LDJ
New Member
I had a salt water aquarium through the 80's and decided to see what was new with growing coral, etc.
I bought a new Coralife 32 biocube with a in tank UV, Skimmer, upgraded pump, a wave maker, live coral rock, CaribSea sand, better heater, RedSea Test kits and Red Sea marine starter kit. It took about 6 weeks to go through cycling. I started adding clean jun crew invertebrates. Started out with a clown fish. Everything went fine for the first couple of weeks. I added a sand sifting goby who died with a week Didn't eat. Added second clown fish after a couple of weeks and a Zoa frag. Another Goby. Hair algae took over. I started using Vibrant for the algae, once a week. I pulled a bunch of that algae off, got more hermit crabs, a turbo snail, a conch and two emerald crabs over the space of several months.
One clown came down with I though Ich, but I thought my UV sterilizer would take care of it. I did a fresh water dip, he seemed to recover, I started PraziPro, turned off the UV, off the skimmer, took charcoal out. And ran the Prazi for several weeks. Within the two weeks the one clown got worst and finally succumbed, Within two days after the second clown was covered in white and died. At this point I had lost 5 or 6 fish and very frustrated. I tried to decide whether jut to give up or start over from scratch.
I contacted a new fish store and they suggested, I let the tank sit for two weeks, with no Prazi, turned back on the UV, and skimmer. I readded new charcoal and let the tank sit for two weeks. Then per the store reran Prazi with charcoal removed and turned off the UV and skimmer. At this time I had one firefish, a cleaner shrimp, an emerald crab and my clean up crew.
After two more weeks of Prazi, I went back to everything back on, new charcoal, and went to the new fish store after a month, who guaranteed that everything had been quarantined for a month and bought a new fire fish, a striped wrasse and lawn mower Blennie. Added a mushroom frag. In one week since adding that the emerald crab has died, , my conch has disappeared into the sand, the wrasse went yesterday after seven days, he had a white discoloration on his side like dead skin. And then part of one fin was gone. Today the Bennie is gasping on the bottom and then mid day the new fire fish, went into hiding and is now gasping.
I tried to buy the best equipment. Followed the cycling to a 'T'. Thought the first store was reliable from plenty of recommends. Switched to the new store and now I've killed about 10 fish, feeling very guilty and I am left with one original fire fish and a cleaner shrimp and a couple of frags.
Do I start all over or just say lesson learned and quite killing marine life?
I bought a new Coralife 32 biocube with a in tank UV, Skimmer, upgraded pump, a wave maker, live coral rock, CaribSea sand, better heater, RedSea Test kits and Red Sea marine starter kit. It took about 6 weeks to go through cycling. I started adding clean jun crew invertebrates. Started out with a clown fish. Everything went fine for the first couple of weeks. I added a sand sifting goby who died with a week Didn't eat. Added second clown fish after a couple of weeks and a Zoa frag. Another Goby. Hair algae took over. I started using Vibrant for the algae, once a week. I pulled a bunch of that algae off, got more hermit crabs, a turbo snail, a conch and two emerald crabs over the space of several months.
One clown came down with I though Ich, but I thought my UV sterilizer would take care of it. I did a fresh water dip, he seemed to recover, I started PraziPro, turned off the UV, off the skimmer, took charcoal out. And ran the Prazi for several weeks. Within the two weeks the one clown got worst and finally succumbed, Within two days after the second clown was covered in white and died. At this point I had lost 5 or 6 fish and very frustrated. I tried to decide whether jut to give up or start over from scratch.
I contacted a new fish store and they suggested, I let the tank sit for two weeks, with no Prazi, turned back on the UV, and skimmer. I readded new charcoal and let the tank sit for two weeks. Then per the store reran Prazi with charcoal removed and turned off the UV and skimmer. At this time I had one firefish, a cleaner shrimp, an emerald crab and my clean up crew.
After two more weeks of Prazi, I went back to everything back on, new charcoal, and went to the new fish store after a month, who guaranteed that everything had been quarantined for a month and bought a new fire fish, a striped wrasse and lawn mower Blennie. Added a mushroom frag. In one week since adding that the emerald crab has died, , my conch has disappeared into the sand, the wrasse went yesterday after seven days, he had a white discoloration on his side like dead skin. And then part of one fin was gone. Today the Bennie is gasping on the bottom and then mid day the new fire fish, went into hiding and is now gasping.
I tried to buy the best equipment. Followed the cycling to a 'T'. Thought the first store was reliable from plenty of recommends. Switched to the new store and now I've killed about 10 fish, feeling very guilty and I am left with one original fire fish and a cleaner shrimp and a couple of frags.
Do I start all over or just say lesson learned and quite killing marine life?
