[petlover516]

a few things have been going on with my dad's 125 gal saltwater tank:
1. we have 2 blue devil damsels-a big one and a little one-the big one chases the little one around, but she is the one who looks torn up! i have seen our bt humbug chase her around, but never to a really aggressive state. whats going on?
2.our blue mandarin has a mysterious scar on his left gill.we don't know who did it( it is steadily healing)
3. our dog-faced puffer has a bunch of grayish spots on his stomach.
4.our cleaner shrimp is missing
5.our banded shark has been flashing and swimming upside down.
please help me with these problems!

 

[archer772]

We need water parameters (actuall numbers), has anything new been added to the tank??

 

[petlover516]

we got an ocellaris after i started the thread. we believe our ammonia might be a bit overrange, and the sg might be a little underrange. the ph is 8.6.

 

[petlover516]

anyone around to help?

 

[archer772]

Sorry but the best way for us to help you is for you to post the numbers of all your tests because without them it would just be guess at best.

 

[saltydad]

Need to know what the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels are. pH and SG too. The damsel aggressiveness doesn't sound unusual to me; these are aggressive fish, especially the humbug and blues. Don't add any new fish until you solve the problem you have now. Also, if you have access to a digital camera pictures of the tank and fish would be a great help They can be posted here easily.

 

[Hockeyref]

Yep.......Our damsel is a bully too:angler_fish:. We have thought about taking him back to LFS but he's way too fast to catch.

 

[petlover516]

this is our puffer. notice the spots.

 

[reefcrazy]

do you have a full tank pic. ?

 

[petlover516]

i'll put one in soon. you can check out our puffer in the gallery. i also noticed that the blue devil has some small white dots on her fins. the mandarins scares are healing, and we have come to the conclusion that the puffer probably ate the cleaner shrimp. we also believe that the spots are just spots that fail to change color with the puffer, who spends most of his time chocolate-brown but will fade to pure snow-white when he falls asleep. the ph is 8.6, sg is 1.022, and(don't ask me why-my dad does all maintenance for the tank) we don't do any other tests in a mechanical way. he just relies on the amount of bubbles on the top of the tank to get an ammonia reading, which has been slowly declining.

 

[petlover516]

here is that full tank pic:

 

[maeistero]

hmm...

your live rock doesn't appear to be in the full tank shot. the live rock also isn't consistent in coralline algae growth, different colors and types. new hobbiest?

if your dad doesn't have any nitrate/nitrite specs on a weekly basis, then that's a big problem. your shark will swim upside down when it's stressed, i would say it's because of the squared off tank and all of the added rock. they like rounded tanks as they don't see too well. check it's snout for damage after awhile. the puffer will have belly damage if it's sleeping on the bottom, especially if you are using crushed coral instead of aragonite sand. I seriously doubt you have enough copepods to support your mandarin for long, expect him to go. the white spots on that other fish are probably parasites, i would get rid of it asap before they hit your entire tank if it hasn't already.

your tank mates are all wrong. if your advice came from a lfs then you got ripped. find another honest one. or better yet, get a book.

good luck and stay away from damsels.

 

[petlover516]

we don't have any live rock. next time we go to BTJ's jungle or pets warehouse to get food i'll tell my dad to get a few pounds and the 2 test kits, and also a ph kit since he really doesn't have one-8.6 is his goal. the puffer sleeps snuggled up in the piece of bleached finger coral on the far left. we have crushed coral because my dad says that the shark might inhale the sand and die. there is a good layer of sand under the smooth-edged crushed coral that is mixed with with river-stone and rainbow rock. and NO my dad is not a beginning hobbyist. he started with a 10gal with some crabs at the age of 12. the mandarin has been in the tank for about 1 1/2 months. he seems to be eating algae off the clams and the algae wall(the left wall of the tank that we never scrub), and also snatches these little tiny things that float around the tank. we choose tank mates on our own will. we have tons of books on saltwater fish.

 

[savageAJC]

hmm...

your live rock doesn't appear to be in the full tank shot. the live rock also isn't consistent in coralline algae growth, different colors and types. new hobbiest?

if your dad doesn't have any nitrate/nitrite specs on a weekly basis, then that's a big problem. your shark will swim upside down when it's stressed, i would say it's because of the squared off tank and all of the added rock. they like rounded tanks as they don't see too well. check it's snout for damage after awhile. the puffer will have belly damage if it's sleeping on the bottom, especially if you are using crushed coral instead of aragonite sand. I seriously doubt you have enough copepods to support your mandarin for long, expect him to go. the white spots on that other fish are probably parasites, i would get rid of it asap before they hit your entire tank if it hasn't already.

your tank mates are all wrong. if your advice came from a lfs then you got ripped. find another honest one. or better yet, get a book.

good luck and stay away from damsels.

+1

 

[Glassjaw022887]

I would have to agree with every single word that Maeistero has said.

Well based on the picture of your tank your probably going to need more than just a few pounds of live rock. Here is some interesting info on how much live rock you'll want to use:
About.com: http://www.simplifiedreefkeeping.com/faq/11.htm


As for your shrimp I know that your dog face ate him. I have had these fish before and they love shrimp, crabs, crustaceans etc...

I have never heard of any type of dragonette eating any type of algae, only copepods and bloodworms. They are one of the more demanding fish if you dont have enough live rock and food available to them. (I may be wrong though)

Your damsels.... well what more do I have to say.

BTW why is the goal for your ph 8.6?

 

[petlover516]

thanks. the site had good info. maybe the copepods seek shelter in the algae wall. IDK why my dad's ph goal is 8.6.

 

[Glassjaw022887]

Yeah I usually find young copepods on the glass especially in the corners where I cant get the algae with my magnet cleaner.

 

[justin james]

Your cleaner shrimp is in your Banded Bamboo's stomach.
Their main food source is inverts, especially shrimp!
I had a cleaner shrimp in with my banded bamboo's just to see if they would leave it alone or not since alot of big predators such as eels wont try to eat a cleaner shrimp but they did.

Your fish are or perhaps by now were suffering from Nitrates and other causes mentioned above by others such as Maistero's comments.

 

[zona322]

look I am new here but have had sharks for about 4 yeas on a off. They do not like lots of rock and for the sand do not have them in crushed coral or any sand that is cores, it will scrape the under side of them and they will get an infection. Witch can lead to death. As for the blue mandarin it will not eat anything but pods. You should not put a blue mandarin with a shark or a puffer one of them with eat him; your ph with a shark or any fish should not be any higher then 8.4. Do a water change and test your water again the levels are probably to high.

this is just my 2 cents

zona

 

[petlover516]

i have been telling my dad about the crushed coral scenario for a while. same thing with the ph. but i don't believe about the puffer or the shark eating the blue mandarin. a few weeks ago i saw a HUGE blue mandarin at btj's jungle(it must have been at least 5-6 inches!). if males only get to this size( the big one was a male), were still fine-ours is a male.