Help With 5 G Nano

[pelley]

Help. please please I have a 5g nano up for 4 months and one of my corals will not come out
Don't laugh, this is what I have
Tank: eclipse 5 hex
Light: coralife 4 50/50 35W compact
rock: 6lbs live rock
Sand: 3lbs live sand with crushed coral
fish: one very small coral beauty
clean-up crew: 4 turbo snails, 3 small hermit, 1 small fire shrimp
coral: 1 purple mushroom, 1 small group of waving hand , 1 candycane group green, 2 sm ricordia
all these soing well
and my problem, my fish seller states is a encrusting gorgonian. it is branched laterally white/pink skin, under it's branches form purple tubes, it's polyps are grass green about 1 cm long groups fully retract when disturbed but usually come right back out, leave little pimple. now will not come out and it has been 3 + days. I had a very aggresive pepermint shrimp for the three days that coinside with the polyp retraction ( exchanged for fire shrimp) that was crawling all over it. Help!
water paramiters I cycled tank full month before adding anything.
nitrite usually0
nitrate can't get to 0 because salt H20 from LFS is at 10
alkalinity and ph at best reading
H20 changes are about 1 gallon twice a week
I feed fish frozen brine shrimp
The help I would like is what is the polyp, why will it not come out ?dead and what othecorals should I try
also specific gravity is .023 : )

 

[steelhealr]

Sorry to hear that you are having a problem. First off, for better help in the future, it's best if you give us all numbers instead of 'usually' and 'best reading'.

Gorgonians are typically not easy corals to keep. The colors that you describe make it sound like this is a non photosynthetic coral which means it has to be fed. Do you have a camera? Photos are vital here sometimes.

Next off, you can't possibly keep a 5 g nano tank with a coral beauty. A 5 gallon is basically a pico reef and fish have no place in there especially a coral beauty.

If this gorgonian is indeed non photosynthetic, the amount of food it will need to survive is enough to nuke your tank. Besides, is the brine shrimp enriched? baby brine? I'm sorry...I"m not trying to get down on your but I think you are tripping yourself up with some major booboos. Post more precise info here and perhaps borrow a friends digital cam. SH

 

[Donya]

Why not use a nitrazorb-like product or another chemical solution to remove nitrate prior to adding new water? I have to use amquel+ sometimes because of that.

4 turbos is kinda a lot for a 5g...unless it's small, young ones. My tank's that size and I wouldn't put more than 1 adult turbo in because of the size and food needs. The body mass would just be too much for the water volume.

 

[pelley]

thanks for the response;
I will get dig pictures and the exact readings of ph and alkalinity this eve.
my LFS stated the gorgonian was photosynthetic? Polyps still not extending- could the poss dead coral poison my tank? should I get it out of there?
The snails are 1/2 inch each, fairly small
the coral beauty is so small it seems very happy at the moment, the LFS said it should be OK, will be getting a 90g or so in 2-3 yrs, no room now.

 

[bunjiweb]

If you leave that Coral Beauty in there you are sentencing it to death, take peoples advice and take it back to the fish shop. 5 Gallons is an absurd size to be keeping a fish such as this. The biggest fish i would keep in a 5Gallon tank is a Neon Goby.

I have a 5 Gallon myself, and it is very hard to keep on top of evaporation and salinity as well as nitrates.

Your Gorgonia is very unlikely to extend its polyps if it is a photosynthetic one. I would take that back to the fish shop aswell.

Please, Please, Please take our advice, i'd hate to see that coral beauty die in your tank.

Ben

 

[pelley]

OK, It breaks my heart, have had the coral beauty for 2 months, but if i cant get at least a 25g tank in the next few weeks I will take it back

 

[bunjiweb]

Thats better, although you will HAVE to keep on top of water-top ups and salinity checks at least every 2 days for the next 2 months. And don't add any other livestock!

Ben

 

[pelley]

Thank you.
I am very anal about my tank and check S.G. at least every other day if not every day. I never ever use tap water do bi-weekly water changes with LFS Na H2O. I already gave back the encrusting gorgonian to LFS who is a salt water only dealer in business 20+ yrs who is giong to try to revive it.
thanks for all the help

 

[steelhealr]

Pelley...I respect that you made some moves on your tank. It's sometimes hard to do what you did..but..believe me....it's better for your tank, the coral and even more importantly...you'll garner tons of respect from your fellow forumites here.

If it helps, 5 gallons can be an extremely unstable system as bunjiweb posted. Even tho' the coral beauty may 'fit' right now, as time goes on it will get harder to let go of it.You'll get attached (if not already). Worse, the wastes from the fish will eventually overwhelm the system and in a 5G...likely without warning...your nano will crash. SH