Palys looking badly, need help

[Mikey777]

Hello guys!

I have a 10g tank which is now 4 months old, still trying to keep NO3 level down to acceptable rates with weekly water changes up to 50%. I admit, my tank is rather overcrowded, but I simply cannot give up on any of those fishes and try to stabilize water conditions. My green palys (protopalythoa psammophila) nowadays are very badly looking (see pic) with very many polyps closed and melting excessively and I really want to understand if that's really nitrate thing which is influencing... other polyps on same rock, which are still open, have either unnatural shape or I can see brown spots on their discs.

I remember even 2 months ago I have had same NO3 level problems, but palys looked much better. They're positioned almost at top in the tank (4x8w 10K bulbs, this is only type which fits onto tank I have) and under direct constant flow of pump.

I thought maybe decreasing feeding for the fishes have made them starve, now I try to feed them with syringe with liquid plankton, dunno if that will help matters...

Any ideas what to do would be welcome!

Mike

 

[Marchingbandjs]

Runing a Pskimmer?, what do you have stocked int he tank

 

[Mikey777]

Nope, no skimmer... cant find one that fits my tank size (my tank is ~10g Resun DMC-400 China made). But I make water changes for like 50% weekly as an option. Inside the tank i have quite a big number of fishes,5 of them to be precise, for such small tank (no doubt nitrate is still not defeated completely).

 

[UltimateWarrior]

Try freshwater dipping them. Seems to help with my zoas when they are unhappy.
Submerge them and gently shake. The whole process shouldn't take much longer than a few minutes. This usually works to get rid of pests and parasites.

Additionally you should check your water params. either at home or at your LFS.

 

[Marchingbandjs]

What fish damn, i have to say wow thats a lot for that small

 

[Guygettnby]

what kind of fish are they? what kinda inverts do you have? some times when having a tank that small and having it over stocked the fish or inverts can play a big role in things.

what are your parameters?
have you tried dipping them yet? "not in fresh water btw" something like Revive or lugols?
what kind of lights? T5's? pc?
how much flow?

 

[Guygettnby]

double post

 

[glee]

Palys do not do well with a fresh water dip. Zoas are ok though. Do you have flatworms?

 

[Mikey777]

I got a clown, lawnmover blenny, yellow tang, bluestreak cleaner wrasse and a bicolor dottyback. other than these palys I have small frags of xenia, and that's it. no inverts, only shrimp was eaten by dottyback.

no, not yet tried to dip them. I think I may try dipping into lugols, if that may help.

lighting is 4 T5 lamps, 3x10K temp, 1 blue lamp. flow - one Koralia Nano pump is directly putting flow onto the rock with palys...

hope this info may give more info for consideration of the problem...

 

[GreatReefs]

I would be careful dipping or even moving this type. It tends to slime heavily when stressed or handled. Not sure if the slime is toxic but I would be careful maybe wear some gloves and goggles. This type of palythoa is pretty hardy. I would just do a few small 25% water changes over the course of a week and see how things turn out. Try to keep the water changes spaced out and aerate the new water for atleast 24 hours before using it.

 

[dalston]

You are Unbelievebly overstocked for a 10 gallon, I'm not even sure your tank would be suitable for 1 of those fish let alone all 5.

I would bet your nitrates are off the chart, could also be some ammonia there too. Get your water tested and check back in with the results.

I don't mean to sound harsh but I would seriously remove if not all those fish, everything but the clown.

 

[Friday Night]

Overstocked fish load for a 10 gallon
Ammonia
Stressed Palys

 

[luchie]

couldn't you use a hang on skimmer or a skilter from drsfostersmith.com. it is a combo skimmer and filter.

 

[Mikey777]

well, placing a skimmer may be somewhat difficult because of cover of my tank. it doesnt allow to place a hang-on unit. Ammonia is 0, nitrates are problematic, trying to deal with it by running constant water changes.
Question was - are palys really sensitive to nitrate level?

 

[luchie]

well, placing a skimmer may be somewhat difficult because of cover of my tank. it doesnt allow to place a hang-on unit. Ammonia is 0, nitrates are problematic, trying to deal with it by running constant water changes.
Question was - are palys really sensitive to nitrate level?

i don't think they are that sensitive to nitrate, unless the nitrates are really bad. i have palys in 5 different tanks and some of the parameters get away from me before i can correct them and still no problems with any of the palys. my guess is it may be something else. another thing you could do is toss a hang on the inside small refugium to naturally help correct whatever water problems may exist.

 

[leshnign]

I agree with Dalston, You have way to many fish in a 10gal. Do you have any type of cleaning crew in there, or just fish? IMHO I would take all but the clown out of there. As long as you have that many fish in that small of tank you'll never get control of the nitrates. Not to mention doing water changes all the time doesn't sound like you'll have any time to enjoy the tank. Good Luck

 

[luchie]

i agree about the overstocked fishtank. i had a pink tail trigger and a couple of big tangs in my 92 gallon along with other smaller fish and couldn't control the nitrates. got rid of the big 3 and everything calmed down and even keeping some sps now. water quality is great.

 

[Pufferpunk]

I simply cannot give up on any of those fishes

Because you care about them? Get those fish out of there! If you're going to keep fish, be kind to them & do the right thing.

 

[dalston]

... nitrates are problematic, trying to deal with it by running constant water changes.

Constant water change is just a bandaid to your problem, as long as you have those fish in there, you will be fighting a losing battle.

...
Question was - are palys really sensitive to nitrate level?

High level of nitrates, sure...