Chuddlefish
New Member
Hello everyone, my tank is in trouble, and I need to know what I did wrong. So, I added water, startup bacteria, live rock, caribsea sand, and some shells to the tank in December, kept good water parameters the whole time, and halfway through January after checking the water again I decided to add my first creatures. I chose 2 Picasso clowns and a blood shrimp, and they settled in really well, I fed the clowns pellets which they ate, and the shrimp would eat up the ones they missed, which was not many, but seemed enough for the shrimp. The only concerning thing in the first week and a half was the slightly larger clown bullying the smaller one. I did research and expected this as I heard they fight for dominance, but the other would not fight back at all. after about 2 weeks I make a stupid decision out of arrogance and pride to buy a head of torch coral and a rose bubble tip anemone (I know I definitely should not have gotten the anemone as your supposed to wait a while sorry) I had a spare blue light on hand and read that torch corals don't require a huge amount of blue light so I decided to buy it. I put it and the anemone on the live rock and at first both were closed up, but the next day and the next 2 weeks both the anemone and the torch seemed healthy, the torch never got as big as it was in the store, only to about 85% the size, but I assumed that was just it settling in. The 2 clowns were quick to bond with the anemone, and the anemone was doing great, way better than it was in the store. At first it even looked like the clowns finally got along as they were both in the anemone. It only took about 3 days for the larger clown to evict the smaller one however, and the bullying continued. It got so bad I started putting the smaller one inside a clear cage usually used for fry to keep the bullying to a minimum. After 2 weeks the tank took a nosedive, the anemone occasionally would deflate but would bounce back in a matter of hours and it hadn't done that since the first week. Suddenly the anemones tentacles got all wrinkly, and curling up. This continued for about a day and a half until the tentacles were stubs, along with it shrinking a large amount. Now that the anemone was out of the picture the larger clown roamed the tank bullying the smaller clown even worse now. Another think that happened was my blood shrimp on its second molt lost 3 legs and its antenna were oddly curly and short. These issues kept up for 3 days. After the 3 days the torch coral started to retract more and more. The anemone started moving all along the rocks either looking like a mushroom or a nub, and I tried to feed it, but it would not eat from what I could see. This all culminated in the death of the smaller clown, I assume from too much bullying and my late reaction to the issue, as I tried separating them but by this time smaller one seemed to have suffered too critically and died over the course of a day (R.I.P Gumbo), with it hyperventilating and its back half turning white. The anemone passed the next day, having basically no tentacles at this point, and the mouth being wide open. About 3 days later the torch coral had almost completely stopped coming out, looking almost deflated and I fear it may die as well. I tested the water for Ammonia, pH, Nitrite, and Nitrate for answers, but nothing of not but the pH being around 7.8 to 8.0 which I know is low, but I don't think it can be this deadly. The next day I find my shrimp dead in a failed molt (R.I.P Henson). Through all of this there was no major algae breakout, nor did I change feeding or lighting habits. I will admit I think my blue light is fairly weak, but it sustained the coral well for about 3 weeks and now it's suddenly dying. The large clown seems to not only be okay, but healthy as ever, while my coral looks like it's on the brink. I tested the water again and got nothing. I'll take a sample of the water to a local reef shop. Maybe it's something obvious. I just am focused on saving what's left. Anything will help. Thank you if you read all that. If you want to see images or videos, please ask I'll reply with them.
