Mistakes made, I could use a some advice...

[Gimpster]

I hope some one out there can offer some advice.

So in an effort to help the rest for the new and potential Reef keepers out there from making a similar mistake I will tell you about mine. I made an assumption, a wrong assumption and it is having a negative affect on the health of my reef inhabitants. I assumed that when a problem happened it would happen like a cycle with an Ammonia, Nitrate and then Nitrite spike. This led me after many months of good water quality to look on the little color chip Ammonia tester as an indicator of the start of a problem. I started changing water less and less, testing less and less. Hey every thing looked good, it must me good right? Wrong, I just was not noticing the change as it occurred slowly.

When I tested the water on Wednesday, in preparation for the tank move, I discovered that while most the parameters where good, the nitrates where at greater then 100mg/L. HOLY CRAP! I started changing water, and now 2 days later I have changed 7 to 8 gallons of water in my 20g Long tank. I also fixed my modified skilter so it is starting to skim again. Now two days later my nitrates are down to about 40mg/L, which is an improvement but I still have a long way to go. I have a Refugium arriving today and tomorrow the tank gets moved to a new stand where I can use my better skimmer.

Last night I noticed the Percula Clown has Fin Erosion on his upper front fin (Dorsal) which has already progressed through at least 1/3 of the fin. Every thing else in the tank looks to be doing well and I can only pray they stay that way. So please use my mistakes as a lesson for the rest of you, in this hobby do not make assumptions, test often, do not keep a high bio load, use more LR then you think you need, change water regularly and feed only as much as your inhabitants will eat.

If anyone has any advice on the how to best approach the nitrate problem and treat the oldest inhabitant in my reef I would greatly appreciate the advice.

Live and learn, but don’t experiment on your prized piece of nature.

 

[reedman]

Sounds like you are doing the best thing in water changes and monitoring the tank parameters. Just keep doing the water changes and keep the inputs low (flake food is especially bad for putting nitrates and phosphates into the tank).

 

[mojoreef]

Good post Gimpster. One thing that you can count on if a reef tank is that nothing is static, its always changing and evolving. Never assume


Mike

 

[Gimpster]

Its good to know I am taking the right steps to correct the issue. I do primarily feed flake with just the Clown and a Scissor Tail Goby, the last few times I have fed mysis shrimp they would not touch it. I was supprised that with the nitrate as high as they were, I never got and algae outbreak. And just the other night I have a breeding event in the tank with all the little red and white brittles stars. Man every thing seemed to be perfect.

When I get it all moved, get the better skimmer up and running, get the sand bet cleaned of a bit, I will take some pics. Is there anything else I can do for the clown, he has been in the tank since I aquired it, and is at least 2 yeas old? Will the fin regenerate?

 

[reedman]

The only thing I could think to do is quarantine him. This would give him a stable safe environment, but if you don't have a QT setup, I'd just get the main tank back up to par with water changes and try to keep things stable.

 

[Gimpster]

I still have the old 10g the reef use to be in and when I move the 20 this weekend I will have the skilter free, some spare power heads and a few bits of PCV pipe for him to hide in.

What would be involved in setting up a quarantine tank and how should I set it up?

 

[Gimpster]

Update:

I thought you would all like an update on my situation. The Aquarium was sucessfull moved to its new location. In the process the more water was changed, and treatment for the Clowns Fin Erosion has begun. The LFS recomended PimaFix, which can be used in the reef, which is good as I do not have enough spare water to set up the quartine tank right now.

I also throughly rinsed out the 20g tank and the sand bed and let me tell you the sand was nasty. I am now feeding only what the fish eat, no more feeding extra for the cleanup crew. The EcoSystem 40 is up and running and will be ready for marco in 2 weeks, according to their instructions. My Nitrates which wew up over 100mg/L are now down in the 20mg/L to 30mg/L. Things are looking up. Everything else is good. He is looking forward to better days.