I need help

Bunbun312 · Feb 28, 2020

My starfish is curled up and idk what to do about it or why its curled up!!! Nothing picks on it, but my urchin sometimes sits on top of it for a while, but they don't really attack each other. What do I do?

Bunbun312 · Feb 28, 2020

In this tank, I have 2 clownfish (Marlin and Corral), 1 starfish (Chocco), 1 anenome, 1 arrow crab, and 1 urchin. It's not a very old tank and we did find out we got an anemone a bit too early but the rest of the animals have been thriving. Including the starfish. The starfish was fine last night when the urchin was sitting on top of him. It wasn't until like 10 minutes ago that Chocco started curling like this. Is he about to die? Do I have a chance of saving him?

Mastiffsrule · Feb 28, 2020

Good evening

just saw your troubles. Sorry to hear about it. Sorr we have to say #WelcimetoR2R this way.

Can you give some more tank info. The size, when you set it up, any numbers you can test for such as ph, temp, etc. we alway like to make sure the environment is ok

rfgonzo · Feb 28, 2020

I'll guess tank is new?

Bunbun312 · Feb 29, 2020

Mastiffsrule said:
Good evening

just saw your troubles. Sorry to hear about it. Sorr we have to say #WelcimetoR2R this way.

Can you give some more tank info. The size, when you set it up, any numbers you can test for such as ph, temp, etc. we alway like to make sure the environment is ok

20 gallon, ph is fine I can't remember what number but we test it every day and it's always on the dot where it's supposed to be. Temp is always between 75-80°. Now we have been doing water changes because the ammonia is a bit high. The tank is pretty new and I can't remember when we first set it up but we started it out in a 5 gallon tank.
Edit: We quarantined Chocco and so far he's been not curled up like that.

vetteguy53081 · Feb 29, 2020

How was this acclimated (introduced?) Seems stressed/irritated.
What is your salinity and temperature?

LAReefer4Life · Feb 29, 2020

t

Bunbun312 said:
20 gallon, ph is fine I can't remember what number but we test it every day and it's always on the dot where it's supposed to be. Temp is always between 75-80°. Now we have been doing water changes because the ammonia is a bit high. The tank is pretty new and I can't remember when we first set it up but we started it out in a 5 gallon tank.
Edit: We quarantined Chocco and so far he's been not curled up like that.

Starfish typically don't do well in new aquariums. They need aged setups to thrive. The ammonia issue is definitely not helping the situation.

redfishbluefish · Feb 29, 2020

Glad to see it's a bit happier now.

With a new tank, I definitely would be hand feeding. Go to your local fish monger and buy a dozen clams. Freeze them. When you're ready to feed, open one up and cut off a good piece to feed. Use forceps and you should see your guy start to move to the food and grab it.

Good luck.

K7BMG · Feb 29, 2020

Does not sound like you properly cycled the tank, as you say your detecting Ammonia.

What test kit and what Ammonia level.
This sounds like the issue IMO

I dont think your temp is the main issue but large swings like that are not helping.
You need to find a way to keep the swing within a degree.

Is he in a QT tank or is he in a container in the 20

Bunbun312 · Feb 29, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
How was this acclimated (introduced?) Seems stressed/irritated.
What is your salinity and temperature?

Salinity is 32, temp is between 75 and 80 (sometimes 76, sometimes 78, sometimes others). It was introduced with a slow drip for like 3 hours to get it accustomed to our water.

Bunbun312 · Feb 29, 2020

K7BMG said:
Does not sound like you properly cycled the tank, as you say your detecting Ammonia.

What test kit and what Ammonia level.
This sounds like the issue IMO

I dont think your temp is the main issue but large swings like that are not helping.
You need to find a way to keep the swing within a degree.

Is he in a QT tank or is he in a container in the 20

QT tank, we quarantined him and the anemone (not in the same QT tank but separated) because we were worried about them. I think we're going to keep them separated until we have confirmed us getting rid of the ammonia spike.

vetteguy53081 · Feb 29, 2020

Bunbun312 said:
Salinity is 32, temp is between 75 and 80 (sometimes 76, sometimes 78, sometimes others). It was introduced with a slow drip for like 3 hours to get it accustomed to our water.

Salinity is a bit low as your salt is at about 1.023 based on changing temperatures. I assume you have a heater in tank? Temperature with a reliable
Bring salt to 1.026 and add liquid bacteria to your tank to maintain water quality .

K7BMG · Feb 29, 2020

Yes, from your postings, it sounds like several parameters are off.
This is not a good thing for any of your inhabitants.

How are the fish? Do they appear to be breathing heavy, swimming in the flow of your pump outlets?

I dont recommend small tanks for starting out.
Yes they might be more cost effective but not if your losing livestock.
The smalest tank I would ever recommend a new person start with is a 100g. So much easier to keep eveythinv stable. There has been a current thread here on R2R about this subject.
Anyway I don't want to hijack this thread to that subject but wanted you to have something to think about.

Glad the starfish is doing better. Sounds like your QT process is doing its job.

But do yourself a favor and get your water column parameters in line and stable.
Once they are stable and have been that way for a couple of weeks, then add back one of the QT'ed guys, and wait another couple of weeks the add the last guy back.
With a 20G nano any change is a major change. So GO SLOW.