Are these Turbo's killing my 'shrooms?

[mooner]

Hi all,

New to the hobby and happy to have found this place!

Before I start, here is my live "ReefCam":

http://www.easyfreewebcam.com/cam/mooner/

My tank is a 44 gallon corner model with a 10 gallon sump/refugium, 30 lbs of live rock, it's 9 days old, and it is of course still cycling. I have a cleaner wrass, a sissortail goby, 4 turbo snails and 4 small hermits in the main tank and 2 tiny damsels in the sump. I added the snails yesterday and this morning I found two dead mushrooms

One had detached and fell to the tank bottom and looked like a raisin. the other is still attached at the time of this writing and looks shriveled, dark and milky. There is a tuft of green hair algae all around these corals and the snails like it. I wonder if they are mowing down my corals while the feed?

The polyps in the background (light brown/green) are just fine and they just duck and cover when the turbos come by and allow them to go right over the top of them.

I like the snails and I was assured they were reef safe. Will this work out? All help is much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

It's best to not add any live critters until after the tank is completely cycled. What are the readings on your parameters?

 

[mooner]

I have tested ammonia, nitrates/trites, ph and salinity regularly and it has not yet moved. Ammonia, nitrates/trites are still at 0, PH 8.2 and SG is 1.021. I did enquire to my local sales expert and she said to use cured live rock (which I have) and start with a few critters such as these.

I was under the assumption you could not fully cycle a tank with nothing but rock in it.

So far so good.

 

[fishfanatic2]

Possibly your tank is done cycling? My tank cycled very quickly when i used live rock and live sand.

Interesting that you are using a cleaner wrasse, 'shrooms, and a goby to cycle. You can do it, although thry seem a little expensive for that purpose.

Wait a second, you said CLEANER WRASSE???!!!??? 8O If you are talking about those fish that set up cleaning stations in the wild and scrub the parasites off fish ( I don't have my guide with me, so I forget the family), then you should either bring it back to your LFS and tell them not to buy this fish anymore or you can watch it slowly starve in your system. Those fish should never be offered for sale because they will always starve since they cannot sustain themselves without pathogens. There are mimics which are okay, but check with abook to make sure you do not have the real thing. This may be a bit frustrating since you were led the wrong way by the clerk, but it is not your fault.

Good luck, and, if no one else has said it,WELCOME TO REEFS.ORG!!!

 

[liquid]

I would say you've added a fair amount of livestock rather quickly and are probably seeing some sort of shock to the system. Also, I don't see that anyone else has pointed this out yet, but your salinity is low for a reef tank. Reefs normally are at around 1.025 specific gravity and that's right around where I try to keep mine.

I would slowly increase the salinity and also try doing a moderate water change to see if that helps any.

hth

Shane[/img]

 

[mooner]

Geez...thanks guys. I think my LFS would have sold me most anything if I had asked. I am beginning to learn the hard way. Guess I will consult this board and not a sales person from now on for this project.

Man, now if I can just get these little guys back on track. To add to the mess look at my most recent post:

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=32694

I need a coral doctor now.....

 

[Will C1]

saw the new post and i have seen it before. as stated before your tank is rather new to have any corals in it, but since you cant change that. when they spit their guts out like that it means ther real pissed off. i have only seen this when i cut them to spread them. so theres something wrong. what kind of test kits do you have? are they new? or have they been sittimg around for a few years? they might make it but your going to have to watch the levels closely. i would even go as far as returning them for a credit so you can get them back once the tank is ready. what are you adding as suppliments?

 

[mooner]

I am using a fasTesT kit by the makers of Instant Ocean. It was recommended and it was a bit pricey but I got it anyway and assume it is relativly accurate. It must be rather new as this place is small but does a lot of business and there is no dust or other signs of it being old. It only tests Ph, ammonia, nitrates and nitrites. And as I said they are 8.2, 0, 0, 0 respectivly as they have been from day one.

The owner of the aquarium place I use stated that this "cultured and clean" live rock would hold these levels pretty steady with a few fish and corals (she insisted no sponges, shrimp or non hardy fish).

I hear what you are saying about these coral being "pissed off "and it is worth mentioning that they were doing very well until I added this stuff. If you look at my picture I posted today about 2 hours before "the incident":

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=32680

you will see they were pretty healthy looking. After adding the proper Ph product they instantly turned darker, shriveled up and layed down flat. My polyps also closed up but soon returned to their normal open state.

I took some advice from above and I am gradually raising my SG to 1.023 and I will hold there for a while. I am adding Instant Ocean gradually until I reach that level over the next few days.

I really do want a nice reef tank and I will get there but I am geting so much conflicting advice. The general concensus of this forum is by far my only source from now on for the reef. Everything with a grain of salt but no more sales pitch advice for me.

Thanks a lot for the help.

 

[fishfanatic2]

The problem is that too many LFS's care more about their cash registers than the customers. I warn you with all those quick-fix pH chemicals and additives:fish may be able to handle it, but it is just too much for the corals. Your salesperson was right in the fact that the cured live rock would keep the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels down since the rock is rubble rock from the ocean and comes with many ammonia/nitrite/nitrate-eating bacteria already on it. This will greatly reduce cycling time, and live rock is also very natural and a must for a reef (that's not an opinion).

Good luck and hope this helps!!!!

 

[Will C1]

i still just cant believe that the levels havent bugged an inch from set up to now. you should be getting some sort of readings it just sound too good to be true to me. i like sailfert test kits. or the red sea ones. they seem to work the best. mabe try getting the sailfert nitrate test kit and see if you get a difference.