What on earth is going on???

OK, so I woke up this morning to a dead emerald crab! He was my favorite little critter in the tank too! I also noticed that my xenia is "floppy" for lack of a better word. It's TRYING to pulse, like one polyp at a time will pulse once or twice and then flop over. This thing came in on the LR, although I did find where the rock it was attached too was epoxied to the LR and got it off and moved it. I always wondered why the part of the rock it was attached too seemed to be a different texture. This thing survived the ammonia cycle! It is being hosted by the sexy shrimp, could he be eating it?

I am pretty sure I have a stray current and since no one local sells grounding probes, I'm going to have to order one on-line. My fingers are pretty tingly after I tested the water.

I have a 25G reef tank, the (current) inhabitants are:
Royal Gramma
Sexy Shrimp
Zoas (came in on the LR)
Xenia (came in on the LR)
1 Astrea Snail
5 Hermit Crabs
25 lbs of LR
30 lbs of LS

My Water Parameters Are:
Temp: 79
SG: 1.024
PH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Phosphate: 0
Calcium: 380
Nitrates: 5
dKH: 9

I don't have a MAG test, the LFS doesn't carry them so I'm going to have to order that on-line as well.

 

how long has the tank been up?

 

About 7 weeks. I know, we added too much too soon. I was taking my water to the LFS to be tested weekly and when they told me I was ready for XYZ, we bought XYZ. I guess it's their job to SELL the critters!

 

also if you had some critters die, remove them and start doing water changes. I`m sure your ammonia isnt at zero anymore with dead critters, even so start with a water change ASAP. Also why did you remove the coral from where it was epoxied?

 

if your hand is tingling after you stick it in thats not a good sign, order a grounding probe, pay for expedited shipping, and get that sucker in there, also Tangster made a post on how to make one yourself if your feeling brave

 

Those are the water parameters from about thirty minutes after I removed the crab (and finished my sob fest). Should I wait a bit and check it again, or just do the water change anyway?

I moved teh Xenia because I wanted to move it where it would get more light and had more room to grow. It did fine for almost a week after I moved it, the floppiness (what a word) started yesterday.

 

I would do a 3-5 gallon change to be on the safe side. Find the source of your stray current and get that piece of euipment out of there as well ASAP

 

Looking for one right NOW!!!

I guess it's a good thing I'm naturally paranoid, because I found this place and learned about things like Protein Skimmers and Grounding Probes (LFS carries neither, but will special order them if you insist).

 

A grounding probe would be a good idea but sounds like you have a faulty piece of equipment that needs to be found and removed

 

It should be added, that I have mild neuropathy and my hands tingle a lot. I just noticed my feet tingling too so the tingling could have nothing to do with the tank...LOL


Anyway, would a faulty piece of equipment zap me?

Hubby is on the way with a meter to test with. He says he knows what he's doing and since my FIL is an electrician he just might. I also called another LFS (an hour away) to see if they have any probes. Their "saltwater expert" is supposed to call me when he comes in at noon. The girl who answered the phone didn't know what a ground probe was, which means their "expert" probably is from the school of thought that a GP is a bad idea, same at the LFS that's less than a mile away. Looks like I'm going to end up paying $30 to ship a $20 probe.

Another question, how will I *KNOW* that my xenia is gone? Right now one of them is curled up for the first time in two days and the other is just flopping in the current.