Clean-up crew keeps dying...

[CMpapa]

I have a bit of a mystery on my hands I hope someone can help me with.

My [latest] reef tank has been up and running for about three years now. All of my corals (LPS, SPS, and a few zoa's) are doing great and have grown and/or multiplied. All of my fish are fat and happy (even had a breeding pair of Bangai cardinals till my starfish got a hold of the male about a month back) and are fed regularly. All of my water testing comes back as being within normal/ideal ranges.

Unfortunately, just about about anything I put in the tank that would qualify as a member of the 'clean-up crew' dies...sometimes within minutes...of being added to my tank. It's been this way for about four months now and I just haven't been able to figure it out.

Turbo snails last about two days.
Hermit crabs of any type crawl along a few inches and then keel over.
Nassarius snails last a few weeks to a month max.
...probably others I'm not thinking about right now.

I have a few cerith snails that have survived for the whole three years.
I have a brittle star that is fat and happy and has grown fairly large over the last three years.
Smaller inverts thrive as I have dragonettes that are doing quite well and seem to have plenty to eat for quite some time now and lifting up any rock I find bristle worms.
There is algae in the tank that forms on the glass every few days I have to clean off (formerly food for the turbos).

Aside from the nitrite/nitrate/ammonia/calcium/alk/pH is there something else I should be looking at? My acclimation process has always been the same for the last ten years I've been in the hobby but this is the first time I've encountered anything like this.

 

[KorD]

have you checked to see if you have any heavy metals in the water? I know some critters can handle coper, but others will be knocked of really fast.
Just a thought

 

[CastAway]

If I'm not mistaken, snails are most sensitive to changes in salinity. What makes it baffling to me is the crab mortality, and, seemingly unaffected ceriths. Tagging along...

 

[fishroomlady]

very strange. I have no ideas

 

[CMpapa]

have you checked to see if you have any heavy metals in the water? I know some critters can handle coper, but others will be knocked of really fast.
Just a thought

Thanks for the idea. I am going to pick up a copper test kit just to see if that could be the issue. At this point its worth testing for since putting any kind of invert into the tank at this point is a no-go.

 

[JOKER]

Is your magnesium high? Have heard that high mag can cause problems with cuc

 

[carolynthefairyprincess]

I had a similar problem, and I couldn't understand where everything was going. I placed a poly filter in my tank to get anything that might have been affecting my inverts. It seems to have worked and everything is much happier. You just have to take it out for 12 hours if you are going to add coral growth supplements etc. Here's a link:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4136+4335&pcatid=4335

It's a lot easier than charcoal, imo

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I'm thinking copper too. Inverts can't take any of it in the water.

 

[03864reefer]

Agree on copper as the culprit maybe.. Years ago,, my kid dropped a few pennies in my reef.. Mystery took months to figure out.. (of course pennies aren't copper anymore, and it's all because I called and complained)

 

[Kworker]

How can Cu be possible if all the corals are doing fine?

Im sorry though I have no idea.

 

[CMpapa]

I had a similar problem, and I couldn't understand where everything was going. I placed a poly filter in my tank to get anything that might have been affecting my inverts. It seems to have worked and everything is much happier. You just have to take it out for 12 hours if you are going to add coral growth supplements etc. Here's a link:
Aquarium Water Quality: Poly Filters Filter Media

It's a lot easier than charcoal, imo

Thank you! I think this is going to be my starting point and then, depending on what colors I end up with, start finding a cure to the problem and prevent it from happening any further.

How can Cu be possible if all the corals are doing fine?

Im sorry though I have no idea.

Yeah, it boggles my mind as well although the more I look into the problem the more I'm starting to suspect that my LFS might be having livestock issues they aren't being up front about.

Almost all the corals I've ever bought have been single head/eye frags and I would imagine they would be especially sensitive to water issues...but they've all doing great. Fish I've added after the invert problem started are also all doing great and have shown no signs of stress or illness.

 

[schooncw]

Interesting!

 

[Kawicivic]

Have you researched dinoflagellates at all? (That spelling had got to be wrong but my phone doesn't recognize that word). Dinos can take out snails sometimes. If you have any sort of bubbles coming from your rock, it's probably dinos and not cyano or algae. Many people don't know about dinos.

 

[akhilennium]

Agree on copper as the culprit maybe.. Years ago,, my kid dropped a few pennies in my reef.. Mystery took months to figure out.. (of course pennies aren't copper anymore, and it's all because I called and complained)

dang...i read that the other way..lol:xd:

 

[Squishie89]

Are all of these critters coming from the same store/place of business? One time I got 4 electric blue hermits, all died within about a week. I tried again from a different store, got 3, only 1 died, other 2 are still around doing well.

 

[Underwater Passion]

I know this thread is pretty old but after being in the hobby for 5 years I have encountered the same problem. All water parameters are perfect. Copper is 0 and no stray voltage was found. I see some bristleworms dying although some are alive, but this has me worried. I always use RODI water treated with instant ocean salt. If anyone has seen this and fixed it, pleeeaasssseee let me know what you did. I tried poly for 48 hours and no color change was seen in pad. I am at a lost. Please help.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

What are you feeding them? How old is the tank? How many cleaners do you have, what types?

 

[tablesalt]

I couldn't tell you what the problem was, but if it were me I'd try a blue leg hermit, drip acclimating it to the tank, and then put it in a specimen container in the tank to get the temp up and see if it does okay. If okay after a day, I'd dump it in and then see what happened. It wouldn't diagnose your problem completely, but it would get a you a step closer... My guess is stray voltage of some sort that you can't measure. Good luck and following.