kinda need some help please!

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mbaker82

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 4, 2004
Messages
20
Location
Hagerstown MD
i have been in saltwater for about 1 year.
i have been great at keeping my water quality high and and keeping my tank clean. latey i have see my blue tang scrach one day or 2 and then he /she would stop. is it normal for fish to do this?
all i feed is frozen brin shrimp i cant get them to eat anything else.
so i stick with that. (good or bad)
next i just bought a huge amount of hermits and snails about 76 total and a few spare shells so them would not fight. i see a few claws from the hermits laying around my tank. why is that? does any one know?
at the same time i bought my hermits and snails i bought 6 star fish i am sad to say 2 did not make it and 1 tiger tail cucumber died also the other doing great. the star fish i have left are 2 fancy red serpents and 1 fancy tiger stripe sea star.those three never move i mean never still alive i might add, but dont move.i have a pic on members sw tanks. page(1)

what i have in my tank is a 25 watt uv star,wet dry filter, tetra tech hang on filter W/ heater. and 2 powerheads
if you look at my pic.
you will see a simple tank. i would like to spice it up some. what do you think i should add?
and can any one help my with my questions?
thanks for reading
michael[/img]
 
Lets start by saying welcome to AA, and then work bottom to top.

The most popular way to improve a tank's look is to 1st, upgrade your lighting and add more live rock followed by corals. The mini reef is very nice looking and interesting to look at as it's teeming with life. If your livestock says no to an actual reef, just adding colorful rock will make it more interesting to look at and also provide hiding places for your fish. Fish with hidey holes are less stressed, and less stressed fish are healtier and more colorful.

76 snails and crabs in what I'm assuming is a 55g tank... wow that's a lot of crabs and snails. You will need a lot of extra shells laying around for the crabs, otherwise they'll off they're neighbors to get into bigger shells. And there is possibly a food shortage, so canabilsm wouldn't be out of question.

Frozen brine can be ok, as long as the shrimp themselves are gutloaded or in other ways improved. General consensus is that brine shrimp are like eating ice cubes, you'll get full and starve at the same time. A mixed diet will provide better long term health. On the other hand, I know people with succesful mine reefs who feed nothing other than brine and plankton. I would assume most major feed companies improve their shrimp before shipping. You didn't list your livestock, but I've yet to have a fish refuse any type of frozen (not flake and exluding mandarins) food I've chosen to feed. You can mix some garlic juice in with the food and it will generally trigger a feeding response from most fish as deep in their souls they're all italian. Hell, I eat all kinds of stuff once it's been sprinkled with garlic :D Also, garlic tends to boost their immune function.

Itchy fish usually means ich or other skin critters. You should be able to see little white spots on him. It's usually easier to see them on translucent parts like their fins. If so, qt and treat him until he's healty. I've treated ich with nothing more than additional vitamins and garlic mixed in with their food and have yet to resort to medication. On the other hand, its hard to say from here if your fish is itchy, or just crawling under the rocks.

hth
 
lol
thanks for your help indy. i am try to buy a light from marinedepot.com
with pc and HQI 2X 150watt and 2 pc blubs for 1050$
is it possible for live rock too die and never come back?
as for dory i have looked really close to her and i cant see no white spots on her fins or body. i have a uv sterilizer i guess that helps out? have you had luck with them?
and what do you feed to hermits and snails?
as well as star fish?
thanks
michael
 
I'd agree that the shrimp alone is not good for your tang. Don't know if others would agree, but I'd not feed him for a day or two and try some other frozen food, like Ocean Nutrician's formula two. Let it thaw and try a bit. Might work. Might not even have to stop feeding for a day to accomplish that. I agree with Indy's statement about frozen foods.

I love that you're comfortable with cucumbers. I had one when I got started, but learned later that if it died, and emitted that internal stuff, it'd kill my whole tank. I got chicken and returned it to the LFS. Don't know if yours is like that. Still got one left, if I read above correctly, and one died with no occurence? Those things scare me.

IMO, 76 hermits and snails are quite a lot.

On the itching, and because I got burned by it - be aware of marine velvet/oodinium. In SW fish it starts on the inside before it gets to the outside (visible areas). Pls read something on it (plenty on the web) so that if it does touch you, you can react very quickly. Nasty stuff. Before my outbreak, a few fish were flashing and I saw nothing. Water quality issues seemed to be the cause in my case. Anyway, monitor that flashing and look for the signs. If velvet, you'll see it first on the pec fins. Got a QT tank? Might need it. I hope not.

Good luck!
 
Have you tried clipping seaweed sheets in your tank? Tang's like a lot of plant matter in their diet from what I'm told. Yet to buy one myself. For the crabs and snails, it depends on the type. Most crabs will graze on micro algae and eat detritus, same with snails. If there is little of either in your tank you'll have to supplement with a little extra food or dried algae. Your best bet would be to slim down the #'s a little bit so there's not so much competition for food. Some starfish will graze micro algae, others are scavengers, and others eat larger animals. Without knowing what kind of star you have, I don't know what it eats. I know some have to be target fed to keep them alive in a tank.

I've never used a UV so...

Try captivereefs.com for your lighting, you can get a 6% discount there.
 
thanks guys
sounds great.
to austinsdad. i have a uv star. it been great i have not seen too much out of dory now it seems like it went away. as for the 76 hermits and snails thats total theres like 35 hermits a few died and about 24 snails, 2 red fancy sea stars and 1 tiger strip sea star, 2 cucumber 1 died (nothing was emitted into water)and 2 blue linkas they died in shipping. about 76 items.
as for lighting what type of lighting should i get .
the best bang for my buy keep in mind i am not Don. Trump
pc or have, or what ever? any more help would be great.

sorry for not getting back early i went out of town

thanks
michael
 
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