Cleaner shrimp or UV sterilizer (lost 7 fish) HELP!!!

[Candyman]

I am thinking about trying to get some kind of prevention from parasites and diseases such as ich. I have a 55 gal with Emperor Marineland 400 wet/dry(just got it has not been on tank since loss of fish, Fluval 304, and a Bioskim 600 from U.S. Aquarium. I have just recently coverered my undergravel filter, that had dolimte over it, with sand because I feel that is why my fish were dying from diseases. In the last 2 years I have lost around 6 different fish and evertime it was after I vaccumed the gravel. Am I on the right track to success, and which of the 2 should I go with for disease prevention?

[Minnreefer]

Welcome, I have a few questions for you to start, what do you have for fish in there currently, do you have a live rock and how much sand do you have? Also what is your water source? Do you have Q-tank? What type of fish did you have? I know that this is a lot of questions but it will help to figure out what the problems may be. I would say that cleaner shrimp would help but there is probably something else that is causing stress to the fish. Just my 2cents worth
Jonathan

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"If we weren't all crazy we would all go insane" Jimmy Buffett

[Brooke]

Candyman-

Congrats on finding us and also for wanting to get your tank straightened out. Gosh, where to begin...first give us as much information about your tank that you can. Do you test the water regularly, what critters do you have in there, anything and everything will help. Do you still have the undergravel filter in there?? Does your skimmer work correctly?

Give us a some more info and we can help you out-
Brooke

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Help protect our reefs! Support companies that sell captive-bred and aquacultured products.

[Candyman]

I have lost the following fish over the last 3 years. Occil. clown, flame angel, 2 yellow tangs, rusty angel, pericula clown, and a few damsels. I have not put in any fish since I lost the flame and two clowns. I figured I would change a few things. I covered the dolimite and undergravel filter with about 45 lbs. of marine sand, ordered the Emperor 400 which I was heard was pretty good because it provided a pretty good biological filter. I also have about 25lbs. of live rock. I haven't had fish in my tank in about 2 months hoping to get the tank a little better shape before putting fish back in. Oh yeah I also have a brain coral, brown polyps, blue leg hermit crabs, and Astrial snails.

[This message has been edited by Candyman (edited 01-29-2001).]

[Candyman]

Please reply.

[Brooke]

Ok, it sounds like you need to get more live rock, remove the undergravel filter, and get rid of the wet/dry filter. The power filter is fine to use, especially for a fish-only, but the filter media needs to be cleaned quite often to avoid nitrate buildup. If you want a reef, you need about 30 more pounds of live rock. What kind of marine sand did you put in the tank? Is it aragonite? How deep is your sandbed? You might need a new protein skimmer as well. If you don't have a sump, the most popular hang on skimmer right now seems to the the Aqua Remora and the Red Sea Prizm skimmer is getting good reviews as well and is only $70 online.

Are you up-to-date on the current methods of keeping marine tanks? If not, it might be good to go to the library and get a few books, and go searching online for reef sites such as ours.

So, besides some hermits and snails there are no fish. That is good.

What are you using for source water? This is very important. Do you regularly test the water for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, phosphates, calcium, salinity??

Try to answer all the questions and we can get to the bottom of this.

Brooke

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Help protect our reefs! Support companies that sell captive-bred and aquacultured products.

[Candyman]

I cover the undergravel filter with aprox. 2 inches of marine sand. Also are you saying that my new Emperor Marineland 400 isn't any count or just that they require changing the media alot. Also I do the test regularly and all parameters seem to be fine.

[Pikaboo]

Ok... there's a couple of things.

What kind of "gravel" do you have that you were vaccuuming? The first thing that comes to mind is that when you vaccuumed the gravel, it released some toxic gas that's trapped within the gravel, so the fish died.

As far as parasites and ich, I believe parasites will only come through fish. Without fish, they will die. Ich, though, will always be present in your tank. Only when your fish is weak, it will attack. Not having fish in your tank for 2+ months will help the diseases a bit.

You will probably want to remove the undergravel if you're not going to use it. Leaving it in there will cause more trouble than it's worth.

[FishDaddy]

Candyman,
I agree with Brooke in that your system would be better to pull the substrate and UGF, replace with a 4~6" snad bed, add another 30+ live rock and get a good skimmer. Your tank will benefit in the long run and you will find not having to clean filters a blessing!
I started my 55 as a FOWLR with a Magnum 350 with biowheels....same principle as your Emperor. It was a pain to clean and keep the salt buildup off the biowheel mechanism. Frequent maintenance is required for any mechanical filters in a reef tank, not only fo keep the Nitrates from building up but the mechanical filtration will trap the plankton and 'pods that are so important to your biosystem. These filters are fine for purely fish only systems that don't depend on live rock critters and other planktonic life to sustain its balance. The same goes for a UV. The benefits of killing bacteria is double edged.....the good bacteria and plankton are damaged as well.
I also pulled the original gravel bed (no UGF) and replaced it with a sandbed covered with live sand before I had added fish and corals....so glad I did and especially before having to deal with animals in the process. Now would be the best time since you have no fish and few corals. You could siphon/scoop out the sand that you've added and use it as the top layer of your new sand bed to preserve any life in it, discarding the UGF and gravel.
I have a Remora skimmer on my 55. It does a good job but will be better when I replace the original RIO 800 with a Maxi-Jet 1200. The Remora Pro would be even better but the regular Remora would be fine. Please don't skimp on the skimmer. Get a good quality one.
This seems like a major revision and it is, but far less costly than doing it later and you will be rewarded with a healthier system.
Where in Tennessee are you? I'm in Sevierville.
Dick

[Candyman]

I live in Tellico Plains about 70 miles south of Sev. I just came from Guatliburg visited the new Aquarium its awesome isn't it?