Should I just drain the tank and start over?

czieler · Sep 9, 2006

I have two tanks, a 65 and a 46.

I set up the 46 with my old lights and protein skimmer from my 65 gallon...with new bulbs in the lights....

In this tank I have a GSM Clown, a LTA anemone, a Coral Beauty Angel, and just added a 6 line wrasse. I also have a queen conch, some hermits, and a serpent star. I also have a frogspawn and a few mushrooms.

I started this tank mostly because I wanted to put a lot of Zoos in there.... anytime I put any in there though, they die after a few days to a week. If they start to close up, and I throw them in my 65 gallon, they open back up and are fine.

I do the same water changes in both tanks. I have seen no nudi's in the 46 gallon. I checked at nite for sundials...didn't see any. I did see some slugs w/ no shells though.

I'm really getting disgusted with it, as I had wanted to start a nice zoo collection in there, but have been trying to find this problem for 4 months now..with no success.

Should I just drain it...get rid of all the live rock and sand in there..and start over...in case there is some predator I am just not seeing?

maroonytunes · Sep 9, 2006

SOunds like you have nudibranches, have you read the zoa dip thread on RC???

czieler · Sep 9, 2006

Yeah...

I've done the dip... I've also seen no nudis in there ever...and believe me I look for them.... I went thru a span in my 65 gallon where I had them...and I finally got rid of them all.

I've been sitting there with a flashnight at night several times a week looking for sundials too.... my significant other thinks I'm nutz..heh.

Azurel · Sep 9, 2006

What are your water parameters in this tank? I would start there first....Is your skimmer doing a good enough job? I know people say that zoas love dirty water but I am not on that band wagon....Everytime extend the time between water changes the zoas in my tank seem to close up and not look as good. I would start with your water and do a process of elimination.

bryan · Sep 9, 2006

I've personally run into issues before with 3 different Queen conchs in zoanthid tanks where I didn't quite have enough flow. Detritus could settle on establised rocks and feed algae spores on established frags, as well as the inherent crud on new arrivals.
My Queens would simply be working to clean, but always seem to irk the zoanthids to no end...and I truly believe damaging them un-intentionally. As you said, once I placed in a different tank w/out conchs, no prob.

May have just been my experience, but may be worth a shot and avoid a tank teardown. No doubt though I'd triple check all the other suggestions and definitely the parameters.

Peace!

surfn · Sep 9, 2006

i have a queen conch, fighting conch, and some other kind of sand conch. i swear by them and rely on them to get rid of macro algae running b/w zoas that no other inverts will eat.

lets hear all your tank parameters on both tanks (pH, salinity, NH3, NO3, NO2, alk, calcium etc.). also what kind of lights are on each tank.

and where are you buying your zoas from mostly?

czieler · Sep 9, 2006

I am doing my water changes this afternoon.... so I will test tonite..and post them....

I do 5 gallon water changes in each tank every friday or Saturday....I've also just recently started taking an extra 5 out of the 46 gallon, and replacing it with the 5 I remove from the 65 gallon.

I have VHO's over the 65, and have moved my Power Compacts I used to have over it to the 46.

The skimmer is getting a lot of gunk in it each week..so I think its working ok.

I get most zoos from Robs Reef... and like I said...if I pu them back in the 65...they generally do fine if they start to close up in the 46. I put one back in the 46 gallon once a week to see how they do..if they start to deteriorate...I put them back in the 65...every once in a while they die off if it was a small frag...but usually snap out of it once I put them back in the 65.

What are the 1-2 inch slug looking things that don't have a shell...they aren't nudis...and they are ugly....thought about removing them..but figure they are good cleaners?

Maybe I'll move the queen conch to a friends tank..she is pretty big..and I have a friend w/ a 220...she'd probably be happier there.

Azurel · Sep 9, 2006

Can you get a picture of these things?

czieler · Sep 9, 2006

Yes...will try to snap a picture tonite after lights out... my 46 is bowfront so I have a hard time getting night shots in there... but will give it a shot..

gflat65 · Sep 10, 2006

Going out on a limb here, but do you have surface skimming on one tank and not on the other? On my smaller non RR tanks, I run the little surface skimmers attached to HOB's. Without the surface skimmers, the tank water would get really smelly and nothing did well. With the surface skimmers (and no protien skimming), I've gotten excellent results. Just worth a mention.

Azurel · Sep 10, 2006

I have that surface skimmer and I love it......The best $10 I have spent yet.....

czieler · Sep 10, 2006

Sry..got side tracked painting the house today.

I have a bakpak skimmer on my 46 gallon..and a corallife on my 65.

I tested some today in the 46 gallon today ...will do a calcium test tomorrow as that takes longer and honestly forgot to go back and test:

Specific Gravity: 1.022
Temp:77-78 degrees
Nitrite:.0
pH: 8.0 ( this is a bit lower than usual, so I dosed with Oceans Blend Part 2)
Ammonia:0

I had a Nitrate kit ... but have misplaced it... either that or it was empty...will get a new one tomorrow.

surfn · Sep 10, 2006

do you acclimate your zoas into the tank when you buy them? if so, how do you go about doing it?

czieler · Sep 11, 2006

I usually just do a dip then put them in the tank... they told me that is all I should do to them...

Should I be acclimating the same way I do snails/starfish? With those I take a shot glass of water and add it to the bag they are in every five minutes for a half an hour.

surfn · Sep 11, 2006

czieler said:
I usually just do a dip then put them in the tank... they told me that is all I should do to them...

Should I be acclimating the same way I do snails/starfish? With those I take a shot glass of water and add it to the bag they are in every five minutes for a half an hour.

you dont have to, everyone has their way of doing things

but i acclimate everything i put in my tank (fish/inverts/corals), but doing basically what you said. accept adding water in 15min intervals over about 2 hrs.

also may be a good idea to measure the salinity of your tank, and the place you get your frag from using a refractometer. if they are different by more than 0.002 then you should take care in acclimating.

Azurel · Sep 11, 2006

"1.022"

Is a little low for having inverts like corals and invertebrates.....I would try to raise it up to .025/.026 which is closer to actual specific gravity of the ocean. I know fish only tanks can actually be better off with lower specific gravity....

gflat65 · Sep 11, 2006

Alk is one of the biggest forgotten killers, too. Most people don't think of the alk/Ca balance. If it gets off, nothing will be happy until you get it balanced again. SPS are the first to show signs, but it can effect everything.

czieler · Sep 11, 2006

I will raise the salinity in my next water change...just a bit of course as not to shock things...but will raise it slowly over the next few weeks.

I was also asking about this on RC. Someone there mentioned that large bristleworms will eat zoos... I have one that is 6-7 inches in my tank..which I found one day when moving some rock...and I didn't have anything handy to grab him with.

I need to buy another small net this week...and go on a bristleworm hunt. I just added a six line wrasse last week to the tank to eat some of them..but I know he can only get the small ones.

surfn · Sep 11, 2006

czieler said:
I will raise the salinity in my next water change...just a bit of course as not to shock things...but will raise it slowly over the next few weeks.

I was also asking about this on RC. Someone there mentioned that large bristleworms will eat zoos... I have one that is 6-7 inches in my tank..which I found one day when moving some rock...and I didn't have anything handy to grab him with.

I need to buy another small net this week...and go on a bristleworm hunt. I just added a six line wrasse last week to the tank to eat some of them..but I know he can only get the small ones.

lol i dont care what that other guy on RC says about large bristle worms are a good thing. i dont know if they will eat zoas exclusively, but anything that large that has a depleneshed food source (i.e. algae), is gonna munch on any soft coral it pleases...

so i'm not saying a 6inch bristle worm will eat zoas, but i wouldnt want to take the chance of it bothering any of my corals/fish/inverts/snails.

ever seen the story of the mother of all bristle worms? (note, do not read this before bedtime if you have nightmares)

http://www.oregonreef.com/sub_worm.htm

czieler · Sep 11, 2006

I've been meaning to get him out of there since I found him anyway... I have a feeling he may have killed my GSM's mate that went missing..she was small...

I didn't know he was in there til I was moving the rock...and just haven't gone back to look for him... now that I found out he may be the culprit..I'm definitely going to look... but also so I don't end up grabbing him one day when not paying attention...hate getting stuck by those things!!