Montressor
New Member
I am very new to this, and I've been trying to take it slow and do everything right, but still managing to fail. This is a red sea nano tank, established March 19, 2023.
Sorry it's long but I feel it may need a little background. The very first fish Royal Gramma I added to this tank had flukes, we didn't catch it and it wiped out both herself, and the two fish that came with them, as well as the replacement.
Rather than rush the fallow period, I let the tank sit for 90 days through several water changes and a significant bout of the uglies that I'm still fighting (algea is quite evident). The inverts and the coral are doing fine, not growing as fast as I would like or hope, but certainly staying healthy and thriving. By the time the fish showed up it had been nearly 100 days.
In November I ordered 2 Bangaai Cardinals, a Midas Blenny and another Royal Gramma from Dr. Reefs. I've seen this combination work in another tank and they fit the profile based on my understanding of mine, the water has been quite stable and the tank healthy.
The fish arrived on December 20. Dr. Reef shipped too many fish, and I ended up with three Benggai cardinals, the Gramma and the Midas Blenny. A week in, one of the cardinals stopped eating and died, since I had three (one extra) I was sad, but didn't contact Dr. Reef as that seemed unreasonable. Unfortunately 4 days later another died in the night and by the time I found him all that was left was the head and only some of that (as I mentioned the inverts are quite healthy). Again they stopped eating and died in short order, I didn't contact Dr. Reef because it was well past the 1 week and all that was left was barely identifiable anyway.
I am clearly concerned at this point but the three remaining fish were still eating heartily. This Gramma is way more territorial than others and was charging the other fish, I figured he might have bullied the others to death honestly.
Except, now he's stopped eating too. I've added a bubbler to the tank but he's still hiding a lot. He's coming out for food, but not eating, and is swimming more lethargically. He seems to be mouth breathing (or when he's out he may be bullying/afraid of the blenny and opening his mouth in agression, though it's not the big yawn of normal aggression). Respiration appears to be 110, though counting on that gramma is tough, respiration is evident in the video. Color is great on all fish (even/especially the gramma) and were on the other two as well, no mucus, no white spots. I've been watching for hours now (I "work" from home, which is why I got the tank) and the only bullying I've observed is the Gramma charging the Blenny.
Parameters to just be thorough:
Temperature 78.3 stable to a 10th of a degree over the last 3 months
NaCL: 35 ppm (aprox 1.026)
Ammonia: 0
Phospates: .06
Nitrates 3.3
dKH 8.1 (down from 8.8 at the last water change 2 weeks ago)
Any help would be appreciated. I do have a 10 gallon quarantine I could set up, though I'd have to R/O the water, temp it and setup the whole tank.
Sorry it's long but I feel it may need a little background. The very first fish Royal Gramma I added to this tank had flukes, we didn't catch it and it wiped out both herself, and the two fish that came with them, as well as the replacement.
Rather than rush the fallow period, I let the tank sit for 90 days through several water changes and a significant bout of the uglies that I'm still fighting (algea is quite evident). The inverts and the coral are doing fine, not growing as fast as I would like or hope, but certainly staying healthy and thriving. By the time the fish showed up it had been nearly 100 days.
In November I ordered 2 Bangaai Cardinals, a Midas Blenny and another Royal Gramma from Dr. Reefs. I've seen this combination work in another tank and they fit the profile based on my understanding of mine, the water has been quite stable and the tank healthy.
The fish arrived on December 20. Dr. Reef shipped too many fish, and I ended up with three Benggai cardinals, the Gramma and the Midas Blenny. A week in, one of the cardinals stopped eating and died, since I had three (one extra) I was sad, but didn't contact Dr. Reef as that seemed unreasonable. Unfortunately 4 days later another died in the night and by the time I found him all that was left was the head and only some of that (as I mentioned the inverts are quite healthy). Again they stopped eating and died in short order, I didn't contact Dr. Reef because it was well past the 1 week and all that was left was barely identifiable anyway.
I am clearly concerned at this point but the three remaining fish were still eating heartily. This Gramma is way more territorial than others and was charging the other fish, I figured he might have bullied the others to death honestly.
Except, now he's stopped eating too. I've added a bubbler to the tank but he's still hiding a lot. He's coming out for food, but not eating, and is swimming more lethargically. He seems to be mouth breathing (or when he's out he may be bullying/afraid of the blenny and opening his mouth in agression, though it's not the big yawn of normal aggression). Respiration appears to be 110, though counting on that gramma is tough, respiration is evident in the video. Color is great on all fish (even/especially the gramma) and were on the other two as well, no mucus, no white spots. I've been watching for hours now (I "work" from home, which is why I got the tank) and the only bullying I've observed is the Gramma charging the Blenny.
Parameters to just be thorough:
Temperature 78.3 stable to a 10th of a degree over the last 3 months
NaCL: 35 ppm (aprox 1.026)
Ammonia: 0
Phospates: .06
Nitrates 3.3
dKH 8.1 (down from 8.8 at the last water change 2 weeks ago)
Any help would be appreciated. I do have a 10 gallon quarantine I could set up, though I'd have to R/O the water, temp it and setup the whole tank.
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