Beginners Unluck

[vowelmovements]

Well...

I picked up a heater for my guys per forum advice (100w). Temp was reading on an independent coral-life probe at 72.. I cranked it up to 74 and left it. Next day, 75. Left it for three days then upped it to about 76.. figure ill increase it one degree every week as it gets closer to summer.

My fish were not big fans of the temp change. I had a zebra damsel become snack food for my big hermit crab. My yellow tail damsel and other zebra damsel now have ich which my skunk crab is doing his best to contain. Tiny damsel cleaned by same size shrimp is fun if it was not such a morbid signal.

I've stepped up feedings to every day instead of every other day to try and help them out.

My water is testing fine, I am going to do a water change with RO/DI water this weekend.

I got my power compact! 2x65w bulbs. On a 29 gallon this equals roughly 4.5 watts/gallon. I am sure the diatoms living in there now will love it.

I guess my two remaining fish are doomed so i've planned to try and help them but if they go just leave the whole setup fishless for 6 weeks to kill baby ich and build up some more cleaning crew and maybe a few other anmeones.

Any suggestions to help the fish? If they die what can I do to help keep the bio-load from crashing? And how do I run a dawn-day-dusk setup? Acitinic (sp?) for a few hours then daylight bulbs then just the acitinics?

Thanks again for all the help.

(right now I have two sick damsels, a big feather duster, a skunk shrimp, a rock anmeone, a big red hermit crab, little blue crabs and a turbo snail)

 

[Brenden]

If you have another tank you could hypo the two fish. Leaving the tank fallow for 6-8 weeks will get rid of the ich. I do not think the temp caused your problem, it is just a coincidence. You can just put a little food in about 2-3 times a week for the crabs and to keep the bacteria thriving. Anemones are a bad choice to put in a new tank

 

[tecwzrd]

Welcome to AA

Unless the temp fluctuates greatly ie: 80+ during the day and the temp you have your heater set (75-76) at during the night then it’s not an issue as Brenden said. It’s best to check the temp in the middle of the day and set your heater to that temp so it stays constant 24 hours a day.

The Ich was introduced to the tank by an infected fish. Not using a qt tank is like playing Russian roulette with your tank. Eventually you’re going to get shot.

As brenden also mentioned performing hyposalinity is your best bet. If/when you do cure all your fish I hope it encourages you to pursue getting a qt tank to house them for 3+ weeks prior to adding to the main.

I read your other post And you could add a hob refugium for as little as $25 and add lr rubble and Chaetomorpha Algae. Also if you keep up with pwc then the use of a skimmer will not effectively remove trace elements fast enough that it would be a problem.

Research is key to successful SW fish keeping and reading all the saltwater articles on this site and the articles on liveaquaria.com is an excellent way to get acquainted with all that’s required for this expensive hobby.

Not sure if you have bought an ro/di yet or if you are buying from the grocery/lfs but owning your own is much cheaper in the long run.
A lot of people get them from ebay for around $100. Below are the 3 most popular sites:
Filter-Direct-store (seems to be most popular on this site)
The-Aqua-Safe-Pure-Water-Shop
ROfilterDepot

Also airwaterice.com is a good place if you don’t want to deal with ebay.