This story begins with a 65 gallon tank was switched from freshwater to saltwater in Jan 2022. I saw a Snowflake Moray while at the fish store and I couldn’t get it out of my head. The tank was setup with a Lee’s premium under gravel filter and two Marineland powerheads. Crushed coral was used as a substrate. I also had a Penn Plex Cascade 700 canister filter.
Frosty is under the rock on the right. He was a small guy then. The local fish guy calls that Lace rock but that name does not come up on Google. It's a brownish rock with an irregular surface
This tank was home to the Snowflake eel and a Clown trigger. Everything was good as best I remember but we wanted more fish so a plan was enacted to move everything from that tank into a 125 gallon.
That happened Sep 2022. We bought Lee’s premium under gravel filter for the 125 and more crushed coral for the substrate. We also bought three Marineland 1200 powerheads for the larger tank. We also move the Penn Plex 700 over as well.
I knew we were short for décor because we were going from a three foot tank to a six foot tank so we traveled to the Valley of Fire and picked out some rock from there. I did the suggested tests on the rock and it passed so I cleaned the rocks and soaked them for a week prior to the switch and changed the water daily.
The switch took about two hours to complete and nothing was allowed to dry out. Arnold the Clown trigger and Frosty the Snowflake eel seemed happy.
Arnold and Frost with the volcanic rock
About a month later we decided to add another fish and bought a medium sized Undulated trigger. Everybody got along and life was good for a few months. Then I noticed the Undulated didn’t come out to eat one evening and found him dead the next morning.
This came a quite a shock as everything seemed to be going well. I was getting algae growth, some green, some red and a little purple. The fish store guy said that is a sign that the tank is maturing nicely. I tested the water and the nitrate was mid-range and when I showed that to the fish store guy he said you have to expect that because in a predator tank has a lot of waste. He said that I need to watch my ammonia and nitrite, but not nitrate so much
We waited while monitoring the tank and the test results always showed the same: zero ammonia and nitrite and mid-range nitrate. The Clown trigger and Snowflake were doing well so we added a Niger that had just come in. He lasted less than a week before he died.
During all this time the algae had continued to grow, the fish were eating and all seemed good so it was thought the Niger died from stress. Still, we waited to monitor the water before adding another fish. After a few weeks of testing with the water tests coming out just like before we decided to add another fish.
This time we let the fish stay at the store for a week before we brought him home. Everything seemed nice and I was getting a nice red coating of algae over all my rocks. Everybody was eating and getting along great for a month, maybe a little more. The one night I noticed the Blue Line trigger was not coming out of his cave to eat. I coaxed him out and he was bumping into the décor as he swam so I called the fish store guy and the decision was made to take the fish to him while we figured out what was going on.
I tested the water and again no ammonia or nitrite but the nitrate was at the highest reading. This is when I found out that the red algae was actually Cyano bacteria not algae at all. Also when we were going over the tank, I told the fish guy that it seems to me the tank had never really fully cycled. I never saw ammonia rise and fall, never saw the nitrite rise and fall. I just saw the nitrate seemly stuck at the same level. So we started thinking about what could cause this and he recommended that I change the rock. He said that while it passed the normal tests, he felt it was causing something akin to a buffer, preventing the tank from a complete cycle. He also thought that I was doing too much maintenance to the tank with 15 to 20 percent water changes every three to four weeks and vacuuming roughly 60 percent of the coral bed.
This happened in January 2023. I pulled out all the rock and did a 70 percent water change as recommended by the fish store guy. I put the rock that was in the 65 gallon and was able to buy a little more (all he had) from fish store guy. I took out all the decorations and hosed the Cyano slime off of them. I also added a Fluval UV light. We let the tank run for a week before deciding to add fish back in.
Initial "redo" setup with the decor that was in the 65
The Clown trigger had passed away the day after I rushed him to the store which surprised me because he seemed ok. The Blue Line seemed to have gone blind and would not eat and we lost him 5 days later. The only inhabitant that was still alive was the Snowflake eel. Since he was the catalyst for beginning saltwater again I did not want to willy-nilly toss him back in.
Luckily I had two Damsels (Blue Velvet and Two Stripe) that were misbehaving in my other tank so I moved them in. They were doing their thing for a few weeks while I was testing the water. I didn’t see the ammonia but I did see the nitrite com up and go down. Then the nitrate came up to hovering around 50/100 and we put the Snowflake back in. We also decided to let the fish store guy take over the maintenance at this point.
Everything was great and the Snowflake started eating much better over the next month or so. The damsels were doing great so this Saturday we added a 2-2.5 inch Valentini puffer that had been at the fish store for a month. The damsels were charging Val and flicking their tails at him Saturday afternoon but had settled down by evening time. The eel didn’t give a hoot about him.
Val seemed to be doing great and was eating, swimming around and what-not. He ate last night and was acting normal. I found him dead under some coral this morning. I tested the water and again, no ammonia, no nitrite and nitrate in the 50/100 range.
Taken at lunch today. Please excuse the poor quality
I need to figure out what is going on. My fish store guy hasn’t been able to figure it out. I’m open to suggestions. I’ve already paid for a Niger trigger when I bought the Valentini but I did not take him home yet because he had just come in. I need the tank to be safe for him.
Any ideas?
Thanks for sticking thru the read,
-Bob
Frosty is under the rock on the right. He was a small guy then. The local fish guy calls that Lace rock but that name does not come up on Google. It's a brownish rock with an irregular surface
This tank was home to the Snowflake eel and a Clown trigger. Everything was good as best I remember but we wanted more fish so a plan was enacted to move everything from that tank into a 125 gallon.
That happened Sep 2022. We bought Lee’s premium under gravel filter for the 125 and more crushed coral for the substrate. We also bought three Marineland 1200 powerheads for the larger tank. We also move the Penn Plex 700 over as well.
I knew we were short for décor because we were going from a three foot tank to a six foot tank so we traveled to the Valley of Fire and picked out some rock from there. I did the suggested tests on the rock and it passed so I cleaned the rocks and soaked them for a week prior to the switch and changed the water daily.
The switch took about two hours to complete and nothing was allowed to dry out. Arnold the Clown trigger and Frosty the Snowflake eel seemed happy.
Arnold and Frost with the volcanic rock
About a month later we decided to add another fish and bought a medium sized Undulated trigger. Everybody got along and life was good for a few months. Then I noticed the Undulated didn’t come out to eat one evening and found him dead the next morning.
This came a quite a shock as everything seemed to be going well. I was getting algae growth, some green, some red and a little purple. The fish store guy said that is a sign that the tank is maturing nicely. I tested the water and the nitrate was mid-range and when I showed that to the fish store guy he said you have to expect that because in a predator tank has a lot of waste. He said that I need to watch my ammonia and nitrite, but not nitrate so much
We waited while monitoring the tank and the test results always showed the same: zero ammonia and nitrite and mid-range nitrate. The Clown trigger and Snowflake were doing well so we added a Niger that had just come in. He lasted less than a week before he died.
During all this time the algae had continued to grow, the fish were eating and all seemed good so it was thought the Niger died from stress. Still, we waited to monitor the water before adding another fish. After a few weeks of testing with the water tests coming out just like before we decided to add another fish.
This time we let the fish stay at the store for a week before we brought him home. Everything seemed nice and I was getting a nice red coating of algae over all my rocks. Everybody was eating and getting along great for a month, maybe a little more. The one night I noticed the Blue Line trigger was not coming out of his cave to eat. I coaxed him out and he was bumping into the décor as he swam so I called the fish store guy and the decision was made to take the fish to him while we figured out what was going on.
I tested the water and again no ammonia or nitrite but the nitrate was at the highest reading. This is when I found out that the red algae was actually Cyano bacteria not algae at all. Also when we were going over the tank, I told the fish guy that it seems to me the tank had never really fully cycled. I never saw ammonia rise and fall, never saw the nitrite rise and fall. I just saw the nitrate seemly stuck at the same level. So we started thinking about what could cause this and he recommended that I change the rock. He said that while it passed the normal tests, he felt it was causing something akin to a buffer, preventing the tank from a complete cycle. He also thought that I was doing too much maintenance to the tank with 15 to 20 percent water changes every three to four weeks and vacuuming roughly 60 percent of the coral bed.
This happened in January 2023. I pulled out all the rock and did a 70 percent water change as recommended by the fish store guy. I put the rock that was in the 65 gallon and was able to buy a little more (all he had) from fish store guy. I took out all the decorations and hosed the Cyano slime off of them. I also added a Fluval UV light. We let the tank run for a week before deciding to add fish back in.
Initial "redo" setup with the decor that was in the 65
The Clown trigger had passed away the day after I rushed him to the store which surprised me because he seemed ok. The Blue Line seemed to have gone blind and would not eat and we lost him 5 days later. The only inhabitant that was still alive was the Snowflake eel. Since he was the catalyst for beginning saltwater again I did not want to willy-nilly toss him back in.
Luckily I had two Damsels (Blue Velvet and Two Stripe) that were misbehaving in my other tank so I moved them in. They were doing their thing for a few weeks while I was testing the water. I didn’t see the ammonia but I did see the nitrite com up and go down. Then the nitrate came up to hovering around 50/100 and we put the Snowflake back in. We also decided to let the fish store guy take over the maintenance at this point.
Everything was great and the Snowflake started eating much better over the next month or so. The damsels were doing great so this Saturday we added a 2-2.5 inch Valentini puffer that had been at the fish store for a month. The damsels were charging Val and flicking their tails at him Saturday afternoon but had settled down by evening time. The eel didn’t give a hoot about him.
Val seemed to be doing great and was eating, swimming around and what-not. He ate last night and was acting normal. I found him dead under some coral this morning. I tested the water and again, no ammonia, no nitrite and nitrate in the 50/100 range.
Taken at lunch today. Please excuse the poor quality
I need to figure out what is going on. My fish store guy hasn’t been able to figure it out. I’m open to suggestions. I’ve already paid for a Niger trigger when I bought the Valentini but I did not take him home yet because he had just come in. I need the tank to be safe for him.
Any ideas?
Thanks for sticking thru the read,
-Bob
Last edited:
