Help... Many things happening I don't understand

rogwabbit · 11/03/2009, 08:44 AM

Ok this may be a little long winded but here it is.

I have had a small 16gallon tank with a clown fish, a damsel and a mandarin in it for 8 months as well as a starfish, hermits, snails and a shrimp or two and everything went well for most of that time. Only problem I had was one of the shrimp started eating my coral but aside from this no issues at all.

So recently I upgraded to a 75Gallon 4foot tank. I have close to 5 inches of sand and a lot of live rock (probably 60 - 80LBS of it). I purchased a few more things of course. i.e. 2 tangs, and a sand sifting Goby and a sea cuce.

Learned that my fish have Ick now, so I will need to treat them separately, I just got a separate 35Gallon to use for treatment and will be setting this up this weekend.. But here is the thing over the past year or so I have not been able to keep a Condy anemone. I tried a small one 2 times in the 16 Gal tank both times it died. I also put one really large one in my 75Gal tank and it was fine for about 2 months and not it is no where to be found this morning. Last night it moved off the rock and onto the sand. I figured this was ok, maybe it wanted to move.. But apparently something eat it during the night???? How could this thing just disappear? I looked through all the live rock and it is just gone.

Current stock:

15 Blue Hermits
1 Green Brittle Star
1 Dori (Blue Hippo Tang)
1 Nemo (Clown fish)
1 6 Spot Goby
1 Damsel
1 Curly Q anemone (The only one I have ever been able to keep.. He was in the 16 Gal as well and never had any issues with this one)
1 Sally Light Foot Crab
1 Cleaner Shrimp (Jacque)
1 Sand sifting Cuce
1 Spaghetti or Medusa worm
1 Conch
10 or so Turbo Snails
3 Nitrate Snails

Things that have died since the 75 Gal tank:
1 Pygmy angel... Disappeared overnight as well
1 Emerald Crab
1 Yellow Tang ... I'm fairly certain it was Ick that took him out.
My Mandarin ... just disappeared also

Not the Pygmy angel may have been eaten by the Condy anemone.
The Mandarin seemed too big for the Condy anemone but who knows.

Although I will be saving my fish and treating Ick, I was wondering what could have caused my Condy anemone to disappear as well as what could have caused the Mandarin to vanish?

Any ideas? I don't think the tank is over populated at all... Water is always perfect. I think the reason is in both my 16Gal and then now the 75Gal I do not over stock so the bio filter is always keeping the water perfect for me.

no nitrates, nitrites, phosphates and salinity is kept at about 1.024 S.G.

I'm getting tired of loosing my Condy anemones as well as disappearing fish... any suggestions? Can I get rid of something here to allow me to keep things?

noahm · 11/03/2009, 09:21 AM

Just out of curiosity, why do you want a condy? they are generally pretty easy, but will often eat your fish and very very rarely host a clown. Usually only a maroon on very very rare occasions. My guess is going to be light. If your water params are good, you may not have enough light. A lot of nems come in pretty stressed as well, so you may have not had healthy specimens to begin with.

Just a side note, IF the clown tried to host it, it will very likely either end up stung or stress the nem to death. One or the other or both may die. Could he be your culprit?

lordofthereef · 11/03/2009, 09:28 AM

It is worth mentioning that the nem can shrink really REALLY small. I have a condy in my 10 and whenever he excretes his wastes he shrinks to like 1/10 his size and is so small I can barely see him unless I know where to look.

Mandarins, from what I read, are pretty tough to keep in a non-established system due to their general need for live food. Was it eating whatever you were feeding it well? Fish that disappear could just be hiding but if they die and you have a good clean upe crew they will get cleaned up often before you notice.

rogwabbit · 11/03/2009, 09:43 AM

I guess I don't have to have one, I just like the look. Maybe I could add a frogspawn thingy they are cool looking as well.

My tank looks a little empty. I need something to take up more room and have a lot of colors. The Condy took up a lot of space and looked nice in there. I am on a budget though so I can not afford these expensive things. I love coral but can not afford most of it. The little bit I have was either gifts or came already on the live rock.

I thought about light as well, but if it dies, I would think it's body would be somewhere?!?!
That is the part I don't understand. Could all my hermits, and the star fish really consume it's body overnight? I know it's 90% water but this thing was close to 9 inches. when it shriveled up it was still 3 inches at least?!?!

Any suggestions for cheap pretty additions to the tank? Something that says "wow" that is cool.. It looks barren in my opinion. I hate to add a bunch of fish, would much prefer coral, plants, anemones etc to make it look nice and colorful. I am almost tempted to go with an eel, but hate to worry about the fish being eaten.

My lighting is mostly t5's. I have another lamp on it for making one part brighter then the rest on the tank. It seems fairly bright to me. The corals I have and the Curly Q all are fine with the lighting. I have Zoothiads, pulsing Xenia and some mushrooms currently in there all doing quite well.

Could the Ick have caused issues with this thing?

One other thing I have noticed some small... really small.. white circular things on some of the live rock and now some on the glass of the tank. Almost like feather dusters.. small white tube like things. But I don't ever see any thing come out of them. Maybe there is a worm or something in them but I have no clue what they are.

Could there be some worm in the rock that started eating the Condy's foot from underneath? If so how can I tell / or get rid of it?

rogwabbit · 11/03/2009, 09:47 AM

my Mandarin was great. I had many copods for him to eat... He also readly eat brine shrimp and Zooplex. the copods actually bloomed one time in the 16Gal and it looked like snow with thousands of them in there. I know they are still alive in the 75Gal tank. I actually put some things back into the 16Gal and they appeared again in there so I know they are in there. The Mandarin never showed signs of stress. Just disappeared.

NKYdude · 11/03/2009, 09:49 AM

they're snails. How old is this tank? what exact lighting?

anemone's don't typically do well in most home aquariums.

Ritten · 11/03/2009, 10:21 AM

I don't have personal experience, but I have read on these forums that green brittle stars can catch and eat fish.

noahm · 11/03/2009, 10:56 AM

I am going to guess that your condy is in there somwhere. I have a few rock nems and sometimes one will disappear for a week and pop up somewhere else. It takes quite a few scavener critters to eat a nem. Usually they just turn into a slime blob and sort of disintegrate. If he was 8" across, its probably wedged under/inbetween a rock and about the size of a quarter. I would give it a few days and watch for an ammonia spike in the mean time. Maybe it got injured or harassed and decided to move. My experience with stressed/injured nems is leave them alone and only remove them if they start to dismantle. Don't try feeding it until it settles back down if it is still in there.

Good luck

11/03/2009, 08:44 AM	#1
rogwabbit Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 8	Help... Many things happening I don't understand Ok this may be a little long winded but here it is. I have had a small 16gallon tank with a clown fish, a damsel and a mandarin in it for 8 months as well as a starfish, hermits, snails and a shrimp or two and everything went well for most of that time. Only problem I had was one of the shrimp started eating my coral but aside from this no issues at all. So recently I upgraded to a 75Gallon 4foot tank. I have close to 5 inches of sand and a lot of live rock (probably 60 - 80LBS of it). I purchased a few more things of course. i.e. 2 tangs, and a sand sifting Goby and a sea cuce. Learned that my fish have Ick now, so I will need to treat them separately, I just got a separate 35Gallon to use for treatment and will be setting this up this weekend.. But here is the thing over the past year or so I have not been able to keep a Condy anemone. I tried a small one 2 times in the 16 Gal tank both times it died. I also put one really large one in my 75Gal tank and it was fine for about 2 months and not it is no where to be found this morning. Last night it moved off the rock and onto the sand. I figured this was ok, maybe it wanted to move.. But apparently something eat it during the night???? How could this thing just disappear? I looked through all the live rock and it is just gone. Current stock: 15 Blue Hermits 1 Green Brittle Star 1 Dori (Blue Hippo Tang) 1 Nemo (Clown fish) 1 6 Spot Goby 1 Damsel 1 Curly Q anemone (The only one I have ever been able to keep.. He was in the 16 Gal as well and never had any issues with this one) 1 Sally Light Foot Crab 1 Cleaner Shrimp (Jacque) 1 Sand sifting Cuce 1 Spaghetti or Medusa worm 1 Conch 10 or so Turbo Snails 3 Nitrate Snails Things that have died since the 75 Gal tank: 1 Pygmy angel... Disappeared overnight as well 1 Emerald Crab 1 Yellow Tang ... I'm fairly certain it was Ick that took him out. My Mandarin ... just disappeared also Not the Pygmy angel may have been eaten by the Condy anemone. The Mandarin seemed too big for the Condy anemone but who knows. Although I will be saving my fish and treating Ick, I was wondering what could have caused my Condy anemone to disappear as well as what could have caused the Mandarin to vanish? Any ideas? I don't think the tank is over populated at all... Water is always perfect. I think the reason is in both my 16Gal and then now the 75Gal I do not over stock so the bio filter is always keeping the water perfect for me. no nitrates, nitrites, phosphates and salinity is kept at about 1.024 S.G. I'm getting tired of loosing my Condy anemones as well as disappearing fish... any suggestions? Can I get rid of something here to allow me to keep things?

11/03/2009, 09:28 AM	#3
lordofthereef One reef to rule them all Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Leominster, MA Posts: 5,299	It is worth mentioning that the nem can shrink really REALLY small. I have a condy in my 10 and whenever he excretes his wastes he shrinks to like 1/10 his size and is so small I can barely see him unless I know where to look. Mandarins, from what I read, are pretty tough to keep in a non-established system due to their general need for live food. Was it eating whatever you were feeding it well? Fish that disappear could just be hiding but if they die and you have a good clean upe crew they will get cleaned up often before you notice. __________________ "A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself" ~ Josh Billings Visit My Home page for current build thread (click my user name and select "Visit LordoftheReef's Homepage" in the drop down menu!

11/03/2009, 09:21 AM	#2
noahm Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Huntsville, AL Posts: 2,736	Just out of curiosity, why do you want a condy? they are generally pretty easy, but will often eat your fish and very very rarely host a clown. Usually only a maroon on very very rare occasions. My guess is going to be light. If your water params are good, you may not have enough light. A lot of nems come in pretty stressed as well, so you may have not had healthy specimens to begin with. Just a side note, IF the clown tried to host it, it will very likely either end up stung or stress the nem to death. One or the other or both may die. Could he be your culprit?

11/03/2009, 09:43 AM	#4
rogwabbit Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 8	I guess I don't have to have one, I just like the look. Maybe I could add a frogspawn thingy they are cool looking as well. My tank looks a little empty. I need something to take up more room and have a lot of colors. The Condy took up a lot of space and looked nice in there. I am on a budget though so I can not afford these expensive things. I love coral but can not afford most of it. The little bit I have was either gifts or came already on the live rock. I thought about light as well, but if it dies, I would think it's body would be somewhere?!?! That is the part I don't understand. Could all my hermits, and the star fish really consume it's body overnight? I know it's 90% water but this thing was close to 9 inches. when it shriveled up it was still 3 inches at least?!?! Any suggestions for cheap pretty additions to the tank? Something that says "wow" that is cool.. It looks barren in my opinion. I hate to add a bunch of fish, would much prefer coral, plants, anemones etc to make it look nice and colorful. I am almost tempted to go with an eel, but hate to worry about the fish being eaten. My lighting is mostly t5's. I have another lamp on it for making one part brighter then the rest on the tank. It seems fairly bright to me. The corals I have and the Curly Q all are fine with the lighting. I have Zoothiads, pulsing Xenia and some mushrooms currently in there all doing quite well. Could the Ick have caused issues with this thing? One other thing I have noticed some small... really small.. white circular things on some of the live rock and now some on the glass of the tank. Almost like feather dusters.. small white tube like things. But I don't ever see any thing come out of them. Maybe there is a worm or something in them but I have no clue what they are. Could there be some worm in the rock that started eating the Condy's foot from underneath? If so how can I tell / or get rid of it?

11/03/2009, 09:47 AM	#5
rogwabbit Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 8	my Mandarin was great. I had many copods for him to eat... He also readly eat brine shrimp and Zooplex. the copods actually bloomed one time in the 16Gal and it looked like snow with thousands of them in there. I know they are still alive in the 75Gal tank. I actually put some things back into the 16Gal and they appeared again in there so I know they are in there. The Mandarin never showed signs of stress. Just disappeared.

11/03/2009, 09:49 AM	#6
NKYdude Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Highland Heights, KY Posts: 105	they're snails. How old is this tank? what exact lighting? anemone's don't typically do well in most home aquariums.

11/03/2009, 10:21 AM	#7
Ritten Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 2,164	I don't have personal experience, but I have read on these forums that green brittle stars can catch and eat fish.

11/03/2009, 10:56 AM	#8
noahm Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Huntsville, AL Posts: 2,736	I am going to guess that your condy is in there somwhere. I have a few rock nems and sometimes one will disappear for a week and pop up somewhere else. It takes quite a few scavener critters to eat a nem. Usually they just turn into a slime blob and sort of disintegrate. If he was 8" across, its probably wedged under/inbetween a rock and about the size of a quarter. I would give it a few days and watch for an ammonia spike in the mean time. Maybe it got injured or harassed and decided to move. My experience with stressed/injured nems is leave them alone and only remove them if they start to dismantle. Don't try feeding it until it settles back down if it is still in there. Good luck