greenhorn Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Hello People, I haven't been on here in awhile as I have been letting my little 12gal (first saltwater) cycle for about 3 months. I just put in a new Maxi Jet 900 and have about a 2" sand bed with some new hair algae growing. I also just put in a bag of PhosGuard for the algae prob. I keep my tank right around 1.026 salinity and have had 2 cerith's and 1 turbo between the 1st and 2nd month I had it up. The turbo died. I have had it a bit warm I guess at around 80-82 constantly. My question is. I just bought some new prospects for my CUC to try and get this hair algae taken care of. I cut the lights to once every 3 days and added the SeaChem (Phosguard) @ 100mg f or a 12gal .. a bit much, but not that far off I thought. Anyway, the cerith's that seem to be fine and in the tank now going on 2+ months show no ill affects. However, the new Mexican turbo, conch? and astrea snail even upon drip acclimating them seem very bad off. They mostly just lay there and sometimes it's on there side and all the way out of there shells. I don't know if it was the acclimation which I did speed up (only 15-25 min) because I took over 40 min. to get the home from LFS in their bags. How can I help out my CUC as they look rough? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoneroller Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Not sure what you can do now, maybe lower the salinity as its a bit high. Hope they snap out of it! One lesson I've learned is that after making changes, let the tank return to a balanced state (as much as that's possible) before adding new inhabitants. That may mean days to weeks. What are you readings for all of your parameters? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenhorn Posted October 8, 2009 Author Share Posted October 8, 2009 SToneRoLLeR, I am in one of those unfortunate low budge tanks that canyot operate under the parameters of normal aquari'i. I know that I have an algae problem and my ph pen and tds meter are in the shop. My cerith's are doing great... almost to the point that they appear to smoke crack behind a large bolder when the lights are off (Not sure yet). Anaway, just thought I'd check as I hate to see any living thing die. However, these new batch of CUC from River City appear to be the bottom of the barrel. The first guys I put in there took off and went straight for my live rock munching and munching. I don't think they've stopped munching except to say the last rights to the big fat (Don Pablo) Mexican that ate himself to death. Now these new cats with the same scenario, I thought, appear to be rock bottom. I think they are pussified from the hermit's that River City had grabbin proverbial Shellass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoneroller Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 LOL, take a sample of water to River City or elsewhere and ask them to run all the tests for free! Do you have any hermits in there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenhorn Posted October 8, 2009 Author Share Posted October 8, 2009 Stoneroller, You know I meant to do that very thing when I was in River City the other day and forgot. Good idea and I will try that first chance I get. I just can't understand why the first crew did so great and the second set look like rubbish. I mean same setup and same params as far as I know... guess the proof is in the pudding. I will do as you recommend. Thanks! GreenHorn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Daniel Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Without knowing your parameters, any number of things could be off... namely NH3 and NO3-. Also, inverts are adversely susceptible to pH swings, copper (and its ions), and other treatments designed to kill parasites. If you haven't been doing water changes, you should do one. If a snail looks to be dying, it may be better to pull it out so that it doesn't further foul the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 What are your parameters? seems like ammonia would be be elevated. A good think to remember is with small take the change is more drastic, so a small change is huge in a 10g-29g tank. the salinity is rather high aswell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenhorn Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 Hey thanks to everyone that's replied.. A couple other things as I haven't been able to make it down to RCA again yet. I have been usually topping off my tank with about a gallon of RO each week or so. I don't use anything for parasites or any supplements. I just let the snails in my tank eat whatever is in there. I did have a huge population of Amphipods going but, they all died around the same time that my turbo did. That was maybe a bad couple weeks for taking care of the tank about 3-4 weeks ago. My new Turbo is still alive.. don't see my conch or astrea much, but the Turbo just keeps doing this hide and seek thing. He comes out his shell and then goes back in .. comes out/in out/in. He's driving me crazy. My two lil cerith's are eating everything they can and never sleep and he just plays peedy pie!!! ARGHHHH! Stupid Snail! I think I need to annex a wing in the asylum for these new guys as they seem scared of anything! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Do you have any test kits? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Are you saying you only top off once a week, or you go through that much in a week? If it is only once a week you are creating huge swings in your salinity. If you don't have an auto top-off you should at least be doing it twice a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenhorn Posted October 12, 2009 Author Share Posted October 12, 2009 Yeah .. I have no test kits. I probably dd have some salinity swings in my tank but I have a hydometer ( I know, I know ) and it always is between 1.024 and 1.026 when I do check. I thought that because my little cerith's look so great, always eating and moving constantly, that everything was fine. Now I know that it's probably not. Just a status update on the new members that looked rough when I put them in from RCA after adding the new Maxi-Jet and stuff. Mexican Turbo (just like the last Mexican Turbo), but a lot faster died within 24hrs of being in the tank. Kept going in and out of shell and crinkling his foot sometimes. Hardly moved at all. Astrea seemed a little better at first, but pronounced dead shortly after the turbo. Conch though (unknown species) is doing great!??? I am offering up this after still not being able to get by RCA to test water (no car) and also because I just think that is odd. Ceriths & Conch great. Turbo and Astrea dead almost instantly. Not so funny how life works on the far side. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- First we sow the seed. Then we grow the seed. Then we eat the seed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEN H Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 I think that you probably need to invest in some testing kits. They really aren't that expensive, and that would save you from having to get the LFS testing and guessing what could/could not be wrong. We don't test our water as often as we should, but we also don't have fish/inverts/shrimp dying quickly. My guess would be salinity could be off and ammonia could be high. Are you doing water changes vs. just topping the tank off? Topping off doesn't dilute any of the ammonia issues you might have after the algae bloom. Just a thought..... We have never had snails die right after being put in a tank....they are usually pretty tough guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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