water change question

[Susanedw]

My tank, started mid Dec. has always had 0 nitrites and low nitrates. I do a weekly or weekly plus a couple days water change. I've had no nitrates for a while, even posted about it as my xenia and torch started doing poorly and the xenia likes some nitrates.

yesterday, my nitrites were .5 and nitrates 5. I did about an 8 gal water change, maybe 9 (RS Max c250 66 gal tank including sump--46 gal max aquarium. 45 lbs dry rock, I think 60 lb live sand, cycled with biospira)

Possible causes:
--dead snails or hermits--I am not seeing as many hermits.
--Added a tiger tail sea slug on the 28th and haven't seen him since he buried himself in sand. --Researched and found they won't crash tank just up numbers.
--A bit of overfeeding but nothing different than what I've been doing as I've been trying to feed an ailing gbta and a scooter blenny (who now knows what a turkey baster is and gets enough food) so not having to over feed so much.
--I added a small bottle of copepods but a lot were dead. This on Sunday
--Missing yellow watchman goby but he's very teeny 1.25x.24. Added a equally small pistol shrimp and haven't seen eithr. Had snails and crabs blocking his little cave so don't know if he died there or went to another rock grouping where shrimp disappeared into.

Nitrites today a bit lower: between .2 and .5. Should I do a water change every day? Wait for tomorrow? Give it a couple days? Don't want to overstress with water changes but want to get the nitrites back to 0. No ammonia per my ammonia alert tag in tank

Algae is getting better. Tank still in ugly stage. Water pretty clear today except when the sand sifting goby stirs things up. Yesterday, I added another bag of carbon, replaced the chemi pure. Tank real cloudy yesterday. Also rinsed out the foam blocks and scraped algae.

More on my tank in sig.

 

[DaveK]

Any Nitrite reading at all indicated a problem. You list a lot of possible causes.

Nitrites are consumed by bacteria in the system. When it a fairly low reading like you have, and the livestock is not showing signs of distress, let it go over night, and see what you have the next day. If it's the same or higher then do a water change to bring it down.

I highly recommend you remove and then throw out the ammonia alert tag. I find that they are useless. Do the actual ammonia test if you suspect a problem. In this case, I'd do one right away.

 

[Susanedw]

Okay, had some ammonia. Between .2 and .4. First time I've ever registered ammonia. Changed around 12 or 15 gal and added prime. An hr later, I tested. ammonia 0 and nitrites .05. Will test in morning and determine whether another water change tomorrow afternoon.

I'm betting my sea cucumber (tiger tail) has croaked and is rotting somewhere.... Maybe I should order some more bio spira in case.

 

[Florida Sunshine]

I would think it is a safe bet that something died and is rotting in the tank. By doing the water change and adding the Prime you will be on the right track. In most cases I would say to just watch carefully and let your bacteria do it's work, but you have some pretty sensitive livestock in a very new tank so I would keep doing water changes as long as you have ammonia and/or nitrites in the system. Remember when doing a water change to reduce contaminants think in percentages. If you did a 12g change on 48g of water you cut the amount by 25% (Just using easy numbers there). So your .05 nitrites will be reduced by .05 * .25 leaving you with a reading of .0375 based on the water change amount.
I wouldn't bother with ordering something. By the time it gets to you this crisis will have passed. I'm not really a believer in the bottled bacteria to begin with.
Keep an eye on that ailing gbta. He is the one most likely to suffer.

 

[Susanedw]

Thank you @Florida Sunshine, wise as usual. Will do. Tank is pretty clear this am. Will see how it does as day goes on and will test numbers. Have water heating up in case.

 

[Susanedw]

tested again
ammonia now at .2
nitrites at .5
nitrates at 2

I'm wondering if my bta is not alive anymore. It's all shriveled and just hanging. Not unusal but it does normally open up a bit, esp. in the evenings. It didn't last night and maybe not the night before. It's never acted right since day one (was kept in a basket floating on top of frag tank at lfs in just a few inches of water--I now know this isn't a good or healthy way to keep them).

How can I tell if it's gone? Will it detach? Should I ask this question separately?

Will do another water change later this afternoon. Water in the making for it. Tank is actually nice and clear so no bacteria bloom going on. Not crystal but close.

 

[Susanedw]

Well, life with a tank sure is full of DRAMA! My plan to do a wc was rushed when I saw my kole tang on the bottom of tank. Now this is one of my fav fish. I thought it a goner as it didn't move. It was sort of sideways in a tiny cave on floor of tank. Used a bush for tubing (kinda soft to see if I could push it out. Then I couldn't see it, and of course, with tank lid open while changing water, can't see sh** anyway. So I cleared the cave, made it a bit bigger, turkey basted some sand out. No tang. Not floating, not stuck, not swimming... Rocked the rock pile just a bit. Nothing....

Then after I gave up, finished the wc, I peered into the "cavern". It is a good 2-3 inches deeper than the sandbed as there isn't as much sand there. Saw it's tail fin. Sure enough, he was alive and well. I think he was actually stuck. I've seen him trying to lay almost flat to swim through that cave and he's just too big. Might have to put a rubble rock in front to keep the silly fish out....

Then I'm counting fish and checking everyone. Where's my scooter blenny? He's among the top 3!! I look. Use a flashlight. Nope. Nada. Nowhere. Check floor. Check sump. Finally give up, go sit at desk, worried and bummed. And here he comes round a rock and up to the glass like "hey".

Numbers since wc and more prime back down am 0, nitrites barely readable, nitrates 1-2 (I wish those wouldn't go down!)

All corals and fish seem to be doing okay except bta. It must still be alive as it changes its shriveled shape. I don't like the darkness of it--seems a lot darker like dark brown leather. Doesn't like water changes that is for sure. Tightens right up and gets super small. Relaxes a bit after but I think it's on it's way out. I tried touching it to see if it is attached--lightly--and it is so left it.

Debating whether to dredge for tiger tail to confirm alive or not. resisting as that will just foul tank even more.

 

[Susanedw]

ammonia again today, low rites and rates. Pretty sure the cause has to be a dead tiger tail but no way of knowing where it is. Rocks are cemented so cannot remove to try to find. Best I could do is rake what areas of sand I can reach. WC again later today plus I got some ammonia remover and more starting bacteria to control until what's dead is done screwing with tank. Will use the prime as well. Ammonia back down to 0 since using the stuff but will do wc anyway. All livestock seem to be fine, and corals fine--better actually.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Sounds like a tough situation. I would continue the water changes and have a good bit of saltwater always on hand, ready to change should the problems continue. Forgive me if you're already doing this, but one thing you might want to consider is siphoning the sand while doing your WCs. This will allow you to look for the tiger tail while sucking up any detritus/junk that may be locked in the sand. Since the tank was started mid December, the sand bed shouldn't be to the point where touching it will destroy the tank.

Have you considered using an additive such as Biospira? This product supposedly supplies all of the nitrifying bacteria needed to process ammonia to nitrites to nitrates. This product is purportedly able to cycle a tank "instantly"... while I'm not sure I would trust it to do that, it may be helpful in a situation where a tank clearly has more ammonia than it can safely process.

 

[Susanedw]

@chipmunkofdoom2 I've tried syphoning the sand. It's too fine and gets sucked up I know where I last saw it disappear and it's between the large set of rockwork and a free standing pc. On the large side of course! If the tank doesn't settle, I might try "raking" or scooting the sand in that area.

I added some bacteria starter today that I picked up from petsmart and an ammonia remover. I ordered the biospira from amazon and more prime earlier. Will be here Monday. I actually cycled my tank with the bio spira and never had any ammonia and only small nitrite spikes. It worked very well for me so I will arm myself with what I can.

mixing more salt tonight. Forgot to turn on the RODI unit but will add what water is made and add salt, a bit stronger so I can add water to dilute tomorrow if needed and it heats tonight. Had to place another order for salt too!

 

[fitofansami]

2 months old tank..., every single thing you will be doing to try to fix it is gonna be as good as bad for water chemistry, only advice I can give is to be patience and not go crazy after the losses you ll be having during this first year.

Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk

 

[Richard 1]

Sounds like your going through a mini cycle caused by the death of something. Fitofansami gave you some great advice, don't do too many things at once,you'll just make matters worse. Nature balances itself. Just stay with water changes. Dilution is your best friend.