Brittle Star losing legs

yea it might be the nitrates,I had that problem to I cut back on my feeding and did more water changes. I do a 10% water change every week on my tanks seem to help and I use ro di water too ,do you have a ro unit for you top off water and water changes?to help it lower faster I used a nitrate reducer.

 

I use an RO/DI unit for top-offs and water changes. I am only doing 1/3 water changes once every 2 weeks, should I, instead do 10% water changes every week?

-Mike

 

try 10% every week see what it does,my kid has a 15gl reef tank she had the same thing and with red algea. so we cut back on feeding and did 10%sometimes more every week.her tank doing lot better then minenow.So we keep doing a 10%and no problems and one of my sea anemones split awhile back now my really big one looking like it might too.my problem was over feeding hope this helps you out.oh ya the brittle stars get really big and tend to knock over things in your tank.I had mine for about 2 years..gl

 

OK...I'm gonna start doing between 10 and 20% water changes weekly and will feed a little less and will keep you all posted about my nitrate levels...thanks all for the help...Karma all around!

 

My pleasure mirosh!

 

Alright everyone,

I think I may have discovered my problem with the high Nitrate levels (in the 20-30 ppm range). For some reason I wasn't thinking and was making the saltwater about a week before I actually put it in the tank and therefore it was just sitting there with a powerhead and heater waiting for the next water change...Stupid me didn't realize that as it just sat there, the Ammonia levels skyrocketted and began the whole nitrogen cycle right there in the bucket...thats where the high nitrate levels and sudden change in nitrate levels that killed my brittle stars came from! I can't believe I didn't think of that before!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, thanks all for the help...now my water changes are going to be done with freshly made water and will continue at 10% every week!

I can't believe I made such an obvious mistake and some of the animals died...I feel bad, but I guess they died in the name of the betterment of the tank and longer lives of future fish!

Thanks again and I will keep ya'll posted,
Mike

 

I have a 300 gallon SW holding bin in my garage......i only fill it every 7 months.......same with our work but we fill them weekly or 2x's a week. The cycle wont start unless there is organic matter in your container.

 

That's what I thought too...but there was a high level of Ammonia in the bucket (I tested just before putting the water in the tank)...must be from the dust or something...I don't know how, but the bucket was starting its own cycle! I'm gonna see if freshly made water fixes the problem!

-Mike

 

Has anyone else ever heard of this problem before? Salt water sitting in a bucket for a week starting its own cycle?

 

[quote author=SeA_SpLeNdEr link=board=Inverts;num=1104169773;start=15#26 date=01/10/05 at 22:36:18]I have a 300 gallon SW holding bin in my garage......i only fill it every 7 months.......same with our work but we fill them weekly or 2x's a week. The cycle wont start unless there is organic matter in your container.[/quote]

True, but as long as there is air in the container there will be organic material enough to start a cycle, it will only cycle as long as there is food, but cycle it will. You can put a perfectly clean container anywhere on this planet, fill it with saltwater and it will very quickly have enough bacteria spores to start the cycling process.

John