyps). Floated the bags then did a 45 minute drip acclimation for the sexy shrimp. Since I placed them in the bucket; the sexy shrimp weren’t moving around much to begin with. And here’s where it started…
I had to stick my hands in the tank for a couple minutes while I moved the rock a couple inches just to get it a little farther away from the glass since brown algae was building up there and was hard to clean. I wanted to get this done before I introduced the shrimp. The two clownfish stayed near the bottom of the tank while I moved things around and then went back to swimming around. I had to top off my tank anyway and had lost a bit of water to the drip acclimation so I added a bit of filtered water with Seachem Prime & Red Sea Nitrate/Phosphate Reducer (1-2 mL of each per instructions). Reasoning: wanted to make sure I’m not introducing chlorine to the tank so I added Prime and figured it would also detoxify minute traces of ammonia from the fish. My filtered water has a bit of Phosphate which I believe caused the hair algae on my rock so that’s why I bought the Phosphate Reducer. I didn’t have any sexy shrimp/dwarf hermit crabs to clean it up yet. The Prime and Phosphate Reducer were added about 30 minutes before the sexy shrimp. I then added the sexy shrimp to the tank (LFS water never introduced to tank-same for previous additions) and they moved around for a bit but didn’t stray too far from one area. At this point I had noticed something off about the smaller (too early to call it male?) clownfish. He was breathing harder than usual and swimming vertically facing upwards. He kept swimming erratically until he started slowly falling to the sand (SO PAINFUL to watch). While I was frantically Googling what could be wrong, he took his last breaths while the other clownfish still seemed fine. I removed him from the tank immediately. The nassarius snails would’ve gotten to him had they not been distracted by the dead sexy shrimp they were devouring. The three remaining sexy shrimp were still attached to rock but weren’t moving. An hour later and the larger clownfish began swimming near the surface and slowly pecking at the water. Then suddenly started making quick dashes across the surface of the water. All I could think is NOOOO not you too. Within an hour I lost the second clownfish and the remaining sexy shrimp. What happened??? I did not notice any discoloration, spots, or damaged fins.
Here are my speculations but don’t know what to weigh more:
1- I washed my hands with soap about 30 minutes before I placed them in there to move rock. Should I have only rinsed my hands before placing them in the tank?
2- The transportation of the sexy shrimp stressed them out. I’m hoping this explains their lack of movement in the bucket or is that normal?
3- The Prime and Phosphate reducer should not have been placed in the tank simultaneously OR not that close to when introducing livestock.
4- My clownfish could have been sick/stressed out and were going to die anyway and that just happened to coincide with the introduction of the sexy shrimp. The larger of the two clownfish lasted an hour longer since it was older/stronger?
5- I only floated the shrimp for 5 minutes; I figured the drip coming in would continue to balance out the temperature. Temperature shock could kill the shrimp but the clownfish went at the same time so I don’t know if its relevant.
6- Could the zoa introduction have played a role? I did not have any Coral Rx/comparable product to rinse it in beforehand but the three frags are all open and look fine though.
7- Upon further research, I could’ve cleaned my canister filter more often. Cleaned out twice so far.
The nassarius snails/zoas appear normal. Should I be worried about them? I’m so confused and thanks again to anyone who made it this far into the reading. You can tell that I’m a bit stressed. Open to any suggestions; really don’t want this to happen again next time I place livestock in the tank. I’ll keep checking parameters daily and post if there’s been any spikes.
=(
I started my tank about 2.5 months ago. It’s an 18 gallon tank with a Hydor canister filter rated for 25 gallons (no sump). LED light fixture: bright lights 10-12 hrs, nocturnal lights 2-3 hours, lights off overnight. Tank contains about 23 lbs of live rock, 2-3” of live sand, macroalgae (Dragons Breath). The tank completed cycling and I introduced the cleaning crew: 5 nassarius snails, 5 Astraea snails all from the same store (about 2 weeks ago). I then added 2 small zoa frags (5-8 polyps). Parameters: No ammonia/nitrite, small traces of nitrate; SG= 1.024-1.026; pH=8.1; temp= 78 F. My first issue was with the Astraea snails. I acclimated both types of snails by floating first then removing bag water/adding tank water. I did this for about 35-40 minutes and confirmed the SG was equal to that of the tank. The nassarius snails took cover in the sand but come out when the lights are off and are still doing well (as are the zoas). The Astraea snails barely moved the first day and not at all the second day. On the third day they hadn’t moved so I decided to smell them (3/5 were dead). I left the other two in but they didn’t make it past the following day. I attributed this to not doing the drip method. I considered it a rookie mistake (first tank- no freshwater experience either).
Since they died, I did a couple water changes a week (10-15%) however did not experience an ammonia spike (checked daily). The couple stores around me both happened to be out of Astraea snails/dwarf blue legged hermit crabs so I have to wait for the next shipment. I saw two small ocellaris clownfish in the store that looked great. Both were small (<1”) but one was slightly smaller than the other. I did a drip acclimation method this time over 2.5 hours. This was done with air tubing/ gang valve and my pH/SG were not that far off from the bag water to begin with. They were a little shy the first couple of hours and kept hiding in the rock but then came out and both seemed happy. They’d swim together (no irregular movements), approach the glass when I got close and were happy to eat the pellets I fed them. I fed them once a day; about 6-8 pellets each. After 3 days, I passed by the LFS since I was close by. I picked up 4 sexy shrimp which were active at the store and another small zoa frag (12 polyps). Floated the bags then did a 45 minute drip acclimation for the sexy shrimp. Since I placed them in the bucket; the sexy shrimp weren’t moving around much to begin with. And here’s where it started…
I had to stick my hands in the tank for a couple minutes while I moved the rock a couple inches just to get it a little farther away from the glass since brown algae was building up there and was hard to clean. I wanted to get this done before I introduced the shrimp. The two clownfish stayed near the bottom of the tank while I moved things around and then went back to swimming around. I had to top off my tank anyway and had lost a bit of water to the drip acclimation so I added a bit of filtered water with Seachem Prime & Red Sea Nitrate/Phosphate Reducer (1-2 mL of each per instructions). Reasoning: wanted to make sure I’m not introducing chlorine to the tank so I added Prime and figured it would also detoxify minute traces of ammonia from the fish. My filtered water has a bit of Phosphate which I believe caused the hair algae on my rock so that’s why I bought the Phosphate Reducer. I didn’t have any sexy shrimp/dwarf hermit crabs to clean it up yet. The Prime and Phosphate Reducer were added about 30 minutes before the sexy shrimp. I then added the sexy shrimp to the tank (LFS water never introduced to tank-same for previous additions) and they moved around for a bit but didn’t stray too far from one area. At this point I had noticed something off about the smaller (too early to call it male?) clownfish. He was breathing harder than usual and swimming vertically facing upwards. He kept swimming erratically until he started slowly falling to the sand (SO PAINFUL to watch). While I was frantically Googling what could be wrong, he took his last breaths while the other clownfish still seemed fine. I removed him from the tank immediately. The nassarius snails would’ve gotten to him had they not been distracted by the dead sexy shrimp they were devouring. The three remaining sexy shrimp were still attached to rock but weren’t moving. An hour later and the larger clownfish began swimming near the surface and slowly pecking at the water. Then suddenly started making quick dashes across the surface of the water. All I could think is NOOOO not you too. Within an hour I lost the second clownfish and the remaining sexy shrimp. What happened??? I did not notice any discoloration, spots, or damaged fins.
Here are my speculations but don’t know what to weigh more:
1- I washed my hands with soap about 30 minutes before I placed them in there to move rock. Should I have only rinsed my hands before placing them in the tank?
2- The transportation of the sexy shrimp stressed them out. I’m hoping this explains their lack of movement in the bucket or is that normal?
3- The Prime and Phosphate reducer should not have been placed in the tank simultaneously OR not that close to when introducing livestock.
4- My clownfish could have been sick/stressed out and were going to die anyway and that just happened to coincide with the introduction of the sexy shrimp. The larger of the two clownfish lasted an hour longer since it was older/stronger?
5- I only floated the shrimp for 5 minutes; I figured the drip coming in would continue to balance out the temperature. Temperature shock could kill the shrimp but the clownfish went at the same time so I don’t know if its relevant.
6- Could the zoa introduction have played a role? I did not have any Coral Rx/comparable product to rinse it in beforehand but the three frags are all open and look fine though.
7- Upon further research, I could’ve cleaned my canister filter more often. Cleaned out twice so far.
The nassarius snails/zoas appear normal. Should I be worried about them? I’m so confused and thanks again to anyone who made it this far into the reading. You can tell that I’m a bit stressed. Open to any suggestions; really don’t want this to happen again next time I place livestock in the tank. I’ll keep checking parameters daily and post if there’s been any spikes.
=(