Saltwater help

Marbles · 07-05-2009, 10:37 AM

I have a 80 gallon tank and I got up this morning and two of my fish were color changed and on side. I have lots of bubbles and purple alage on the ground. Help what do I do? I tested PH, Nitrate and ammonia all is okay. But they are bad.

Judge · 07-05-2009, 10:46 AM

Sorry for your troubles Marble and welcome to FTF, we are here to help. We need more info in order to try and help though. How long has the tank been up..etc. There is a front page article about "Getting Help" that suggests some of the info that should be included so we can aid you as quickly as possible. Please provide more info so we can help.

Marbles · 07-05-2009, 11:34 AM

Have had it going for about 3 months. Have live rock and one frogspawn(?) 2 sea anemones. A filter system, a skimmer, and to blowers. Every thing has been going great. Then on Friday put a new Lava Rock in that is the only thing new. The purple algae does leave the bottom some times and floats to the top. I try to skim it off when I catch it. The ground is covered with purple algae and one animani does not look good. Had one fish a blue hippo have itch he is in a tank by him self to get well. One fish after taken out of tank snapped out of it but the spotted clown has not. Is it normal to have a lot of bubbles up at the top?

Judge · 07-05-2009, 12:21 PM

No, there should not be alot of bubbles in the tank. 3 Months is a very new set up. How did you cycle the tank? Did you use the fish that you have now? I would remove the lava rock, not sure it is safe in the saltwater tank. Am I understanding that your Hippo has Ich? If he is not in the display tank, then I am also assuming you have a quarantine tank? Did you quarantine before placing in the main/display tank? Just some questions that I am sure others will ask.

Marbles · 07-05-2009, 12:38 PM

We had a 30 gallon first and let it go threw the stages with no fish for 2 months then we got clown and some domanos and frogspawn. Had it for about 1 month and was given a 80 gallon fish tank. Talked to a fish place and they told us to just move everything over to it and do saltwater changes for about a month and every thing should do good. So we did. we did get a bigger skimmer and it came with a nice filter system. So we had them all in it for about 2 months more and then got the blue hippo and a Medrian and granny something. They have been in the tank for about 3 weeks. About a week and half ago notes that Dorrie (blue hippo) had itch and so we movied him out in a 10 gallon tank and medicated him. Friday got the lava rocks from store and they said just get wet and put in tank and will be fine. Got one for med tank and one for 80 gallon tank. We have lost the spotted clown the Medrian came out of it okay.

Marbles · 07-05-2009, 12:53 PM

I am going to try to answer some of the questions on the page help. The tank size is 80 gallons. This tank is about 3 months old. Yes we have invertebrates if that is a star fish or animana. We use instant ocean salt. The Ammonia, Nitrate, and PH levels are all good. Don't know about KH never tested. salinity is in the black like it is suppose to be. Temp is 78. We have a skimmer and a under tank filter. Haven't changed filter since got it. Have the fancey lighting that does blue and white for coral. Do water change once a week. The salt is made as we need it. We feed twice aday. We don't use chemicals in the tank. The water is well water. Have only tested for Calcium and it is fine. I hope that this helps becouse I am very descarged but I love the tank.

Judge · 07-05-2009, 01:30 PM

Please don't get discouraged. The effort you put in now will come back ten fold in reward! Have you tested your well water before adding anything to see what all is in there? I have a well, but I only use that water for my freshwater tanks. I use Walmart RO/DI UV treated water in my SW tank. Salinity is in the black?? I keep a specific gravity of 1.023. I am a little concerned that the filter has not been changed in 3 months. I change my filter media every week. Of course you do not have much of a bioload so that does make some difference so you might could stretch to every other week.
Ok, just saw the other post. What are you feeding the Mandarin? Without having a well seasoned tank with loads of copepods I would be concerned that it could starve. Not trying to be a doom and gloomer but it really helps if you can research well ahead of making your selections for your tank mates. Hang in there, new tanks can have rough moments.

Marbles · 07-05-2009, 01:59 PM

The rocks and the back of the tank have lots of pods they said that we had plenty of food for it. My son does a lot of research befor we buy. We have desided, after this bat, that only hardy fish for the first year. The tank is the hardest to know what is right and wrong. When does the ground stay white? or does it? Is it best to get a 50 gallan garbage can and store saltwater in it for the changes? That way it is more cured then just fresh? What fish is good for eating the green I call it grass that is easy care and the purple on the ground. What should we start with I guess we need to think of that.

Judge · 07-05-2009, 02:16 PM

Good for you. I forgot to ask how many pounds of live rock you have? Good to know about the copepods.
Yes, I use a large square Rubber Maid tub for mixing/storing water. I am still a little curious about the well water thing. I had lots of algae issues before I upgraded to my 90. Even though I was using RO/DI to process my city water, I think it was still not nearly as pure as what I buy from Walmart.
If you are referring to the sand staying white, not sure it will ever stay pristine, but over feeding can cause all kinds of algae outbreaks. Algae problems, small and large, occur commonly. For the Cyanobacteria (red bubble slime stuff) There is a product called (oddly enough) Red Slime Remover, catchy name huh, that will work on it pretty good. This stuff is not really an algae, but is a bcateria caused from too much light and/or food.
On the "grass", I am assuming here that you are talking about green hair algae. I have had good results with a Lettuce Nudibranch, my Lawnmower Blenny, and my Foxface. Problem is, after all the hair algae is gone you will need to supplement with some algae sheets. My Foxface and Lawnmower go nuts for the stuff.
Again, water quality is issue #1 and I would test my well water before using it. JMO, I hope this helps some. Like I said, hang in there. Any tank under a year old is still considered a new tank.

Marbles · 07-05-2009, 02:26 PM

I think that on they way home from getting my son from work today we will pick up some walmart water for the change today to help all that has happened in the tank. We have I think 16 pounds of live rock. Not enough for the 80 but they said if we add more it would have to go threw the cycle again and we may loose all the fish. So we did not add more rock. Wish we did though. Are the fish you named easy to care for don't want to keep loosing fish that are not easy care. How long does it take to get the ich of blue hippo? It must of been bad for it still has it. Can it be treated every 12 hrs not every 24 or is that to harsh? Thank you so much for your help.