Fishes keep dying =(

[yikai]

Maybe u should off the wavemaker at night. At night everything sleep, corals all close, no need flow. On in the morning.

[Kalib]

From the pics, I don't think he has a wavemaker, i think his referring to his hang-on filter. IMO, can leave it as it is.

[yikai]

oh no wavemaker. sorry i assumed he had one

[hermitcrab]

Hi Weihao,

I am like you, keeping fish in a 2 feet tank, here are some things i learn during my my hobby

1) Hermit crab have limited life span, most are 2-3 years only, if you crab die on you, maybe its already very old

2) Shrimp, crabs need calcium, iodine to molt properly, they will die if they do not molt properly

3) Try to have a cover for your tank, some time after water change fish will "jump" out of fright, sometimes, the activities in your room will frighten fish also

4) Do not believe what most shop keeper tells you about the fish, some fishes are really difficult to keep.

5) Put a limit to the fishes you have, in my 2 feet tank, i only 1 sally lightfoot crab, 2 box fish, 2 snails, 1 abalone. Have a theme for your tank.

6) Do not care your fishes to death, imagine how frightening if a giant hand mess with your room every day.

7) Some fish release poison when dead, boxfish is one of them.

8) there is no quick fix to problems, be patient, digest the suggestion properly and come up with a plan.

Just my 2 cents worth

[yikai]

hermitcrab is right. Do not over-care your fish too much. This is one thing i learn as a reefer. Sometimes, the more u care, the more detrimental to their health. Last time i itchy hands, every few days always change water, rearrange rockwork, severely over feed, catch them out etc etc. RUBBISH. let your fish settle down, enjoy their new home. Do what is right for the fish, not so much what is right for you. Example, if your favourite aquascape has NO holes and caves for your fishes to hide, re-do it, even if you like it alot. This is just an example. Dont worry wei bro. We are all here to help you. You will be successful in your hobby one day. For now, just get an ammonia test kit first. Very important.

[sparks1107]

hermitcrab is right. Do not over-care your fish too much. This is one thing i learn as a reefer. Sometimes, the more u care, the more detrimental to their health. Last time i itchy hands, every few days always change water, rearrange rockwork, severely over feed, catch them out etc etc. RUBBISH. let your fish settle down, enjoy their new home. Do what is right for the fish, not so much what is right for you. Example, if your favourite aquascape has NO holes and caves for your fishes to hide, re-do it, even if you like it alot. This is just an example. Dont worry wei bro. We are all here to help you. You will be successful in your hobby one day. For now, just get an ammonia test kit first. Very important.

alright. will get a ammonia test kit tml.

actually i dont re arrange my LR for very long time. think the only changes i make to my tank is topping up of evaporated water once every few days and scrapping of algae weekly other than that is just pure feeding of pellets or frozen mysis shrimps. was thinking of getting garlic guard for pellets feeding. will it increase my fishes immune system?

thanks guys for all the feedbacks and comments!

[yikai]

Garlic not sure about increase immunity, but i know its good to entice those fishes that are hard to get feeding. Best way to increase health and immunity is to feed alot of different foods, a few times a day. Thats what i do, and even though my tank have white spots, the fish strong enuf to fight it off, so no need to do much.

[sparks1107]

Garlic not sure about increase immunity, but i know its good to entice those fishes that are hard to get feeding. Best way to increase health and immunity is to feed alot of different foods, a few times a day. Thats what i do, and even though my tank have white spots, the fish strong enuf to fight it off, so no need to do much.

different foods? like? im only feeding pellets and frozen shrimp. anything else?

[yikai]

different foods? like? im only feeding pellets and frozen shrimp. anything else?

pellet and mysis is ok. I thought u were only feeding one kind. Haha! occasionally, u can give ur fishes a treat by feeding them small small pieces of market prawns =) my fish go crazy for them. If u ever feed them brine shrimp, try not to. Brine shrimp have very little nutrients. =) You can try henry's reef gourmet. Quite good also, have alot of different food blend into one.

[Underwater]

Beware of too much market prawns...they will foul your water easily and caused your water quality to deteriorate without good skimmers. If it is for fish, best not to feed them with these at all. Pellets and occasional frozen mysis will do. Don't overfeed the fishes too. Twice a day is enough.

[yikai]

If u like to feed market prawn like me, do it sparingly, give prawns as a treat, and not as a main meal. Make sure that all the prawn is eaten. I drop 2 -3 small pieces at a time. When the fish stop eating, i catch the leftovers out, or let my brittlestar eat the left overs.

[hermitcrab]

Hi Wei Hao

Another thing will be to control your urge to buy fish on impulse, always ask the LFS when did the fish arrived, try not to buy fishes that just arrived. They could be stressed out by the shipment trip already. If u can observe them for sometime, if not ask the shopkeeper for fish that are around already.

I also notice that sometime, due to the "centralised" water system adopted by most pet shops, disease in one tank will also be spread to other tank sharing the same water system.

Choose a lfs that has healthy lifestock, for me I have a few "preferred shop" and they are alway those far far away from my house. Eventhough there are LFS within 30minutes distance of my house. Open up your options

[yikai]

i agree with hermitcrab. Initial health of livestock is always very important. For me, i think henry@Marinelife has very good supply of livestock. So far disease free. Jir eh marine also not bad, bought alot form them so far, no disease. But i have to say those fishes at farms, usually got carry disease... For me i find that the standard at farms are alot different from LFS. Usually if i go farm, i buy corals, and not fishes. Fish i buy from LFS. Just my point of view.

However, if u practice quarantine and good measures, doesnt matter where u buy from. Just that if u like me, dun quarantine, then the initial health of the fish is very important. Make sure it has no disease

[sparks1107]

i agree with hermitcrab. Initial health of livestock is always very important. For me, i think henry@Marinelife has very good supply of livestock. So far disease free. Jir eh marine also not bad, bought alot form them so far, no disease. But i have to say those fishes at farms, usually got carry disease... For me i find that the standard at farms are alot different from LFS. Usually if i go farm, i buy corals, and not fishes. Fish i buy from LFS. Just my point of view.

However, if u practice quarantine and good measures, doesnt matter where u buy from. Just that if u like me, dun quarantine, then the initial health of the fish is very important. Make sure it has no disease

ok points taken. i would also prefer to buy fishes from LFS but the prices usually way too ex compared to fish farms. (1 pair of clowns can cost up to $12 whereas u can buy at $1 each at farms) so if the pair i bought for $12 die off more heartpain! haha. hows the pricings at henry's? or is there any LFS providing fishes with good health at reasonable prices? never buy fishes from LFS before. all the other fishes i bought are from fish farm. poor health might be one of the reasons y they die also.

well, the tanks at fish farms are used by many different batches of fishes before so theres bound to have fishes dying in the tank at least once. i normally go pasir ris fish farm during the weekends so the stock are already there for at least 3-4 days. is that long enough? anything longer than that u'll have to buy those fishes with broken fins cause the rest are grabbed up by other buyers! haha

i dont have the luxury of affording another qurantine tank haha! im just a poor NSF

[Underwater]

Not true lah bro. Prices in many reputable LFS are not always many times more expensive than fish farms. Even if some are more expensive, they offered much stable and quarantined fishes. Really no point buying cheap and unstable fishes and seeing them dying later. You wasted money totally. Worse, they spread diseases to the other fishes in your tank and ended up all fishes got the disease. Not worth it at all, trust me, unless you quarantine your fish.

Besides Marinelife, i personally like to go Sealife at Balestier where you can feed the fishes before buying.

[sparks1107]

Not true lah bro. Prices in many reputable LFS are not always many times more expensive than fish farms. Even if some are more expensive, they offered much stable and quarantined fishes. Really no point buying cheap and unstable fishes and seeing them dying later. You wasted money totally. Worse, they spread diseases to the other fishes in your tank and ended up all fishes got the disease. Not worth it at all, trust me, unless you quarantine your fish.

Besides Marinelife, i personally like to go Sealife at Balestier where you can feed the fishes before buying.

maybe i should buy fishes from LFS and try to see if they can manage to survive. anyway, u guys got the previous topic with all the marine shops in sg for google map?

[Underwater]

maybe i should buy fishes from LFS and try to see if they can manage to survive. anyway, u guys got the previous topic with all the marine shops in sg for google map?

Do check water parameters before buying new livestock cos if a healthy and hardy bi-color dottyback also died in your tank, then water parameters could be out of range. Do also check for ammonia (should be zero), temp (esp when sun is shining into your tank as you mentioned earlier) and SG too. Calcium and phosphate are not necessary and critical now. Use activated carbon or chemipure carbon to absorb any possible toxin in yr tank. For corals, do a search before buying too as some bros have mentioned, those that you bought are difficult to keep...gonio, cauliflower and clam (needs strong lights to survive). Mushrooms and leathers are less demanding, if you must keep corals.

[sparks1107]

Do check water parameters before buying new livestock cos if a healthy and hardy bi-color dottyback also died in your tank, then water parameters could be out of range. Do also check for ammonia (should be zero), temp (esp when sun is shining into your tank as you mentioned earlier) and SG too. Calcium and phosphate are not necessary and critical now. Use activated carbon or chemipure carbon to absorb any possible toxin in yr tank. For corals, do a search before buying too as some bros have mentioned, those that you bought are difficult to keep...gonio, cauliflower and clam (needs strong lights to survive). Mushrooms and leathers are less demanding, if you must keep corals.

ok will take note. just went to check my temp is 26-27degrees under sunlight. SG is under the green zone of the floating thermometer. as for the activated carbon, i had one small black bag recently, threw it away after using it for some time. should i get a new carbon bag soon? i placed in in between my filter media previously. (btw white filter wools and the blue one)

is bubble easy to keep? was thinking of getting one cause the shopkeeper told me its quite easy to keep.

[yikai]

Bubble coral is quite easy to moderate. They need calcium though, for skeletal growth. Also, u need to feed them like once a week, or once every two weeks. Though its not very detrimental if u forget. However, i suggest something like zoos or mushrooms first. Easier. Bubble coral may give u some problems like tissue rejection, which may rot and foul ur tank, If you dont take care. Becareful of bubble coral's sweeper tentacles, if you put it in high flow area, the sweeper tentacles will grow long and sting nearby corals. Other than these, bubble coral very beautiful and quite easy to keep.

[sparks1107]

Bubble coral is quite easy to moderate. They need calcium though, for skeletal growth. Also, u need to feed them like once a week, or once every two weeks. Though its not very detrimental if u forget. However, i suggest something like zoos or mushrooms first. Easier. Bubble coral may give u some problems like tissue rejection, which may rot and foul ur tank, If you dont take care. Becareful of bubble coral's sweeper tentacles, if you put it in high flow area, the sweeper tentacles will grow long and sting nearby corals. Other than these, bubble coral very beautiful and quite easy to keep.

alright. will keep a look out at zoos and mushrooms. thanks anyway, sounds like u're a coral specialist haha.

[yikai]

alright. will keep a look out at zoos and mushrooms. thanks anyway, sounds like u're a coral specialist haha.

haha!! omg no. my tank inside now, only have 1 bubble, 1 candycane, alot of mushrooms, star polyps, some zoos and some clavularia spp. I very scared to try corals. I research research research about corals ALOT, but dont dare to try haha!! So knowledge about corals have some, but experience with most corals, none. Happy to help you in whatever way i can =)

[sparks1107]

haha!! omg no. my tank inside now, only have 1 bubble, 1 candycane, alot of mushrooms, star polyps, some zoos and some clavularia spp. I very scared to try corals. I research research research about corals ALOT, but dont dare to try haha!! So knowledge about corals have some, but experience with most corals, none. Happy to help you in whatever way i can =)

haha thanks dude. i saw some clavularia at fish farm too. tempted to buy actually lol. are they hardy? u got pics for ur clavularia?

[yikai]

Hello. I just took some photos of my star polyps and clavularia. Clavularia family i think, if im not wrong, inclused star polyps, glove polyps, clove polyps. I just took a few photos only, at night, MOST of the polyps are closed, so it doesnt look very very nice now. Trust me, in the day time, it looks MUCH better. My last clavularia, was totally closed, so cannot take any photos, so i put a google image of what it roughly looks like. Everything except the last one is mine. Haha, most of them closed la, and im quite a noob coral keeper. This is just roughly to show you how they look like. And yes, clavularia spp are VERY hardy. Will withstand most light and water conditions, will even grow rapidly and encrust over liverock. If u look closely at my clav, the one that look like a small flower, u can see many many small small baby polyps sprouting out. I dunno if they are closed or open, but in the morning, alot of them are very visible. Ok enuf talking, here are the pictures u requested for! =)

Last pic is not mine, mine is closed, so went to google to find a close match to the one i have. Rest are mine

[yikai]

Here, to show u the hardyness and speed at which the clavs grow. I have circled the small baby polyps that are growing. I had this for only about 2 months, all the circled ones are new growth. Alot more, but all closed, hard to see.

[yikai]

One last thing to add, if you want to try this coral, try the star polyps. the one which is green in my first post. Those are hardier, and are very hard to die. haha! If you want to try this coral, i strongly reccomend. It is way way WAY easier than goniopora, it doesnt require much care, and it can tolerate most ighting conditions. If u place it higher towards the light, it will be more green. Lower light levels will make it more brownish. Happy to help!