Biocube 32G- 3 months in-fish dying

MyPony8U · Feb 17, 2020

My tank is about 3 months old. Having trouble with new fish.
Currently have:
2 clowns
3 trochus
3 turbos
emerald crab
arrow crab
2 hermit crabs
sand sifter star

I have 2 acans and 1 Hammer coral- All are doing great.

I am having trouble keeping new fish. My levels are all perfect. I do bi-weekly water changes about 10%.
So far I've had a six line wrasse die after about 2 weeks. Algae blenny die after about 4 days. Long nose hawk fish lasted about a day but I witnessed my emerald crab nip him 30 min after I put him in the tank. My purple pseudo last about a month but he died last week.

Do I continue to let this tank cycle for another 4-6 weeks or am I missing another component?
Any tips or tricks please.

SteveEreef · Feb 17, 2020

How are you acclimating the new fish? What is killing them? Ich , velvet, brook? Bacterial infection? Do you quarantine the new fish before putting g them in your display tank?

MyPony8U · Feb 17, 2020

I've been floating the bags and slowly adding my tank water to the bang. Over about an hour and a half time. I dont have a QT tank. This is my first go at this.

Copingwithpods · Feb 17, 2020

What are you parameters

Also how do the fish act? Notice anything weird? Fuzzy skin, scratching on rocks or sand? Hyperventilating?

MyPony8U · Feb 18, 2020

Ammonia- 0
Nitrate-0
Nitrite -0
Ph - 8.2
Temp- 77.8
Salintiy- 1.025

Fish seem to be acting fine. The long nose perched on a rock but my emerald crab nipped him. I assume the stress of a new tank plus this crab might have been the cause. No other fish were rubbing in rocks or breathing heavy. I am starting to wonder if the crab has been taking the fish out at night. Some have been hiding in a cave. I do have bristle worms but I find it highly unlikely to be the cause of some deaths. My clowns are. Very happy eating and playful. My corals are all growing very nicely and eating when spot fed. Do you think I should let it cycle for longer?

AC1211 · Feb 18, 2020

MyPony8U said:
My tank is about 3 months old. Having trouble with new fish.
Currently have:
2 clowns
3 trochus
3 turbos
emerald crab
arrow crab
2 hermit crabs
sand sifter star

I have 2 acans and 1 Hammer coral- All are doing great.

I am having trouble keeping new fish. My levels are all perfect. I do bi-weekly water changes about 10%.
So far I've had a six line wrasse die after about 2 weeks. Algae blenny die after about 4 days. Long nose hawk fish lasted about a day but I witnessed my emerald crab nip him 30 min after I put him in the tank. My purple pseudo last about a month but he died last week.

Do I continue to let this tank cycle for another 4-6 weeks or am I missing another component?
Any tips or tricks please.

First step why do you have a sand sifting starfish in a 30g it can be done but do you realize that your tank is too young to maintain one and it will starve within a couple months unless you overfeed and kill everything else.
Second step: If you know your emerald crabs are turning on fish then you have to pull them out.
Third step: Find a very good LFS or get a quarantine this is either option is fine.

MyPony8U · Feb 18, 2020

Yesterday was the first time I noticed the emerald attack something. I did just change fish stores to a more reputable place. A little far from me but it's ok.

brandon429 · Feb 18, 2020

All the fish will always die until you implement fallow and quarantine. Not a cycle or bacteria issue here. You’ll have to pull all current fish, re fallow, treat those fish. If not, all future fish will die, it’s that required unfortunately

Copingwithpods · Feb 18, 2020

brandon429 said:
All the fish will always die until you implement fallow and quarantine. Not a cycle or bacteria issue here. You’ll have to pull all current fish, re fallow, treat those fish. If not, all future fish will die, it’s that required unfortunately

If it's not a bacterial issue why the fallow and quarantine I wonder? I don't think they need to go that far yet.

In fact I may have figured out your problem and it's probably what you expect. All 3 fish that have died are rock sleepers and fairly peaceful ones at that. Although emerald crabs are 99 percent peaceful they have been known to pick off slow fish if they can.

My best guess is the perfect storm, tank too young with not enough fauna for the emerald has him looking elsewhere for food, new stressed out peaceful fish are just easy pickings. All crabs are aportunistic feeders (even the peaceful ones) and will not pass up an easy meal if no other food is available. This could also be why some people report emeralds eating zoas. They are odd crabs, they will only eat algae when it's first growing in (very short hairs) as soon as it gets to a certain Lenght they won't touch even if hungry, If they did no one would worry about hair algae ever again. A tank could be teaming with flowing algae hairs and the crabs just sees an empty wasteland with no food and starve.

I recently lost a pink streaked where during a water change his cave was exposed. I let it be to see if he would come out later and with in 12hrs my pom Pom (a very small crab) had consumed 90 percent of the fish. A true glutton, don't think them incapable based on their size.

brandon429 · Feb 18, 2020

see fish disease forum, also post this thread there and see if options offered support that skipping fallow / qt and losing fish isn’t pathogenic + preventable. Be able to fix an example tank in the fish disease forum using not fallow and qt, those are the only proofs. It’s very restrictive / what works for fish keeping in reefs it seems

I don’t keep any reef fish, not a single one. my relays come solely from reading trends in the disease forum

MyPony8U · Feb 18, 2020

Copingwithpods said:
If it's not a bacterial issue why the fallow and quarantine I wonder? I don't think they need to go that far yet.

In fact I may have figured out your problem and it's probably what you expect. All 3 fish that have died are rock sleepers and fairly peaceful ones at that. Although emerald crabs are 99 percent peaceful they have been known to pick off slow fish if they can.

My best guess is the perfect storm, tank too young with not enough fauna for the emerald has him looking elsewhere for food, new stressed out peaceful fish are just easy pickings. All crabs are aportunistic feeders (even the peaceful ones) and will not pass up an easy meal if no other food is available. This could also be why some people report emeralds eating zoas. They are odd crabs, they will only eat algae when it's first growing in (very short hairs) as soon as it gets to a certain Lenght they won't touch even if hungry, If they did no one would worry about hair algae ever again. A tank could be teaming with flowing algae hairs and the crabs just sees an empty wasteland with no food and starve.

I recently lost a pink streaked where during a water change his cave was exposed. I let it be to see if he would come out later and with in 12hrs my pom Pom (a very small crab) had consumed 90 percent of the fish. A true glutton, don't think them incapable based on their size.

You think I should get a more active fish and try that? or should I pull the emerald out? Should I wait another month before adding fish to the system?

Copingwithpods · Feb 18, 2020

MyPony8U said:
You think I should get a more active fish and try that? or should I pull the emerald out? Should I wait another month before adding fish to the system?

That all depends on alot of things, my theory is the emerald. I've had (currently have) a very peaceful small one but I've also had very aggressive ones who had no taste for algae only chasing fish around.

Your fish choices are great for a nano so if nothing else is a miss, be it toxins or diseases I'd say evict the crab. Although I would run some carbon and watch the remaining fish carefully for a few weeks before adding anything new just in case.

MyPony8U · Feb 18, 2020

Copingwithpods said:
That all depends on alot of things, my theory is the emerald. I've had (currently have) a very peaceful small one but I've also had very aggressive ones who had no taste for algae only chasing fish around.

Your fish choices are great for a nano so if nothing else is a miss, be it toxins or diseases I'd say evict the crab. Although I would run some carbon and watch the remaining fish carefully for a few weeks before adding anything new just in case.

I've had fresh carbon is for about a week now. Water is crystal clear. all diatoms are gone. I had a little bit of green hair algae but my clean up crew made quick work of it. This has been the most frustrating process with new fish. All my inverts are thriving, I see fresh shell growth on my trochus snails, my cleaner shrimp has molted 3x.

Copingwithpods · Feb 18, 2020

I forgot to ask, in what state were the fish found? Any missing scales or bite marks? Or were they too eaten by the cuc to reveal anything

Silverfish · Feb 18, 2020

Best thing to do now is enjoy the clowns and let your tank mature a bit. Maybe the problem will present itself with continued observation.

Killer Reefs · Feb 18, 2020

Start from the Beginning... Tank Size, Light, Flow, what and how much are you Feeding? Live Rock or Dry Rock?

MyPony8U · Feb 19, 2020

Copingwithpods said:
I forgot to ask, in what state were the fish found? Any missing scales or bite marks? Or were they too eaten by the cuc to reveal anything

All were half eaten by cuc. But I didnt notice anything out of the ordinary.