scooter blenny

Sorry for your loss. The six line is one of my favorite fish!

 

So Let's try and figure out WHY you are loosing fish before you add more.
Could you please answer the below questions

Brief description of the problem.
A picture(s) will also help.
PARAMETERS (important)
Temperature:
PH:
Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
Salinity:
dKH/KH/Alkalinity:
Magnesium:
Calcium:
Phosphate:

Reef, fish only or, freshwater?

Current inhabitants? What and how many?

How long has your tank been set-up?

Substrate.
Type?
Depth?

Live rock?
How much?
Did you recently add some?

Filtration.
Type?
Protein skimmer?
Maintenance schedule for filtration?
Drilled tank/hang on back overflow?
Sump/refugium. What's in it and how much?
Macro? What kind?

Lighting.
Lighting type?
Age of bulbs?

Feeding
What?
How much?
How often?

Water change schedule.
How much?
How often?
What salt brand?

Additives/supplements used?

Do you have a ground probe?
What kind of flow does your tank have?

Any additional info you would like to share.... Including anything different that you have done/not done.

 

Temperature:76-79
PH:7.8
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:0
Salinity:1.021
dKH/KH/Alkalinity:1.9-2.1
Magnesium:
Calcium:
Phosphate:
[I put liquid calcium, iodine, strontium and molybdenum my KENT Marine once in a while (one cap of each)

Reef, fish only or, freshwater?
Fish only

Current inhabitants? What and how many?
2 scooter dragonnettes

How long has your tank been set-up?
6 months

Substrate.
1.5 to 2 inch live sand


Live rock- 30lbs

Did you recently add some?
No

Filtration.-xl hangon carbon filter (type that comes with a 55 gallon tank) 20gallon sump/refugium

Protein skimmer-AquaC Urchin

Maintenance schedule for filtration-water change 30 to 50% every two weeks
cleaning the refugium pump every 3 months, cleaning the protein skimmer every 2 days

hang on back overflow

Sump/refugium. What's in it and how much-10lbs live sand

Macro?-caulerpa, had some spaghetti macro but i slowly lost it (water changes, etc)bc. it did not multiply fast enough

Lighting.
I had a white basic Coral Life, and a Blue Coral Life.
2 days ago I put a large 2x48" T8 room lights from Home Depot, I have to buy the Coral Life some time, but I only have fish now.
Lighting type-T8, 200 lumines
Age of bulbs-new
Tank lights run 12hrs a day
In refugium I have a halogen bulb (runs 24 hours)

Feeding
blood worms
How much-1 thawed pellet
How often-2 a day
[i am waiting for copepods to get here on wednesday]

Water change schedule.
How much-30 to 50%
How often-every 2 weeks.
What salt brand- buy water from LFS

Additives/supplements used?
[I put liquid calcium, iodine, strontium and molybdenum my KENT Marine once in a while (one cap of each)
Also I add Stability, a biofilter boost, with every water change.

Do you have a ground probe-no
What kind of flow does your tank have-medium-low (2 power heads, cant remember the brand, they cost about $27-$34.

Thanks for your concern.

the first loss was due to ick, I found it too late. I tried hyposalinity but the puffer was already advanced. the clown just didn't take well the low salt levels. The grouper lived for a few days but did not want to eat. The bird wrasse got well, I increased the water salinity to 1.000 and after a few days, I increased it to 1.021, he died after the second change (i believed that i hurried to aclimatize him)

the six line wrasse, after talking to LFS i concluded:
1. he was stressed (he seemed fine the first night though. he even came out of the cave)
2. When i aclimatized him, i left him in the bag for about 20-30 minutes, to match the water temperature. then i introduced him to the tank. MISTAKE, did not add little by little tank water to the bag. (but they are hardy enough to live through that. THE WRASSE IS A BIT OF A DILEMA)

Sorry my message is so long, thank you once again, and any sugestions are more than welcome.

thanks

 

A 50% water change is huge. I would do more like 10-15%.

 

This should be a standard form on 3reef.

 

It is in the ASAP forum as a Sticky Thanks to Missionsix66

J

 

I agree with Missionsix66 I would never add anything to your tank without the ability to measure it. Meaning Don't add iodine without knowing if your Iodine Levels are low.

Also I would suspect you are also over feeding. I understand the Scooters are fussy eaters but be careful you are not creating a lot of waste.

I would also cut down on the amount of water you are changing during water changes. I would go with 10% every 2 weeks. so for a 55G I'd change 5.5G. Large water changes should only be performed in emergencies. There are biological systems that are being destroyed when you do huge water changes.

J

 

Thank you for the notes.

I add iodine only if i don't change the water for a longer time. only done it like 2 times. I figured the salt water has enough already.

I will keep the water changes lower. I was taking into consideration the 20 gallon refugium so on a 75 gallon i would change 20 gallons, so i would do more like 23% change. the last water change was around 30% because i wanted to rid of some of the water that had ick [I DID LEAVE THE TANK WITHOUT LIVESTOCK FOR ALMOST 3 WEEKS, so the ick died off]

thank you once again, and any further suggestions are greatly appreciated