Tristren
Well-Known Member
Ok, so the tank is not doing well. My question for you all now is, what kills grazing snails, but doesn't harm Nassarius snails, crabs, shrimp, or fish?
I apologize in advance, as this post is not terribly well organized. Part of the reason for that is that I don't have a good handle on what is happening. There are two ongoing problems that may very well be related. Snails keep dying, GHA keeps growing. This post is about the snails though.
I've added more detail below, but here's what is happening in terms of life and death in my 120g tank that was set up in last June.
Grazing snails (a few astraea and trochus early on, lots of turbo snails since), are all dying. They have always had short lifespans in this system. I started adding them slowly, and I think that there was a gradual turnover. When they are added they don't really hang out on the rocks, most head to the glass and then mostly around the surface (they were keeping algae of the back glass though, so not always up there).
They last a few days to a few weeks, then spend more time falling over until they don't get up.
A couple of them were moved to the QT, which gets changed with old DT water, and they are fine. So I don't think it is something in the water but I obviously don't know...
We had a Conch that lasted for a couple of months.
Two sea hares have also come into the system and only lasted a few days to a week or so.
Other animals in the system are doing fine:
Nassarius snails, doing fine. 8 of them now.
Fish, all seem very healthy.
Crabs, Hermit crabs seem to have been doing fine over the months. Though frankly I feel like I'm seeing less Hermit crabs in the last month than I used to. Not sure though, not a bunch of extra shells around so dunno.
We have an Emerald Crab that has been here for a few months and still around.
There is a Porcelain Crab that must have come in a separate a baby hitchhiker last summer with the live rock. Saw it for the first time in the fall, still see glimpses of it some nights.
Cleaner shrimp, pair all good for a few months, spawning away. For months there was a regular supply of baby shrimp in the sump. No spawning for the last couple and one dissappeard last week. Not sure how old it was when I got it though. So maybe normal cycle.
A healthy population of pods (larger ones in the refugium).
A sea cucumber I got in the fall climbed up into the rocks and was in there moving a very little bit every day for a few months. Disappeared a few weeks ago. No body or anything, just haven't seen it.
A quick system recap, and the GHA issue:
System was set up last summer. 120g DT, ~160g total volume. Started with a mix of dry rock and live rock. At the end of summer added fish, wiped out by ich/velvet. All fish quarantined since and healthy fish in the tank since October or so: Filefish, purple Firefish, starry Blenny and magnificent Foxface.
Refugium with some more live rock, some chaeto that wasn't doing much with a small LED on it. Switched to a MarsHydro before Christmas and it's growing plenty of Chaeto, and lots of GHA. Main tank just has a 90watt Current USA Marine Orbit.
I use Aquaforest Reef Salt and Tropic Marine biocalc. Very very minimal amounts of that as there's not much taking it up.
Have a singularia, gorgonian, and open brain that all seem to be doing well since October - November. Have a small Montipora that is sad (see lights above). Two little zoanthid frags and a Green Star Polyp frag that are all surviving but overtaken by GHA.
No Skimmer, have had Phosminus or GAC off and on.
Salinity is very stable at 1.025. Nitrates and phosphates were negligible whenever I tested them (phosphates 0).
Temp is very stable with a 0.4 degree shift over 24hrs. It was running the Apex temperature table and got as low as 76 before I switched (over a couple of weeks) up to a set 78 degrees (from 77. 7-78.1).
From the fall through January I was overfeeding and not doing regular water changes. The tank looked nice enough, fish and larger corals healthy. Sponges and things around. A spot of GHA here and there that the Blenny and Foxface seemed to enjoy.
The inevitable happened and the GHA spread, fast. After Christmas I cut right back on feeding, did more and larger water changes, and added a sea hare. I also tried a course of Fluconazole. No impact from that (because GHA, not bryopsis).
But the GHA keeps coming back. And the snails keep dying.
Thanks, Tony
Ps, bristle worms also doing well. This one in the refugium:
I apologize in advance, as this post is not terribly well organized. Part of the reason for that is that I don't have a good handle on what is happening. There are two ongoing problems that may very well be related. Snails keep dying, GHA keeps growing. This post is about the snails though.
I've added more detail below, but here's what is happening in terms of life and death in my 120g tank that was set up in last June.
Grazing snails (a few astraea and trochus early on, lots of turbo snails since), are all dying. They have always had short lifespans in this system. I started adding them slowly, and I think that there was a gradual turnover. When they are added they don't really hang out on the rocks, most head to the glass and then mostly around the surface (they were keeping algae of the back glass though, so not always up there).
They last a few days to a few weeks, then spend more time falling over until they don't get up.
A couple of them were moved to the QT, which gets changed with old DT water, and they are fine. So I don't think it is something in the water but I obviously don't know...
We had a Conch that lasted for a couple of months.
Two sea hares have also come into the system and only lasted a few days to a week or so.
Other animals in the system are doing fine:
Nassarius snails, doing fine. 8 of them now.
Fish, all seem very healthy.
Crabs, Hermit crabs seem to have been doing fine over the months. Though frankly I feel like I'm seeing less Hermit crabs in the last month than I used to. Not sure though, not a bunch of extra shells around so dunno.
We have an Emerald Crab that has been here for a few months and still around.
There is a Porcelain Crab that must have come in a separate a baby hitchhiker last summer with the live rock. Saw it for the first time in the fall, still see glimpses of it some nights.
Cleaner shrimp, pair all good for a few months, spawning away. For months there was a regular supply of baby shrimp in the sump. No spawning for the last couple and one dissappeard last week. Not sure how old it was when I got it though. So maybe normal cycle.
A healthy population of pods (larger ones in the refugium).
A sea cucumber I got in the fall climbed up into the rocks and was in there moving a very little bit every day for a few months. Disappeared a few weeks ago. No body or anything, just haven't seen it.
A quick system recap, and the GHA issue:
System was set up last summer. 120g DT, ~160g total volume. Started with a mix of dry rock and live rock. At the end of summer added fish, wiped out by ich/velvet. All fish quarantined since and healthy fish in the tank since October or so: Filefish, purple Firefish, starry Blenny and magnificent Foxface.
Refugium with some more live rock, some chaeto that wasn't doing much with a small LED on it. Switched to a MarsHydro before Christmas and it's growing plenty of Chaeto, and lots of GHA. Main tank just has a 90watt Current USA Marine Orbit.
I use Aquaforest Reef Salt and Tropic Marine biocalc. Very very minimal amounts of that as there's not much taking it up.
Have a singularia, gorgonian, and open brain that all seem to be doing well since October - November. Have a small Montipora that is sad (see lights above). Two little zoanthid frags and a Green Star Polyp frag that are all surviving but overtaken by GHA.
No Skimmer, have had Phosminus or GAC off and on.
Salinity is very stable at 1.025. Nitrates and phosphates were negligible whenever I tested them (phosphates 0).
Temp is very stable with a 0.4 degree shift over 24hrs. It was running the Apex temperature table and got as low as 76 before I switched (over a couple of weeks) up to a set 78 degrees (from 77. 7-78.1).
From the fall through January I was overfeeding and not doing regular water changes. The tank looked nice enough, fish and larger corals healthy. Sponges and things around. A spot of GHA here and there that the Blenny and Foxface seemed to enjoy.
The inevitable happened and the GHA spread, fast. After Christmas I cut right back on feeding, did more and larger water changes, and added a sea hare. I also tried a course of Fluconazole. No impact from that (because GHA, not bryopsis).
But the GHA keeps coming back. And the snails keep dying.
Thanks, Tony
Ps, bristle worms also doing well. This one in the refugium:
