Why is everything dying?

[Austin B]

hello friends.

I have a new(ish) tank with 3 chromis and a clown. They are doing well and thriving however corals and inverts die within a day of being added regardless of how long I take to acclimate with a drip system. Any ideas?

 

[KMench]

What are your tank parameters? How long were you dripping them? Sometime if you drip too long/slowly the temp drops which is tough on inverts.

 

[thaitopher]

hello friends.

I have a new(ish) tank with 3 chromis and a clown. They are doing well and thriving however corals and inverts die within a day of being added regardless of how long I take to acclimate with a drip system. Any ideas?

How newish is the tank?

 

[Austin B]

What are your tank parameters? How long were you dripping them? Sometime if you drip too long/slowly the temp drops which is tough on inverts.

Nitrates are 0
Nitrites are 0
Ammonia 0
pH is 8.3

How newish is the tank?

Tank has had fish since Mid November and Inverts/coral were introduced a week ago
I floated the bag in the sump and dripped from the display so that it stayed the temp of the tank

 

[savetheocean]

What corals and inverts died?

 

[Austin B]

What corals and inverts died?

I can't remember the name of the coral (sorry) but it looked like an anemone but was mounted on a frag plug.
and It was 2 pink star fish. One died and the store replaced it, then the replacement died as well.

 

[DeepBlueSomething]

And they died within a day or two?

 

[EddieJ]

hello friends.

I have a new(ish) tank with 3 chromis and a clown. They are doing well and thriving however corals and inverts die within a day of being added regardless of how long I take to acclimate with a drip system. Any ideas?

First thing I would do is check for any copper in the tank. Corals and inverts are more sensitive to copper.

 

[reefes pieces]

What's your salinity and how are you checking it?

 

[rockstarta78]

Your tank is too new to add an anemone. Even then I don't think it would have died in a day. As for the starfish, is that a linckia starfish? Have you dosed any copper in your tank? Linckias are difficult species, specially on a newer system. Do you have any snails? crabs?

 

[Austin B]

And they died within a day or two?

Like clockwork. They both curled up backwards and then lost their color

 

[Austin B]

First thing I would do is check for any copper in the tank. Corals and inverts are more sensitive to copper.

How do you do that?

 

[KMench]

Since we are talking starfish here, how long did you acclimate them for? They are super sensitive to salinity changes and can die from osmotic shock days to weeks after introduction.

 

[Austin B]

What's your salinity and how are you checking it?

1.025 checked with the Red Sea floating hydrometer

 

[KMench]

Just for ease in the future, you may want a refractometer. I always use it to check the SG of the bagged creature I'm bringing home and then compare it with my tank to see how close it is. You can use that to determine how long your timeframes should be

 

[Austin B]

Your tank is too new to add an anemone. Even then I don't think it would have died in a day. As for the starfish, is that a linckia starfish? Have you dosed any copper in your tank? Linckias are difficult species, specially on a newer system. Do you have any snails? crabs?

It wasn't actually an anemone, it was an LPS that had long fingers like an anemone. No copper dosing, Not sure of the species of star specifically. yes I have 4 small crabs and 2 medium sized snails

 

[Austin B]

Just for ease in the future, you may want a refractometer. I always use it to check the SG of the bagged creature I'm bringing home and then compare it with my tank to see how close it is. You can use that to determine how long your timeframes should be

I actually have one but never had any solution to calibrate it so its sitting in my shed haha

 

[KMench]

Ah, you should get some solution! I didn't use this approach til recently. It's actually super helpful. I was having terrible luck with acclimating shrimp for my tank and then I used my refractometer to check the water they came in this last time. They were 1.024, my water was 1.025, I floated them, added a squirt of water and gave them ten minutes. Both are doing great from this last purchase

 

[rockstarta78]

It wasn't actually an anemone, it was an LPS that had long fingers like an anemone. No copper dosing, Not sure of the species of star specifically. yes I have 4 small crabs and 2 medium sized snails

I could be wrong, but sounds like you had some sort of euphyllia coral. Unless they were already dying, these are hardy corals. The issue with starfish are, as mentioned above by @KMench these are extremely sensitive to parameter changes, specially salinity. Drip acclimate until you double the amount of bag water and then some while maintaining the appropriate temp. Also, I believe you cannot expose starfish to the air. If you can post a picture of the coral that died, that could be helpful.

 

[KMench]

Many people I've read acclimate starfish for 2+ hours, even then it seems like they have a poor survival rate if they are lincka starfish.