Need Help With A Tank And A Poorly Clown Fish...

[Ryefish]

Hi, first time i've ever posted about a marine tank on here and i have no idea if this is in the correct place..

Basically I have been given the responsibility of looking after a marine tank with very little equipment. I have had to teach myself how to look after this thing and I am still learning.
I am having a nightmare with this tank. It holds about 160litres of water (thats a guess, i will measure it tomorrow and work it out). It is open top so is constantly evaporating water out which results in really high salt readings atleast once per week. It has been running for 5 years and I have been looking after it for coming on 4months. It reads 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and now reads 20 nitrates - managed to get these down from about 60 and I am still desperately working on it (I have NO other tests ).
The circulation in it was horrendous. There is a crappy internal filter and a rubbish powerhead in there that were not positioned properly. The tank was originally reading one salt level on one side of the tank and something completely different on the other. After some rearranging I have managed to solve that problem.
It has a skimmer that leaks saltwater down the back of the tank and gets incredibly noisy if the air intake or the power of the pump is turned up on it. I don't actually believe it does anything, because it never has any dirt collected in the cup and I can't get the bubbles to the level they need to be at. I've spoken to a friend who manages the marine section of an aquatics shop and he said he will strip it down for me and see what's going on but I haven't had the chance to do this yet.

The light fitting on it is a an AquaOne thing (i think!!). It has a white light on one side and a blue on the other and they havent been changed for over 1.5 years. We have soft corals in this tank and half of them sit under a blue light with no access to the white light. I've asked to put a new light strip in covering the whole tank with white light but been told it would create too much light


We had a Tri-coloured Blenny die two weeks ago and I have no idea why (bad water most likely ), Now there is a problem with my clown fish.
Oh, I should probably mention the inhabitants of this tank - one clown, loads of tiny little starfish (dunno where these came from), maybe one red legged hermit crab - haven't seen any more even though there is supposed to be, a few soft corals and I saw a baby feather duster the other day.

Back to the clown.. I have a video here....


I tried to get pics but couldn't. I can try take my boyfriends dslr in and get one though - my phone failed.
He has a red fleshy lump on his side and it looks like there is white fungus type stuff around it. The area of the lump looks swollen. I am totally baffled. Any input on this would be amazing.

I have limited access to any sort of equipment. I think i need a meeting with my manager to try and get this whole tank sorted out. My intentions are to get the equipment sorted, the tank FINALLY settled and then get some new inhabitants.. all in the next 8 months lol

 

[lljdma06]

Hi Ryefish. Long time no see. I'm at work now, but I'll study this more tonight.

L

 

[ALW]

Firstly do you have access to a quarantine/hospital tank?

From what I can see in the video it looks like an open sore infection caused by a bacterial infection. Open sores can be caused by the pH been far too high or too low, bites, scraping against rocks, internal infection or parasites. Treatment consists of elimination of the problem. Coating medications like stresscoat will help with antibiotics doing the hard work. Watch for signs of secondary bacterial infections. Lowering the SG of the tank water can be an effective prevention of infection. Clean water will halt the growth of the infection and help aid recovery. An ultraviolet sterilizer should be effective. Products to consider using: Marine Melafix, Primafix Furan-2, Stresscoat and Maracyn Plus. My advice would be to place the Clownfish in a small hospital tank in fresh salt water and treat with medication. I would also perform a full water change on the current tank. This way you should have the correct water level stats. I would also reccomend buying a Refractometer so that you can test the waters specific gravity. Good luck. I would also scrap the internal filter. Filters have very little use in a marine tank and usually more often than most cause us more problems than they solve. The heart and lungs of any marine tank is the Live Rock, Live Sand and Macro Algae’s. Good luck!

 

[Ryefish]

Hi Llj I still have my tank and failed at planting it haha. Its still running but not really doing a lot. Thinking of stripping it down this weekend and seeing what I can do with it.

On this marine tank...
Some more info i forgot to add:
I don't have a quarantine tank set-up but I could easily get one sorted. I have plenty of spare tanks. Setting one up without interruptions from students is going to be really difficult though. I have a hard time stopping them from putting their hands in this tank as it is.
The PH was reading above 8 the last time i checked it. I think it was high 8... I will check it tomorrow and update.
The internal filter i stripped down a while ago because it was harbouring a lot of dirt which i thought wouldnt be helping with the nitrates. I will see if i can strip it down again tomorrow. I really need some real powerheads in there.

ETA: I have another "crappy powerhead" at home that i might lend to this tank just to get rid of that #41#### internal filter.

I have a broken hydrometer to test the SG. Its unreal. It has cracked on the bottom or something so the only way to get it to work is to hold it underneath the water and wait for a reading.

....I also don't have any RO water. I have been offered a unit for £65 but once again, need permission.

I have been asked to set up a 6ft discus tank, but i think the money for that should definately be going in to this

 

[ALW]

I wouldn’t even put the filter back in the tank. Hydros are very inaccurate. You really need a refractometer for an SG reading.

 

[Ryefish]

I need either the top of the internal or a new powerhead otherwise only 40% of the tank will have circulation. I was writing a shopping list earlier, i will add one to it.

If hydro's are very inaccurate as it is.. i wonder how untrustworthy a broken one is

 

[MBOU]

I think I would be tempted to break the tank down, depending on how fast you can set it up again and how much time you have on your hands...

I'd be tempted to find a QT tank for the clown or an LFS/member on here who can take it and care for it so its one less worry...

If you can set up another tank, fill it with the water from the main tank and put all the corals, inverts and as much of the liverock as you can with the filter, temporarily...

Scrub out the tank to get it all clean and sorted, new filter, new skimmer, sort out the lighting (two white tubes and one blue or just two white assuming they are the T5 1cm or T8 1" bulbs isnt too much at all).

Then new sand, put all the rock and water back into the tank and top up with clean water, lay out better and move stock back in when water tests ok.

Though I think i would be tempted to take all the corals, fish and inverts back to a shop for credit and use credit to get the equipment you need...

Then you can set the tank up again from scratch and have less problems and wont have to worry about the livestock sitting in a tank with an internal filter...

 

[Ryefish]

My friend also suggested breaking the tank down and starting again. Time is a huge issue. I only have an hour or so per day to spend on this tank. I have over 200 other animals to feed, water and clean at work.
Getting rid of any livestock is definately not an option in this situation.
I am trying to find a small tank i can use as a QT but the only one i have that i think is a suitable size contains a newt which i will need to temporarily rehome. Also, the weekend tech here isn't the best so i daren't set up a QT tank until after the weekend. I would dread to think what I came in to on Monday if i put the clown in a tank today.


Can someone help me with the lighting...
I am in a bit of a debate at the minute with someone about whether we need new lighting on it or not. It currently has an AquaOne Compact lighting unit over the tank which contains two compact T5 bulbs. These bulbs are a 24W Marine Blue and a 24W Daylight bulb. The daylight bulb sits on the left side and the marine blue on the right. See the picture below..

 

[MBOU]

Wow, thats a really odd effect! LOL get another white light, can add a strip of blue LEDs later if needed.

I think i would get a QT tank set up (20-30L) for the clown with media and water from the main tank and then if you have another tank you can move liverock and stock and filter into... id do that before a big clean.

 

[Ryefish]

Isnt it just! LOL
I attempted to rescape it about 2 months ago and was told to move everything back because the corals on the right hand side get rather upset at their lack of access to white light LOL! So, is the daylight bulb ok for them or does it need to be a specific marine white bulb? We have arcadia t8 light units lying around which i can get but again, in debate about whether we need one across the whole tank or not... Hehehehee

 

[ALW]

The lighting unit is fine, having one of each marine white and blue. If the bulbs in the unit are over 18 months old then they really need replacing. Why would you add any media from the tank and put it in the QT with the Clownfish, it will only create more problems. As soon as the dosing of medication starts any of the very little beneficial bacteria in the media (Marine filtration doesn’t work like tropical, very little if anything in the media is useful) will quickly die and then create more ammonia. Hence why we dont treat our main tanks. Ryefish the main problem you have is dirty water. Perform a large water change and things should improve.

 

[Ryefish]

Hi again, thanks for the replies.
I have been doing water changes every week trying to remove nitrates. I removed the internal this morning and have put one of my powerheads in it. I wouldnt add any media in the QT tank, i know how medicines and bacteria work. I will get some melafix over the weekend and set up a tank on monday morning or tuesday.

One of the bulbs is a 24watt daylight bulb - is that ok or should it be swapped?

 

[ALW]

Hi again, thanks for the replies.
I have been doing water changes every week trying to remove nitrates. I removed the internal this morning and have put one of my powerheads in it. I wouldnt add any media in the QT tank, i know how medicines and bacteria work. I will get some melafix over the weekend and set up a tank on monday morning or tuesday.

One of the bulbs is a 24watt daylight bulb - is that ok or should it be swapped?

No, i would get something like these http/www.seapets.co.uk/products/aquarium-supplies/fish-tank-equipment/aquarium-lighting/fluorescent-t5-light-tubes/juwel-high-lite-tube-marine-438mm-24-watt.html

 

[Ryefish]

That is exactly what i thought, thanks for confirming

 

[lljdma06]

That's some very interesting lighting there.

Sorry Rye, if I was UK, I'd give you some extra power heads. I've got bunch lying around. Haha, from all those planted tanks.

What are the size of water changes you are doing? Have you tested lately? Just curious. The clown doesn't look that bad having watched the video again. I think the funny swimming during one part of the video is it getting caught in a current. The fins are erect still. Is it eating?