Screwloose..I did not see your post until after I posted. I will research the fungas you mentioned. I have maracyn 1, maracyn 2, malachite, and coppersafe, here on hand. I don't have any sulpher meds. I probably should add that to my medicine cabinet. I have such a hard time looking at the pics on the internet & determining if it's what my fish has. Some of them look the same to me. I don't have her in QT as of now. If she does not continue to improve I will get her in QT. The spots looks visably smaller to me today. She is eating well. I did soak some pellets in the garlic stuff. She doesn't like it as well though. She eats the mysis & the flakes alot better. Do you think the mysis would soak it up at all?? I will just do what you said..gather everyone's advice, read up on the interent & make the best possible educated guess that I can! Thanks!! Glenn...I do a 20% water change every 3 weeks. I have 2 sets of T-5's & I run them for 8 hours a day. I have 2 tiger sand conches, 4 snails, and about 10 hermits. Don't run carbon. And sorry..I have no idea what that last thing is GFO? Thankie!! Jen
mysis will not soak up the vitamins or garlic well since they are already frozen in water the flesh is saturated. i have also in the past bought some of the larger dried mysis and injected them with liquid vitamins. but the fish has to be bigger for this to work. i would soak the pellets and watch teh water parameters to see what needs to be done next. the green turf appears to be hair algae and is a sign of over lighting or to much nutrients in the water. this can be from over feeding, using tap water, or feeding foods high is phosphates. so getting test kits for nitrates and phosphates will help you control that. if your not running ro/di water that would be the first step you need to take to control algae breakouts. the other algae you mentioned could be a diatom bloom. it usually happens within the first few months of a newly established tank. if it is a light brown powder on the surface thats more then likely it. if it is a slimy looking mat then it will probably be a cyano algae and is another sign of something off in the tank. improved water flow and lowering nutrients will starve this out as well. in most fowlr tanks you can simply turn off the lights and kill most algae but with an anemone its not an option for you. hope this helps
Looks like you have some brown cyno and some hair algae, both are part of new tank syndrome. Just keep doing water changes regularly and make sure you are running carbon in a high flow area. The type of carbon you run is also important. I would run a couple oz./ gtr cup at a time in your 75. Change it out every other week. Also do you have any mexican turbo snails in there?? I would get 6 or more, pretty good size ones, say a couple inches in dia., not the huge ones and make sure they are the ones that can right themselves. Mexican is the more popular or I think there is few other species. Don't get any that aren't self righting. The brn cyno is what disappears when the lights are off and then comes stormin back at the end of the day. I think you said you have a sump. You might want to look into running a felt sock on the pipe from the tank to the sump. You well need to get say 3 or4 of them and change it out when the water starts to get toward the top of the sock. You save up a few and throw them in the washing machine WITHOUT DETERGENT and wash two times,, the second is to make sure there is no detergent in the machine from regular washes. You can turn them wrong side out the first wash, then right side out the second. This well greatly help remove detritus and you want to be sure and stir the bed a half hour before doing a water change and this well help get the detritus into the sock. You can also syphon the cyno out when doing a water change. Also try doing 2 smaller water changes a week instead of one, it well help keep it under control as you well be able to syphon more often. You might want to shorten your lighting cycle to where it is mainly on when you are home to enjoy the tank, say 4 hours a day. I take it you are using florence lights of some kind, you really want to change the bulbs out every 6 to 9 months, as they well go more to the red spectrum and promote algae growth. Don't scrub the rock in the tank as this well just spread it. Are you using RO/DI water?? I think you said you were buying from NSA?? Controlling algae is something we all fight at one time or another. Just be patient. The tang is looking better and I see you have some food on a clip in the tank. Just keep him fed and he well probably kick this on his own. If it doesn't start to get better in a week or so let us know and we can talk about it again. Here is a link to some REALLY GOODhttp://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store ... arbon.html carbon, order some and use it. Change every couple weeks and get a 100 micron sock on the dump pipe. Make sure and keep your skimmer clean, mainly the inside of the neck, even though the cup may not be full. I clean mine everyday. Keep the bubble head half way up the neck in the cup as this well be skimming what we call wet, which most believe is better then dry skimming.
Sorry here is the link http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/1-5-pounds-half-gallon-premium-rox-0-8-aquarium-carbon.html
Jen you DON"T need anymore meds, other then possibly Maroxy, which treats true fungas as I have posted before. Maracyn treats only gram POSITIVE bacteria and some forms of body fungas, but not true fungas. Maracyn2 treats only gram NEGATIVE bacteria. Coppersafe treats parasites. Maroxy treats true fungas. Other then if they have an internal parasite infection or brooklynella these would be the only meds you should need to have on hand. They well not screw with your bio filter system if it is in good shape and you use them as directed, and they can all be COMBINED together if need be, but only if need be. Some meds are very unstable and most cannot be mixed together. Some are very suseptable to light and unless you really understand how to use them, they can be very dangerous to use and screw up way more then they fix. Please stick with the Mardell products in the future and you well be very happy, they are very stable forms of med. and the M2 has vit. B which as I ahve said a hundred times before well help get fish to eat again. Take one of the sheets out of the box of maracyn or M2 and read up on them and what each well treat. For right now you don't need to treat any.
I forgot to ask, has he been eating at the clip, looks like you have some nori in it. I take it you work so you could try some romaine, the soft tip off of the inner leaves. Try one when your there and see if he well eat at it, you can leave that in the clip while at work.
Jen - read this article - I think you will really enjoy it - I thought of it when you said you take all advise in & then make your best decision (paraprased) http://www.wetwebmedia.com/10kfriendsart_.htm
a few more thoughts... I LOVE snails for CUCs (clean up crews), in my 34 gal tank, I have about 30, my cuc consist of the following 8 - Ceriths, 10 - Nassarius, 6 - Margarita Turbos, 6 - Astrea & Banded Trochus, 2 - Mexican Turbos One snail per gallon is a good rule of thumb to start with, snails are great for tanks. I would add more snails... I would also consider adding 2 or 3 Emerald crabs, they are HA algae eating machines, when my tank was 2 months old (and in new tank syndrome) my one little Emerald wiped out a tank full in one week. Not big on crabs... they murder snails... but my emerald never has, nor touched any of my coral.
You do want to run carbon, I run CPE (Chemi-Pure-Elite) carbon & gfo - it's a great product & very easy, but cost a bit. To save a few $$$, you can mix your own - you can read up on it here http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/pro ... on-and-gfo This will really help your tank too. If you can, increase you water changes & %. I change 15% weekly & have been having great sucess. You might up it to 15% every other week, if you can, this is a real "key" imo to a happy tank. I know you will get a beautiful, alage free reef tank, soon, you are doing your homework & that will lead to a great tank !
Read up on CPE here (or the value of carbon & gfo) this is a good read too... http://www.marinedepot.com/Boyd_Chemi_P ... RM-vi.html PS - the reason, for several post... is a "bug" on out forum, it you add a url, or cut and paste text, you can type for 15 mins & lose everything you did - happens a lot, arrrr.... and if you edit a post, then the working url links, quite working, I am sure that what happened to John's post above... arrrr
Jen I guess the question should have been asked, do you have a phosphate and nitrate test kits??? If not get a Api nitrate one and a salifert phosphate one and that well tell us alot more. But you do need to be running some form of carbon and for now changing it out every week. Boomer recommends every other day,but once a week should do fine until this is better. There has been several studies done and carbon has a very short useful life as far as removing pollutants as it fills up rather fast in our systems, other then removing chlorine. You really need to order some and a bag and get it on your system. I would guess your phosphates and nitrates are high. I think bulkreef also has salifert test kits, which aren't cheap, but very good and easy to use.
Okay..let's see here... To answer a couple of questions. I only use RO water..I do not use ANY tap water.. so I guess I'm good there. I do not use carbon, so after both of you advising me on that I will be ordering some. I do have a nitrate test kit & I test it often. Actually my levels of nitrate are never a problem. Joe tested it when we noticed the tang & it was fine. It was up a little when I had that sick flame..but it has been really next to nothing most of the time. I do NOT have a phosphate test kit though. That is going on the list with the carbon. John..yes the tang eats off the clip. I was only doing it once a week but I'm putting it in there everyday now that she is sick. I will try the romaine as well. Okay..you both say to up the water changes to every other week for now..so I'm putting that on the check list as well. Lastly...looks like I need more snails. You both mention the mexican turbo snails. I think I should add some of these. I didn't know what kind mine were..so I looked up some pics on the internet & they appear to be called "astrea snails" I found one dead in there yesterday. I noticed he was laying under the anenome & not turned up right for a long time. So I finally fished him out with some tongs...yep..dead. I guess it got on the anenome? Or could it be those hermits Glenn? You say the crabs will murder the snails...Yikes.. didn't know. To be honest we just went to the store & said "give us what we need for a cleanup crew" Didn't know the hermits were bad. Oops.. Anyway... here's my list 1. phosphate test kit 2. carbon 3. more snails...esp. mexican turbo snails & possibly a couple of emerald crabs 4. up my water changes to every other week instead of every 3 weeks. I do a 20% ....should I still do 20% every other week or lower the percentage? 5. Oh..and lastly..hubby does the maintenance & cleaning junk..like the skimmer. (that stuff smells HORRID! haha) I told him what you said about cleaning it more often. He's on it! lol And if I could ask one last question...we mix our own salt. When do you guys mix yours .....24 hours before?... or is it okay to just mix it & let it sit until you are ready?) I really notice a drop in temp when I change it so I'm going to take the advice of putting a heater in the day before. I have one extra one...so I can only put it in one of the buckets. Hopefully that will help some? Everytime we run out we just go get more RO water and it must be kinda cold in the room where I keep it in the house. . Okay..I think I've got it! Thanks everyone!!! Jen
I do 15% weekly - every other week should help & be fine, I would stay at 20%. here a poll I posted, if interested http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/red ... r-rsm.html The hermits murder the snails to get thier shells, if you are going to have hermits, keep a bunch of extra shell in the tank, so they can have new homes as they grow, this will help. Here one more post you might enjoy, about algae in new tanks, that I wrote http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/red ... tanks.html Oh... another product I really like & run, is Purigen, might pick up a bag of it & give it a try, 100 ML bag at Northside. All the Best !!!
imo if you are going to use emerald crabs the hermits are not really needed. but you do want to have extra shells laying around if you keep them. you can usually buy some from the lps next to nothing if they dont give them to you for free. turbos are good snails to have but are also bull dozers so make sure your rocks are stacked good and any corals you have are secure. i would also leave the water changes at the same percentage or go to 10% weekly. which ever works better for your schedule. also , they have garlic soaked seaweed that my tangs love. you could try this for yours as well. you can get it pretty easy and its cheap, but i have never tested the levels of phosphates in it so thats your choice. whats the flow rate in your tank?
Jen Are you running a sump? I would do weekly water changes for atleast now as I said before you well be able to vacuam the rock more that way and the growth well be removed more often and not allowed to get ahead. Just use some 1/2" vinyl clear hose you can get at HD or Lowes. Just as you are syphoning run it against the rock work and it well syphon the algae out. You probably won't get it all before your bucket is filled but doing frequent water changes well eventualy get it or atleast help keep it under control. Get some carbon going in a high flow area and the turbo's and you should be able to get a leg up on it. Remember you well be feeding more now so things are gooing to have to be maintained. One good thing is you don't have to many fish right now and until you get the new tank syndrome more under control I would keep it that way. Emeralds eating hair algae is a new one on me, but maybe todays ones do, I do know they are good for helping control bubble algae, anyway they can't hurt, just make sure they are emeralds. Red legged hermits are considered safe, just keep some extra shells around. Blue legged and others are not considered safe by most and well kill snails. Turbos are really good to have along with the others Glenn mentioned, but get some turbos in there now, IF you can get the self righting ones. Astreas are a pain, anytime you see one over take some tongs and right it as they aren't able to themselves, I don't like them. I like the Trochus snails better, they cost more but are able to right themselves, but for now get atleast 6 to 10 turbos in there and ask if when things get cleared up and stable you can bring some back, as once the algae is gone they well starve as turbo's a large appetite, so then you well just want 3 or 4 in a 75 along with other kinds. If your rock work is stacked right they won't bother it and you don't have any corals to tip over so you should be fine. As for the water changes, large temp swings are never good!! So I would either do smaller ones more often, get a bigger mixing vessel or just buy another 100w heater so you can heat both buckets up to temp. Also make sure to run a powerhead in each bucket to circulate the water and salt, some cheapo Rio 800's are fine or whatever. ALWAYS fil the bucket with the water first then gently shake the salt into the water, say taking a minute for a cup of salt. This well allow the powerhead to mix most fo the salt as it hits the water and help keep the calcium from precipitating out. Also let mix for 24 hrs so the ph comes up where it needs to be and the buffers all get incorperated. Right now as you don't have any corals with skelatons you don't have to worry about calc and alk levels, so you should be good to go. That should help keep you occupied for awhile. http://inlandaquatics.com/
Good tips guys ! John I don't know if all Emeralds are hair algae eating machines, but mine was & I have recommended them to several members on RS & they all now all brag on them.
Glenn , I have never heard that one, just for bubble, but maybe there is a new breed or something. Sure can't hurt!!!
Lots of good info everyone! Glenn..read the poll....and the article on the algae. At least I'm not the only one with this problem! Yaay! Considering taking out the hermits...at least when they get a little bigger. Not sure how though. They are little & I sure can't see 10 anymore in my tank. Screwloose..thanks for the tip on the presoaked algae in garlic! I definitely want to get some for my tang. She is really not liking these pellets. Doesn't turn her nose up to anything else I put in there...but you can tell she would much rather eat anything but those pellets! lol I can't remember the flow rate in my tank. We bought whatever it was they recommended. I only have one on the one side though. I think I remember it being like a #2? Last time I was in the store they said I should consider buying another for the other side of the tank as well. It's the one in the picture with the green goop on it. LOL I know the anenome moved right under it as soon as I put it in & hasn't moved since! John..Yep..I do run a sump. Joe is heating the water up now to do a water change. After ya'lls advice & reading Glenn's poll... Looks like I need to be doing it more often anyway. Thanks for the step by step instuctions! That's the way I like em. Believe me..you can't explain anything too simple for this gal! I like the idea about syphoning it off the rock too. I was wondering if I could do that..wasn't sure if it would mess up the process. I think I'll print this whole thread off actually until we are in the swing of the new routine & stuff. I wish I would have written down all the manufacturer info off all the boxes of everything we bought. Now I realize that I need to know all of that off hand. I'm thinking I can find names of it all & match it up on the internet & get a list going. OH..and most importantly... MY TANG IS BETTER!! No more white spots on her at all today. I'm so glad! Thank you!! Jen
the power head is a koralia 2. they are much cheaper to buy off ebay then locally. you can easily saveclose to half the money. when i was using them i bought the 4s for 35.00 each on there versus 59.00 locally. i'm all about supporting our local stores but this hobbies expensive enough we have to save where we can. anemones dont like direct flow so he probably moved there because its a bit calmer.
Jen Glad to hear the tang is responding to more food, chalk one up for the good. Good to hear you are heating the new water, Big temp swings are not good. Having only one nbr. 2 in a 75 is not much current, I have a nbr 2 running in a 20 gal refug. I would say you could easly have atleast a couple of 3's running, one on each end. You could try adding just one of them on the opposite end now along with the one you have. Cyno loves low flow. I know you have a carpet anemone to content with, but with onle that much flow he shold be able to find somewhere to lie. You do know those get really big and well also eat fish if they get to close, keep it fed. Glad you saved the tang and get the carbon going and some cleanup crew and things should start looking up. Keep us posted.
