We inherited our daughters 6 year old saltwater tank when she moved out 2 years ago. We have always struggled with aistipsia and long hair algae. We did a 10-20% water change about every 8-9 days. Levels were always with in range. Tank had tonga rock in it. Approximately 5 maybe 6 weeks ago we took the rock out to see if we could get rid of the aistipsia (sp). We had a canister filter, protein skimmer and 3 power heads. Our fish were 5 damsels, 2 clowns, serpent star, chocolate chip star, diamond goby, lawnmower blenny and 2 cleaner shrimp. Checked levels afterwards and everything was within range and going good. About 2 weeks after removing the rock our fish started dying. I did see ich so we moved inverts into hospital tank and treated with copper. Fish still kept dying and even the inverts in the hospital tank started dying we wondered what was going on. We do not have an ro/di system but have ordered one. We have always used water out of the tap and added tap water conditioner. We do one gallon of water to a half a cup of ocean salt. We have a fluval FX5 filter, added a fluval filter on the back of the tank after all this happened. Increased our water movement. We have a protein skimmer but I'm not sure what kind it is. We suspect we started the problem when we removed the rock and put aquarium decorations in instead. We had bought Fiji rock and put it in our tank after 3 weeks of cure. But that was after everything happened. During this time our levels were salinity 1.022, ph 7.8, ammonia, nitrates and nitrites were 0. As of today salinity is sitting at 1.025, PH 7.4, ammonia .25, Nitrites ,25 and Nitrates are 5.0. We have the API master kit. Only survivor was a diamond goby who is active, eating and healthy. Beginning to wonder if we are not smart enough to continue doing a saltwater. Suggestions on reasonably priced fish that would go with our diamond goby. I know I want clowns and a lawnmower blenny. What are the best advice for keeping control of aistipsia. So sorry I cant spell it. I apologize as you can see we are basically newbies. Kind of got this tank dropped in our lap and found we really enjoy it. thanks
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- Thread starter psfive
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So are you saying you removed your live rock all at once? That is would likely cause an ammonia spike and cycle due to removing most of your beneficial bacteria all at once.
Also you said you moved your inverts to hospital and dosed copper. Which tank had copper? If you dosed copper to your display that is not good if you plan on putting inverts back in it. If the inverts are in the hospital tank and you dosed copper to it that is also bad. The way to go would be leave inverts in the display without copper, and move the fish to a qt with copper. Frequent water changes would need to be made to keep ammonia down in the QT.
Also you said you moved your inverts to hospital and dosed copper. Which tank had copper? If you dosed copper to your display that is not good if you plan on putting inverts back in it. If the inverts are in the hospital tank and you dosed copper to it that is also bad. The way to go would be leave inverts in the display without copper, and move the fish to a qt with copper. Frequent water changes would need to be made to keep ammonia down in the QT.
Dennco2000
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Removing live rock and adding new rock and decor definitely upset the natural balance. This has to be done very gradually one or two pieces at a time over longer periods of time. As far as the aiptasia goes a peppermint shrimp might be a good idea, Im not a big fan of ap-x or other chemicals. Also just remember that diamond goby is one tunneling SOB, so make sure your rock is set to accommodate its digging habits.
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its a 40 breeder . Can you have more than one goby in that small of tank? I would love the little yellow watchman goby too but wasn't sure I could have my diamond and the watchman in a 40 gallon.
lol yep I guess when we mess up we go all the way. We did remove all the rock at the same time so that would be how the decline started. Since we did a dose of copper in our display does that mean we cant have hermits, snails or star fish in it? Basically is this like starting over with a new tank then? When my daughter started this one she waited a month shy of a year before she put fish in. Do we need to do that even though we have the goby left? This has definitely been a learning and painful lesson. Everyone on here are so fantastic and your advice and guidance is greatly appreciated.
domination2580
Reef-a-nator
Ammonia is very toxic even at low levels so i believe the theory of the ammonia is accurate. If you dosed copper in the display tank, if you have sand you will bee best replacing, the way i understood it is that the rock was out when you dosed copper. That's good but all pads or filters need to get replaced to be safe. I would wait a while until the tank is stable to add more...
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GoVols
Cobb / Webb - 1989
Reef Squad Leader
Excellence Award
Reef Tank 365
MTRCMember
Article Contributor
Hospitality Award
R2R Research
My Tank Thread
Click on my signature link below and start reading and watching at about post #44.
GoVols
Cobb / Webb - 1989
Reef Squad Leader
Excellence Award
Reef Tank 365
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Article Contributor
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My Tank Thread
(lol)
Glad you liked the show.
You need to call Salty Underground and they'll help you out, to how many.
And tell them your water parameters.
I pretty sure we have had a diatom bloom the last few days. Parameters : ph might be slightly improved. Ph 7.8, ammonia between 0-.25, nitrite .25-.50. It's gotten slightly worse. Nitrates are between .25-.50. I use the API master kit and sometimes matching the colors are hard guess. I've included photos which are not the best . My diamond goby is still doing great. He is the only thing in the tank. Diatom stage is good thing right? When should I add reef cleaners and what does everyone suggest ?
