I had the impression that your tank was very new and that there was some trouble with the coral. I must be wrong about that.
Food. There's not enough of it for the fish in that tank.
I just searched back in all your posts and found the video of your 28 gal. My comments below are based on what I saw there. If that was not your tank or if it looks completely different now, please advise.
I believe the reason the Blue Tang picked on the new Wrasse is because it was bothered that there was already a perception that there is not enough food. I don't know how many Hermits there are but the first thing I saw when the video started was a Hermit moving at the top of a rock. The hermits are starving. Who knows but that the hungry Wrasses may be taking advantage of the weakened Hermits. They are easy to pull out of their home in their weakened condition.
Yes, I can tell all of this by looking at the vid of that tank. I can tell by the movement of the fish (and hermit) and by the look of the coral LR and LS. As you start feeding more, be sure it is not dry processed foods, but rather it's Macroalgae mixed with a good frozen food like Emerald Entree and Rod's Food. Caulerpa, Nori and Romaine lettuce are great Tang foods. If you have not been feeding Nori or lettuce, it will be new food to the fish, so they may not take to it right away. Feed the Nori or lettuce first when the fish are the hungriest, then later drop in a bit of frozen food marinated without water in a few drops of Garlic Oil.
That is my recommendation.
Use it as best fits your situation.
Oh also, since there isn't much food being added to this tank, there aren't many bugs. Without bugs for the Wrasses to eat, they are especially hungry. Another reason why I believe you may be correct that they are eating the Hermits.
 Trevor40 wrote:
My question is, what do I put in the tank to clean the rocks? I dont
want an urchin and am worried about adding snails even though I might
give them a try soon as they have all died shortly after intoduction(I
think because of new tank syndrome). |
I agree that an Urchin would not be so good. They eat coralline algae, which would be a bad move in this tank.
This new tank syndrome you speak of is simply the inability of a new tank's limited biofiltration to handle the new pollution. That pollution led to the demise of what may have also been a group of already weak snails that were starving before you got them.
The video shows a tank that is very clean already. For it to maintain its health and continue that way long term, it may need to get a little "dirtier" than you were expecting. It's important to adjust your idea of cleanliness with the way that Mother Nature takes care of all life. What some of us see as "dirty" is actually the way that a healthy ecosystem lives and looks.
I have a few questions to ask to help give you the best advice.
How often do you have to clean algae off the glass?
How many Hermits are left?
How many of what type of snails did you add and how old was the tank when you added them. Was there much algae for them to eat then?
May we see a recent pic of the tank?
The "Secrets of an Affordable Reef Aquarium" thread linked below describes how to avoid the traditional Pollution "Cycle" or what you are calling new tank syndrome. A tank that is set up following the procedure outlined there does not experience the typical pollution and accompanying death.
There's a lot to learn in this hobby. Hope this helps.
Edited by Mark Peterson - September 15 2011 at 11:41am
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