the dark side rears its ugly head

Melonbob

Melonbob

Reef enthusiast
Well, I gotta say I'm really pissed. First my blood shrimp, which I chalked up to him not handling the change well. Then the sea hare, which I figured was a lack of food. Now my frogspawn, apparantly the victim of relocation, and a new cleaner shrimp that would not leave him alone. This one really bummed me out. Cost me 70 bucks and I got six weeks out of him. 150 bucks worth of death in a month. Depressing, and nobody locally to chat it up with or trade stuff.......grrrr
 
Sorry to hear that Melon.
We all take loses in this hobby.Dont make it feel any better on the ego or pocket book I know.
Just dont get discouraged.Think of it as an expensive learning experience.

Have you checked your peremeters?Theres a lot that can change in a new tank real quick.
 
I'll be honest, I haven't as I have been sick, real sick for a week now.......missed work friday and monday, and have pretty much done nothing. But I am doing paramaters as we speak
 
OK, heres the stats, nothing at all

amm = 0
nitrite = 0
nitrate = 0 - 5
ph - 8.2
salinity 1.022
dKH 12
phos - 0

The only one I can't do is calcium, as my test is wonky........ everything else is bang on.....why did all my stuff croak.....especially my 70 dollar freakin frogspawn? Damn its gonna hurt to shell out that cash for something that only lasted me a month the first time
 
you're salinity is a bit low. I don't know if it's low enough to effect things that severly or not. F.Y.I inverts like a little more salinity than fish. try bumping it up to around 1.24 and see if it helps any. I had hell keeping snails at first. after raising salinity I had better luck.
 
sorry for your loss. Hate to hear it. take your time restocking. Anytime I lose something in a row like that, I like to give my tank 3-4 weeks without adding anything to give the LR time to do its job and fix whatever was wrong. good luck

-Doc
 
Fish is right about the salinity.I like to keep mine at 1.026 which from what I've read is NSW.
Are you testing salinity with a hydrometer or refractometer?
 
Melonbob said:
I'll be honest, I haven't as I have been sick, real sick for a week now.......missed work friday and monday, and have pretty much done nothing. But I am doing paramaters as we speak
Click to expand...

This crazy weather is keeping people sick.All 3 of my kids have been sick for the past week or so and now the wifes getting it.
If they make me sick,I'm gonna start givin em parvo and distemper shots.
 
Sorry about your lost Melonbob.
It would be good idea to let your system mature before adding anymore corals and shrimp.When the time comes add slowly and see how it does for a few weeks before adding more.Maybe try something almost indestructible like a Capnella.

Oh yeah,its more ideal to keep salinity at 1.024-1.026.I doubt .02 had any bearing on your lost though.
 
Sorry to read of your loss melon, I hope things do better on the second round, your loss is not in vain tho, reading this has sent me a great reminder to go slow, even tho I am finding that rule difficult ATM. Good luck with your next critters.
 
I think everyone else is right, your tank is very young. When I started my old 55, I added a pair of cleaner shrimp (that cost $30 apiece) and they both died within a couple weeks. Shrimp don't do well in new tanks. Don't give up. Give the tank some time to mature. Don't stock too fast. Unfortunately, I think every single one of us has learned lessons from inadvertently killing animals :(
 
Like I said though, I don't really think the deaths were attributed to overstocking, my numbers have never moved. The sea hare I'm sure starved to death, there wasn't really anything for him to eat, and he was always lazy about it compared to what I've heard about hares. The frogspawn, he got blasted, and closed up, then the cleaner shrimp never really let him open again. He harassed that frogspawn constantly. The only one I have no answer for is the fire shrimp, he just up and croaked a few days after we got him. Our second was and still is just fine. Don't really have to worry about stocking right now anyways, Christmas tapped us out financially
 
I feel ya. I am scrambling to find money to buy 1 coral a month, let alone stock a tank. Sheesh Christmas wipes you out

-Doc
 

Similar threads

usmarine_0369
65gl Simple Saltwater Reef Setup
Replies
2
Views
1K
usmarine_0369
usmarine_0369
J
  • Locked
For What It's Worth
Replies
18
Views
14K
jhnrb
J
Back
Top