HELP PLEASE....worried about my tank

[VeriasCurat]

First to start off here are my parameters. These are tested with an API kit as well as the red sea reef pro kit.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrate:~20
Nitrite:0
kH: 10.6 dkh
Temp: 79
Salinity: 1.025
Mg: 1600+ (way high, how can I lower this?)
Ca: 470 ppm

So I'm not sure what's going on but I am super worried. So at first, I noticed my snail acting very very weird.. Then I noticed he was basically coming out of his shell. He's also got white stringing stuff hanging off of him. He's not dead and his trap door isn't shut but what could cause this? My other snails are also being v ery lethargic and weird so I'm very concerned with this. Pictures incoming...

http://i.imgur.com/WKwgfJ9l.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/25SbbA6l.jpg

On top of this I also noticed today one of my purple mushrooms broke off his piece where he was attached to and is free floating through the tank and none of them are opening up. They were in a moderate flow area and acting like they were trying to get away from the flow so I moved them..

http://i.imgur.com/UzvOOBjl.jpg

ON TOP OF THIS...my branching hammer coral won't open so something has ****ed them off... normally they're open and flowing and happy..
http://i.imgur.com/iVKOvghl.jpg

But now they look like this...

http://i.imgur.com/USlfHlBl.jpg


Just a bit more information. The only thing I added to my tank was a mandarin goby who has been doing good eating both pods and mysis shrimp...I also built a DIY copepod hotel that I saw online made out of gutter guard..I rinsed this properly in salt water and figured this was adequate cleaning measures so MAYBE this leaked something into the tank? Otherwise, I'm at a loss of words and I hope my tank isn't crashing..

[VeriasCurat]

Oh sorry one other detail... I also added a peppermint shrimp because I saw some minor aptasia on a piece of my zoa.

[OrQidz]

what are the details on your tank - size, how long set up, etc? I'm not familiar with gutter guard, but could any other substances have gotten into the tank?

[VeriasCurat]

what are the details on your tank - size, how long set up, etc? I'm not familiar with gutter guard, but could any other substances have gotten into the tank?

29 gallon tank.cycled in 10 days with all live rock, biospira, never had a ammonia spike but had all the normal nitrite to nitrate...Tanks been up for 45 days.

The only thing MAY have got in is a glass cleaner, IF, it can leach through the tank glass which seems impossible to me. otherwise, I manage the tank and My girlfriend just watches.

Otherwise,
The only livestock is 2 false percs which are perfectly happy, and various other snail's and hermit crabs.

ps:

I have a 1200 gph powerhead in the tank to provide circulation.
a 100W heater set to 79*..and a fluval HoB filter that I only run after water changes to help suck up any extra poop (literally and figuratively)
Last water change was done on Saturday..my salinity was low (1.023, due to error in swinging arm test)..so I bought a refractometer and it is now 1.025.

[OrQidz]

hmmm.. I agree glass cleaner couldn't go through the glass, but could get sprayed by mistake, or maybe if you had it on your hands it could get into the tank? However, that would probably affect all the inhabitants. Did you change the salinity rapidly by chance, with the WC? It was a bit on the low side, but not horrible.

Is the gutter guard that plastic stuff, or metal? Metal would make me worried about leaching stuff....

Other than that, your tank is pretty new still and the parameters may not be as stable as they could be. Your mag is high; I just read another thread about snails dying from that. It might be your salt - do some research and see what you find out. I always get alk confused but double check what it should be. If that and the mag are high, I would look at maybe a different salt mix.

I would add some carbon or polyfilter and see if you can pull out any chemicals that could be contaminating the tank.

Good luck with it all! Kind of a roller coaster, this hobby :)

[VeriasCurat]

hmmm.. I agree glass cleaner couldn't go through the glass, but could get sprayed by mistake, or maybe if you had it on your hands it could get into the tank? However, that would probably affect all the inhabitants. Did you change the salinity rapidly by chance, with the WC? It was a bit on the low side, but not horrible.

Is the gutter guard that plastic stuff, or metal? Metal would make me worried about leaching stuff....

Other than that, your tank is pretty new still and the parameters may not be as stable as they could be. Your mag is high; I just read another thread about snails dying from that. It might be your salt - do some research and see what you find out. I always get alk confused but double check what it should be. If that and the mag are high, I would look at maybe a different salt mix.

I would add some carbon or polyfilter and see if you can pull out any chemicals that could be contaminating the tank.

Good luck with it all! Kind of a roller coaster, this hobby :)

The salinity pre-WC was 1.023..the water I use is from my LFS premixed to 1.025...she sells it super cheap and financially is my best option at the moment..The salt I'm using is from my LFS..she premixes the water for me and I've bought it off her for weeks now. Right now it's a much simpler and cheaper option than investing in my own RO/DI system because I have some other expenses at the moment..So in that regard I'm not sure what salt she uses.

The gutter guard was metal..I rinsed it before I put it into the tank in salt water but my first thought was maybe that it was leaching so I pulled it out.

I'll throw the carbon and poly filter back in and let it run for a few days. In the meantime since the snail is still alive, should I just let him go and keep an eye out on it? My copepod hotel was there for a few days and that was the biggest change and I followed other DIY people who did that so maybe that is what did it...

[OrQidz]

getting the water from the LFS is a good plan, no worries there. If things have been going well thus far, I wouldn't worry too much.

I'm glad you pulled the gutter guard out. Adding some carbon and polyfilter sounds good, take note of the color the polyfilter turns to help identify if any contaminants are coming out. I'm not familiar with the gutter guard copepod DIY project but anything metal that isn't designed to sit in salt water would worry me.

I would leave the snail alone unless it's dead, then take it out. Hopefully it will pull through.

[VeriasCurat]

getting the water from the LFS is a good plan, no worries there. If things have been going well thus far, I wouldn't worry too much.

I'm glad you pulled the gutter guard out. Adding some carbon and polyfilter sounds good, take note of the color the polyfilter turns to help identify if any contaminants are coming out. I'm not familiar with the gutter guard copepod DIY project but anything metal that isn't designed to sit in salt water would worry me.

I would leave the snail alone unless it's dead, then take it out. Hopefully it will pull through.

Yeah I did some research on cultivating copepods in a salt water tank..I came across a thread where a guy made a "copepod hotel" out of gutter guard and used it in his tank with no issues..but it's out of there.

I will put the carbon/polyfilter in my fluval and run those. The snail is not dead so I will leave him to pull through.

As far as my zoa's, hammer, and shrooms not opening, think it may be due to the leached metal maybe?

[wrott]

Never put anything metal in the tank, plastic/fiiberglass is OK.
Do a couple of 50% WCs, take your refractometer and Mg kit to the LFS and check it.
High Mg will definately slow down/kill snails--search briopsis control w/ Kent tech-M.
Poly filter, carbon and water changes are your friends. Double check SG at all costs. Temp fluctuations can cause corals to retract. How many watts of t5 do you have. You shouldn't have added a mandarin to a 29g tank. Research before buying anything.
I would take those snails back to the LFS before they die, and see if they go back to normal in one of their tanks.

[julie180]

Sounds like some type of toxin from the metal. Get one of these polyfilters and do some large water changes.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4335

[VeriasCurat]

Never put anything metal in the tank, plastic/fiiberglass is OK.
Do a couple of 50% WCs, take your refractometer and Mg kit to the LFS and check it.
High Mg will definately slow down/kill snails--search briopsis control w/ Kent tech-M.
Poly filter, carbon and water changes are your friends. Double check SG at all costs. Temp fluctuations can cause corals to retract. How many watts of t5 do you have. You shouldn't have added a mandarin to a 29g tank. Research before buying anything.
I would take those snails back to the LFS before they die, and see if they go back to normal in one of their tanks.

I've had these snail's since the tank has cycled so taking them back isn't an ootion lol.
And I did do research onmandarins...extensive. And I have seen many people who have one in sub 40 Tanks and as long as they have copepods they're fine. This particular one will even eat the mysis. Shrimp I put in.

[wrott]

Just to clear up any ignorance for future owners of mandarins,
Them eating prep'd food is a death sentence, it doesn't have the proper nutritional value and they need to eat every few seconds of every day. A simple search would have told you that.
It could take a year for them to eventually starve. They can live for 7+ years IME in a 125g tank w/out other pod eaters.

[nmotz]

I would not use glass cleaner or any aerosol in the room that the tank is in. You'd be surprised how far that stuff can disperse, and water acts as a natural sink for particulates that are floating around in the air. If you are cleaning the glass, use water mixed with vinegar only. Actually, water mixed with vinegar will clean just about anything and it's safe to use everywhere. If you are cleaning the glass with Windex or something, I would stop immediately, do some WCs and run some carbon for a while.

[CuzzA]

:facepalm: VeriasCuart, you gotta start doing your research on everything you add to your tank.

Return the Mandarin and the Peppermint Shrimp. The Mandarin will die in your tank. 100% guaranteed. Your tank is too small and too young, there's hardly any life in it. The Peppermint Shrimp may eat that one Aiptasia anemone, but after that he's going to seek out more food. A hammer would make a nice meal. The better option to remove one anemone from an easily accessible frag is to just pull the frag and aggressively brush it off in some tank water and rinse in another cup of tank water. It's not uncommon for mushrooms to let loose if they're not happy where they're at.

The snail and other inhabitants could have been poisoned by the metal gutter guard. It appears from the picture that the snail is just trying to right itself. As everyone else said, water changes, carbon and polyfilter are the best ways to remove pollutants and contaminants.

Slow down and do you research. Your livestock and wallet will thank you.

[rt67ghy]

I would not use glass cleaner or any aerosol in the room that the tank is in. You'd be surprised how far that stuff can disperse, and water acts as a natural sink for particulates that are floating around in the air. If you are cleaning the glass, use water mixed with vinegar only. Actually, water mixed with vinegar will clean just about anything and it's safe to use everywhere. If you are cleaning the glass with Windex or something, I would stop immediately, do some WCs and run some carbon for a while.

+1

I read a thread about someone's wife using a spray in the room where there was the tank and everything in the tank died. I think it was an anti-bacterial type.

[Auston]

i don't know what you use to check salinity but i would get a second device to check it with. i went thew something just like you and could not figure out what it was. turned out my brand new hydrometer was reading 1.031 as 1.024 and everything was under extreme stress for a month cause of this. maybe take a water sample to your LFS and get them to just double check it. at least that would eliminate one variable. Wont cost anything right?

[Auston]

Also premixed salt water is always garbage IMO. i used it in the beginning and it was never in range. do it yourself that way you can eliminate factors when your having a problem with your tank.