Hello all,
I keep attempting to have a tank clean up crew get established but the snails and starfish keep dying, IMMEDIATELY!
The tank is a 50 gallon going on 2 months old, nitrogen cycle completed. Was running a cannister filter, switched to a sump last week with protein skimmer and ample mechanical filtration, GFO, and carbon.
Parameters:
Salinity 1.024
pH 8.0
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 20 ppm
Phosphate .06
I have (thriving) a scooter blenny, blue cheek goby, two clowns, engineer goby, sailfin tang, 10 hermit crabs, and an emerald crab.
So far I had one trip to the store for a starfish and a nassarius in which they never moved at all upon entry to the tank and died.
A second trip I placed a nassarius and it spewed white cream upon entry, never moved, then died.
A third trip I got a fighting conch, it was active in the bag, upon entry to the tank hid in its shell, the next morning I could see its eyes peeking out and it left its hook out, by the 3rd day its hook fell off and I blew a little water with a turkey baster into the shell only to see white cream come flying out, he died.
A fourth trip got two nassarius, one very active upon entry into the tank, the other sluggish but they both eventually started scooting around. I found the slower one belly up the next day, the other I think died but can't tell him apart from the rest of the shells in the tank.
And finally yesterday I got two sand sifting stars that were active in the bag and completely still upon entry to the tank. In the same spot today as I put them in yesterday. I think they're dead and plan on pulling them out tonight if they still are in the same spot.
I did a 30 min temp float acclimation each time followed by a slow drip while sitting in a bucket on the couch (so as to not let temp fluctuate) until double the volume was achieved.
Sorry for the lengthy post but I can't find a solution and a really want a clean crew to get under the sand, not just the surface.
TIA!
I keep attempting to have a tank clean up crew get established but the snails and starfish keep dying, IMMEDIATELY!
The tank is a 50 gallon going on 2 months old, nitrogen cycle completed. Was running a cannister filter, switched to a sump last week with protein skimmer and ample mechanical filtration, GFO, and carbon.
Parameters:
Salinity 1.024
pH 8.0
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 20 ppm
Phosphate .06
I have (thriving) a scooter blenny, blue cheek goby, two clowns, engineer goby, sailfin tang, 10 hermit crabs, and an emerald crab.
So far I had one trip to the store for a starfish and a nassarius in which they never moved at all upon entry to the tank and died.
A second trip I placed a nassarius and it spewed white cream upon entry, never moved, then died.
A third trip I got a fighting conch, it was active in the bag, upon entry to the tank hid in its shell, the next morning I could see its eyes peeking out and it left its hook out, by the 3rd day its hook fell off and I blew a little water with a turkey baster into the shell only to see white cream come flying out, he died.
A fourth trip got two nassarius, one very active upon entry into the tank, the other sluggish but they both eventually started scooting around. I found the slower one belly up the next day, the other I think died but can't tell him apart from the rest of the shells in the tank.
And finally yesterday I got two sand sifting stars that were active in the bag and completely still upon entry to the tank. In the same spot today as I put them in yesterday. I think they're dead and plan on pulling them out tonight if they still are in the same spot.
I did a 30 min temp float acclimation each time followed by a slow drip while sitting in a bucket on the couch (so as to not let temp fluctuate) until double the volume was achieved.
Sorry for the lengthy post but I can't find a solution and a really want a clean crew to get under the sand, not just the surface.
TIA!