came to my tank to find my 6 month old cleaner shrimp dead and my green BTA lying on the sand floor. i fed the anenome yesterday and both animal looked great. can i save the BTA? its tentacles still have color but it wont attach to any rock. what am i doing wrong? my nitrates are high but my cleaner has been through an entire tank apocolypse and seen it out. please help me, these continous problems are really beginning to ruin the hobby for me.
what am i doing wrong?
- Thread starter mahimahi
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Well the best thing to do, is a water change. A nice size one too. If you have nitrates it will remove some and if there are contaminants it will decrease the amount in the tank. So it could help your BTA.
(I dont know how long you have been in the hobby, im just trying to cover the bases, so dont feel like Im treating you like a noob.
sound like you have had a tank for a while though)
But to understand exactly what is going on you NEED to give more info.
1) do you know your parameters/what are they (salinity is a big isue in nanos, along with nitrates)
2)What kind of water do you use? tap/RODI/RO
3)what do you dose?
4) did you use anything new for filtration or add anything new to the tank recently?
I hope to help you figure it out! I know it can be frustrating. :/
(I dont know how long you have been in the hobby, im just trying to cover the bases, so dont feel like Im treating you like a noob.
sound like you have had a tank for a while though)But to understand exactly what is going on you NEED to give more info.
1) do you know your parameters/what are they (salinity is a big isue in nanos, along with nitrates)
2)What kind of water do you use? tap/RODI/RO
3)what do you dose?
4) did you use anything new for filtration or add anything new to the tank recently?
I hope to help you figure it out! I know it can be frustrating. :/
Ammonia: 0
Phosphates:?(I assume low because I have phos guard)
Nitrites:0
Nitrates:80 I know there high, water changes. I'm working on it
Ph:8.0
Salinity:1.026
I use RO water for the evaporation and dose the tank with garlic, A&B formula, and phyto food. The only different thing I've done is it was getting over 82 degrees in my tank so I turned down the heater and turned up the fan.
Phosphates:?(I assume low because I have phos guard)
Nitrites:0
Nitrates:80 I know there high, water changes. I'm working on it
Ph:8.0
Salinity:1.026
I use RO water for the evaporation and dose the tank with garlic, A&B formula, and phyto food. The only different thing I've done is it was getting over 82 degrees in my tank so I turned down the heater and turned up the fan.
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Unless you need that heater running in the summer take it offline. I take mine completely out of the tank and don't add it untill winter.
Are you sure they are dead? Shrimp molt. A pic of the anemone would help. It might just be scrunching up to defecate.
Don't panic until you're certain there's an issue.
Nitrate of 80 - what are you using to test with? How old is the tank? That's rather high... but I want to be sure you're using a reliable test. I've seen creatures tolerate it that high, but I would second guess that result depending on the kit used.
Jenn
Don't panic until you're certain there's an issue.
Nitrate of 80 - what are you using to test with? How old is the tank? That's rather high... but I want to be sure you're using a reliable test. I've seen creatures tolerate it that high, but I would second guess that result depending on the kit used.
Jenn
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yeah... IME, test strips are pretty worthless. Go out and get a quality test kit (salifert, seachem, elos) and see what you get then.
What kind of filtration do you have on your system?
What kind of filtration do you have on your system?
skriz
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From what I can piece together from above, filled in with some assumptions, it sounds like you feed entirely too much (garlic, phyto, other..), have practically no filtration and do not perform timely water changes.
What I would do:
Discontinue all garlic & phyto. You're only contaminating your water.
Do some large water changes. When things stabalize, do regular weekly water changes.
Buy test kits. Any brand will be better than what you're currently using.
With nitrates of 80, I wouldn't expect things to be great. Be prepared for some losses, but take solace in knowing you'll be on the right track shortly.
What I would do:
Discontinue all garlic & phyto. You're only contaminating your water.
Do some large water changes. When things stabalize, do regular weekly water changes.
Buy test kits. Any brand will be better than what you're currently using.
With nitrates of 80, I wouldn't expect things to be great. Be prepared for some losses, but take solace in knowing you'll be on the right track shortly.
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