First Really Bad Day
Hi all,
In the space of 12 hours I have lost:
1 x small Blue Tang
1 x Med Blue Tang
1 x Chromis
I know it's the sad part of reef keeping, especially at the beginning, but it certainly is a test of commitment.
The tank is now about 4 weeks old and has about 60 kg+ of LR which was transferred from my previous tank, which seemed fine and mostly healthy (apart from high Nitrates)
It's a 6 x 1.5 x 1.5 tank plus an approx 60L sump and 80L refugium. I'm using about 150g of NPX Biopellets in a reactor and have plenty of flow in the DT, plus a smallish amount of macro in the refugium. Using bare bottom and algae levels are OK with some higher levels of green algae on the bottom. Also just started dosing Randy's Recipe part 1 a and b (50 / 30 ml/day). I was running my Marine Sources skimmer about 8h/ day, but am running full time now.
So, to the mystery. Going from memory, my stats as of last night were:
Nitrate: 40ppm
Nitrite: 0
Ammonium: 0
Phosphates: 0
Temp: 26
Salinity: 1.022
ph: ~8.4
kh: 11dkh
Calcium: 440ppm
Certainly nothing jumped out as being alarming. The ph is a little higher than I have had normally, but not off the chart. 3 weeks ago I added a 6 Line Wrasse that totally disappeared after a few days and 2 weeks ago I added a Coral Banded shrimp and it also seems to have vanished after a few days. There are also (hopefully still) 2 small Oscellaris Clowns, 8 Chromis, 1 large Fox Face, 1 x Royal Dottyback, 1 x Fairy Wrasse, 1 x Multicolour Wrasse and a Peppermint Shrimp, plus some very healthy large bristleworm hitch-hikers, and also a bunch of soft corals.
I noticed the larger Tang rubbing on some rock and seemingly desperate in getting the Peppermint shrimp to clean of parasites. They certainly looked quite a bit icky at death but not too bad beforehand. My Foxface also seems to have acquired some small black spots which is a worry, plus lost her/his appetite somewhat. The other fish generally seem OK, and all the corals seem normal and open. I added a few air stones in the refugium to bring the ph down a little.
I have a small 40L tank on standby but only want to use it as last resort due to transfer stress.
So beyond big water changes, any suggestions for cause / fixes?
In the space of 12 hours I have lost:
1 x small Blue Tang
1 x Med Blue Tang
1 x Chromis
I know it's the sad part of reef keeping, especially at the beginning, but it certainly is a test of commitment.
The tank is now about 4 weeks old and has about 60 kg+ of LR which was transferred from my previous tank, which seemed fine and mostly healthy (apart from high Nitrates)
It's a 6 x 1.5 x 1.5 tank plus an approx 60L sump and 80L refugium. I'm using about 150g of NPX Biopellets in a reactor and have plenty of flow in the DT, plus a smallish amount of macro in the refugium. Using bare bottom and algae levels are OK with some higher levels of green algae on the bottom. Also just started dosing Randy's Recipe part 1 a and b (50 / 30 ml/day). I was running my Marine Sources skimmer about 8h/ day, but am running full time now.
So, to the mystery. Going from memory, my stats as of last night were:
Nitrate: 40ppm
Nitrite: 0
Ammonium: 0
Phosphates: 0
Temp: 26
Salinity: 1.022
ph: ~8.4
kh: 11dkh
Calcium: 440ppm
Certainly nothing jumped out as being alarming. The ph is a little higher than I have had normally, but not off the chart. 3 weeks ago I added a 6 Line Wrasse that totally disappeared after a few days and 2 weeks ago I added a Coral Banded shrimp and it also seems to have vanished after a few days. There are also (hopefully still) 2 small Oscellaris Clowns, 8 Chromis, 1 large Fox Face, 1 x Royal Dottyback, 1 x Fairy Wrasse, 1 x Multicolour Wrasse and a Peppermint Shrimp, plus some very healthy large bristleworm hitch-hikers, and also a bunch of soft corals.
I noticed the larger Tang rubbing on some rock and seemingly desperate in getting the Peppermint shrimp to clean of parasites. They certainly looked quite a bit icky at death but not too bad beforehand. My Foxface also seems to have acquired some small black spots which is a worry, plus lost her/his appetite somewhat. The other fish generally seem OK, and all the corals seem normal and open. I added a few air stones in the refugium to bring the ph down a little.
I have a small 40L tank on standby but only want to use it as last resort due to transfer stress.
So beyond big water changes, any suggestions for cause / fixes?