need quick help!

[Jim_Leyland]

for some reason im going through a really bad water phase and i don't know what's causing this.. if someone is local around kent and could hold my RTBA and my pompom ( the ends are starting to curle up) so it doesn't die i would really be greatful! i checked my rbta this morning and his mouth appears to be open, not sure what you consider gaping or not, anyways if you can help me out call me or pm me.. 330-671-8880 thanks! how long do i have b4 my rbta kicks the bucket if his mouth is gaping?
~ Jim

 

[stevestank]

Do some research on wetwebmedia. There's quite a few scenarios that could explain the open mouth. Basically, moving the RBTA might stress it to its demise... If it's mouth is open, it might be simply expulsing detritus. Did you feed it a huge piece of shrimp lately? Sometimes they have a hard time with large food and have to open the mouth for a while to get rid of it. Check your parameters. SG, PH, etc... My pompom's clench once in a while... every night when the lights go out. I'm willing to take your RBTA but hesitant if it is indeed ill. When they go... they go quickly. Added stress can accelerate death.

 

[Jim_Leyland]

my sg is fine as is my ph, my alk was pretty low almost off the charts and my amonia was way high i found some xenia that i had before that was spreading and that had died for some reason that was decaying, i assume this is what caused my amonia spike, i removed it and did a 5 gallon wc, im out of salt now so im gonna have to go get some more, i haven't feed my rbta since last wenesday hes been moving almost everyday somewhere new in the tank.. its been over 2 weeks since i got him, shoulda found a spot he likes by now! guess ill just do a big water change and that should get my water back in check, hopefully its not to late!

 

[stevestank]

Make sure the water your water change is "in check" i.e. same temp and s.g. Take care to not add any stress to your rbta. Your amonia shouldn't spike with 100 pounds of liverock in a 75 tank. Sounds like you are into some sort of mini crash. Did you mistakenly add something in your water over the past 8 days or so? Did your S.G. or PH drift considerably in a short period of time? I caught myself siphoning a little cyanobacteria out of my tank while my top-off system was pumping fresh RO water with no salt. Glad I caught my mistake and quickly mixed up some salt to bring my SG back in check. Think back and try to identify something you did to change your water parameters including temperature in the past week or so... How's your circulation? RBTA's like a little flow.

 

[Jim_Leyland]

for flow i have a mag7 return from my sump and a penguin 1140 i just plugged in the other day, the only thing i added lately was 3 bottles of pods from kevin, and when i was floating my mandrian the bag did tip over and the stores water got in my tank but it was a very little bit, i never really check my sg when im mixing i just put 1 cup in for every 2 gallons, my amonia was around 3.0 when i checked it yesterday! That's when i changed 5 gallons b/c that's all the salt i have, im gonna go check it again, my alk has been low for awhile but i added some baking soda to help bring it back up.. i don't know im at a loss right now, just hope i don't lose anything else.. so far just a few pieces of pulsin xenia

 

[stevestank]

You might call the lfs and ask if they are running copper. The mandarine's water may be the culprit. Small concentrations of copper may cause invertebrate die off and an ensuing amonia spike. I usually mix 4 cups of water into my 5 gallon buckets to make 0.125 sg water. Perhaps copper from the mandarine bag, too much baking soda, too little salt, temp shock from your water change, and enough decomposing matter in the 3 bottles of pods caused the problems. Be careful what you dump in your tank. I'm not sure how long pods and other organisms hang around in a pop bottle with no air. When I looked at those bottles, I saw plenty of sinking and floating matter and a "few" swimmers. Was the floating and sinking matter decomposing? I have no experience with that sort of thing... Lots to think about. I think there are things you can put in your tank to take copper out and lower amonia. Be careful, measure, and take it slow. Sometimes making corrections to your parameters too fast will compound your woes.

 

[serpentman]

Jim, Are you considering the rock I gave you as part of your LR? If so, that could be your problem. If you recall, I told you that it came from a FOWLR and may have been exposed to copper and therefore shouldn't be used in a reef.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=927431

 

[stevestank]

Uh Oohh... If serpent man's diagnosis is correct... your inverts are in big trouble. Do your own research. I found this:

Whenever you have coral rock that has been used in other aquariums and you are not sure whether copper may have been used in the tank that the rock was previously in (or if you are sure that copper WAS used), a treatment outlined below will make sure that the copper is removed and that the coral rock can safely be used in a reef aquarium.

The procedure is really simple.

Here is what you will need

1 or 2 buckets
Muriatic acid
Plastic or Latex gloves
A plastic sheet to put underneath the buckets to avoid spilling

About 2 hours of time (more if you have a great deal of rock to
treat, less if you only have one or two pieces)

----------------------------------------------------------------

- Take a bucket and fill it with regular water.
- Add 1 tbsp of Muriatic acid to the bucket per gallon of water
- Wear your gloves
- Stir to mix the water and the Muriatic acid
- Place one or two pieces of rock in the bucket (depending on size)
- Swish the rocks around in the water/muriatic acid mixture
- Let sit for about 15 minutes
- Empty the bucket
- Rinse the rock with freshwater
- Refill the bucket and add muriatic acid again
- Put the rock back in and swish it around
- Let sit for 5 minutes
- Take rock out and rinse it under freshwater
- Empty the bucket
- Refill it one more time and add muriatic acid again
- Put the rock back in and swish it around a couple of times.
- Let sit for 5 minutes
- Now perform a copper test on the water in the bucket
- If no copper is detected you are finished but rinse the rock well
to get all traces of the acidic water out of it.

- If copper is detected repeat the above steps until no copper is
detected when you test.

- Usually the amount of copper will be removed in 3 or 4 washings
with acidified water but sometimes you may need to do it a couple of times more if the amount of copper on the rocks was high.

The ultimate test is to place the rock in a bucket that contains
just plain water and let it sit overnite.

Test in the morning to make sure you cannot detect any copper. If
you do not find any the rock is ready for use in your reef tank.

Be careful when using Muriatic acid. It burns holes in your carpet!
If it gets on your hands (if you did not use gloves) rinse
immediately with plenty of water.

Dispose of the water that contains muriatic acid in the normal
manner.

Of course the rock will not have any "live" properties after this procedure.

I would look up other things to try. Simply put... Rock with copper in your reef tank will kill your inverts. You might have 25 rotting dead snails contributing to your amonia prob.

 

[rwp1202]

Jim,

Let's back up a little bit. What kind of water are you using for your water changes? If you are using treated tap water, that could be your ammonia source. Are you testing for Ammonia in your new salt water before you do the water change?

If you are using RO and your membrane is a little old, you could still be getting ammonia from there. This happened to me a few years back and the results were similar to what is happening to you.

 

[Jim_Leyland]

my rbta did die everything else is doing ok now, i buy my RO water from the store. i am using the rocks but before i put them in my tank i put them in my 20 with some snails and a piece of xenia for a week and nothing died so i figured it would be ok in my tank. none of my snails have died i see them come out at feeding time so that's not the issue either, i think that the rbta was slowly dieing for some reason and was releasing alot of amonia? since its been out i did some small water changes and everything is almost back in check!

 

[EYESEEU]

Sorry about your loss but please take the advice of others with the yrs experience that were telling you to wait on adding certain things to your take so soon.

 

[Jim_Leyland]

just because a tank is "new"ly set up doesn't mean that everything in it is new. someone can take a brand new tank and it be their first but get enough live rock, sand, that came out of a well established tank and whatnot and set it up and put whatever they want in it.. will everything die? doubt it, i agree maybe i shouldn't have added it yet, just like my mandrian that everyone says i shouldn't have added yet but he has put on noticable weight in my "new" tank...