I've had my 45G FOWLR setup for 6 months now. My livestock selection has been 2 False Percs, a Royal Gramma, a Coral Beauty, and a Firefish. I have had 2 peppermint shrimp, 4 Nassarius snail, 20+hermit crabs, an Emerald Crab, and 10 turbo snails.
About 3 weeks ago, I notice one of my peppermints was missing. Unlike most people's peppermints, mine stayed out in open view all the time so I'm pretty sure he's not hiding. He was quite large and I had had him from another tank I had before for about 9 months. I blamed his death on old age and never worried much more about it. The other peppermint is doing fine.
2 weeks ago, my Coral Beauty went missing. Never found a dead body or anything. This one bothered me a little. I tested all my water parameters and nothing seemed wrong there. I searched AA for any information on what could have happened and settled with the answers of: "Sometimes, fish just die", "It was maybe eaten by a crab while sleeping", "It was sick because of poor diet (too much meats, not enough veggies." I finally accepted that death and started researching replacement fish to take its place in my tank.
Now this morning (2 weeks after the Coral Beauty death), my youngest/smallest False Perc is gone. Now I'm very concerned. The only thing I can say about this fish is that it was added to the tank a few weeks after my 1st clown was there. The fish that died was smaller than the original and definitely a juvenile (as recommended when adding a second clown fish). I can't say the 2 got along great, but they were tollerant of each other. Every once in a while, the bigger clown would intimidate the smaller into a corner. If the fish got more than 10 inches from that corner, he would be forced back there. This didn't happen all the time, but it would happen. None of the fish ever showed any battle scars from fighting, but I do see how 5 months of this could stress the fish out.
I always feed every other day, Formula 1, Angel Formula, and put some seaweed on a clip for the angel. Even with the clowns bickering, everybody ate when fed. I do have to note that a day or 2 after to CB died, that my royal gramma had issues with my firefish. He would chase him a little and actually could be seen with his mouth wide open. Only lasted a day, nobody got injured, and they seem to ignore each other ever since.
Now for the facts, 45G FOWLR with 50+ lb's of live rock, SG always at 1.023, every test for 3 weeks has showed Ammo=0,trites=0,trates=20,ph=8.2, alk=normal(between high and low). Using Red Sea test lab. Temp around 78. I have 15X circulation provided by PH's's and a Fluval 304 full of LR rubble. I do a 5G PWC every Saturday. 1 thing I do wrong here is that the new water is at room temp (72) when added to the tank. This could cause the water temp to drop about 1 degree in 5 minutes. I have read where people say this is fine but just wanted to make note of this.
All inhabitants look fine and healthy. Nobody has ever shown any health problems. They swim around the tank and just act normal. Any suggestions?
About 3 weeks ago, I notice one of my peppermints was missing. Unlike most people's peppermints, mine stayed out in open view all the time so I'm pretty sure he's not hiding. He was quite large and I had had him from another tank I had before for about 9 months. I blamed his death on old age and never worried much more about it. The other peppermint is doing fine.
2 weeks ago, my Coral Beauty went missing. Never found a dead body or anything. This one bothered me a little. I tested all my water parameters and nothing seemed wrong there. I searched AA for any information on what could have happened and settled with the answers of: "Sometimes, fish just die", "It was maybe eaten by a crab while sleeping", "It was sick because of poor diet (too much meats, not enough veggies." I finally accepted that death and started researching replacement fish to take its place in my tank.
Now this morning (2 weeks after the Coral Beauty death), my youngest/smallest False Perc is gone. Now I'm very concerned. The only thing I can say about this fish is that it was added to the tank a few weeks after my 1st clown was there. The fish that died was smaller than the original and definitely a juvenile (as recommended when adding a second clown fish). I can't say the 2 got along great, but they were tollerant of each other. Every once in a while, the bigger clown would intimidate the smaller into a corner. If the fish got more than 10 inches from that corner, he would be forced back there. This didn't happen all the time, but it would happen. None of the fish ever showed any battle scars from fighting, but I do see how 5 months of this could stress the fish out.
I always feed every other day, Formula 1, Angel Formula, and put some seaweed on a clip for the angel. Even with the clowns bickering, everybody ate when fed. I do have to note that a day or 2 after to CB died, that my royal gramma had issues with my firefish. He would chase him a little and actually could be seen with his mouth wide open. Only lasted a day, nobody got injured, and they seem to ignore each other ever since.
Now for the facts, 45G FOWLR with 50+ lb's of live rock, SG always at 1.023, every test for 3 weeks has showed Ammo=0,trites=0,trates=20,ph=8.2, alk=normal(between high and low). Using Red Sea test lab. Temp around 78. I have 15X circulation provided by PH's's and a Fluval 304 full of LR rubble. I do a 5G PWC every Saturday. 1 thing I do wrong here is that the new water is at room temp (72) when added to the tank. This could cause the water temp to drop about 1 degree in 5 minutes. I have read where people say this is fine but just wanted to make note of this.
All inhabitants look fine and healthy. Nobody has ever shown any health problems. They swim around the tank and just act normal. Any suggestions?
