Tank looking bad, what to do?

[bogamil]

Hello, I've got a 30 gal tank with a little bit of live rock (15 lbs), Sea Clone skimmer (yeah, I know), and only hermit crabs, a cleaner, a psych. mandarin, emerald crab, and couple of mushroom frags in there. Also a small colony of green start polyps.

-Everything looks miserable. A couple months ago, the ammonia was looking very bad, but I cleared that up and my parameters are in check.

My polyps are brownish and don't fully come out.
The emerald crab doesn't like to move around anymore.
The mandarin often just remains still in one spot.
The mushrooms don't like to open either.

Help...

 

[Len]

It's hard to diagnose, but it sounds like an issue with something in the water. So the best and easiest thing to do is to perform a large (15-20 gallon) water change with good water (RO water) and good salt. Just make sure that before you add the new water, it's salinity and temperature is roughly the same as the tankwater so as not to shock any of the inhabitants.

 

[Anonymous]

what parameters have you tested, specifically? how long do you run your light cycle for? do you put any addatives in the water? how many pumps and what kind do you have moving the water?

 

[bogamil]

I just got done replacing the water with RO. I drained almost down to the sand.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 15-20
pH 8.3

I just use a dechlorinator when I add water. Unregularly dose Ca -only because I don't have a test for it.

I have one Powerhead and the Sea Clone running which provides moderate flow to the tank.

My light cycle is 12hrs with actinic remaining on for additional hour before and after. Is that too much/ something wrong?

 

[Len]

You replaced the water with saltwater (mixed from RO water), correct? Usually, a newly mixed batch of saltwater should be added a couple day safter mixing, not immediately after mixing.

What is your salinity?

Also, if you're using a Reverse Osmosis (RO) filter, there is no need to add dechlorinators. I'd argue that it's even a bad idea.

 

[bogamil]

Sorry forgot to mention that stuff.

Salinity measured with two diff devices ~ 1.027 -1.029

I air-stoned the salt water mixture overnight. I use Instant Ocean.

I made sure the salinity and temp were almost the same befor I put it in.

Also, temp is about 78.

One thing. I turn the lights on at night-- so I can enjoy the lighting when I'm home from work -- and during the daytime is the off cycle. You think the residual light from the daylight in my house is throwing things off in the tank?

 

[Len]

Parameters sound fine, except the salinity is a bit high. I'd dilute the water with some RO over the course of the weekend so the specific gravity reads 1.025-1.027. The water change should help fix whatever water condition problems was around, but the important question that remains is what caused the problem to begin with. Now that is the real mystery that needs to be answered

 

[Juck]

Definitely lower the salinity a bit. I'd recommend getting a Ca test kit,,, probably a long-shot but you never know.

I overdosed Ca once,,,, to a level over 800 (possibly way over),,,,after following some bad advice. My Green Star Polyps shut-up for a week,, that was the first sign,, but the whole tank looked 'wrong' ,, though I couldn't put my finger on it,, everything was a bit off-color.

Took 4 big water changes to get the level back below 500.

 

[Anonymous]

I do the lights at night thing and it doesn't seem to affect my reef at all, even though the room is very bright durring the day. My corals, fish, etc. seem to know that this is "night time" even though the ambient light in the room is very bright.


Do lower that SG...SLOWLY.


How long has the tank been up?
what is your regular maintenance pattern?



Oh yeah, I almost forgot about reading you the mandarin police riot act. :wink: You really have to find a new home for that little guy. He should never be sitting still...that's a sign that he is weak. Your tank is way small for him. He should have at the very least a 75 gallon with 75 pounds of live rock in order to have enough food. Search Terry Bartelme's article on mandarins and read it through....his estimate of tank size is small on the scale; I have heard people say they need a 150 gallon tank. 8O

 

[shr00m]

way too small for the mandarin, He WILL die if you dont get him out of there, it doesnt matter if hes eating mysis or whatever either, eventually he will starve, they need a large population of pods in order to be healthy.

 

[hillbilly]

The poor mandarin is starving for sure!

 

[Bora20]

He needs a different home. They really need a good supply of coepods to survive and he also needs a bigger tank that has alot of LR. They are very active fish so if he is sitting still get him out of their until you get things under control. My advice to you is read read read read and study. Reefs are a constant learning experience. You cant just slap LR and saltwater in a tank and leave it alone. Its pretty much a science. Read about the mandarin if his head is bigger than the rest of his body than he is starving to death. He needs to have a body with no inward shape. Find him a different home then when you get things settled and learn so more about these reefs then consider getting him back :evil: