What to do Now?

HuricaneKatt

HuricaneKatt

AC Members
Feb 1, 2010
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6
Anchorage, AK
So my roommate and I own a 29 gallon saltwater tank. It is mainly my roommate's thing, but we both enjoy it a lot. We have had it going for about a year now and it has done really well. Until tonight. The only think in the tank that was "mine" (as in I paid for it, but she does all the care lol I just enjoy), a sea urchin, died. Well, apparently they give off very strong toxins when they die and our tank is now decimated. Our two clownfish are goners for sure. We just flushed one and the other will not make it through the night. It would be a miracle. We have a little yellow fish and a black/blue fish that are in there as well (Sorry, Don't know what kind, this is my roommate's thing). I am not sure how they are doing but the bristle worm that we have been trying to get rid of for ages is doing great (he came hidden in some live rock). My roommate said the toxins don't effect them. Of course. Well, now we are looking at restocking the entire tank. I also have another 29 Gallon that is currently holding a lizard that will probably be re homed soon. Our plan is to have one fish tank and one sea horse tank (even if the lizard stays). We are going to let the tank clean out for a month or two and probably get some plants set up in there and some more coral or something. Then we would like to add the sea horses.

Soo.. here are the (many) questions.
What seahorses do you guys recommend that are fairly hardy (my bf offered to possibly by us one if he got to name it as long as it wouldn't die super easily lol)?
What else can we put in with the seahorses (i.e. other cool inverts, maybe 1 or 2 larger but non-seahorse-eating-fish)?

What cool suggestions do you guys have for the other tank? We thought an eel or a bigger fish might be cool, but I like to have a fun variety...I really like these guys...
p-39306-mckoskers-flasher-.jpg
McCosker's Flasher Wrasse

Anyways, since we have to revamp we are looking at some new types of fish we haven't had before.

Suggestions?

Oh, and we are both college students so the budget is limited, but it can be built up in time too if the fish/inverts are cool enough... ;)

Oh, and side question, will the sea urchin toxins effect the levels of Nitrobacter and Nitrosomonas in the tank? My bf and I are both bio majors and have to do a big microbio isolation project and were planning on using the tank for samples...now everything is dying...poor little clown fish :,( And even worse, poor Spike! :,(
 
as far as i know there is no such thing as a hardy seahorse they are all harder to take care of then most ordinary fish. This is a link for some seahorses. http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=15+40
Here are some other cool fish
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/...+1926&r=3122&s=ts&start=1&page_num=1&count=24
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=15+2124
Here are some good inverts
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=497+2857
And some good corals
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/...2856&r=22+28&s=ts&start=1&page_num=1&count=23

Hope they help. Good Luck and plz keep us posted.
 
Firts things first, sorry to hear about your tank.

You need to make sure your water quality is safe for new additions. I don;t have any experinece with urchins so I am not sure if a 100% water change is in order or even if that will make the tank safe again. If you are using live rock, there is a good chance that the the rock has absorbed the toxins. That might not be an issue if new water will dilute the toxins enough that they are no longer harmful. IMO, further reserach into this should be your first priority.

Also its kind of important to know what the "little yellow fish and a black/blue fish" are exactly before we can help you pick out a compatible fish. Is the black/blue fish thin. mostly black with a thin blue line running along the entire length of the body? Could be a cleaner wrass which don;t generally do well in captivity (especially in a smaller tank. I would not recommend the flasher wrasses you have pictured theire either for a 29 gallon regradless of what other fish you have now. They are highly active fish and need a little more room to swim. They also have a high metabolism and usually require multiple feedings each day to thrive. This may be hard to do on a college schedule. The extra feeding will also increase your chances of poor water quality.

Fishfreind is correct, seahorses are not hardy and not something I would try without a firm grasp of their care.

Not trying to be a downer, just don't want you to end up in the same boat a month or two from now. HTH.
 
I respectfully disagree with the Flasher wrasse in a 29G. Those McCoskers are very tiny and I think they can do fine in a 29G AS LONG AS THE TOP IS SEALED. They are the second most "jumpy" fish I have ever experienced next to the Diamond Goby. Of course this is all after you get the tank back into proper running conditions.

There is no such thing IMO as an eel that is suitable in a 29G, but for something "eel like" you could go with the engineer goby. Everyone used to mistake mine for an eel.

Seahorses.. one of those "Always wanted to do, but the care level required for them is even beyond what I could give" personally. It is possible to do, but just way too much work involved to keep them healthy and well fed for me.
 
Ace25 said:
I respectfully disagree with the Flasher wrasse in a 29G. Those McCoskers are very tiny and I think they can do fine in a 29G AS LONG AS THE TOP IS SEALED. They are the second most "jumpy" fish I have ever experienced next to the Diamond Goby. Of course this is all after you get the tank back into proper running conditions.

There is no such thing IMO as an eel that is suitable in a 29G, but for something "eel like" you could go with the engineer goby. Everyone used to mistake mine for an eel.

Seahorses.. one of those "Always wanted to do, but the care level required for them is even beyond what I could give" personally. It is possible to do, but just way too much work involved to keep them healthy and well fed for me.
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Good info but I am curious about the Morph Ribbon Eel that dosn't get quite as big as a regular ribbon eel.. I have a white ribbon eel in my tank with an eel goby partner though it is a bigger aquarium would the white ribbon eel not be suitable in a 30g tank.. I mean when mine does swim around it is within the rockwork anyways.
 
I know sea horses aren't "hardy," what I meant was a sea horse that was relatively hardy compared to others. As in, which species is the easiest to care for and keep alive?

Fishfriend: Thanks! We will have to look into some of those fish! And those seahorse links are really helpful!

Greech: Of course we will make sure the water quality is back up before adding anything! :rolleyes: And a lot more research will be done. Like I said, this tank is not my thing, it is my roommate's deal. We are simply collaborating on ideas right now and I figured this would be a good place to get suggestions to pass along to her. She is going to clean out the rocks and such, get the water all cleaned out, etc.

Ace: Thanks! I will look into that Goby! He looks really cool! I'll see what my roommate thinks. And thanks for the info on the Wrasse, our top is pretty well sealed so I think they'd be ok in that regard. :)
 
HuricaneKatt said:
I know sea horses aren't "hardy," what I meant was a sea horse that was relatively hardy compared to others. As in, which species is the easiest to care for and keep alive?

Fishfriend: Thanks! We will have to look into some of those fish! And those seahorse links are really helpful!

Greech: Of course we will make sure the water quality is back up before adding anything! :rolleyes: And a lot more research will be done. Like I said, this tank is not my thing, it is my roommate's deal. We are simply collaborating on ideas right now and I figured this would be a good place to get suggestions to pass along to her. She is going to clean out the rocks and such, get the water all cleaned out, etc.

Ace: Thanks! I will look into that Goby! He looks really cool! I'll see what my roommate thinks. And thanks for the info on the Wrasse, our top is pretty well sealed so I think they'd be ok in that regard. :)
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I don't think you need to clean the rock hehe, scrubbing or rinsing wont do anything but kill off the rock since the toxins or nitrates, bacterias etc will have absorbed into the rock.
 
Robert04 said:
I don't think you need to clean the rock hehe, scrubbing or rinsing wont do anything but kill off the rock since the toxins or nitrates, bacterias etc will have absorbed into the rock.
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Well, my roommate is looking into how to make sure all of the toxins are out. The live rock was not growing a whole lot on it anyways... :S I think what she wants to do is soak it in fresh water for a few minutes (yes she is aware that this will kill the "live" part of the rock lol) to kill the bristle worm that has been hiding in there for months and months despite all of our best efforts to eliminate him. There is a guy that runs an aquarium shop down the road from us and he really knows his stuff, so I think she's talking to him about how to get the toxins out of the rocks.

Blah, what a pain. And now my poor Spike is dead :( He lived almost a year and was Super active and really gorgeous looking. I doubt I'll be able to convince my roommate to let us get another one after this. lol
 
If memory serves, although some urchins may have poison glands, I never experienced such tank crash due to toxins released, if at all, by dead/dying urchins.
Due to sensitivity to salinity fluctuations and exposure to air on some species during shipping, experienced many losses during transit and in the system w/o implications to other tankmates...I have tried just about all the urchins avail to hobby before I left hobby few yrs ago, even some I catch locally from time to time.
But again, I guess such crash maybe possible in smaller tank. Protein Skimmer and Good circulation comes in handy, especially when extra proteins are released/produced.

I do know for fact that dead urchins can foul up water gradually in small tank as their internal organs/tissues decay.
Is it possible to post the scientific nomenclature of your Purple Urchin? Only Purchle Urchin I do know of is the one from Atlantic side which does not do well in tropical set up.

Ive also kept pretty much all species of wild and captive bred seahorses avail and was able to rear some youngs before in very old and well established systems (10+ yrs old) but large systems, meaning each system can be over 1000G system with DIY wave makers.
Since returning to hobby couple of yrs ago with just local s/w aqautic life including H. erectus seahorses (Sometimes my children will just p/u seahorses that got washed to shores), I have not done any water changes since setting the tank up in July. No skimmer in this 2-1/2 g tank with (1) juvie seahorse, no problem.
It has grown quite a bit since bring it home and will be given bigger tank before next summer when my children hope to bring home few more.
This tank was set up on the same day I brought her home using natural saltwater, live sand from shore and whatever floating macroalgae we found.

I let macro algae and other algae which grows in the tank do most filtrations. I could see denitrification process taking process in facultative anaerobic condition where bubbles (N2) are produced w/in sand..

It is not that difficult to keep and have male release brood but rearing of young is another matter.
And most importantly, NO MASSIVE WATER CHANGES at one time.
Stability is the key in achieving successful tank, IMHO.

Another important aspect is the environment one provide for seahorses. When given species tank as you planned, it should go well.
You can even condition the seahorse to recognize location of dinnertable. Pavlov's Conditioning? Tap the rim and all will surface to same location after conditioning.

I mainly depends on Fz Mysis which even wild Seahorses will adjust to Fz w/o difficulties. I also collected live mysis and other prawns which I keep separately as they can reproduce in captivity (pretty much free food. Well, better food than Fz Mysis).
The size of prawn or shrimp that seahorse can suck up and engulf, it is amazing how powerful their suction is.

I am curious as to your water condition (pH, NH3/NO2) before and after urchin died.
Can you post if possible?

Anyway, Good Luck with new ventures.
 
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