Inverts leaving bases!!

evie · 01-03-2005, 02:15 AM

Hi all!!

I'm brand new to your site and forum, and desperate for some help! A little background first: we own a 350litre marine tank, that took a huge crash about 18months ago, when some unsafe live rock was added by our inexperienced housesitter, who thought he was doing us a big favour while we were away. We don't know what exactly it was, but we had a total wipe out, of just about everything in our system. the only survivors were a couple of hermits crabs, two blue damsels, two humbug damsels and a snail or two.

Obviously we were devastated, as we love and enjoy all our animals dearly. In that time, I started a new job, and my hubby started studying again part time, so we were pretty busy, and decided to just leave the system as is for now, (after taking out the offending rock), and just try to keep the critters that was left alive, with lots of TLC and lots of water changes.

They have all surviced, and we have managed to add a boxer shrimp to the team of die hards in there, which is also still going strong. Recently we decided to try and get the whole thing going again, and shopped around for a reputable stockist (we had a brilliant one, but he retired and closed his shop in the mean time), and we found one about two weeks ago.

We've been testing water, and so far, all seems to be normal and stable. So we purchased some mushrooms, as they are recommended to be rather tough little guys. They've been doing great, but since we added them a week ago (they were all on one dead coral), they have slowly, one by one, been leaving their original rock, and are moving all over the tank now. They seem healthy and happy to be where ever they are now tho. What could be the problem? Is this normal? We have very little experience with the soft corals, as we basically had a very stable system before the crash, and have so pathetically little trouble shooting experience!

Also, yesterday morning, we got a coupld of large hawaiian fan worms, a spotted mandarin male, and 4 smallish cleaner shrimps. They were all healthy in the shop, we saw them eat. We did the normal slow introduction of them all when we got home, and eventually, they went into the big tank. From about 10minutes (maybe less) after we put them in, the shrimp started looking unhappy, flopping around, falling over etc, and within about 3 hours, all 4 the cleaner shrimps were dead (our own boxer is fine tho). Everything else appears to be in perfect health. This morning, after lights on, both the fanworms were out of their tubes (I didn't even KNOW they could do that!!), but appeared OK, apart from the fact that their fans were not fully extended. Now, when I got home, one was dead, and the other one (still out of his tube), seems to be dying. The rest of the tank is happy and active, the nitrites, ph and calcium tests normal.

What could this be? I phoned the supplier, and they said that they had no other complaints, and that their stock is healthy.

They only suggested that I bring in some water for them to test, which is a bit of a mission, as they are 60km's away from me. The guy I spoke to there also doesn't seem to know why they mushrooms leave their rock, or why the tubeworms left their tubes.

Help please!!

Bruce · 01-03-2005, 03:43 PM

hmm so its just the inverts...have u ever put any copper in the tank?...also what are the water parameters... It sounds to me like there might be somthing not invert friendly in the water.....also after i read the post again...i am concerned about the bad rocks or w/e it was...it might have been better to...dare i say... throw everything out (ie rocks and sand...but that might be too extreme...)...because if those rocks r still in there they might be what is causing it since...most inverts r more sensitive to such things....

Bruce · 01-03-2005, 03:45 PM

o also...the fan worms might not have left they might have simply detached their crowns...they do this when unhappy but they usually grow them back unless somthing is wrong...and i have also never heard of the shroom leaving the rock

Birdlady · 01-03-2005, 04:39 PM

Hi There Evie!

Welcome to 3 Reef!

I am thinking, perhaps nitrates may be to blame? Do you test for that?

What was wrong with the rock? if you know, was it not from the ocean? or of the proper type? Perhaps there is a residual mineral or chemical that leached into the water?

Keep us posted...we will do our best to help you out!

JohnO · 01-03-2005, 06:13 PM

Evie,

Could you also check the SG of the water, low SG could also be the culprit.

John :-)

evie · 01-03-2005, 11:03 PM

thanx for all the replies, guys!! OK, it was definitely the whole fanworm getting out, as it was the whole wormy thingy with the crown on top.

We did take out all the rocks (which was by the way from the ocean in Mosambique, waiting in our quarentine tank, which the house sitter thought should go into the main tank), but left the ones we had in before, but did much more frequent water changes for quite a while after that. SG is pretty stable, and we have never treated with anything containing copper (as far as I know) - but can I test for copper?

Also, haven't tested for nitrates, only have nitrite kit, but will test for nitrates asap.

The fish are all still happy and going strong, the boxer shrimp, hermits and snails are all well and happy, and the mushrooms seem to be happy, although they are mostly spread all over the place now.

I am changing the acitvated carbon today too, and will try and get a water sample somwhere where they can test it for me for everything.

Thanx again for the advice!! Over here, it is rather difficult to get objective advice, as the stores just want to sell you stuff, and half of them don't really know what they're doing that much either. Our range of marine products are also pretty limited, but probably sufficient.

Cheers!!

Matt Rogers · 01-04-2005, 10:01 AM

Hi, welcome to 3reef, thanks for joining!

Since you have a boxer shrimp and hermits that are doing well that might rule out copper. (Yes there are test kits for copper.) Perhaps your acclimation of the new cleaner shrimps was a bit rushed? They are pretty sensitive and require more time and care in the introduction.

Mushrooms will detach and move around, that is normal.