HELP with snails and algae!

[dale and Gina]

I have a 29 gal. reef tank with 6 corals, a purple sea anenome, 5 small fish, a sand star, a cleaner shrimp, 3 blue-knuckle hermit crabs, 25 small hermit crabs, live rock and sand. I have a hang-on protein skimmer and a canister with only "Phosguard" inside it. I perform several small water-changes per week. I have a few questions: My astera snails, larger snails and small hermit crabs keep dying and I'm getting gobs of rust-colored algae on everything. Should I be using carbon in my canister? What are the advantages and disadvantages of carbon? I'm not "feeding" my corals or anenome and they are thriving. I'm worried that if I do, that too many nutrients will be removed from the water that are beneficial to the animals, although I am aware that the majority of their life-supply comes through photosynthesis. Is the sand star eating the snails and small hermit crabs? What is the best way to minimize the algae? Finally, could it be that this rust colored algae could be making the hermit crabs and snails die? I bought a algae blenny once and it died soon after munching around in my tank. Just answering a few of these questions would be fine. Thanks, Dale

 

[Billy1234]

The rust color algae is diatoms. I don't know much about carbon though. Diatoms are normal in a new tank, if it's established already than you have a nutrient problem. I don't think the diatoms could be making the hermit crabs and snails die. Sorry I can't answer everything. More people will answer. Lastly,

[welcome]

 

[bertoni]

How long does it take the snails, etc, to die, and do you ever find any dismembered remains? You might have a predator in the tank. Also, has the tank or anything in it ever been treated for copper?

Carbon is a fine addition to the tank, IMO. It's not going to harm any of your animals.

The rust-colored algae might be diatoms, but could also be dinoflagellates, cyanobacteria, or a mix. It's usually a mix, and indicates the tank is getting more nutrient input than the live rock and animals can process or absorb.

What fish do you have? I don't keep more than three fish in my 29g tanks, 2 percula and a royal gramma, actually, and the tank has a refugium.

The sand-sifting stars typically don't do well in our tanks over the long term, and tend to starve after a year or a year and a half. Can you post a picture of yours? We might be able to identify it if you can.

 

[dale and Gina]

Snail and rust colored algae problems

Snail and rust colored algae problems

Jonathan: Thanks for taking the time to reply. The sand star is about 4" in diameter with 1/4" spikes that stick up and is multicolored. No suction cups. It could be eating the snails or just consuming them after they die. He piles the shells up in the back. I'm thinking about trading it in for a small sepent star. The large snail looked great at the dealer but was lethargic in my tank and then just stuck in one spot for a few days. The next thing I knew, a large hermit crab had made its shell its new home! I have a 2" blue tang, a mated pair of True Percula, a Christmas Wrass, and a small bi-color dottyback, a purple anenome (thriving), a sizeable frogspawn (thriving), a sizeable red torch (thriving), a carpet type coral (doing OK), a moon coral (doing OK) and a large feather duster worm (doing OK). A few weeks ago I introduced a small yellow-eyed Cole which brought in the Ick and died. The blue tang was the only fish that really suffered and I treated it with Thera+A. I know the product has copper in it but as you know the alternatives may be worse. Anyway, the tang is fine now, and believe me, it was a close one. I have had ten years experience with fresh water and have gotten into the salt only a few months ago. Any suggestions on how to reduce the rust-colored algae? Thanks ----Dale

 

[bertoni]

Well, since you've used copper in the tank, I wouldn't count on snails surviving. They seem very sensitive to it. Invertebrates in general are intolerant of copper.

That sounds like a lot of fish and anemones for the tank. You could consider a macroalgae refugium to try to keep the algae at bay. Over the long term, I think you'll need to remove some animals or move to a larger tank.