Invert Trouble

Hey everyone,

I have been having some trouble keeping my inverts alive for the past few weeks. Lately, a lot of my larger snails and my conch have died, as well as some of my hermits.

My tank readings are as follows:
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
Calcium: 450ppm
Alk: 3.66 meq/L
Phosphate: 0ppm
pH: 8.2
Salinity: 1.024

My Xenia and Anthellia have been doing just fine and all of my fish (including my coral banded shrimp) are doing great! I have been feeding 2 or 3 times per week, so I don't think its an issue of overfeeding or anything.

I just don't know what is going on...please let me know if you have had this problem before and/or know what is going on with my inverts.

Thanks,
Mike

 

Could you maybe have some nocturnal hunter that is preying on your snails and hermits? Maybe one of your fish is harassing them?

Are you dosing Iodine? If so, have you checked your Iodine levels? Though I kind of doubt this is an issue because the Coral Banded is doing so well.



I am far from an expert. Just throwing out some questions that I had.

 

Does the tank have a ground probe in it?

 

Does low magnesium effect inverts like this? How's your coraline growth?

 

To answer some questions:

I dose Iodine according to the instructions on the bottle, but haven't had any problems with it, so haven't been checking the levels.

My Coraline is just starting to do much better since I got my Calcium levels in check.

Nothing is preying on the inverts, they are just slowly dying.

I don't have a ground probe... Do I need one? What does it do?

 

Test the iodine level-it's VERY poisonous at higher levels.
Debbie

 

I will definately check it then, but I really don't think that is the problem...

I will let you know tomorrow

 

If you have even the slightest amount of stray voltage in the tank, it can and will kill your inverts. You can either test for stray voltage using a particular meter or just play it safe and buy the $20 probe.

 

Very good question--Karma to you Gresham. I, too, am just a beginner and a lot of the chemistry stuff is going way over my head but the one thing that has finally dawned on me is that if your mg is low--everything else will be off. The level of mg is the key that makes it easier to keep everything else in line. I don't want to over emphasize it because it is just one element--but it affects the whole system.

Anne

 

It would also do good to check magnesium and iron as well. Just a thought.

Anne