cindyp Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 i went away for two weeks and have a 3 gallon pico reef with super easy corals like mushrooms, xenia, etc. and two sexy shrimps. today, i picked up my tank, and i don't know what happened, but my kenya tree, which was healthy and splitting into three is basically dead. there's a root left, but its heads have broken off and its lying on its side. my blue cloves have melted. my green star polyps have shruken and lost color. and my xenias that were propogating like crazy, some of those died too. my mushrooms have all shrunken. amazingly my sexy shrimps are okay. i don't know what happened, i suspect they might not have topped off for two entire weeks? but the salinity was perfect when we checked. could the lights have been left on 24 hours? that's the only other thing i can think of. but yeah. i was very sad. not going to be doing that again. i was planning on upgrading to a 8 gallon this month, and half my stock has died. Link to comment
patback Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 i went away for two weeks and have a 3gallon pico reef with super easy corals likemushrooms, xenia, etc. and two sexy shrimps.today, i picked up my tank, and i don't know whathappened, but my kenya tree, which was healthyand splitting into three is basically dead. there's a rootleft, but its heads have broken off and its lying on itsside. my blue cloves have melted. my green star polypshave shruken and lost color. and my xenias that werepropogating like crazy, some of those died too. my mushrooms have all shrunken. amazingly my sexy shrimps are okay. i don't know what happened, i suspect theymight not have topped off for two entire weeks?but the salinity was perfect when we checked. could the lights have been left on 24 hours? that'sthe only other thing i can think of. but yeah. i was very sad. not going to be doing thatagain. i was planning on upgrading to a 8 gallon thismonth, and half my stock has died. Anything could have happened. Look at the track record of the lfs for a clue. If they are usually good and reputable, I would say after the movement, if you didn't do a water change right away, most of those soft corals while they don't usually sting release slime especially in non movin water and ESPECIALLY if taken out of water and put back in. It's very possible they poisoned eachother. It's also very possible any of those thins you mentioned happened. Loss of coral and money is just part of the game whn it comes to reef keeping. I don't want to even think of how many hundreds of dollars I lost in coral with a week of adding a piece, let alone things I had for a while and just died. Words of advice... Buy an ato. I understand they are ugly in small picks without a sump, but at the very least you can hook up a 5 gallon bucket to it and leave your tanks for weeks on end without much happening. Just put it together a day or two before you leave to ensure it's working correctly and enjoy your vacation/time away without worrying much. Link to comment
cindyp Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 thanks pat. i did with hold info. the LFS recently changed owners and i noticed that the tanks weren't as well cared for at all. yet still, i went against my gut instinct and took the risk. i actually suspect that the tank wasn't being topped off--even if the salinity read right when i measured today. but like you said, who knows. lesson learned indeed. i didn't want to spend hundreds for a good top off when i have such a little tank. but i'll have to think of options for next time, for certain. Link to comment
RK_tek Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 There are options such as the hamster bottle ATO that are cost effective. If you only use it when you'll be gone for a few days, who cares what it looks like Sorry your tank suffered bc of this. I hope things take a turn for the better Link to comment
patback Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 thanks pat. i did with hold info. the LFS recently changed owners and i noticed that the tanks weren't as well cared for at all. yet still, i went against my gut instinct and took the risk. i actually suspect that the tank wasn't being topped off--even if the salinity read right when i measured today. but like you said, who knows. lesson learned indeed. i didn't want to spend hundreds for a good top off when i have such a little tank. but i'll have to think of options for next time, for certain. It's very possible they didn't too off and said " oh shit, she's coming in today, fix the water level". But even that usually wouldn't bother softies. Look around on the for sale forums. Jbj is a good ato and is a common for sale item used. I think I bought mine new for under 120. Along with an aqualifter. Link to comment
Red_Blenny Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 Which LFS did you go to? Link to comment
farkwar Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 The Hydor ATO is like $65 on Amazon now. Those are all hard to kill corals, Somethings up with that. Link to comment
cindyp Posted August 31, 2014 Author Share Posted August 31, 2014 i'm in san diego. you can message me if you want! but i wonder now if it was due to overheating? the store has no AC, and i think it got up to 88 in the store definitely. i have a little 3 gallon with no chiller, obviously. is that likely to kill these corals? my GSP have turned anemic in color and shorter. =( the good news is that i'm upgrading to an 8g soon--so happy to look for some new stock for bigger tank. but still heartsick over some of the coral loss. Link to comment
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