Greetings!
I'm kind of new at this... just getting back into reefing after almost 20 years out of the hobby...
I set up my 78 gal with 20 gal sump back in July and started the cycle with 80lbs of CaribSea, a fuge full of miracle mud and eventually 50lbs of ReefCleaners dry rock. Nearly four months later and I'm finally fully cycled. I used the pure ammonia method. Went through a three week nitrite spike, and then a few weeks of super high nitrates. The tank was cycled when all of the levels were at 0 and I could give it a decent dose of ammonia on any given evening and all the levels were back to 0 by the next evening. I had a big diatom bloom half way through, but it was mostly solved with a water change. There is now a moderate amount of diatoms in the tank, no other algae as of yet.
So... I waited until levels were steady for a week plus, and then contacted ReefCleaners for my custom Cuc. Per John's recommendation I ordered 50 dwark ceriths, 17 nassarius, 17 regular ceriths, 16 nerites, 14 hermits, 2 emerald crabs,a ball of chaeto and a package of reef pods. They came in the mail last Tuesday, and I had them in the tank within a half hour of delivery.
Here's where it all goes downhill... aside from the two emeralds, which came in just about DOA (John quickly refunded me - he's awesome, didn't even ask questions), everything looked good and healthy. So I followed the ReefCleaners acclimation instructions, let them float for about half hour for the temp to adjust, discarded the packing water and dumped them in. Made sure no one was upside down. The nassarius all took off, as did the nerites and hermits. The regular ceriths stuck their feet out but never moved. I flipped them, but they'd be back on their sides with their feet sticking out a few hours later. The dwarf ceriths never came out at all, only four or five ever crawled away. Within two days, the ceriths, who had never moved, were all empty shells save one. At that point, the nassarius, who had mostly climbed the glass, had fallen down and were just sticking their feet up. Still no movement from the dwarf ceriths. The nerites were still going strong. Within another two days (6 days in), the nerites were falling off the glass and rocks, and starting to act very lethargic. When they fell, they'd just stick their feet out. I'd flip them and they'd start going again, just to fall again. Nassarius were mostly dead, just a few left and not moving. Still no movement from the dwarf ceriths. Got home Thursday after work (it had been been 9 days) and found every remaining snail dead, including all nerites. They all failed the sniff test.
The twist is that the hermits are all still very much alive and seemingly very happy. I don't think they're the reason for the mass snail die-off - none seemed interested in any snails until dead, save one bigger hermit who was quickly banished to the fuge. I've bought every test kit available to see if the problem might be with my levels, but everything is seemingly perfect:
Ammonia: 0 (even with all the die-off, it's remained at almost 0 the whole time. awesome.)
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 0
pH: 8.0
Phosphates: 0
Copper: 0 - was really worried about this but it's consistently 0.
Calcium: 480ppm
Alk: 7dKH
Gravity: 1.025 (refractometer)
Temp: 79.3
I use water from the tap that has been run through my RO filter. I use API kits to test levels. Knowing some folk's skepticism about API's reliability, I went and verified that my kits are all accurate by bringing water to the LFS and having them test as well.
I don't know what to do at this point. I've spent hours Googling, but to no avail. I know I should keep doing water changes, but how am I supposed to know if water changes are solving the problem without having to risk more live animals? Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
I'm kind of new at this... just getting back into reefing after almost 20 years out of the hobby...
I set up my 78 gal with 20 gal sump back in July and started the cycle with 80lbs of CaribSea, a fuge full of miracle mud and eventually 50lbs of ReefCleaners dry rock. Nearly four months later and I'm finally fully cycled. I used the pure ammonia method. Went through a three week nitrite spike, and then a few weeks of super high nitrates. The tank was cycled when all of the levels were at 0 and I could give it a decent dose of ammonia on any given evening and all the levels were back to 0 by the next evening. I had a big diatom bloom half way through, but it was mostly solved with a water change. There is now a moderate amount of diatoms in the tank, no other algae as of yet.
So... I waited until levels were steady for a week plus, and then contacted ReefCleaners for my custom Cuc. Per John's recommendation I ordered 50 dwark ceriths, 17 nassarius, 17 regular ceriths, 16 nerites, 14 hermits, 2 emerald crabs,a ball of chaeto and a package of reef pods. They came in the mail last Tuesday, and I had them in the tank within a half hour of delivery.
Here's where it all goes downhill... aside from the two emeralds, which came in just about DOA (John quickly refunded me - he's awesome, didn't even ask questions), everything looked good and healthy. So I followed the ReefCleaners acclimation instructions, let them float for about half hour for the temp to adjust, discarded the packing water and dumped them in. Made sure no one was upside down. The nassarius all took off, as did the nerites and hermits. The regular ceriths stuck their feet out but never moved. I flipped them, but they'd be back on their sides with their feet sticking out a few hours later. The dwarf ceriths never came out at all, only four or five ever crawled away. Within two days, the ceriths, who had never moved, were all empty shells save one. At that point, the nassarius, who had mostly climbed the glass, had fallen down and were just sticking their feet up. Still no movement from the dwarf ceriths. The nerites were still going strong. Within another two days (6 days in), the nerites were falling off the glass and rocks, and starting to act very lethargic. When they fell, they'd just stick their feet out. I'd flip them and they'd start going again, just to fall again. Nassarius were mostly dead, just a few left and not moving. Still no movement from the dwarf ceriths. Got home Thursday after work (it had been been 9 days) and found every remaining snail dead, including all nerites. They all failed the sniff test.
The twist is that the hermits are all still very much alive and seemingly very happy. I don't think they're the reason for the mass snail die-off - none seemed interested in any snails until dead, save one bigger hermit who was quickly banished to the fuge. I've bought every test kit available to see if the problem might be with my levels, but everything is seemingly perfect:
Ammonia: 0 (even with all the die-off, it's remained at almost 0 the whole time. awesome.)
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 0
pH: 8.0
Phosphates: 0
Copper: 0 - was really worried about this but it's consistently 0.
Calcium: 480ppm
Alk: 7dKH
Gravity: 1.025 (refractometer)
Temp: 79.3
I use water from the tap that has been run through my RO filter. I use API kits to test levels. Knowing some folk's skepticism about API's reliability, I went and verified that my kits are all accurate by bringing water to the LFS and having them test as well.
I don't know what to do at this point. I've spent hours Googling, but to no avail. I know I should keep doing water changes, but how am I supposed to know if water changes are solving the problem without having to risk more live animals? Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
