BayTib13
Aquarium Advice Regular
Ok, so I've had my 36g tank running a few months now, it's already gone through the cycle. Here's my parameters
SG: 1.026
Temp: ~79
Using API test kits
nitrates: 0
Nitrites: ~0
Ammo: ~0
Ph: ~8.0
I have around 40lbs of live rock
Using a fluval 205, and aqueon 40g HOB filters.
Caribsea white sand ~40lbs
I had 2 clownfish, a skunk cleaner shrimp, a peppermint shrimp, 1 4 striped damsel, 1 yellow tailed damsel, 3 green chromis.
I did a PWC of about 5gallons, and rinsed the sponge media from both filters in the tank water I took out. I also changed the media arrangement. it was 2bags of carbon on bottom, then 2 baskets of biomax. I changed it to 1carbon,1biomax,1carbon,1biomax.
After I got the water changes done( yes I turned the filters off while I was cleaning them but I did it one at a time so as to keep filtration going.) I started the fluval back up(as I did it second) and I had a bunch of whiteish slick looking flakes..and I mean alot..it made it hard to see but after around 10 minutes this cleared up.
All seemed well that night. The next morning my gf got up to go to school, all was well, the cleaner shrimp was running around doin his normal thing..I woke up a couple hours later and it looked like the cleaner shrimp was trying to molt on top of one of the liverocks. I took a shower and when I got out he was still there so I grabbed the net and stuck it in near him, and he didnt move..so I touched him..then he broke loose of the rock and started floating in the current. So, he was dead..I checked all my levels and they were normal, so later that day my gf and I got another cleaner shrimp, an emerald crab, and a rock of a bunch of colony polyps. the lfs called them redsand polyps but theres a bunch of different kinds on it.
We got home, acclimated everything by letting them float for around 20minutes, then added about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of tank water to each one. Including the polyps(zoanthids).
The clownfish both at this point seemed to have ich, I saw white spots all over there upper body, and they seemed to be rubbing on the rocks, so I gave them a freshwater dip for around 10 minutes apiece. When I put them in the bucket(I was using a 5g bucket) they both just sunk to the bottom and would only swim when I made a sort of current. They would swim against it. After the 10 minutes I moved them back to the DT and the bigger clownfish seemed to be doin fine, but the smaller one was constantly swimming up, and when he stopped he would just sink. He did this for awhile, then he'd lay on one of the rocks it seemed like "resting" and then he'd swim back up and continue. He did this for about 3 hours..and when I was almost home with the stress coat, he died.
The other clown at this point is doing fine, but seems lonely as I think they were starting to pair up. Also, none of my other fish show any symptoms of ich at all so I have not Quarantined them yet as I'd rather get the tank set up than give them a freshwater dip, unless they show symptoms.
Now leads to my next problem that prompted this post. Our new cleaner shrimp we have had for about a day and a half..and just now died. It had been shy and slow moving..but I figured he was just getting used to his environment. Well I noticed he hadn't moved for awhile, and wasn't moving his antennae, so I grabbed the net and put it beside him..nothing. touched him with it, nothing. moved the rocks around and he started floating with the current..so he was dead too. Checked all my levels, they were in spec like normal. water temp was the same, SG was the same. As a side note, the peppermint shrimp which i've read to be the more sensitive one, seems to be doing perfect and has been molting and growing/feeding perfect since I got him.
At this point I am at a standstill as I am not wasting anymore animals lives, or money until I get this figured out. The polyps seem to be doing ok, not alot of them have opened(there's around 100, i'd say about 20 of them are opened but I've read this is normal for the first few weeks.) I also have 4 hermit crabs, that seem to be doing just peachy and are busy devouring algae.
Does anybody have any idea wth is going on? I've spent hours looking, and have nothing to go off of..the only thing I can go back to is the filters, as this was the first time I had cleaned them..what was that white filmy stuff anybody? If it helps, one of the seals/lids on the fluval had this film on it, and I rinsed it/peeled it off and it looked exactly like the stuff that shot out of the outlet and all in my tank.
Any help is greatly appreciated as this is getting extremely frustrating. I'm almost to the point of putting all the fish in the 10g with enough water from the tank, and then emptying the DT completely, doing a sand vac,and refilling it, then just moving the fish back into it with brand new water..Any opinions on this? It doesn't seem very safe to me, but I'm at a loss here.
Sorry about the novel, just felt that this matter needed as much info as possible.
Edit: Also added a capfull of the smallest bottle of purple up, it reccommended a capfull a day for 50gallons, I was going to do a cap a week or two. Idk if this did the shrimp in or not, but he was acting funny before this, but that still doesnt explain the other problems.
Another Edit: Sorry remembered another tidbit, I have been squirting lemon juice at some aptasia about once a day, did this for 2 days, then a smaller dose on the 3rd as all but one massive aptasia had died off. Could the lemon juice cause problems? It's the juice from the yellow lemmon shaped bottles with the spout, as this is what I'd read to use. But, this I finished about a week ago.
SG: 1.026
Temp: ~79
Using API test kits
nitrates: 0
Nitrites: ~0
Ammo: ~0
Ph: ~8.0
I have around 40lbs of live rock
Using a fluval 205, and aqueon 40g HOB filters.
Caribsea white sand ~40lbs
I had 2 clownfish, a skunk cleaner shrimp, a peppermint shrimp, 1 4 striped damsel, 1 yellow tailed damsel, 3 green chromis.
I did a PWC of about 5gallons, and rinsed the sponge media from both filters in the tank water I took out. I also changed the media arrangement. it was 2bags of carbon on bottom, then 2 baskets of biomax. I changed it to 1carbon,1biomax,1carbon,1biomax.
After I got the water changes done( yes I turned the filters off while I was cleaning them but I did it one at a time so as to keep filtration going.) I started the fluval back up(as I did it second) and I had a bunch of whiteish slick looking flakes..and I mean alot..it made it hard to see but after around 10 minutes this cleared up.
All seemed well that night. The next morning my gf got up to go to school, all was well, the cleaner shrimp was running around doin his normal thing..I woke up a couple hours later and it looked like the cleaner shrimp was trying to molt on top of one of the liverocks. I took a shower and when I got out he was still there so I grabbed the net and stuck it in near him, and he didnt move..so I touched him..then he broke loose of the rock and started floating in the current. So, he was dead..I checked all my levels and they were normal, so later that day my gf and I got another cleaner shrimp, an emerald crab, and a rock of a bunch of colony polyps. the lfs called them redsand polyps but theres a bunch of different kinds on it.
We got home, acclimated everything by letting them float for around 20minutes, then added about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of tank water to each one. Including the polyps(zoanthids).
The clownfish both at this point seemed to have ich, I saw white spots all over there upper body, and they seemed to be rubbing on the rocks, so I gave them a freshwater dip for around 10 minutes apiece. When I put them in the bucket(I was using a 5g bucket) they both just sunk to the bottom and would only swim when I made a sort of current. They would swim against it. After the 10 minutes I moved them back to the DT and the bigger clownfish seemed to be doin fine, but the smaller one was constantly swimming up, and when he stopped he would just sink. He did this for awhile, then he'd lay on one of the rocks it seemed like "resting" and then he'd swim back up and continue. He did this for about 3 hours..and when I was almost home with the stress coat, he died.
The other clown at this point is doing fine, but seems lonely as I think they were starting to pair up. Also, none of my other fish show any symptoms of ich at all so I have not Quarantined them yet as I'd rather get the tank set up than give them a freshwater dip, unless they show symptoms.
Now leads to my next problem that prompted this post. Our new cleaner shrimp we have had for about a day and a half..and just now died. It had been shy and slow moving..but I figured he was just getting used to his environment. Well I noticed he hadn't moved for awhile, and wasn't moving his antennae, so I grabbed the net and put it beside him..nothing. touched him with it, nothing. moved the rocks around and he started floating with the current..so he was dead too. Checked all my levels, they were in spec like normal. water temp was the same, SG was the same. As a side note, the peppermint shrimp which i've read to be the more sensitive one, seems to be doing perfect and has been molting and growing/feeding perfect since I got him.
At this point I am at a standstill as I am not wasting anymore animals lives, or money until I get this figured out. The polyps seem to be doing ok, not alot of them have opened(there's around 100, i'd say about 20 of them are opened but I've read this is normal for the first few weeks.) I also have 4 hermit crabs, that seem to be doing just peachy and are busy devouring algae.
Does anybody have any idea wth is going on? I've spent hours looking, and have nothing to go off of..the only thing I can go back to is the filters, as this was the first time I had cleaned them..what was that white filmy stuff anybody? If it helps, one of the seals/lids on the fluval had this film on it, and I rinsed it/peeled it off and it looked exactly like the stuff that shot out of the outlet and all in my tank.
Any help is greatly appreciated as this is getting extremely frustrating. I'm almost to the point of putting all the fish in the 10g with enough water from the tank, and then emptying the DT completely, doing a sand vac,and refilling it, then just moving the fish back into it with brand new water..Any opinions on this? It doesn't seem very safe to me, but I'm at a loss here.
Sorry about the novel, just felt that this matter needed as much info as possible.
Edit: Also added a capfull of the smallest bottle of purple up, it reccommended a capfull a day for 50gallons, I was going to do a cap a week or two. Idk if this did the shrimp in or not, but he was acting funny before this, but that still doesnt explain the other problems.
Another Edit: Sorry remembered another tidbit, I have been squirting lemon juice at some aptasia about once a day, did this for 2 days, then a smaller dose on the 3rd as all but one massive aptasia had died off. Could the lemon juice cause problems? It's the juice from the yellow lemmon shaped bottles with the spout, as this is what I'd read to use. But, this I finished about a week ago.
