A few misc issues

Jamaica_sun · 03-20-2007, 12:09 PM

I came home the other day and my Tang and Clown had turned my Lawnmower Blenny into a main course. He was picked clean down to the bone. In my experience with fish, this is an act of extreme hunger. My problem is, I feed them plenty. In fact, my nitrates are on the high side and algae has been an ongoing issue. I am told due to over feeding). Today, I was missing my Clown, and just as I was trying to net the tang to send him back to my LFS I noticed the Clown in my hang-on over flow. He somehow made it into the drainage prefilter, up the siphon tube, and was grazing in the back-pak. Three questions

1) Should I get rid of the Tang or just accept that maybe there was a problem with the Blenny
2) How the heck do I keep the Clown out of my over-flow?
3) Is it possible for a shrimp, crab, snails, ets to live in the overflow? There seems to be a lot of algae and left over food particles there. What about in the sump itself, my sump water is pretty nasty when disturbed (by adding water). What can I put in there to catch what the filter and LR miss?

nemo79 · 03-20-2007, 12:13 PM

I would think that your blenny probably died and then everone was picking at it. Through experience when fish die most of the living creatures make a main course of it. As for your nitrates, I would suggest small water changes every few days, feed small amounts every other day, there is no need to feed everyday.

dragonflylures · 03-20-2007, 12:14 PM

First off how do you know the tang/clown killed your blenny? I know fish will pick at a dead one once it has died but doesn't mean they actually killed it. They just look guilty -- a lot of critters in the tank get a bad rap that way. As far as keeping things out of the overflow I use the blue filter material to allow water to pass but keep my inverts/fish out.
Hope that helps

Bruce · 03-20-2007, 12:58 PM

I agree, once somthing dies in a tank it means a free meal.

As for keeping the clown out of the overflow. I had to same problem, they like to jump into running water I think. Maybe try to protect the opening with some plastic or somthing...just make sure not to make it so it will jump into a dry area and die. Can you take a picture of where it is jumping into?

I would say that inverts and etc can live in the sump...but they might not be very happy. Is your sump more for filtration of more of a refugium?

glampka · 03-21-2007, 05:24 AM

Might try some of that plastic gutter guard to keep the clown out of the overflow. Think your emeralds may have started the feast & then the fish joined in.

sssnake · 03-21-2007, 05:53 AM

You may want to keep an eye on your coral banded shrimp.

It may not relate to your issue but I used to have a CBS and ended up returning him to my LFS because one morning I caught him.... he had a "head-lock" on my valentini puffer.