What is going on??

[pinkprincess]

Hi everyone, please bear with me and be kind in the comments.

To start, I purchased a fluval evo 13.5 gallon tank over two months ago and cycled it for 4 weeks with live sand and dry rock. With all of my saltwater tests coming back consistently as desired, I felt confident to put in a tailspot blenny and firefish. One week later, grabbing a turbo snail and 5 nassarius snails for CUC. My tailspot Blenny and fire fish got along fine for about three weeks, when all of a sudden my tailspot plenty got aggressive and killed my firefish (even thought he had plenty of places to hide in the dry rock, and even had a specific area he would stay in). Less than one week later, when my tank started to hit the ugly stage, my tail spot died. My snails slowly thereafter dwindled off and have now all died. All of my saltwater tests are coming back still with the desired measures, and I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong. There was plenty of algae in the tank for my snails to feed off of, and I even threw in an algae wafer for them as well.

My tank has been barren for about two weeks with the light off to control the ugly stage now with nothing inhabiting it.
This is my first saltwater tank after years of having a freshwater, so I’m very on top of water changes, maintenance and changing out the carbon and organic matter filters. Please be nice, I am so new with this, but I am seriously stuck. Thank you.

 

[tzabor10]

Sorry for your losses. I have always reverted to adding cultured live rock to cycle a tank. Please post parameters equipment and pics of the tank.

 

[KQuillan]

Hello & Welcome.

First, what are your tank parameters?
13 gallons is still small and may have still not been ready yet... What is your ammonia level? Nitrate? Alk? CA?
What is your SW level? Do you have a picture of the tank you can share?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

can you list the parameters please? What test kits were you using? Do you use rodi or tap water? Did you ever do water changes? Can we see a tank picture please? Need more info and visual to help

 

[pinkprincess]

Hello & Welcome.

First, what are your tank parameters?
13 gallons is still small and may have still not been ready yet... What is your ammonia level? Nitrate? Alk? CA?
What is your SW level? Do you have a picture of the tank you can share?

Ive been using the saltwater master test kit from API marine See my parameters and tank setup here, with my nitrates being 5 ppm, it’s a bit cloudy since i rearranged the rock today and stirred up some sand. I was using premixed ocean water from petco, and doing evaporation refills with distilled water since RODI is not easily accessible, but plan on making the trip to get it soon (I’m in need of a refill now).
I have a protein skimmer to help as well

 

[pinkprincess]

can you list the parameters please? What test kits were you using? Do you use rodi or tap water? Did you ever do water changes? Can we see a tank picture please? Need more info and visual to help

I posted some of this to another reply! I do water changes once a week.

 

[pinkprincess]

Sorry for your losses. I have always reverted to adding cultured live rock to cycle a tank. Please post parameters equipment and pics of the tank.

I posted this info in another reply! Thank you for your condolences.

 

[pinkprincess]

@tzabor10 @KQuillan any advice? i attached my water parameters and pictures of the tank above

 

[KQuillan]

@Reefmedics

 

[Dan_P]

Hi everyone, please bear with me and be kind in the comments.

To start, I purchased a fluval evo 13.5 gallon tank over two months ago and cycled it for 4 weeks with live sand and dry rock. With all of my saltwater tests coming back consistently as desired, I felt confident to put in a tailspot blenny and firefish. One week later, grabbing a turbo snail and 5 nassarius snails for CUC. My tailspot Blenny and fire fish got along fine for about three weeks, when all of a sudden my tailspot plenty got aggressive and killed my firefish (even thought he had plenty of places to hide in the dry rock, and even had a specific area he would stay in). Less than one week later, when my tank started to hit the ugly stage, my tail spot died. My snails slowly thereafter dwindled off and have now all died. All of my saltwater tests are coming back still with the desired measures, and I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong. There was plenty of algae in the tank for my snails to feed off of, and I even threw in an algae wafer for them as well.

My tank has been barren for about two weeks with the light off to control the ugly stage now with nothing inhabiting it.
This is my first saltwater tank after years of having a freshwater, so I’m very on top of water changes, maintenance and changing out the carbon and organic matter filters. Please be nice, I am so new with this, but I am seriously stuck. Thank you.

What type of freshwater fish did you keep?

 

[pinkprincess]

What type of freshwater fish did you keep?

I kept mollies, tetras, and even a betta at one point

 

[Dan_P]

I kept mollies, tetras, and even a betta at one point

Nice. I think about going back to freshwater fish, an aquarium full of tetras would be a possibility.

Anyway, you seem to be having a tough start, maybe tougher than normal. The snails might have starved to death. New aquaria just don’t have enough food. The fish, who knows. Maybe the aggression was heightened by feeding too lightly. There seems to be a tendency in this hobby to focus on nitrate level rather than keeping the fish fat and sassy. Sorry I can’t offer much help.

 

[pinkprincess]

Nice. I think about going back to freshwater fish, an aquarium full of tetras would be a possibility.

Anyway, you seem to be having a tough start, maybe tougher than normal. The snails might have starved to death. New aquaria just don’t have enough food. The fish, who knows. Maybe the aggression was heightened by feeding too lightly. There seems to be a tendency in this hobby to focus on nitrate level rather than keeping the fish fat and sassy. Sorry I can’t offer much help.

There was so much algae before! I even put in algae wafers to make sure my snails could eat incase the algae in my tank wasn’t the right kind for consumption.
I fed my two fish twice a day, but thank you very much for the insight. I’m so stumped and saddened by the deaths, i appreciate your help :)

 

[tzabor10]

Not a fan of the distilled water. RODI is a money saver in the long run. If it were my tank, starting with soft corals like mushrooms, GSP, or zenia might be a better first step. Are you filtering it with a skimmer or socks?

 

[Revv65]

Hi everyone, please bear with me and be kind in the comments.

To start, I purchased a fluval evo 13.5 gallon tank over two months ago and cycled it for 4 weeks with live sand and dry rock. With all of my saltwater tests coming back consistently as desired, I felt confident to put in a tailspot blenny and firefish. One week later, grabbing a turbo snail and 5 nassarius snails for CUC. My tailspot Blenny and fire fish got along fine for about three weeks, when all of a sudden my tailspot plenty got aggressive and killed my firefish (even thought he had plenty of places to hide in the dry rock, and even had a specific area he would stay in). Less than one week later, when my tank started to hit the ugly stage, my tail spot died. My snails slowly thereafter dwindled off and have now all died. All of my saltwater tests are coming back still with the desired measures, and I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong. There was plenty of algae in the tank for my snails to feed off of, and I even threw in an algae wafer for them as well.

My tank has been barren for about two weeks with the light off to control the ugly stage now with nothing inhabiting it.
This is my first saltwater tank after years of having a freshwater, so I’m very on top of water changes, maintenance and changing out the carbon and organic matter filters. Please be nice, I am so new with this, but I am seriously stuck. Thank you.

Hello and welcome in. Just by what I've read, it looks like your tank isn't cycled yet
You show ammonia but no nitrites. Your ph looks fine. Some will say the API test kits arent accurate, but these are basic parameters. IME, they're good enough to get you started. You mentioned buying pre mixed saltwater. Do you know the S.G. or the ppm? How was it compared to the fish and snails water when you bought Them? Temperatutes? Also...the skimmer in a tank that small and new maybe defeating the cycling purpose. Did you use any bacteria additives along with your live sand? IMO, it looks like and sounds like an imbalance issue.
I know...so many questions, so many variables. Too many water changes this early will also have a negative affect.
At this point, I would not use the skimmer and add some bacteria product of some kind. Hang in there. Saltwater is a different animal than freshwater.

 

[pinkprincess]

Not a fan of the distilled water. RODI is a money saver in the long run. If it were my tank, starting with soft corals like mushrooms, GSP, or zenia might be a better first step. Are you filtering it with a skimmer or socks?

A skimmer!

 

[pinkprincess]

Hello and welcome in. Just by what I've read, it looks like your tank isn't cycled yet
You show ammonia but no nitrites. Your ph looks fine. Some will say the API test kits arent accurate, but these are basic parameters. IME, they're good enough to get you started. You mentioned buying pre mixed saltwater. Do you know the S.G. or the ppm? How was it compared to the fish and snails water when you bought Them? Temperatutes? Also...the skimmer in a tank that small and new maybe defeating the cycling purpose. Did you use any bacteria additives along with your live sand? IMO, it looks like and sounds like an imbalance issue.
I know...so many questions, so many variables. Too many water changes this early will also have a negative affect.
At this point, I would not use the skimmer and add some bacteria product of some kind. Hang in there. Saltwater is a different animal than freshwater.

Thank you. I don’t know the ppm for the premixed, youtubers I watched recommended it. When acclimating my fish and snails, i used the drip method and dripped every 5 minutes for an hour to get them used to the salinity and other levels. Temperature has been 78° or 79°, and darn- a lot of the youtubers recommended setting it up with a skimmer. It might be that.
Yes i used bacteria additives in addition, i changed water about once a week.
Thank you so much for taking the time to listen and answer! I’m going to take a break from the skimmer, and work to reset my tank for new additions in the future. Thank you!

 

[Baby Damsel 219]

Ive been using the saltwater master test kit from API marine See my parameters and tank setup here, with my nitrates being 5 ppm, it’s a bit cloudy since i rearranged the rock today and stirred up some sand. I was using premixed ocean water from petco, and doing evaporation refills with distilled water since RODI is not easily accessible, but plan on making the trip to get it soon (I’m in need of a refill now).
I have a protein skimmer to help as well

I'd say first the water is cloudy don't know if you messed with your sand bed or could indicate poor water parameters. Since API has the reputation of wrong test results I would do a second one. The blenny may have just picked on a weak fire fish since the water is bad it may have made the fish weak and the blenny was just finishing him off.

 

[Baby Damsel 219]

or if you feel comfortable to tell us the location of the tank in your house since this may have an affect on the water conditions.

 

[pinkprincess]

I'd say first the water is cloudy don't know if you messed with your sand bed or could indicate poor water parameters. Since API has the reputation of wrong test results I would do a second one. The blenny may have just picked on a weak fire fish since the water is bad it may have made the fish weak and the blenny was just finishing him off.

I rearranged the rocks and it stirred up the sand! This is it today: