Friends Tank Needs Help

[FishHick]

My friend has had her 65 gallon tank since July 2006. She has hired a company to do maintenance on it. He told her she would only need to feed the fish brine every 3 days (she has an automatic flake feeder). She is having major problems. She has gone through at least 20 fish, all 20 of her snails have died, and she has gone through about 3 shrimps.

The guy only comes every 2 weeks. He did not instruct her to top off the tank during this time so she doesnt. He doesnt do water changes, and doesnt test the water. He just scrapes the sides, and tops it off. When he brings new fish, he doesnt acclimate them, just dumps them in and says there you go, and they are dead the next day. She doesnt have to pay for the fish replacements at least.

She wants to get her tank healthy so she can keep fish. Right now a chocolate chip starfish, 2 damsels and a yellow tang have survived.

I told her she needs to get a test kit and test her water. (I dont live near her or she could use mine).
She also needs to find out how many lbs of live rock she has. (Most of it looks like dead base rock from her pictures.)
I told her to keep it topped off with RO/DI water and also told her she needs to do water changes weekly.
Here is a picture of her tank, what else should she do? Sorry for the long post and thanks for your help

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[kau_cinta_ku]

1st off brine shrimp is not really a good food choice, it don't have much for nutrients in it. a good mix of diff. frozen flake food is best.

your right though she needs her own test kits, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, sg(refratometer) for the main ones cal. mag, and alk are also good ones to have so she can find out what is going on with the tank.

topping off with ro or rodi water herself is a good idea as it will keep the sg more stable

10 - 20% waterchanges every week is also a good thing to do.

IMO i would stop paying for the maintnance person to do this and have her do it herself so she gets the feel of what is going on with her tank, and can monitor it herself to see where the problems are. but without any testing numbers that is all i can help with.

 

[snuggle2me]

I would lose the maintanance guy and use the money you would save for fish that stay alive. I think you have come to the right place for great info. Start reading the new tank thread and that should get her started in the right direction towards maintaining her tank herself. Its not too hard to do. And if she has any bumps in the road just come back and ask questions. RC is great for the friendly people that are always willing to help out a new reefer

 

[Scuba_Steve]

Get her an account here on rc, and show her all the new to the hobby threads at the top of this forum. And have her fire that maint company!

 

[rustybucket145]

I might be missing something, but I don't see any powerheads, skimmers or overflows.... Hopefully they are just out of view in the pics....

I'd second loosing the maintence guy. He's making money hand over fist for doing pretty much nothing......

I'd replace the CC with Sand, Add some more rock. Can't tell what lights she has on it but it doesn't look like much.

The tank just needs some TLC and the maintance guy obviously isn't going to do it.... so will she?

 

[peterkay]

1st things first - Get rid of that maint. guy! He stinks! She's gonna end up doing 10x more work than him and pay him to scrub the walls a couple of times a month and kill her fish? Highway robbery.

She can do everything herself and she'll learn the basics in no time. Besides, i find that if you due your due diligence and ste everything up properly, saltwater is not as much work as everyone says it is. It just takes patience and a a regular maintenance routine.

Get her to sign up here, and then start her on a good book (I suggest the Concientious Marine Aquarist by Bob Fenner - the perfect beginner book). She'll be on the right track in no time.

 

[FishHick]

Thanks everyone! She does have a power head, heater, and hang on filter with protein skimmer. The protein skimmer doesnt work properly though because it never collects anything. Her lights are basic flourescent lights.

I think she is ready to get rid of they guy, but I think she got the tank because of the promise he made that she wouldnt have to do anything... I hope she will take it over and get it straight. I am going to give her some of my books next weekend when I see her, and tell her to join RC! It could be a nice tank. I feel bad for all the fish that died in the meantime

 

[mistergerardob]

If she just want to have a tank without all the work that comes with it, maybe she can find somebody else to do the work, if not is better to sell it.
Reef central is a great place to start learning the hobby if she wants to.
I think a big water change could help to begin. No more fish until she can test the water.