Reef nutrition

55+ Gallon Acrylic Tank in Oakland Chinatown

Kensington Reefer said:
The storm clownfish is most likely a goner
But I’m not convinced there’s enough flow in there (I could be wrong, it’s happened before)
Is there a skimmer in the system?
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Yes I forgot to mention that there's a skimmer. I use a filter sock and there is a durso style plumbing, which I thought may also help with oxygenation.
 
She's on the struggle bus, but still alive somehow. I moved her to a small 10 gal tank I have with water from my main tank. My cleaner shrimp was being aggressive as she laid on the ground and I think she was getting more stressed.

Her name btw is Megan as in Megan Thee Stallion.

Will share any news tomorrow. I'm also thinking it's a swim bladder issue. Gonna try and look up any thing I can do but welcome recommendations from the group
 
Thanks everyone for your help.

Unfortunately the storm clown, who I named Megan Thee Stallion, passed away this morning. I read online that you can preserve your fish in resin, so I might try that to honor her. Since I was a kid, I've always been sentimental about losing a pet or seeing an animal suffer. Still stings.

So far the rest of my fish don't appear to be sick at all. I am a bit worried but I'll keep an eye on them but now at least I have some medicine. I picked up metroplex and focus from Kenny yesterday. Also consulted humblefish for dosing recommendations. Sadly I think I was just too late.

Again, my sincere gratitude for your thought partnership. Definitely learning along this reef keeping journey and am appreciate having this community.
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Dang bro. Sorry for your loss. Sounds like you take things hard. If that’s the case. This hobby isn’t for you. This is one of the hardest hobbies in the world. Lots of death. Not to be negative. I would buy all your stuff from Kenny if you have thin skin to death. Then at least you’ll have a chance in this hobby. I also feel extremely bad when I loose fish. Sucks big time. I use to ask old school reefers where do they get their fish from. They all answer. From other reefers.
 
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Thanks folks
phc567 said:
Dang bro. Sorry for your loss. Sounds like you take things hard. If that’s the case. This hobby isn’t for you. This is one of the hardest hobbies in the world. Lots of death. Not to be negative. I would buy all your stuff from Kenny if you have thin skin to death. Then at least you’ll have a chance in this hobby. I also feel extremely bad when I loose fish. Sucks big time. I use to ask old school reefers where do they get their fish from. They all answer. From other reefers.
Click to expand...

I have bought all my fish from Kenny.
 
Hi Everyone,

Since losing my storm clown in January, I paused on adding any new fish to my tank for a while. I wanted to make sure none of the fish were in my tank were sick and I wanted to focus on proper maintenance. I have done regular water changes (mostly salt water from HTA, but 1/month mix RO on my own in 5 gallon jug and aerate for 24 hours), use an ammonia alert and add phyto feast once a week.

About a month and a half ago, I transitioned some mollies to salt water in a quarantine tank. They did well for about a month in the quarantine tank, where I treated them with with metroplex and ich medicine, preventatively. However, after introducing them to my main tank, one died and two went missing and presumably died within about week. I initially saved one in the overflow, but then it went missing again, so I suspect the two could have all gone down my durso pipe, although I didn't find any bodies in my sock. I felt bad about losing three of them but encouraged that at least one survived. This one though, who we named Regina George, was very aggressive.

About two weeks ago I decided to add a new Oceallaris Clown I got from HTA. After 2-3 days, the clown went missing and then I saw it being eaten by my cleaner shrimp. Within a week after that, my other Oceallaris Clown, which I have had since November of last year, went missing. It's behavior changed somewhat in the days before. It was hanging out in parts of the tank it doesn't normally. Then the mandarin goby I've had since January also had some odd behavior - it was more stagnant at the bottom of the tank, rather than moving around the tank like it does normally. Yesterday, I found the goby being eaten by my cleaner shrimp.

Now all I have in my tank is a molly, the cleaner shrimp, invertebrates (tuxedo urchin, snails, asterina, brittle stars) and my corals. I am super bummed and am anxious to add any more fish. I am worried there's something fundamentally wrong, but I also feel sad by the thought that I did something or didn't do something that was the cause of their death. Here are some things I am considering as contributing factors or causes, although I am embarrassed to admit I suspect number one the most:
  1. I thawed spirulina brine shrimp and mixed it with mysis feast (refrigerated bottle), which I used over three days, but likely grew bacteria and infected my fish (may have been similar cause of death for my storm)
    • I have done this on occasion and did so again recently because I am going away for a 1.5 weeks next month and wanted to see if I could store some pre-made food for a neighbor since my clowns don't do a great job with eating pellets from an automatic feeder. I smelled the mixture each time to make sure it wasn't too pungent, but have since read online that isn't a good practice for feeing. Also just noticed bottled mysis feast "best by" date was January 2024.
  2. My salinity is too low overall (see Hydrometer reading of 31 PPT/1.023 and meter reading of 28.2 PPT in pic)
    • I notice that I lose quite a bit of salt, which collects below the downward pipe of my tank around the entrance to my sump. I don't have an automatic top off, but do add some britta water during the week when I notice the water level get low.
  3. My molly's aggressive behavior stressed the other fish. It would consistently attack at least one molly and it would chase others during eating time. It also chased the new clown I got.
  4. Temperature fluctuation, especially a few nights ago, when it got low (see variation in reading of 78.4F in tank and 74.4 F from meter)
  5. Green algae growth in tank and left over food at bottom. (I have scraped off some algae from the top areas of the tank and need to get in there at the bottom with a new syphon I got to vaccuum up particulate on the sand.)
  6. I didn't acclimate the clown and mollies properly. I added cup or so of water every 20 minutes for an hour plus, but I didn't use the drip method. I made sure to check temp and PH levels (meter and strips).
  7. Some other disease is prevalent in my tank, although the rest of the life in the tank don't seem to be sick per say
  8. There's a lack of oxygen, although I do have an overflow at the top, sump, protein skimmer, and a return pipe creating ripples at surface.
  9. My mind has come up with a million more "what ifs" but you get the idea...
I know having a saltwater tank is a learning process, but I don't like the idea of it coming at the expense of the animal life.

If anyone is willing to drop by my place in Oakland Chinatown sometime to check out my tank, I'd really love to get tips from someone with more experience. For now, here's a video of my set up.

photos.app.goo.gl

New video by Mohan Kanungo

photos.app.goo.gl photos.app.goo.gl

I'd like to borrow the club's equipment soon too if someone is willing to help me learn how to do the readings properly in person.
 

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