A few questions.....

[bethanycoppedge]

we are new to the saltwater world so bare with me. This is a tank that was maintained by my sister-in-law and was givin to us.
1. My son recieved a dead starfish from my sister from the beach. My son asked if we could put it on the bed of the tank. we said yes without researching it first. we couldn't get it to stay on the bottom so we took it out. by morning all the fish were barely swimming and had lost their color. we did a 50% water change immediately. it has been a few days and the fish are fine but I have a xenia coral that is still shriveled up. I'm not sure what happened in the first place and i don't know what to do?

2. why do my fish lose their color over night when the light is off? for example: We have a sailfin tang that is usually yellow and black and at night it turns white and gray but after i turn the light on in the morning it's fine.

3.are barnacles ok to be allover the bottom of the tank walls?

4. how long does the light need to be on and at what times do you usually turn it on and off?

5. we have green polyps I think, they come out and look like palm trees. What is the best location for them to be in the tank?

 

[BalaShark]

1. My son recieved a dead starfish from my sister from the beach. My son asked if we could put it on the bed of the tank. we said yes without researching it first. we couldn't get it to stay on the bottom so we took it out. by morning all the fish were barely swimming and had lost their color. we did a 50% water change immediately. it has been a few days and the fish are fine but I have a xenia coral that is still shriveled up. I'm not sure what happened in the first place and i don't know what to do?

What you had was a huge nitrate spike due to a big dead decomposing star fish.

2. why do my fish lose their color over night when the light is off? for example: We have a sailfin tang that is usually yellow and black and at night it turns white and gray but after i turn the light on in the morning it's fine.

Why is the sky blue and the sun yellow? I don't know, probably for the same reason that flowers open in the morning and close at night.

4. how long does the light need to be on and at what times do you usually turn it on and off?

I have night lights (lunar) which are always on. The white lights turn on at 11am, turning off a 9pm. The purple lights turn on at 9am and turn of at 10pm

5. we have green polyps I think, they come out and look like palm trees. What is the best location for them to be in the tank?

As far away from any mushroom as you can, mushrooms have a strong poison that will kill your polyps. Polyps have high intensity light requirements, but not to close to your MH, otherwise the heat will kill them.

 

[TRe]

first tell us more about the tank... size,lighting,protien skimmer, how long its been up n running...have u tested the water? if so what were the results?.... as far as keeping keeping the "green polyps" as far away from mushrooms thats not true take some pictures of everything you have questions about so we have a better idea what your talking about for example the barnacles (there not barnacles but i pic would help identify).... the lighting schedule for example my actinics come on an hr before and stay on an hr after the regular daylight bulbs (to simulate dusk and dawn) and the moon lights come on when all the other lights are off .... btw my regular daylights are on about 8hrs and theyr on from 2pm til 10pm (since i work all day so i have time to view the tank when i get home)

 

[Lorna]

Yes as Tre said more particulars and details on what your set up is will help us get an idea of your individual set up. The dead star caused an ammonia spike, not nitrates.....when something dies or decays (read food or other matter) it produces ammonia, the beneficial nitrobacter bacteria that populates your live rock, sand particles and other surfaces then consumes the ammonia and produces nitrate as a by product, the nitrate in itself is not toxic to many fishes but an excess will lead to many other issues such as algaes and poor water quality. What in essence happened is that the decay of the starfish produced too much ammonia and overwhelmed the bacteria and built up in the water. Your water change alleviated most of the problem..

 

[Lorna]

Oh and btw, most fish lose color at night and regain it once the lights come on......

 

[bethanycoppedge]

thank you i will go and get a test kit now and get back with you