Melanurus Wrasse - Worried about it Moving Old Sand and Causing Death from Gas (Phosphorus Gas I thi

[that Reef Guy]

So I have always wanted a Melanurus Wrasse and was talking to people at my LFS.

I know that they like to bury themselves in the Sand when they sleep or get stressed out.

But then again I have a Lot of Coral (Favia and Chalices) that cover my Sand Bed.

The person at the LFS said do not worry they won't bury themselves where there is a lot of Coral around.

He said they would just bury themselves behind my Live Rock.

At first I said OK Great.

Then I got scarred because I talked to somebody before that was moving his Rock Around and Re-Aquascaping.

Right after he did that everything got sick and some stuff died.

The LFS told him it was because some kind of Gas (Phosphorus I think) gets trapped in the Live Sand that you do not Vacuum on a Regular Basis and he stirred it up.

He then got an Ammonia Spike and everything went downhill just because he decided to re-aquascape.

I only Vacuum My Sand in the Front and Sides of the Tank.

So then I thought oh God the same disaster will happen to me if I get this Wrasse.

But I really want one.

What are the odds that the same thing will happen to me that happened to the person I talked to if I added a Melanurus Wrasse?

 

[kidzaac87]

I have the same wrasse plus reaquascaped and have had no issue
just my .02 worth

 

[that Reef Guy]

Is anybody familiar with this Gas Problem?

I want to learn more about it.

 

[ChaliceLove]

If you have a thick sand bed and you do not have a clean up crew that consists of sifters then dead matter will gather and breakdown under the sand. Almost like the gas inside a dear on the side of the road. I wouldn't worry about it killing off unless it was a large amount of gas.

 

[that Reef Guy]

If you have a thick sand bed and you do not have a clean up crew that consists of sifters then dead matter will gather and breakdown under the sand. Almost like the gas inside a dear on the side of the road. I wouldn't worry about it killing off unless it was a large amount of gas.

How would I know if there was a large amount of gas or not?

Somebody told me the "Noxious Gas" was called Hydrogen Sulfide.

Does anybody have any experience with this?

I want to learn as much as I can so any information would be very very helpful.