Tank cursed!?

So I gave my brother my old 12gal nano so he could get started with reef keeping. Over last 6 mos he has lost 1 clown, 1 chromi, 1 goby, 1 camel shrimp, 1 anenome, he is even losing snails and hermit crabs. He checks his parameters constantly and everything is always perfect. He does regular water changes.

When I was still caring for the tank as a newbie, some LFS guy sold me a purple nudibranch and it died thus releasing toxins. Could this still be causing problems after 8 mos? Does anyone have any idea what my problem could be?

 

I've had this problem before in my tank. it seemed like it didnt matter what i did. whatever i put in there died in about 5 days. Come to find out, my test kits were bad. my PH was about 6.0 when the test kit was reading 8.2....i cant say for sure that this is the problem but i dont think it would be the nudibrach that you lost. I would look at acclimation and test the peramiters with a different kit to make for sure things are right.

 

A 6 month old tank should not have had an anemone in it to begin with- no surprise about it dying. There is definitely something wrong with the param's if clowns and gobies are dying however. They're typically quite hardy. Bring a water sample to your LFS and get them to check it for you- you might find out, as BillyD said, that your test kits are showing false values.

 

It could be many things, small reefs are harder to keep than large ones. He may test teh parameters but after a couple of days they could get bad from over feeding, not enough lr, too many animals etc.

 

I agree with Phayes. 6 months is still premature to have an anemone.
Just chill out on throwing critters in the tank and leave it empty for a little while. Keep doing water changes. The Dying anemone probably released toxins into the tank. Do regular water changes and test the params to make sure all is going well. Make sure you take it slooooow. After a few weeks, introduce a couple of shrimp or crabs into the tank. Wait again for a few more weeks (some would also say wait a month or two, or even longer) Then introduce just one fish. Again, wait.
Its a very slow process, but its so rewarding when you succeed.
I have had my 12 gal running for about 11 months now, and only recently introduced my Damsels into it. I started out with 3 hermit crabs (very tiny tiny ones) and then went to a Chocolate chip star fish (the tank had been running for nine months before adding the starfish) Then because i had a nasty outbreak of glass anemone, i got 3 peppermint shrimp. Then came my damsel fish just a month ago.
That's a lot for a 12 gal, but i am upgrading to a 20gal. Becareful with the number of critters you put into the tank aswell, the more critters, the more stress, and the more amonia, etc.
Good luck!

 

The tank is actually 18 mos old, i gave it to him after having it for a year, and I had my anemone in it for a month before giving it to him. (that anenome now lives in my 54 gal). I never had any problems before, and he did take it to 2 or 3 LFS to look at the water. Is it possible the tank has parasites or something? Is there anything I could do to save my LR if that's the case?

 

I know this is an old post, and nobody cares most likely , but it turns out the digital thermometer was bad. It was reading 78F when it was really running at a whopping 84F. Turns out my brother put up the heater because it was reading 74F (When it was really around 80F).

I use mercury thermometers now ...

 

glad you figured it out. ....

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Thanks for updating us---it's good to know what the problem was.

 

Im hurt......how can you say that.

Im glad that you found the problem. luna