[quote=“bsnow, post:19, topic:4781”]
It was my first acro all others are lps and soft[/quote]
Acros, are def not a starter sps. There are much easier frags to start with, and they can be good “indicator” coral for your system as well (green birds nest, some monti’s, pocciliporas) .
But like i said, it might not have been anything you could of avoided, but at least if you have some other "easier " sps it can help you to figure out if your system can handle acros.
I would agree birdsnest is a very touchy animal. In some situations it can handle crappy conditions, in others it is moody when other animals seem find. Montipora capricornis (“Monti cap”) would be hardy choice. I’d start by collecting different colored Monti caps, then go from there.
Try to see if you can find an LFS as well that sells locally aquacultured animals and find some that have been in the shop for at least 3-4 days. These animals are a lot more likely to survive then fresh cut wild collected specimens.
But why did the shrimp die is the big question. Of the “cleaner” shrimp Stenopus hispidus is, in my experience, pretty hardy. I wouldn’t recommend adding any animals at all to the aquarium for at least a couple weeks and keep a close eye on the other animals.
yeah definitely not adding anything till im sure everything is fine. the frags from the group buy/raffle was the last thing i added and they were all fine until the acro went and then the shrimp both of which were very healthy looking and then in a matter of hours gone.
[quote=“bsnow, post:17, topic:4781”]
my tank is 46gal i did about a 10-15% change (7 or 8 gallons) i mix the water for a few minutes until it is all dissolved and not cloudy dont know if that is right or not[/quote]
Are you saying you mixed 7 or 8 gals of fresh mixed saltwater and used it right away ?
If so that could be an issue as fresh mixed saltwater is very reactive and take about 10+ hours to become stable.
I think what Jon is trying to get from you is for you to kind of get a graph of your parameters like test twice a day at the same time every day and that way you know what you have, it is way more important to be stable then have a magic number once a day.
Just to throw in my :TWOCENTS
Though it may not be the exact problem that you’re experiencing now, you will want to pre-mix your saltwater about 24-48hrs before adding to your system during a WC. Actively dissolving salt can cause all kinds of issues, artificial spikes in pH are one of them. Active ion exchange is a powerful thing, and even though the water is not cloudy after a few minutes, it will not reach equilibrium for quite awhile.
Just food for thought.
[quote=“Hudzon, post:24, topic:4781”]
[quote=“bsnow, post:17, topic:4781”]
my tank is 46gal i did about a 10-15% change (7 or 8 gallons) i mix the water for a few minutes until it is all dissolved and not cloudy dont know if that is right or not[/quote]
Are you saying you mixed 7 or 8 gals of fresh mixed saltwater and used it right away ?
If so that could be an issue as fresh mixed saltwater is very reactive and take about 10+ hours to become stable.
I think what Jon is trying to get from you is for you to kind of get a graph of your parameters like test twice a day at the same time every day and that way you know what you have, it is way more important to be stable then have a magic number once a day.[/quote]
AAH!! You beat me to it! GolfC
ok so i didnt let it sit but i did the water change saturday and no problems until wednesday
+1 on all the w/c advice. I used to piss off everything when i did w/c’s… Until… I matched temps within +/- .5 degrees… aerated and mix the saltwater for at least 24hrs ahead of time… I also test the Ca, Alk, and Mg of the first batch of water from a new bucket of salt… just for piece of mind, and to know what the params are, and if any of those need to be dealt with before i add that water to my system.
example… my last bucket of salt had a dkh of around 10.5 (or 10.4 for frank) i usually have my tank at 9… but it fluctuates at times from 7.5 to 9… so i would test/dose a couple of days ahead to make sure my tank was at 9.5 before the w/c.
The first time i didn’t do that, my tank was at 7.5 and i did a 20% w/c with new water that was at almost 11 dkh (10.9 frank) :
: crack myself up…
anyway, my monti cap started “sliming” and some other sps, and my gsp, and toadstool stayed closed for 2 days
that being said, i’m also switching to smaller w/c’s for less shock to the system, and now i’ve got coral that hang out of the water for 10 minutes during the w/c, even though it doesn’t seem to bother them, i still dont like it…
[quote=“bsnow, post:27, topic:4781”]
ok so i didnt let it sit but i did the water change saturday and no problems until wednesday[/quote]
ben,
i think we all mis estimate the lives of the creatures in our tanks. we go crazy when an earthquake victim is pulled from the rubble, yet many a coral had done very well after being upside down in the back, shaded, for a month. fish can be quite healthy eating once every 3 days. corals heal and grow from a single polyp. saying that you saw no problems from sat until wed does not mean that there actually were no problems.
sure a coral may slime over instantly, but it can also suffer slowly without our being able to notice it. clams certainly do.
BTW, that is prolly john’s monti’s prob: whenever it has to see john’s ugly face out of water it has to slime itself::hitsthefan::
You certainly don’t want to (urine) off your corals as much as you can avoid. Though they don’t really (urine) it is more of a description of how pissed off they are and it’s kind of dumb that (urine) would be considered a curse word and urine is not.
Mods, Craig, Al, and Ted, if your little kids are offended by (urine) keep them off the forum and let the rest of us grown ups talk normal. 
I get carried away talking to myself. That size water change on that size tank with water mixed 5 minutes before hand will (urine) the corals off (or urinate them off for a kid safe forum) for over 24 hours in a toxic chemical battle. Always best to keep it mixing(not just sitting) for at LEAST 12 hours before use. 24 hours with mixing and aeration would be best.
Glad you guys caught that and more people finally chimed in. 
bsnow, is it all possible to take pictures or even better video of the tank? Don’t be ashamed we all start somewhere and there are a lot of things we may be missing that a quick video will help us find.
[quote=“moliken, post:29, topic:4781”]
BTW, that is prolly john’s monti’s prob: whenever it has to see john’s ugly face out of water it has to slime itself::hitsthefan::[/quote]
ouch :
:
i know, you think, “what did i ever do to him?” hmmmmm. it is funny tho.
Thanks I didn’t know about the salt mixing. The acro is gone just a white stick so i don’t know if pics would help. Is there a possibility that the cbs tried to eat the acro and doomed them both
I don’t think there’s a acro eating cbs. There is a acro eating crabs however. But those are symbiotic.
no it didnt eat it. its just one of those things. probably not linked together
i figured it didt eat it but figured id ask its just weird that they died within 24 hours of each other
[quote=“bsnow, post:36, topic:4781”]
i figured it didt eat it but figured id ask its just weird that they died within 24 hours of each other[/quote]
sounds like a murder / suicide type scenario >LOCO<