Utah Reefs Homepage
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - Fish in bad shape after adding corals and inverts
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login

Fish in bad shape after adding corals and inverts

 Post Reply Post Reply
Author
russianrick View Drop Down
Guest
Guest
Avatar

Joined: July 30 2011
Location: Spanish Fork
Status: Offline
Points: 210
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote russianrick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Fish in bad shape after adding corals and inverts
    Posted: August 01 2011 at 6:59pm
I recently obtained a fair collection of corals from a neighbor who is parting out his tank.  They were all in the same tank at his house and they all went into my tank that didn't have any corals in it, just a Green BTA that is hiding behind a big rock where I can't see it.

I have a tank that is about 26" deep (81 gallons) and for my fish and anemone I only had about 150 Watts of light using 2 T5 High output bulbs 1-50/50 and 1 full actinic and 2 36" regular T5 bulbs that give out yellow light (standard home depot bulbs).

One of the corals that my neighbor gave me is a good sized acropora frag and a large finger leather, which, as I understand, crave high intensity light, so the day after I acclimated the corals and they spent about a half day looking great in my, what I considered to be, low light, I had picked up a used 150W metal halide light to put over the part of the tank that had the more demanding corals.

That is when things started to go bad.  I was expecting that the corals would open up beautifully and bask in the bright light, but they didn't.  The acropora and the finger leather seemed to dislike the new light and promptly retracted all their little polyps.  A frog spawn that was looking great shriveled up and hid (hasn't come back out since), a small colony of poly's all closed up, and a candy cane coral promptly closed it's only polyp.  I kept an eye on the temp, which got up to the low 80's, but I usually keep it around 80-82, so I didn't think too much of it.  The next day, my lights came on together with the metal halide and ran for about half the day.  At that point the temp got up to over 86 and I started to freak out because my Flame Angel wouldn't eat anything and the corals didn't seem to be adjusting at all; the acropora and finger leather, which, as I understand it, should be loving the bright light, were looking really bad.  I checked with my neighbor to find out how long he had his fish under metal halides during the day to make sure I hadn't gone too long, and after he checked his timers, he found that his tank was under metal halides for about 9 hours a day.  I cut off the metal halides and dosed the tank with some melaleuca to help all of the inhabitants recover.  I also grabbed a bunch of ice packs from the freezer and did what I could to cool the water back down to below 82, which took about 1.5 hours.

My poor angel died last night shortly after midnightCry.  And now my wife sent me a text today telling me that my Yellow tang is looking a little rough: a little pectoral fin damage and what she said looks like a scar along his dorsal fin.

I tested my water last night before the angel died and the pH was just a little low and the ammonia was at 0.25, but otherwise everything was fine.  What is going on?  Why are my fish dying?  Everything seemed great until I added the metal halide light.
In Soviet Russia, Fish collect YOU!
Back to Top
Dion Richins View Drop Down
Presidency
Presidency
Avatar

Joined: April 03 2005
Location: Farmington
Status: Offline
Points: 11664
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dion Richins Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 01 2011 at 7:33pm
Obviously the first question would be if your halides have the protective glass on them. If not your tank could be suffering from a bad UV burn.
Bad "censored" Cabinets
Best quality in the valley! He is one sexy bald guy, even with out a finger!(MAC)
Back to Top
russianrick View Drop Down
Guest
Guest
Avatar

Joined: July 30 2011
Location: Spanish Fork
Status: Offline
Points: 210
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote russianrick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 01 2011 at 8:43pm
Of course you picked the very thing that I was a little suspicious of, but ignored because it looked like a plain old piece of glass. I had to take apart the fixture to get it in place since I had to squeeze it in a narrow spot in my hood. It only covers half my tank though, so why would that kill a fish that could move to a shady spot to protect itself?
In Soviet Russia, Fish collect YOU!
Back to Top
bstuver View Drop Down
Guest
Guest
Avatar

Joined: April 17 2006
Location: Provo
Status: Offline
Points: 9379
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bstuver Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 01 2011 at 8:52pm
Oh no you took the glass off?? You always have to have the glass on a double ended bulb. Yes it will effect all things in the tank. Also if you have not seen your anemone it may have died and is causing major pollution in your tank. The acro likes high light but the finger leather does not need high light.
Jackie Stuver

"wait these aren't the happy Hawaiians oompa doompa godly heaven on your face zoas?   I dont want them then. lol!" Ksmart
Back to Top
russianrick View Drop Down
Guest
Guest
Avatar

Joined: July 30 2011
Location: Spanish Fork
Status: Offline
Points: 210
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote russianrick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 01 2011 at 9:00pm
I just found an anemone on the back side of a rock towards the front. It seems to be fine as it was on the shady side of the tank. I got a look at my tang myself and it isn't as bad as my wife made me believe. He isn't his normal gorgeous self, but he is healthy enough. He will definitely recover.
In Soviet Russia, Fish collect YOU!
Back to Top
bstuver View Drop Down
Guest
Guest
Avatar

Joined: April 17 2006
Location: Provo
Status: Offline
Points: 9379
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bstuver Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 01 2011 at 9:07pm
My guess would be the UV from the light not having the glass and the temperature rise combined is your problem. As I said when you got the light I would aim a fan directly at it and maybe one at the water so it will stay on the cooler side:)

Edited by bstuver - August 01 2011 at 9:08pm
Jackie Stuver

"wait these aren't the happy Hawaiians oompa doompa godly heaven on your face zoas?   I dont want them then. lol!" Ksmart
Back to Top
russianrick View Drop Down
Guest
Guest
Avatar

Joined: July 30 2011
Location: Spanish Fork
Status: Offline
Points: 210
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote russianrick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 01 2011 at 9:14pm
I'm thinking that I will give my tank a few days at least to recuperate before I turn the MH back on even now that I put the glass back on. So is the glass polarized or is the 1/8th inch of plate glass enough to reduce the uv exposure?
In Soviet Russia, Fish collect YOU!
Back to Top
Will Spencer View Drop Down
Admin Group
Admin Group
Avatar

Joined: September 04 2003
Location: West Jordan
Status: Offline
Points: 6799
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Will Spencer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 02 2011 at 10:33am
The glass is tempered which gives it UV cutting properties.

I believe not having the glass is what caused the problems for your corals.  Also if they came from a tank with less light than you have now given them you need to aclimate them to the amount of light they are now receiving.  Even replacing and old bulb with a new one can be enough change to need an acclimation period.  Start with a couple hours a day and ramp that up about 1/2 an hour each day until you come to however long you have determined the photo period should be.  Typically 8-10 hours.

Your fish could well have had problems with the UV as well, but at least they can escape if they want, although they probably don't know they need to.  The other problem is that your temps went so high.  86 degrees can be a problem for the fish for several reasons.  First of all Salt Water fish don't do large temp swings well, and secondly the higher the  temps go the less oxygen the water holds.  At 86 degrees many people lose most or all of their fish to lack of oxygen.  By the way, the corals don't like the temp swings either.

I think if you fix those 2 problems things will eventually recover although it may take a month or two for the corals to get over the sunburn.
Back to Top
russianrick View Drop Down
Guest
Guest
Avatar

Joined: July 30 2011
Location: Spanish Fork
Status: Offline
Points: 210
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote russianrick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 02 2011 at 11:21am
The tank they came from was about 4" deeper, but had 2 metal halides + T5's, so it should be comparable.  For now I am leaving the metal halide light off to let everyone recover for at least the next week.  I am also adjusting things to get the temperature down to 80-82 where I like it (having lived on a tropical coast for a while, I know that that is closer to the norm than 74-76 or 76-78), but with the metal halide, I might try to pull things down to 78-80 to give me a little more buffer room if things start to get out of hand.

I run my lights on a tropical day (12 hours of light), but I am planning on implementing the metal halide only during the middle 6 hours of the day (at most) to represent what would happen in the brightest part of the day.  I have already set up a schedule that will ramp me up to that by increasing the light by only 15 minutes per day to help my tank acclimate to it.

I realize that my big mistake here was that I didn't do enough research about metal halide lighting before I implemented it and so I didn't know anything about the UV protective properties of the glass.  I have already found a way to fit the glass on to the fixture in my "retro-fit" application.  I just don't think I want to turn the light back on until I get a fan to help vent the heat out of the hood and my poor little sunburned yellow tang heals up.
In Soviet Russia, Fish collect YOU!
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply
  Share Topic   

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 12.03
Copyright ©2001-2018 Web Wiz Ltd.

This page was generated in 0.500 seconds.