2 Fish, 3 snails dead...HELP!

dstipple · 03/19/2012, 11:30 AM

Hey guys, this may be a little long because I'm going to try and tell you everything there is about my tank so I can paint the best picture of my tank so bear with me.
I have recently set up a 5g nano which was set up using live rock/water from my established 46 and new sand (arag-alive fiji pink). It took about 2 weeks for the new sand to cycle and get my levels where they need to be in order to start with my CUC. I added 4 margarita snails, 4 nassarius and 3 tiny blue leg hermits. Up to this point my only filtration/circulation was an Aquaclear 30 but it was getting the job done for only having a CUC. I left for the weekend and had my roommate watch my tank (I feel like this never works out) and when I got home I had a clear slime on the waterfall part of the filter and in some of the parts of the pump. I took it out and cleaned it and let it air dry to get all of the slime out from the intake tube. I then ordered a current USA subcurrent internal filter to keep the surface water clean and add some extra flow.
I then modified the AC30 to make a HOB refugium and added clerpa macroalgae. After this was set up and all my levels were still good I added a peppermint shrimp, a small polyp colony and a small LPS frag. Another week went by and i added my first fish, a small yellow watchman goby. He was a little shy and hid in the back at first but he eventually got comfortable and "jumped" around the tank. Two weeks later I added a small clownfish. The first day I had him he looked very healthy, swimming all around and would swim right in front of the return pump which I assumed meant he was healthy. The next morning I notices he was breathing heavy and was in a part of the tank with the least amount of flow. I turned off the filter and let just the AC30 run for the rest of the day (was this a mistake?). I woke up the next morning to find him dead on the sand bed. I was sad but figured he just wasn't too strong and was one of the % of fish that just don't make it. Again, checked my levels and Amm-0 Nitrate-0 Nitrite-0 and pH-8. I didn't check my salinity but the water level was a little low (I have to find a new way to hang my float switch for my ATO because snails keep climbing on it and turning the pump on when its full...). I didn't top it off because I was on my way to the library to study and didn't get home until 3:45am and just went to bed, but I did notice the goby breathing a little hard but said I would check him out tomorrow. Well today is tomorrow and the goby plus 3 of the 4 margarita snails are dead. I checked my levels and they are all good but pH dropped to 7.8. I topped off the tank and then checked salinity and it was 1.026 so when the tank was lower (1/4" below where I keep it, so maybe 1.027 when it was lower?). My shrimp and hermits are still alive but for how much longer I don't know. Please, if anything I just wrote sends out a red flag to you please let me know so I can get my tank back to life!

philosophile · 03/19/2012, 03:47 PM

Nanos are tough... If something dies than everything else starts dying because of the ammonia spike. So lets say a margarita snail dies (because they are cold water snails, and not warm water snails, so they are not long in a typical marine tank). The rest will probably follow quickly because snails foul pretty quickly.

csmfish · 03/19/2012, 05:28 PM

I would not keep any more than a goby in a 5, and, that should be a 10. Sounds like not enough oxygen if your perams are okay.

dstipple · 03/19/2012, 05:55 PM

The oxygen does make sense, so should i just angle my powerhead more towards the surface to have more gas/water exchange? And also my duncan polyp didn't open at all today, would that also be an oxygen problem?

dstipple · 03/19/2012, 06:25 PM

I just put my hand in the tank to move some rocks to get to the snails that I thought were dead and the first thing I noticed was that the rock was slippery as if it had a thin slimy coating. And also instead of throwing the snails away I put them in my 46 and within 2 minutes of them being in this tank they were crawling all over. That includes the margarita and nassarius snails. This makes no sense at all to me. The parameters, salinity, and temp are all constant between the two tanks also.

csmfish · 03/19/2012, 07:07 PM

Sounds like the whole tank is bent out of shape?

Depending on what kind of light you have, it may take a little time for the duncan to respond.

Honestly, in a 5 gallon, I would not have anything more than that shrimp in there for a while.

SushiGirl · 03/19/2012, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by csmfish

Honestly, in a 5 gallon, I would not have anything more than that shrimp in there for a while.

If you want fish, look at the ones that don't get any bigger than 1 inch if you want more than one. There's no way a clown and a yellow-headed goby can live in a 5 gallon for more than a very short time separately, much less at the same time.

Here's a link to nano fish. There are several that only get 1 inch.

Also, with a tank that small you cannot put off till tomorrow anything you find wrong today, as you've now experienced!

dstipple · 03/19/2012, 09:25 PM

csmfish- i have a par38 led from rapidled.com with the blue/white combo. The duncan was looking great ever since i moved him in from my other tank and just today didnt extend. And I'm just going to watch my peppermint shrimp for a few weeks and keep a close eye on the parameters and do my water changes and try again.

sushigirl- would a yellow clown goby be a good choice?

SushiGirl · 03/20/2012, 06:25 PM

Most of the tank size recommendations don't go any lower than 10 on LiveAquaria, but my understanding is they do a lot of perching and not really much swimming. I don't have first-hand experience with that, though, since I've never had one.

I know by observation at the LFS that the little 1" gobies basically just kinda hang in the water column.

csmfish · 03/20/2012, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dstipple

csmfish- i have a par38 led from rapidled.com with the blue/white combo. The duncan was looking great ever since i moved him in from my other tank and just today didnt extend. And I'm just going to watch my peppermint shrimp for a few weeks and keep a close eye on the parameters and do my water changes and try again.

sushigirl- would a yellow clown goby be a good choice?

I think the Duncan might be a little PO'd by the fish. I would give it some time to settle and see whats up.

I have had a few of these yellers myself. Ahem... as long as you can see the goby and get a teeny tiny one, I would go for it. That way, as it grows, so will the bio load. Hopefully he will not perch on the duncan (they LOVE to perch on some corals) and **** it off more, lol.

03/19/2012, 11:30 AM	#1
dstipple Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 185	2 Fish, 3 snails dead...HELP! Hey guys, this may be a little long because I'm going to try and tell you everything there is about my tank so I can paint the best picture of my tank so bear with me. I have recently set up a 5g nano which was set up using live rock/water from my established 46 and new sand (arag-alive fiji pink). It took about 2 weeks for the new sand to cycle and get my levels where they need to be in order to start with my CUC. I added 4 margarita snails, 4 nassarius and 3 tiny blue leg hermits. Up to this point my only filtration/circulation was an Aquaclear 30 but it was getting the job done for only having a CUC. I left for the weekend and had my roommate watch my tank (I feel like this never works out) and when I got home I had a clear slime on the waterfall part of the filter and in some of the parts of the pump. I took it out and cleaned it and let it air dry to get all of the slime out from the intake tube. I then ordered a current USA subcurrent internal filter to keep the surface water clean and add some extra flow. I then modified the AC30 to make a HOB refugium and added clerpa macroalgae. After this was set up and all my levels were still good I added a peppermint shrimp, a small polyp colony and a small LPS frag. Another week went by and i added my first fish, a small yellow watchman goby. He was a little shy and hid in the back at first but he eventually got comfortable and "jumped" around the tank. Two weeks later I added a small clownfish. The first day I had him he looked very healthy, swimming all around and would swim right in front of the return pump which I assumed meant he was healthy. The next morning I notices he was breathing heavy and was in a part of the tank with the least amount of flow. I turned off the filter and let just the AC30 run for the rest of the day (was this a mistake?). I woke up the next morning to find him dead on the sand bed. I was sad but figured he just wasn't too strong and was one of the % of fish that just don't make it. Again, checked my levels and Amm-0 Nitrate-0 Nitrite-0 and pH-8. I didn't check my salinity but the water level was a little low (I have to find a new way to hang my float switch for my ATO because snails keep climbing on it and turning the pump on when its full...). I didn't top it off because I was on my way to the library to study and didn't get home until 3:45am and just went to bed, but I did notice the goby breathing a little hard but said I would check him out tomorrow. Well today is tomorrow and the goby plus 3 of the 4 margarita snails are dead. I checked my levels and they are all good but pH dropped to 7.8. I topped off the tank and then checked salinity and it was 1.026 so when the tank was lower (1/4" below where I keep it, so maybe 1.027 when it was lower?). My shrimp and hermits are still alive but for how much longer I don't know. Please, if anything I just wrote sends out a red flag to you please let me know so I can get my tank back to life!

03/19/2012, 03:47 PM	#2
philosophile Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 1,149	Nanos are tough... If something dies than everything else starts dying because of the ammonia spike. So lets say a margarita snail dies (because they are cold water snails, and not warm water snails, so they are not long in a typical marine tank). The rest will probably follow quickly because snails foul pretty quickly. __________________ 90 gallon mixed reef XPS1000SSS skimmer, 2 radions gen 1, tunze osmolator w/ kalk dispenser, 70 lbs pukani, mp40w x2; 1 tomini, 1 clown 2 mandarins. Vinegar dosing, and micro bubble scrubbing.

03/20/2012, 06:25 PM	#9
SushiGirl Premium Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Fort Worth, TX USA Posts: 8,267	Most of the tank size recommendations don't go any lower than 10 on LiveAquaria, but my understanding is they do a lot of perching and not really much swimming. I don't have first-hand experience with that, though, since I've never had one. I know by observation at the LFS that the little 1" gobies basically just kinda hang in the water column. __________________ Visit my Homepage or "My Albums" (via Profile) for hitchhiker pics. Current Tank Info: 55g softy/LPS tank & 20L reef tank

03/19/2012, 05:28 PM	#3
csmfish Moved On Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: VA Posts: 1,055	I would not keep any more than a goby in a 5, and, that should be a 10. Sounds like not enough oxygen if your perams are okay.

03/19/2012, 05:55 PM	#4
dstipple Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 185	The oxygen does make sense, so should i just angle my powerhead more towards the surface to have more gas/water exchange? And also my duncan polyp didn't open at all today, would that also be an oxygen problem?

03/19/2012, 06:25 PM	#5
dstipple Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 185	I just put my hand in the tank to move some rocks to get to the snails that I thought were dead and the first thing I noticed was that the rock was slippery as if it had a thin slimy coating. And also instead of throwing the snails away I put them in my 46 and within 2 minutes of them being in this tank they were crawling all over. That includes the margarita and nassarius snails. This makes no sense at all to me. The parameters, salinity, and temp are all constant between the two tanks also.

03/19/2012, 07:07 PM	#6
csmfish Moved On Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: VA Posts: 1,055	Sounds like the whole tank is bent out of shape? Depending on what kind of light you have, it may take a little time for the duncan to respond. Honestly, in a 5 gallon, I would not have anything more than that shrimp in there for a while.

03/19/2012, 09:25 PM	#8
dstipple Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 185	csmfish- i have a par38 led from rapidled.com with the blue/white combo. The duncan was looking great ever since i moved him in from my other tank and just today didnt extend. And I'm just going to watch my peppermint shrimp for a few weeks and keep a close eye on the parameters and do my water changes and try again. sushigirl- would a yellow clown goby be a good choice?