Double death

[Rosefox]

Hi,

I have a 48 litre River Reef, which currently holds 1 Clown, three hermits, toadstall coral and polyps. The lighting is 9 months old, came with the tank. Water tests show all is fine and at correct levels. I've had the tank since March 2010. I have fours pieces of live rock, two pieces are new, and since i added it I have had an algae infestation that I cannot get rid of it. It looks like green hair - I bought another pump for water flow, tried a ball of macr algae, but it covered that and the micro drops, but the algae is on a mission and has already killed off a lot of the polyp corals. I now use a toothbrush to get rid of it. Apart from the algae problem, I had a starfish, which went under the gravel two weeks ago and has never returned. it is a gravel feeder, but surely two weeks is a long time not to come out? My new problem however is with the mysterious deaths of my cleaner shrimp - one died on Sunday evening - on Sat it was happy and eating, and Sun morning it was dead, everything was intact, he wasn't eaten by anything. The next day the other shrimp is writhing around and drops down dead. The coral look healthy, the fish and hermits are fine and the coral is out. Things I did differently - water change on the Saturday with new water i bought from store - salted RO. But I have no idea what could have killed both my shrimp within 24 hours?

 

[austinsdad]

When is the last time you did a water change? tested the water. If the starfish died, sounds like you wouldn't know and it could have caused an ammonia spike. I'd dig and look for it. He'll likely starve anyway, since I've never known one to survive long in an aquarium. Not much in the sand bed to sustain them after they've eaten for a while. On the algea, yes the toothbrush, siphon and a water change will help, but unless you find the problem, it'll all come back.

So, tell us what all your water readings are, how often and what you feed, and your lighting schedule for starters.

 

[Rosefox]

Hi,

I do a water change once a week - every Saturday and test the water once a month.
I'll dig around and try and find the starfish.
Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite are all at 0. Ph is 8.5 and phosphate is 0.
I feed a frozen mix I get from World of Water which is a mixture of stuff specifically for marine fish and inverts. I feed one tablet every other day. Lightning schedule is - on from 12pm to 8pm with the viewing light on till 10pm.

 

[rancidpetals]

as far as the aglae is concerned, you need a larger cleaning crew.....more crabs, and add some snails.

 

[Jaybird]

a larger cleaning crew might be something to look at. If you had a shrimp die and it was still there in the morning....wow, I am surprised.

I have a predatory crab in my 90g that I became aware of about a month ago and have been trying to catch him since. I've been close, oh so close, but he darts into the rocks and disappears. Well, that crab took out a yellow tang one night. The next morning all that was left were a few yellow-ish spines. The snails, hermits, shrimp, and other CUC finished off the whole thing by morning. A shrimp should be able to die and you not notice until you no longer see it.

 

[Rosefox]

I think i'll get some more cleaning crew. Is it better to get the same type of hermits as before? I have red legged hermits, who are quite small. Or it is better to go for different species? Also the turbo snails die pretty quickly, they fall off the side and then the hermits have dinner!
Also, my sole Clown is very aggressive and tries to kill any newbie. I don't have any other fish as it will attack them, but now the attention goes to the cleaning crew.

 

[mr_X]

i disagree with the "cleaning crew". your issue is excess nutrients. it could be from the dead starfish, or perhaps just from a build up over time.
turbo snails don't die pretty quickly if they can help it. they will live years if they can. you can add them to the mysterious deaths you are seeing.
i would consider finding a different source for your water change water for one.
you've got to track down the source of the excessive nutrients. also, the bulbs should be changed in your fixture.
i don't think more eating, pooping, critters is going to solve this problem.

 

[cmor1701d]

I'm with Mr X on this one. What type of lighting do you have (Power Compact, T5, MH, normal fluorescent)?

 

[Rosefox]

Hi,

The lighting is the compact T5

 

[Ziggy953]

I agree with Mr. X, do some normal maintenance and change out some bulbs and do a good water change and test.

 

[Rosefox]

Okay, I'll update media in filter tank, get new bulbs and do a water change.

 

[rancidpetals]

a cleaning crew is a must if you want to be rid of algae, or atleast keep it under control. changing the bulbs could also fix the problem, but getting a cleaning crew will maintain the algae to a decent level, considering all your water parameters are good. i am not an expert, but i have learned from experience. and what kind of clown fish do you have that is so aggressive towards other fish? that is kinda odd. i have a clown, and he gets along with all of my fish.

 

[mr_X]

that's not true actually. you are just changing the algae to poop. it's never leaving the tank.
also, if you've never come across an aggressive clown fish, then you are not as experienced as you think!

i don't use "cleaning crews", ever. i don't have problems with algae. it's all about the nutrient level. it's nothing more than that.
i've said it before and i'll say it again- the idea that you need a cleanup crew was created by the industry behind the hobby. it's nothing more than a sales pitch.

 

[Rosefox]

I went digging around for my starfish - and couldn't find it anywhere! Could he have degraded or been eaten? I sifted through the sand all the to the bottom and nothing?!
I cleaned out the tank, media etc and did a water change and thought i'd wait a day to test the water to let everything settle. Will be getting new lights tomorrow. The green soft algae seems to be making way for the pink type that layers the rock - so that's good (i think).
I did initially want just a coral tank, but I haven't had much luck with them either and only the small button polyps and toadstalls seems to have done very well. The other two which died where another species of polyps - but they looked like flowers and the mushrooms, which shrunk and just disappeared.
All my water tests (past and present) have shown that everything is at a good level. I took water to world of water to use their testing kits to see if i was doing something wrong, and their results showed the same - everything was perfect, a little high on nitrate (10) at one point back in July, but since than it went back fine again.

 

[mr_X]

when you say these corals died, how did they go? did they wither away over time or abruptly fail? from the time you put them in the tank until the time they disappeared, how many days passed? did they turn brown first?

 

[Rosefox]

The mushrooms withered and just disappeared over a period of a week after putting them in. They didn't turn brown. One set of the polyps i think got suffocated by the algae, as it happened during the time the algae went mad and it covered those polyps and they just disappeared one at time over a period of two weeks. This happened only a month ago, I put them in in June and they survivde very well until the algae. The other set of polyps disappeared straight after putting them in. First some of them stopped opening then they all stopped opening bar one or two and eventually i was left with just two and now none.

 

[rancidpetals]

mr x, i dont have a problem with algae, either, because i have a good "cleaning crew.'' it is not a sales pitch. nutrients help, but algae will naturally occur, no matter what you do, so why not have something to keep it down?

and no i have NOT come across an aggressive clown, because i have had my percula for 3 years. thats why i asked what kind of clown she had, if you payed attentionto what i said.

i never said i was experienced, i just said that i learned from experience. two totally different things. again, pay attention. i think you have let the aquarum advice finatic thing go to your head. i was only trying to help.

 

[mr_X]

rancid, you are incorrect once again. with no nutrients, you will have no algae. it will starve out. you don't need a single snail or crab to have an algae free tank.
saying you "learned from experience" is actually saying you have experience. i simply pointed out that you have limited experience about this matter.
it's not personal. i'm trying to inform who ever will listen of facts i have experienced. if you don't want to listen, it's just fine.
feel free to try and help, but beware- if i see something that is incorrect, i'm going to speak up, just as you are. the difference is, i have a little bit of experience. i gather this from your comments and your current stocklist under the "my tanks" tab.

 

[rancidpetals]

well, i guess we will have to agree to disagree on this one.

 

[Rosefox]

I really appreciate all the advice I can get, from everyone.

I have a pecula Clown, and will keep her on her own - as even introducing a smaller clown causes my resident to go into full attack and had to return a rather battered clown with no fins.

I have taken on a frag to see how it gets on before i introduce new corals and end up killing them.

I have a lot of feather dusters in the tank (i didn't buy them - they just keep appearing) and I have found some very odd creatures - they look like woodlouse and another thing that is living on the rock, it looks like a sugar puff (is brown speckled and similar in shape) and opens and closes like a clam and if something touches it it sucks itself back into the rock. Any ideas?