dinos, red slime, ich, hair algae, and now missing fish.. The cursed tank.

[superdave104]

So, as you can see from the title, ive been fighting a tough battle. i feel like im just doing something wrong and looking for insight.

ill give you a brief background..

Started originally with a 40g tank. After it was up for almost a year we decided to move to the 55g long (we felt that our blue hippo would enjoy pacing the long tank and have more room to grow).

In this move, we used our old sand, rock and filtration. We added more rock, more sand, topped off the new tank with RO water.

Shortly after the new tank was up and running we noticed dinoflagellates taking over. As well as what seemed to be a small spot of red slime.

In addition to the new issues, our blue hippo now had ich. we assumed because of the stressful move.

We immediately started combating the issues:
For the ich, we dosed in Protoshield, and Garlic with ginger root in the food.

For the dinos and red slime, we removed some small rocks and scrubbed clean in ro saltwater, then scrubbed the rock left in the tank and attempted to net as much of the floating gunk as possible. Lastly, we adjusted the lighting schedule to less intensity, less daylight hours, and added a nightly 2hr blackout.

During this time we added a new HOB skimmer (aquamaxx HOB-1) and another powerhead to increase flow.

Also, our original filtration broke. So we overnighted a Hydor Proffesional 350 and installed.

About a week later:
The ich has been defeated. :uzi:
The dinos and red slime are returning, but very minimal. :worried:

Next we decided to dose some red slime remover and scrub the rock. It really cut down the regrowth. But after a few days we decided to dose again.

After another week:
Dinos and red slime are 95% gone. :uzi:

At this point all of the fish and corals are doing great and seem happier than ever. The fish are eating very well and constantly playing in the powerhead current. :beer:



Yesterday..

One of my lyretail Anthias has gone missing. Assuming he was just hiding in the LR we thought nothing of it until he didnt come out to eat. Everyone else is fine.

There is also a noticeable amount of hair algae now growing, and what looks to be the return of red slime :headwally::deadhorse:

Today..

The Anthias is still missing. And now my other anthias was laying on the bottom of the tank, still breathing, but not going to make it. I tried to get him but he wedged under a rock. So i let him be.

Later this evening i go to feed the tank. both anthias are now missing. I assumed passed and buried in the rock..

All other fish, inverts, and all corals look happy and healthy.

Why will this tank not give me a break.

Our last water test:
Ammonia - 0.10 ppm
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Phosphate - 0
pH - 8.1
Gravity - 1.023
Temp. 79-80

Just trying to figure out if im doing something wrong here. and if so what in the world can it be???
:angryfire::angryfire:

 

[gone fishin]

I will take a shot

If you had ich, then the garlic and ginger did nothing for the ich. I suspect it will resurface again.

I believe some of the red slime treatments will lower the oxygen levels. The anthias may have succumbed to low oxygen, ich or a combination.


The presence of the green hair algae and others would indicate elevated nutrients even though your tests are showing zero. I would also suspect some dead spots flow wise in the tank.

Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[superdave104]

I will take a shot

If you had ich, then the garlic and ginger did nothing for the ich. I suspect it will resurface again.

I believe some of the red slime treatments will lower the oxygen levels. The anthias may have succumbed to low oxygen, ich or a combination.


The presence of the green hair algae and others would indicate elevated nutrients even though your tests are showing zero. I would also suspect some dead spots flow wise in the tank.

Just my 2 cents worth.

I read up a lot on the ich treatments and had little faith in it myself. But honestly after i fed them the garlic and ginger it was gone the next day and never came back. this was weeks ago. Although i dont doubt it will sprout back up at any time i have to say with it just vanishing i gained confidence in the method. Lastly i constantly check each fish daily for signs of its return and nothing has showed up.

The red slime treatments worried me because of the potential for negative effects due to low oxygen. One of my powerheads points towards the surface plus the filter return really causes quite a crazy water surface. secondly my skimmer puts tons of air into the water and at the time was still breaking in causing some microbubbles. i felt oxygen levels were fine. plus if it were oxygen i feel like the other fish wouldve showed signs.

I dont doubt the elevate nutrient levels as ive lost trust in my tests. ill be purchasing a new (and unfortunately much more expensive) test kit soon.

As far as flow, one powerhead is on the far left of the tank. its pointing up and towards the rear of the tank. in the center stretching about two feet across is the filters tube return which sends multiple jets of water towards the front of the tank. on the far right i have my second powerhead which points about mid ways and towards the front of the tank. Flow could possible be improved im sure but not sure where at this point.

 

[gone fishin]

Have you considered setting up a GFO reactor? If phosphates are an issue the GFO will pull them out and you should see an improvement in the hair algae in a couple weeks depending on phosphate levels. This could help narrowing down the nutrients.

I suspect you got multiple issues. I have found to try and eliminate them one at a time rather than throwing a bunch of stuff at it.

 

[anthonys51]

also never reuse sand. sand traps a lot of dirt, reusing it for a new tank isnt worth the money / plus you also cant just pour sand on top of old sand. you can only do a little at a time

 

[superdave104]

todays update..

one of the anthias is confirmed dead as we saw our cleaner shrimp eating it. rip.


We retested the water and there was an ammonia spike. not sure if it was from the dying fish or what. so we did a 30% water change.

During the change we cleaned and netted all of the red slime, remaining dinos, and hair algae we could.

Also we moved the powerheads around to really focus on flow towards the rock, while providing surface agitation.

All remaining fish, inverts, and corals still seem to be very happy.

Thanks for all of your guys help/opinions. ill keep this updated.

 

[gone fishin]

That is a bummer about the Anthias. Hopefully the rearranged flow may yield some positive results.

 

[superdave104]

ok so as of today, both anthias are confirmed dead. There are no more dinos. Hair algae growth as stopped but the algae is still present. Now the red slime has returned. after the water change the red slime seemed to take off. we added one more dose of red slime remover but this time it seemed to have no effect.

 

[ericarenee]

WOW..

OK by any chance do you still have the 40 gallon tank..

First i do not think it was ich. with no images cant be sure it might be velvet. You do not cure ich with garlic.

Because of this

Ich (unconfirmed ) sounds like something else.

Dinos ( a almost never won expensive fight )

Red Slime ( Nutrient issue )
Hair algae (nutrient issue )

Your test prob do not show high phosphate and nitrate because its being consumed by the growth of the algae

I would DO a Complete restart.. With only having a 55 gallon tank a restart is your cheapest and best ..

qt the fish and corals ... buy new sand make new ro/di water clean the rock with peroxide .....

This is what i would do with such a small tank and that many issues...

even better jump up to a 70 or 90...... with a Sump...

Good Luck ...

 

[superdave104]

that sounds like a massive undertaking.

honestly as of now the only issue showing itself is the red slime. hair algae has stopped growing.

the ich ive had before. this round was only on the tang. i treated with protoshield, garlic guard in the food, and fresh ginger root. it went away immediately. its been a month or so since then with no further signs.

i know im asking for advice but a complete restart doesnt seem like the best idea to me. and i really dont want to put my fish through any more major stress.

 

[SeaTila]

I'm at the 6 month mark after moving established 120g to new 200g and very similar set of possible headaches. I had a rusty brown stringy "algae"/bacteria that covered everything and my well established purple macro-a was losing. Horrible. I noticed a drop in KH and PH at the time and was doing 20% water changes weekly, blowing off rocks and coral daily and throwing away microsocks fearing I caught dino. My phosphates were slightly elevated .05 I think.

 

[SeaTila]

I'm at the 6 month mark after moving established 120g to new 200g and very similar set of possible headaches. I had a rusty brown stringy "algae"/bacteria that covered everything and my well established purple macro-a was losing. Horrible. I noticed a drop in KH and PH at the time and was doing 20% water changes weekly, blowing off rocks and coral daily and throwing away microsocks fearing I caught dino. My phosphates were slightly elevated .05 I think.

I moved to kalk in my ATO but within 10 days my KH and CA dropped too much and kept needing water changes at 20% weekly.

Primary issue is the algae ID. I turned down and turned off lights, did a phosphate sponge and starved fish but as soon as lights back on and increase in intensity the bloom would return followed by water change and more bloom. I fixed it by increasing light intensity. At first got worse with dark red brown as lights were higher intensity but then the bubbled flagettes were less over 3 days and sand turned to light diatom brown and fading. I also realized my tank requires 100ml for part A and 100 ml for partb of kent tech cb to maintain levels to hold off the water changes and keep kh and ca high enough. The bottle states 10ml per 40g. Im my tank that 50ml and thats what I was dosing so within about 7 days my water kh and ca fell too much. kalk in the ato helped but it also was not enough at almost 2tsp per 1 gallon ato (I have a 2g per day evap) so in short order I needed a water change and over time the water changes weren't enough.

I may have had a mix of diatoms/brown algae and cyano but until I could maintain KH and CA daily without a drop and keep the radions at 55%+ intensity, the fish stress and blooms persisted.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

 

[superdave104]

Ok so an update. And so far its good news!

As it turns out, the red slime was misidentified. Apparently i had a case of red coraline algae. Went to the lfs and got the reccomended treatment and sure enough a couple days later its all dieing. As for the hair algae i also took the lfs advice and got a kole tang. He has been slowly eating all of the hair algae. So were not 100% done yet but everything seems to be heading in the right direction.

As far as the dead fish im just not sure what the issue was. Im assuming the first one died from disease or something and the other followed suit because theyre a schooling fish? We'll never know for sure.

 

[Sk8r]

Read up on the ich life cycle: it's like fleas---it feeds on fish, drops into the sandbed, comes back in greater numbers, feeds on fish, etc. Just because it's 'gone' only means it's gone to phase 2, etc. THere are several sticky threads atop this forum and in Reef Discussion and Fish Disease that may help you.
In general, don't dose ANYTHING into a new tank: let natural cycles establish and take care of problems. The sole exception is GFO to take care of excess phosphate. Never 'treat' a tank. Do that only in the qt/hospital tank.
To be sure this cascade of problems does not recur, leave fish out of this tank for at least 72 days. COncentrate on water quality and invert life until the ich has died out (72 days) and life will be a lot easier.

 

[heathlindner25]

What was the recommended treatment for the Coraline algae??

 

[superdave104]

Read up on the ich life cycle: it's like fleas---it feeds on fish, drops into the sandbed, comes back in greater numbers, feeds on fish, etc. Just because it's 'gone' only means it's gone to phase 2, etc. THere are several sticky threads atop this forum and in Reef Discussion and Fish Disease that may help you.
In general, don't dose ANYTHING into a new tank: let natural cycles establish and take care of problems. The sole exception is GFO to take care of excess phosphate. Never 'treat' a tank. Do that only in the qt/hospital tank.
To be sure this cascade of problems does not recur, leave fish out of this tank for at least 72 days. COncentrate on water quality and invert life until the ich has died out (72 days) and life will be a lot easier.

Yeah ive had to deal with ich plenty of times. i know it sounds dumb but the methods i used really did work.

 

[superdave104]

What was the recommended treatment for the Coraline algae??

Sorry im not sure why i wrote coraline. What i meant to say was red cynobacteria.

for that i used this stuff called chemiclean. it worked pretty well. id say 90% was deaad and gone after 48hrs.

 

[GoVols]

Thank for clearing that up, Coraline is a good thing.

Your Aquamaxx HOB-1 is hands down the best small tank skimmer on the market.
Ran one for 2 years.

If you have Dino's or hair algae, as a last resort DINO X (Algae X) - Fauna Marin
will get the job done. You must follow direction to a tee.

I run a GFO reactor with Rowaphos. I never run a reef without it.

 

[GoVols]

Sorry im not sure why i wrote coraline. What i meant to say was red cynobacteria.

for that i used this stuff called chemiclean. it worked pretty well. id say 90% was deaad and gone after 48hrs.

Chemiclean is good but if you don't fix the cause cyano will keep coming back.