Newbie 150 gal reef start up

[PrettyFishies]

Caulerpa in my refugium. Along with LR rubble. Will need more cauerpa or chaeto or something. Only a handfull of caulerpa now.

Watch the culpera. It needs to be pruned or it will "go sexual" or reproduce and create a milky white substance that will get everywhere and Stink! You're better of with just cheato. Culpera also takes root and defeats the purpose of an undisturbed deep sand bed.

 

[Epuerto]

AMAZING job keep it up ill be watching

 

[The Kraken]

Alright, new problem. Got my fish two days ago. Was a little hesitant on the diamond goby as it had what looked like poop stuck in his butt but it had white with it. I think I remember reading something about the white being a "trail of death", but couldn't remember and it had some brown in it too. The kid at the lfs gave a smart *** response of "its taking a crap". And laughed me off. I was assurred it was nothing. My goby died over night. everybody else in the tank is loving life. Clowns happy and eating. Shrimp eating and wandering nicely. The goby was found dead being eaten by a nassarius and a hermit. So did I buy a bad fish or is my tank screwed up? Will the goby disease be contagious if it was a disease? My nitrates are a bit elevated 10-20. Did 20% PWC on Friday. Will do another today after checking nitrates again. All other parameters seem good. NH4 0, NO3 0, N04 10-20, salinity 1.025, pH 8.0-8.2.

Anything else to worry about? I only use RO/DI water too.

 

[PrettyFishies]

Nitrates are fine. Can be as high as 80 for fish, but you shouldn't worry till 40 and should try to keep them as close to ZERO as possible.

Dead fish will spike Ammonia if they are large enough. Since you tested, you're good. Don't stress the nitrates.

You could have gotten a bad fish, but I'm not familiar with Diamond Gobies or this "trail of death."

If the snails and hermits consumed him, you're good, if not, remove it.

 

[The Kraken]

Nitrates are fine. Can be as high as 80 for fish, but you shouldn't worry till 40 and should try to keep them as close to ZERO as possible.

Dead fish will spike Ammonia if they are large enough. Since you tested, you're good. Don't stress the nitrates.

You could have gotten a bad fish, but I'm not familiar with Diamond Gobies or this "trail of death."

If the snails and hermits consumed him, you're good, if not, remove it.

I removed the fish immediately just in case it had a disease I didn't want my inverts to get sick from eating it. I'll have to find the real name of the "trail of death", I could be makiing it up.

 

[The Kraken]

In "The Marine Fish Health and Feeding Handbook" by Goemans it mentions what to look for when purchasing a fish from an LFS. He says fecal material or white string hanging from the anus could be from malnutrition, parasites or cyanide poisoning as cyanide toxic fish will slough the internal lining of their intestines. He calls it the "thread of death". I was close with the "trail of death". Hoping it was that and not poor water quality on my part. Although my other fishes are doing fine. My cleaner shrimp molted. I guess that is a good thing? He's eating great. Both shrimp still hiding. Scared me to see the shell of the cleaner as I thought those **** snails cleaned his clock hollow. Luckily he came jumping out from behind a rock when feeding began! Phew!

 

[PrettyFishies]

Molting is how they grow. They shed the exoskeleton and make room for a larger one. They are soft for a few days, think soft shelled crabs. They will hide for a bit till their shell is hard again....or hunger takes over. Sounds like you got a bad fish is all. It happens to everyone.

When buying a fish, make sure it's eating, looks healthy and i prefer they've been in the store for a couple of weeks or more. Ask if you can pay deposit and hold them to monitor before taking home. It's a bad process the transportation from reed to distributor to LFS. stress can really take it's toll

 

[RICH305]

Any new pics on this tank with some livestock?

 

[The Kraken]

Sorry, here are some new pics of what I've been up to since last pics. As you can see I rearranged the rock so it's more sturdy. Before it wasn't very stable. Plus now I have more tunnels and ins and outs and canopies. My Ocellaris' are flipping in and out of the arches doing lopp-de-loops! So I think they're happy. My cleaner shrimp (Jacques) is loving life too. He greets me every morning and tries to clean my fingers when I'm cleaning the tank or such. As you can see my algae is all over. I just did 30 gal PWC on Saturday and my skimmer is still producing some good stuff. Cut my feedings down to just once a day and just enough for food to be gone within 5 minutes of feeding. I hope Nemo, Marlin, and Jacques are getting enough. Some rocks are covered with corraline algae as they were from an established tank already. You can see the one had tons of Ricordea on it and some little star polyps (as well as some stupid Aiptasia though). Is the algae on my sand ok? It's not too harmful or ominous is it? It will go away in time doing what I'm doing right? Can I add more fish and corals without worrying or should I wait?

 

[The Kraken]

Here are more if you like...

 

[RICH305]

Great job this is good thanks for the pics

 

[The Kraken]

Great job this is good thanks for the pics

Thanks.