can a tuxedo urchin survive on coralline alone?
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goochesfish
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What did it look like when it died? Mine recently became naked and I'm worried I may loose it. It's not for lack of food though as I have hair algae.
JonnyD91
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I just lost mine too. I have had it for 4 years. Im so pi**ed. full sps tank, 2 shrimp, clams, ect everything is fine. the only thing i can think of is that 2 weeks ago my skimmer overflowed into my sump with some thick nasty stuff. it went crazy after i glued some frags. I did a 20G water change but dont know if that was enough. could that cause a big nitrate or phosphate spike?
Some times things die because their biological lifespan has run out.
JonnyD91
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what do you think could have killed it?
Well, in a closed system most of the time it's a water quality issue. You have to understand that Echinoderms are amongst the most sensitive organisms we keep. So, if things are off even by the slightest, or if parameters fluctuate in too wide a band - they'll have problems. Of course, some are even more sensitive than others. The old timers liken them to the 'canaries in the coal mine' because they're always the first to show signs of stress when things go south. Acclimation and transportation issues can also be a culprit, that oddly enough, may not manifest problems until a few months later.
The 5 big things in an established setup to check are:
Ca+
Alkalinity
PO3
Nitrate
Salinity
DJ
JonnyD91
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yea, this is why i cant figure it out. I use dosers for mag, cal, alk. test once a week and keep it rock solid for my sps. salinity is at 1.026. I did do 2 big water changes last week but tested afterward and all my values were in check. Do you think the skimmer overflow could have caused it? that was 2 weeks ago. I also just changed my GFO and carbon.
Man, I wouldn't think the GFO or carbon would hurt anything. If anything those would increase redox and make things better. I would suspect the ticking time bomb as a result of misacclimation somewhere in the shipping chain. Was the animal eating (ie generating sand)?
DJ
DJ
JonnyD91
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He was 4 years old thats why im confused. Always on the walls and rocks eating algae. however for the passes week before his death he had been falling off the walls alot.
Well then, it certainly wasn't an acclimation issue. The 3rd leg would then be disease.
What's the pH of your system? Do u get wide swings between AM/PM?
Anything else that you've changed in the last month, or so.
DJ
JonnyD91
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temp - 79.8 - 80.1
ph low - 8.16
ph high - 8.26
cal -~ 480
alk ~ 8.6
mag ~ 1200
nothing really changed. About a month or so ago i did lose a clam i had for years. i did find a large nassuris snail eating the clam from underneath because the bottome was exposed from the rock it was on. now i dont know if it was eating it because the clam was slready dying or because the snail killed the clam. I have notice on more than one occasion that large nassuris snail eating things like my turbos. weird
ph low - 8.16
ph high - 8.26
cal -~ 480
alk ~ 8.6
mag ~ 1200
nothing really changed. About a month or so ago i did lose a clam i had for years. i did find a large nassuris snail eating the clam from underneath because the bottome was exposed from the rock it was on. now i dont know if it was eating it because the clam was slready dying or because the snail killed the clam. I have notice on more than one occasion that large nassuris snail eating things like my turbos. weird
JonnyD91
New member
how can you tell/confirm?
Without shell examination post mortem it can be difficult, but the easiest way to tell is to put a new live clam or oyster in there. Heck it can even be one of those little neck clams (Tapes sp) from the grocery store. Just make sure it's alive (shells shut tight). If he makes repeated beelines for it upon introduction then he's gotta go.
Post a pic if you can.
DJ
Post a pic if you can.
DJ
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