First serious problem - very mysterious

[reeffreak]

This is just a wild guess,maybe it is a disease of some kind.Perhaps brooklynella-the symtoms kinda resemble that disease.

Try this website,see if anything sounds like what's going on in your system.

http://home2.pacific.net.ph/~sweetyummy42/disease.html

 

[kevinsimons]

So - even though the disaster isn't over (still have 2 live fish, although they're covered with the grey coating) - I'm planning on what to do going forward. Should I get a UV sterilizer? Seems that might have helped - any recommendations out there?

 

[cumminz]

I hear that uv sterilizers help ALOT! i have one that i am gonna put in my tanks then it is up

 

[dustin_P74]

the only problem with UV sterilizers is it kills all the good stuff that you want in your tank also

 

[cumminz]

true true

 

[kevinsimons]

So - all fish have perished... and after a fairly exhaustive research, I've determined the disease was Marine Velvet - and I believe it was introduced when I added the fresh substrate. I don't believe this was electrical - all inverts are fine and thriving (voltage is not a problem, current is what creates electrical problems - and I never once had any indication I had current running through the tank).

Lesson learned? If possible, have a hospital tank ready to go when disease strikes (in my case, there is no place to put one). Going forward I'll add non-live substrate when I need to... tough lesson.

I'll leave the tank fish-free until first week in June and will then start repopulating. Am seriously considering repopulating with the same mix (mandarin goby, 2 engineer gobies, yellow tang, flame angel, royal gramma, but this time will get a pair of ocelaris clowns (instead of a single maroon)... I'm up for suggestions, though... if somebody would like to start a new thread with "my perfect reef-safe community tank mix" - I'll consider it!

 

[cumminz]

Im sorry to hear this man. GO ahead and start a thread. Ill be happy to learn about Your new setup. The flame angel is probably my favorite fish.

 

[dustin_P74]

i would seriously not consider three gobies in the same tank. they will likely fight for food and some might die from that and then eventually they will all probably starve to death if they arent huge fans of prepared food

 

[fatman]

I am still interested in your ammonia readings. What is up with that? A bad test kit or some thing dead hiding some where? Is that being dealt with before you do any thing else is done with the tank? Ammonia comes from something or some where. Are you assuming that was also from the new sand? If so never mind.

 

[sen5241b]

One highly useful tool for tank maintenance is a big magnifying glass. I take a really good look at my fish on a regular basis for anything weird on their skin or in their gills.

 

[kevinsimons]

Dustin - re: 3 gobies - actually, neither engineer gobies NOR Mandarin Gobies are actually gobies at all - Mandarins are really dragonettes, don't recall what engineer gobies are - but they aren't gobies. Probably why they co-existed so well together.
Fatman: I never found the body of the royal gramma - but honestly think the ammonia reading is erroneous; when I cycled the tank I couldn't get the reading on the Red Sea Master Kit to go below .25 - Biff suggested some kits just never DO show 0 - so I bought a new ammonia test. When all hell broke loose, I got out the new test, but the 2nd bottle had dried up...so I went back to the old Red Sea kit and got the same thing I've always gotten (.25). Bottom line: I don't think I've got ammonia; I think I have a crappy test kit. Everything else tests out perfectly.

 

[Bifferwine]

Yeah, the engineer goby is referred to as a goby and a blenny, but it's really not either. It doesn't have an official common name, it's the only member of the family Pholidichthyidae.

 

[fatman]

Test kits can be a pain in the behind. So many kits reach the shelves with old reagents. For a chemist the reagents are so easy to make up, so I have a hard time figuring out why the manufacturers have to make up such large batches as to be selling old stock all the time. Personally. I would rather pay a little more and have fresher reagents. That doesn't seem to be an option though. I have yet to find text that give out recipes routinely for salt water test kits. I have recipes for fresh water tests due to courses I have taken in college, but in general those courses deal with fresh water aquatic systems more than salt water. Even then the test reagent concentrations usually have to be adjusted for the color charts available for commercial test kits as the charts are not given in most text. Now that it is summer and I have no classes I can research the subject more.

 

[kevinsimons]

I purchased a new ammonia test kit yesterday (API), and as I suspected, the water tested out @ 0.... (API is the best, IMO).