Hiding after 4 months

[rhunter513]

Hi

Please bare with me, I know this question is asked a lot and usually people just added fish within that week. This is a friends tank.

75g FOWLR - skimmer, sump, etc - good water params - bi-weekly water changes. His water was a bit on the cool side - mid 70's so I had him dump it up to high 70's

His fish have been in the tank for about 10 months. Tomato clown, blue tang and a six line wrasse. They hide constantly but will come out to eat. They are healthy and growing. He does have a lot of rock in the tank and its a bare bottom.

Too much live rock?
Bare bottom scares fish?
Water too cold?
Need to add schooling fish to act as dither such as blue/green chromis?
Still just need more time to settle?
Water too cold?

Thanks

 

[snorvich]

Hi

Please bare with me, I know this question is asked a lot and usually people just added fish within that week. This is a friends tank.

75g FOWLR - skimmer, sump, etc - good water params - bi-weekly water changes. His water was a bit on the cool side - mid 70's so I had him dump it up to high 70's

His fish have been in the tank for about 10 months. Tomato clown, blue tang and a six line wrasse. They hide constantly but will come out to eat. They are healthy and growing. He does have a lot of rock in the tank and its a bare bottom.

Too much live rock?
Bare bottom scares fish?
Water too cold?
Need to add schooling fish to act as dither such as blue/green chromis?
Still just need more time to settle?
Water too cold?

Thanks

What are the water parameters? (SG, Ca, Alk, Mg) The temperature is fine; I keep all of my tanks at 76F. Time of existence should not be an issue. If you want dithering fish, most chromis may not do well in the long run as they ween out the weakest. What other fish?

 

[GoingPostal]

Is there a lot of activity around the tank? Any chasing or aggression?

 

[rhunter513]

I don't have specific water params - he doesn't test as its just a fish only with live rock - bi-weekly water changes is enough.

Fish = clown, six line, blue tang. Tank is in a basement - mostly quiet. No aggression in the tank that I know of.

 

[xxtriggermanxx]

I don't have specific water params - he doesn't test as its just a fish only with live rock - bi-weekly water changes is enough.

.

Not trying to be a jerk, but it's not enough. If he is having an issue the more information you can provide the people you are asking for help the better. What if your friend is making his replacement water incorrectly. this could become an issue over time as two water changes a month are being done.
As far as the fish "blue Tang" do you mean Hippo or atlantic blue ? if it's a hippo they often hide if they are stressed. ether way wishing your friend figures things out. good luck.

 

[snorvich]

I am still curious about SG, how it is measured, and how water change water is made up (RO/DI)?

 

[rhunter513]

Thanks guy/gals. I am going to take my refractometer and test kits to his place and compare results. I'll get back to you on results. And I will find out more about specific species. He is using RO that he makes himself - I did check that out and IO Reef Crystals.

What I am looking for are reasons that might be related to his set-up. He has a lot of live rock, does that cause a lot of hiding. The tank is bare bottom, does that somehow cause stress? - glass reflection.

I will get back to you with numbers asap

Thanks

 

[piusma]

I haven't seen fish stressed out from their reflection, if anything, they become aggressive towards their reflection and constantly stay in the front of the tank by the glass.

 

[aquaph8]

You can also rule out the live rock being the cause. Happy fish come out and beg for food every chance they get (atleast most of them). Something is stressing these fish.

 

[rhunter513]

Ok i did some testing. The results are not good but we have a plan to improve the numbers. Also after talking to my friend some more, turns out he moves the rock around a lot while doing water changes which I think is contributing to the fish stress.

The numbers:
Temp - 77
SG - .023 - his hydrometer matched my refractometer but is he is ordering a refractometer
Ph - 78/79 - only had an API tester so not the most accurate.
NH3/NH4 - 0ppm
NO2 - 0ppm
NO3 - 2.5 - tested with a seachem kit ~ should that be lower with a fish only tank?
CA - 350 - salifert
dKh - 6.2 - salifert

We know he needs to get that Ph and dkh up asap but we want to do it slowly. Our plan is a two part buffer, B-ionic. I am looking for advice on a method to slowly raise dKh - thus Ph so we don't further stress the fish. I use B-ionic with my nano so I am familiar with the buffer but I have never have to raise the Ph/Dkh that much?

Thank again for the help!