[PabloVadear]

It's my own fault. I hit a hard patch and didn't take care of the tank as well as I should have. I've had my tank, a 28gal hexagon, for about a year. After 9 months it was doing quite well. I had been struggling to control some aiptasia that I "inherited" from some live rock I purchased from a friend. Then I hit a period of issues and I wasn't able to take care of the tank for about a month and a half. The only livestock I have is 1 damsel, 1 coral beauty, and 1 lawnmower blennie. I have a few hermit crabs, no snails (they died). I also have a brittle star.

Now I'm back on my feet but my tank is a disaster. My blennie has disappeared, I have serious algae growth (looks like moss), some slime green and brown algae, and probably a thousand aiptasia. I've been trying for the last week to use some aiptasia control but it's not having any noticable effect. My live rock is a mess and my blennie has disappeared. I'm desperate. If I could afford it, I would buy a new tank and move my remaining fish to it and then maybe recure my live rock (is that even possible?), but I can't. I have to try and salvage this tank but I'm afraid it's too late.

What should I do? I thought of taking all the live rock out and killing everything in fresh water, but I also have lots of corraline (sp?) growing and I realize I'd be throwing the baby out with the bathwater so to speak.

Please help.

[unclejed]

Hi pablo, sorry to hear you ran into a rough time in your life, God knows that happens. As far as the tank, I would start over since it is that bad. Get a tupperware bin large enough to hold most of the rock and enough ro/di water to cover the rock completely. Add salt to that water and a very small heater to get the water temp up to the tanks temp. The rock is good so you don't want to kill everything off. A real small power head will give you circulation in the bin. Siphon out about 30% of your aquarium water into a separate bucket and then begin taking the worst algae covered rock out and with a stiff tooth brush (preferably new) brush off all the algae and keep rinsing as you do and then place it in the bin with the ro/di water. Do this to almost all the rock but keep 1/3 of the rock in the aquarium (the ones with least algae). When you have all the rock in the bin keep top over it so no light gets in but some air can. Now you can begin to clean up the aquarium and then add back the water you took out for cleaning the rock and add some nitrifying bacteria. You will probably find the skeleton of your blenny. I will suggest that when you post and are asking for help or for ideas, please include all basic information. Basic information should include; all water parameters, size of tank and complete set up meaning, filter type (sump, canister etc.), lighting (what type and total output) and if you have fish only with live rock and if you keep corals. Also how long the tank has been up. I know some of this is your bio but many bios don't contain this info. I hope this advice is helpful. After about 2 weeks add the rock from the bin back to the aquarium and add more bacteria. Keep us informed and ask more questions if you have any.

[PabloVadear]

Hi unclejed,

Thanks for the advice. I'd like to ask a couple of clarifying questions. Also, I was trying to pick some of the bigger chunks of algae off my rock and moving it around and my blennie mysteriously reappeared, so I'm happy about that. I hadn't seen him for over a week. Sneaky.

1. You don't mention my fish but I'm guessing it's ok to leave them in the tank with the rest of my live rock. Is that right?

2. When cleaning the worst of the rock you mention rinsing it. Would I be rinsing it with the removed tank water, the RO/DI water, or would just regular tap water be ok?

3. You mention adding salt to the RO/DI water. I've never actually mixed my own water, so would it be ok to get the same pre-mixed water I've been using for my tank? I get it from a very well respected store here locally. Also, do I need to change it out at all during the two weeks?

4. For the aiptasia remaining on the rock I leave in the aquarium, what should I do? Should I just continue my use of the aiptasia control or try something else?

5. And last, other than adding some phosphate reducer and decreasing the light cycle, is there anything else I can do to aid me in getting rid of the remaining algae? Should I try and scrub it off the rock?

Thanks again for your advice. I'll add my tank info to my signature today.

[ianizaguirre]

easy fix get that aptisia eating slug along with the one that eats hair algea and within a week do water changes and it should be all fine

[unclejed]

1. yes you can leave them in.
2. Rinsing in the removed tank water, scrub, dunk, scrub, you know, until it looks real clean.
3. The pre-mix is great and no you don't have to change it out.
4. Now as for the aptasia, as far as the remaining rock in the tank, how many aptasia (estimated) would there be? if less than say 10 use Joe's juice. I am not familiar with what you are using. Joe's juice absolutely kills them instantly. So injecting 10 would be a little work but not too bad. Also, look into buying a Porcelain Shrimp, I have used one, they love aptasia.
5. if you could buy a multi-media reactor ($40.00) and run Phos lock or other suitable media you have for removing phosphate that will help a lot, if not, do the things you said and do 30% water changes once a week for 2-3 weeks to get things under controll. Don't scrub the rock. Hopefully it will die off. Also, add about 12-15 more blue leg crabs to help out, you will see a world of difference.

[Mr. Tang]

This is what you need to do PBITAWA

[unclejed]

Mr. Tang, was that supposed to be a web site?

[eldalote2]

Dont give up Pablo!! we are here for you!

[dinor2]

Sorry to hear about your tank, you're in good hands here though!

I always have just a few aptasia in my tank because my two peppermint shrimps eat most of them. Now, I did notice in my quarantine tank that the lr I placed in there grew tons of aptasia on it. Not sure if that's due to the lack of good lighting and/or no peppermint shrimp, just thought it was worth noting.

Can you post some pics when you have the time of your progress? It would not only give us all a better idea of what you're dealing with but, I believe, is a good motivator to look at yourself because you see the difference from pic 1 to say, pic 5!

Just mo, but, I'd do weekly water changes of 3-4 gallons until the algae dies down, the phosban works well but, the water changes also get out other 'foods' in the water algae loves as well.

Keep us posted!