Reefs.org Forums

[tshowacre]

Newbee started new hobby May. Went by Saltwater for Dummies book religously, do water tests every week some more often. I had purchase so far:live rock,live sand,fish ready saltwater, 30 gallon tank have Coral Life lights (65watt) for 2 corals added recently(polyps and frog corals). I had:
2 clowns and anemone
cardinal
clearner shrimp
several large cleaner snails
3 crabs

Everything was fine water has always tested perfect even it took it to the store to back me up(have never seen a large change in amonia or nitrites 0), I got the crazy idea of changing to a canister pump from the pump that came with the kit. (After I started loosing fish I changed back to orginal pump.)

all of sudden cardinal got bulging eyes and one of the clown fish, they eventually died, store said to give anitiotics, started it but was having to go out of town so decided to do a major water change(the 2 sick ones died the night before),did water change not knowing, the store gave me RO water not salt, everything went into shock, cleaner shrimp died, could not get to the store for 24 hours to get saltwater, next: only clown fish started having small spots on side and red slime is growing wildly.

Last fish has now died this week. So how do I get the ich out of this new saltwater and stop the red from going wild, I have vaccumed a lot of it out, but away for a couple of days so I know it will be crazy when I get back. Bought another cleaner shrimp right before the clown died, so I don't want to kill it. I have read maybe raising the temp will get rid of the problem???

Should I just give up this crazy addiction?

[SeahorseWhisperer_]

No, don't give up. But, in this case, patience is your friend.

So, now you have a few corals, a shrimp and no fish?

Ich is a cyclic parasite, meaning it can stay in the tank for a long time due to it's spore stage. But, it is also opportunistic so we can find ways to work with it. But, the fish in the tank must have strong immune systems, be able to fight it off.

I think you should concentrate on getting the tank healthy by using your cleaner shrimp as an indicator. He cannot get ich and he will eat the parasite off the fish, when you get them down the road.

The biggest thing about marine tanks, IMHO, is stability. If you change any parameter (in this case your changed salinity by adding RO water without the salt) dramatically, it can cause major changes in many other parameters. I think you might have caused a significant change in your biological filter when that happened.

Temp changes also can cause instability.

About the red slime, it is a pain but also part of the cure right now. Let it grow a bit, for a few days and suck up all the nutrients that feed algae. When you have a day to to a water change (just 10% a week for now, unless you have a nitrate spike), suck it out with a siphon to remove it.

Feed your shrimp daily, but only what he will consume in a few minutes. His wastes are what is feeding the red slime.

Do not raise the temp. Keep it stable at 78ish if you can.

[tshowacre]

thank you for the help, I will take the advice. Little patience, so hope this new hobby will help in that area. Shrimp and anoneme(sp?) are doing great right now, in fact the anoneme is huge, I feed it weekly small amount of mysis shrimp. Corals are looking great also, i will keep sucking the red slime out, weekly.

[SeahorseWhisperer_]

Do you have a sump? You may consider adding some macroalgae to that area to consume the nutrients that are feeding the red slime (cyanobacteria).

Does your set up have a skimmer?

[tshowacre]

i do not have a skimmer, only the pump that came with tank and I added a power head Aqua Clear to add movement for the corals. Will it add problems now to add one? I was told by LFS to not add any chemicals until last resort, probably because I am new to this. What is macroalgae?

I have a cleaner shrimp in it and snails and crabs. Thanks for the reply.

[SeahorseWhisperer_]

Macroalgae are species of desirable algae that some of us grow in our sumps. It is hard to grow it in the main display though. It can be done, it requires pruning quite frequently.

A skimmer can remove some of the nutrients that are feeding the red slime algae. There are models that hang on the back of the tank, I believe. Look for HOB skimmer.

You can also get a HOB (hang on back) refugium, a place where you can grow macroalgae.

Maybe some of the guys will chime in here? Some one have a HOB skimmer or Refugium?

[tshowacre]

I will check around next weekend for one. Thank you