Help - Really bad end to 2010.

[Sammydog]

I've stuck this here because it covers a few issues, and I am stumped.

Essentially, the end of 2010 has not been particularly good on the tank side of things.

Boxing day I lost my Mandarin, not too surprising as I had been having a long standing battle to keep him fed. The tank was too small, but he came in it. I'd been expecting this for a while, although he had looked to be slowly putting weight on.

A few days later, my Bi-Color Blenny turned up dead on the bottom of the tank. He had been other wise fine previously. Real shame to loose him as he was the most interesting fish in the tank.

My hammer coral as receded significantly (one head is OK) leaving the skeleton and a few of the small branches on my torch have done the same. The hammer has been going backwards for about a month.

My four clown are at this point looking fine, as are my mushrooms, zoa, frogspawn and leather.

I've tested the water several times (and had the LFS check it as well) and it all comes out fine.

S.G - 1.021
pH - 8.2
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5-10ppm

This has been stable for 12 months.

Temperature is set between 25-26 celcius (77-79 F)

Water changes once a week (20%).

Any suggestions on whats going on?

 

[Cottonwood]

Now I am not the most knowledgable on here by any means...everything looks fine so my guess is its just one of those freak things that happens sometimes. Have you tried spot feeding to make sure things are eating? But it seems like everything else is ok.

 

[Sammydog]

The mandarin was an issue to feed, but he was definitely getting food. Obviously not enough it seems.

The blenny is one fish I know that was most definitely eating. He was the king of the tank, even the clowns left him to do his thing.

The clowns are eating as well and look healthy (I hope I didn't just consign them to a doomed fate by typing that).

When it was just the hammer receding and the water was fine, I wasn't too concerned and put it down to one of those things that happen. Once the fish started going, I panicked.

 

[andersoned14]

IMO it seems that the SG is kind of low I shoot more around 1.025, but that would not explain the fish problem. Could the benny have been from old age? I am still very new and am fighting a algea problem that is making me pull my hair out. So I am at best just guessing. Good luck.

 

[PRC]

First, I'd like to thank you for putting in your parameters without having to be asked for them. I would take some water to your LFS and have them confirm your parameters for you. Other than that, I'm at a loss.

 

[dcantucson]

No idea either, but raising your salinity to 1.025-1.026 would be a good idea.

 

[Cathic]

I agree with Dcan and I suspect there is something you are overlooking, the softies sounds like they are fine because of lighting the hammer may not be getting enough lighting or maybe its being affected by another coral or animal. Regardless I would asses the entire setup from top to bottom to find the culprit causing the downturn.

 

[Sammydog]

Could the benny have been from old age?

Blenny was about 9 months old.

First, I'd like to thank you for putting in your parameters without having to be asked for them. I would take some water to your LFS and have them confirm your parameters for you. Other than that, I'm at a loss.

I went to the LFS before posting here, they actually stayed open an extra 30mins on New Years Eve so I could get there. They tested the water (and some other parameters I don't have kits for) asked a lot of questions and came up blank as well.

Basically they confirmed what my tests had been saying.

No idea either, but raising your salinity to 1.025-1.026 would be a good idea.

I'll raise it slowly over the next few changes of water.

I agree with Dcan and I suspect there is something you are overlooking, the softies sounds like they are fine because of lighting the hammer may not be getting enough lighting or maybe its being affected by another coral or animal. Regardless I would asses the entire setup from top to bottom to find the culprit causing the downturn.

The only other coral that is neat the hammer is a Leather Coral, but there is about 3 inches between them. The leather is the same distance to some frogspawn that is looking great.

Doing another water change and clean tomorrow so I will be looking closely for anything that's even slightly suspect.

 

[bjohanson1234]

You tank is 90 liters? Thats around 23-24 gallons

Your tank appears over stocked. You should aim for around 1 inch of fish per 10 gallons or 38 liters. So probably 2 of the 4 clowns that are left. Did you notice your blenny getting attacked by the clowns? Clowns can be pretty territorial. Even just being over stocked could have stressed the blenny out.


What kind of lighting do you have in your tank? The Frogspawn and torch require stronger lighting than the zoas and mushrooms.

How long have you had those two corals? In my experience, they get dammaged pretty easily when you ship them in bags.

Also, the clowns could have been hosting them, Clowns can be rough on corals, especially ones that arent used to it. I have a frogspawn that wasnt doing well because one of my clowns was hosting it. I moved it to another part of the tank and it has since started to do better.

 

[little_fish]

Also leathers and other soft corals release all sorts of nasty stuff in chemical warfare, maybe moving one of those corals farther away will help.

Also how big was your blenny? Could he have been a full grown adult that reached the end of his life?

Sorry for your loss though :( Will do our best to make 2011 better for you

 

[Sammydog]

You tank is 90 liters? Thats around 23-24 gallons

Your tank appears over stocked. You should aim for around 1 inch of fish per 10 gallons or 38 liters. So probably 2 of the 4 clowns that are left. Did you notice your blenny getting attacked by the clowns? Clowns can be pretty territorial. Even just being over stocked could have stressed the blenny out.

I had noticed once along time ago the Blenny had a go at the clowns, I have never seen the clowns pay any attention to the Blenny. If anything, it looked like the blenny ruled the tank.

I've go no plans to replace either the Blenny or the Mandarin at this point.

What kind of lighting do you have in your tank? The Frogspawn and torch require stronger lighting than the zoas and mushrooms.

How long have you had those two corals? In my experience, they get dammaged pretty easily when you ship them in bags.

Also, the clowns could have been hosting them, Clowns can be rough on corals, especially ones that arent used to it. I have a frogspawn that wasnt doing well because one of my clowns was hosting it. I moved it to another part of the tank and it has since started to do better.

Believe it or not, the clowns seem to be hosting in the mushrooms. As soon as the lights go out, one pair disappear into them.

For lighting I have two 55W PC tubes. One of them is Dual 10,000k, the other Actinic. The Hammer has been in the tank for about 4 months.

Also leathers and other soft corals release all sorts of nasty stuff in chemical warfare, maybe moving one of those corals farther away will help.

Also how big was your blenny? Could he have been a full grown adult that reached the end of his life?

Sorry for your loss though :( Will do our best to make 2011 better for you

The Blenny would have been about 2 inches long at most. Biggest fish in the tank by far.

 

[little_fish]

I think part of your hammer problem is that doesnt seem to be enough light for that type of coral. Can you move it up closer to the light?

 

[Sammydog]

I should be able to. The research I did suggested it needed a similar amount of light to the frogspawn, so I placed it at the same level in the tank given the frogspawn is doing really well.

I'll move the hammer up and see what happens.

 

[Sammydog]

I've just noticed that my mushrooms are actually extending and covering my zoa's. Is this likely to result in a chemical release that is bad for the hammer and would account for it receding? The hammer is at least 8 inches away from the zoa. I'll post a pic shortly of that.

I'm startin to think the hammer is a lost cause, but am getting a bit worried that the torch and frogspawn are going to go the same way.

Fish wise, one of the small clowns looks to have itch but is looking better each day. I'm guessing that is what claimed the blenny but I didn't notice it looking funny.

Water parameters are all still fine.

 

[Bifferwine]

I don't think that would cause the hammer to recede if it is 8 inches away. What are your nitrates?

 

[Sammydog]

Nitrates are 5ppm this morning with a waterchange due in two days.

 

[markymark]

I would say to test your levels of copper if you visit LFS often because that can kill your coral and if high can stress fish out. but small amounts will keep annoying algae low, since your tank is smaller, also i would say any temp that keeps changing could affect your ph. If you get another Goby just stock your tank with live copepods and when you put living specimens in add some dead ones and eventually he wont know the difference :) hope all is well.

 

[Sammydog]

Bit of an update, no more fish losses so far. The clowns did get what looked like ich, one of which got very lethargic with popeye, however they all have bounced back and look (and behave) like new.

The coral issue is still puzzling me, so more theories to test.....hopefully I get to the bottom of this.

On one part of my live rock there has been a growth of Halimeda which actually coincided with the decline of the hammer now that I really think of it.

Could it be that the Halimeda is consuming too much of the calcium in the tank?

A few pics to show whats going on...

The Halimeda

The hammer, for reference, the hammer in August can be seen here https://www.livingreefs.com/sammydogs-25g-tank-t27731p3.html

 

[PRC]

the growth of the halimeda has nothing to do with the decline of the hammer. The halimeda is not consuming enough calcium to make any difference in the tank.

 

[Bifferwine]

the growth of the halimeda has nothing to do with the decline of the hammer. The halimeda is not consuming enough calcium to make any difference in the tank.

And the hammer doesn't require much calcium.

Sorry we still haven't been able to figure out what's going on :(