Talk me down from the ledge!

[PirateToast]

I've tried planning and researching as much as possible before each purchase... but sometimes it feels like the wheels are coming off.

Here are my issues:
1. Evil Mystery Wrasse - This is NOT a reef safe fish despite what anyone says. He's already eaten all of my ceriths, I havent seen the nassarius in a few days (hiding in fear?), and my coral banded/fire shrimps seem terrified! Not only that, but he has picked apart a green mushroom I bought, I'm guessing it looks like a snail. So my options are trade him in (catching him is tough) or keep him. He is pretty cool looking, but shrimp are part ofthe reason I got into this hobby, so if he touches a shrimp I'm out. I just wish I could have snails too, any suggestions?

2. Im having my first diatom bloom, It sounds like I just do a water change and deal with it?

3. Finally, im having some coral issues. I have a candy cane that looks miserable (in another thread) and one batch of green/yellow zoas that look dead. See the picture. The polyps seem to be turning gray. I havefire and ice zoas that seem fine, so whats the deal?. http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/21/u6yzeduh.jpg

What do I do? Where do i start? I feel overwhelmed with all these things happening simultaneously!

[smom1976]

what exactly is a diatom bloom?

[PirateToast]

This I think...http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/21/ze6aqeva.jpg

[triggreef]

Your lumping a lot of frustration into one post but I will try to address a couple issues. Your going to have to make up your mind about whether or not you want snails and shrimp or the wrasse. There are a lot of good looking wrasses you can replace him with that will leave the inverts alone. Many fish are lumped into the generally safe or not safe catagories but its generally the individual fish that decides if it is or not in many cases. Liveaquaria genereally has the best descriptions and anything you see that says "with caution" means they might eat snail and shrimp.

As for the diatoms it happens and usually clears up in time. nothing you can really do about it. But make sure you get a good (hanna/red sea) low range phosphate test kit and keep it in check. Anything over .04 and you may get algae issues down the road. Or you can join the ATS (Algae Turf Scrubber) group and not really worry about it so much. Thats the only thing that worked for me.

As for the polyps, Could be flow, light, parameters... You didn't post any of that so who knows.

When I started out with zoas I had a couple issues and one was very high Ca. Like it was way higher than it should be because I was dosing and not testing. After that straightened out they did just fine. I also started dosing Vitamin c which I still dose and I think it helps with everything but I can't really compare because I changed so much in the beginning who knows.

Parameters are really the most important thing in this hobby and finding a way to keep them stable is key. If you can't figure out how to stabilize everything, or you just don't care to put in the effort, then your going to have a hard time.

[PirateToast]

To top all this off, I was just doing a water change and didnt notice my longnose hawkfish jump out. Probably my favorite fish dead. Great.

Parameters are 0 ammonia, nitrite, nitrate. Calcium 520. 9-10 dkh. Light is 4 48 T5HO.

Sorry, just having a rough day with this hobby! I suppose this is part of the learning curve.

[rfgonzo]

Take a deep breath and breathe, a hobby should be fun, hang in their brother

[ponda]

yo bro, my tank has alot more issues than urs :-)
its all good. sorry bout the fish.

[brizhound]

I have had the same problems at some point that you are having know. Unfortunately it's part of the hobby early on. To enjoy the hobby catch the wrasse and get rid of it. I too like shrimp, crabs etc. There are smaller wrasse that you can keep that will allow you to keep both.
The bloom will go away on its own just keep up with your maintenance.
I have no input on zoas I don't keep them.
You may want to let the calcium drop a little 520 is on the high side.
Don't give up, when everything is going right it's totally worth the headaches.

[PirateToast]

Thanks for the advice and well wishes guys. I'll keep my headup. Main concern that's in my control right now is the corals. Is there anything I can do to reduce calcium? Or just water change without calcium?

[living_waters]

dont worry make up your mind on the wrasse,and for the corals they do this sometimes no matter what you do they seem to just stay ****ed and wither away. my water parameters are perfect, i have some nuclear green zoas that don't seem to open no matter what i do,yet strangely enough there growing heads while closed i might just have to make a thread on this for i really don't know how lol.

[Newsmyrna80]

Thanks for the advice and well wishes guys. I'll keep my headup. Main concern that's in my control right now is the corals. Is there anything I can do to reduce calcium? Or just water change without calcium?

Are you dosing calcium? How long has your tank been set up? With regards to the wrasse I had the same problem with a Hawkfish. He killed 2 banded coral shrimp and that was it. I traded him in.

[PirateToast]

Gah... well you might as well call me a drama queen.

Went back over lunch today and all of my corals look the healthiest they've ever been (except for the green mushroom the wrasse was picking at). Most of the snail shells I saw on the ground yesterday seemed to have moved around, so maybe the wrasse was wrongfully accused. It's possible he just flipped them and couldn't get them I suppose!

Thanks for the support folks! Seems like my only problems now are replacing the suicidal hawkfish and the algae bloom.

[Maaka]

wrong thread

[fishroomlady]

so glad things turned around for you. We've all had those days when everything seems to be going wrong and then we do get things turned around. I think the frustrations make the good times that much better :)

[don_chuwish]

What is your water source? On LFS advice I initially trusted that the local tap water was OK - just treat it and use it. But diatoms kept coming back after every water change so eventually I got smart and started using RO water.