I am new to saltwater and I have never posted a question on a web site like this so please bear with me. I started my first saltwater tank in May - 30 gal. eclipse tank - live sand (2 inch sand bed) cycled tank then added a cow fish and goby, all was well. Then I went wild. Added way to many fish ie: dwarf angle, scooter blenny, hawk fish, 5 small chromies, and a couple of other fish I cant remember what they were and some live rock, and of course every thing died of ick except my cow fish and scooter blenny. Decided to go slow. I through everything out. Bleached tank and filter Started over - put cow fish and scooter in quarantine tank and medicated them, added 405 fluvial filter, UV sterilizer - live sand 2 inches, cycled and every is thing fine now. I purchased a chocolate chip starfish (in qtank now) and want to add a dwarf flame angel fish later. My question is the water is perfect (as far as the tests show) but I have green spots in the sand. I don’t think the spots are algae, they are totally round and almost fluorescent green. The spots are seen through the glass, not on top of the sand. I have no idea what this is, would appreciate any advise any one can offer. I know that the cow fish will grow out of this 30 gal tank and am planning a larger one if I can learn how to handle the 30 gallon one first. I would like to add some live rock, but I think this is where my problems started before, I didn’t have the ick until I added the rock. But then since I didn’t quarantine any of the fish there is no telling. And also in the rock was some really disgusting little crawly things that looked like centipedes. Am I supposed to quarantine the live rock? I would also like to purchase some live saltwater plants - do they need to be quarantined also? Thank you
Another newbie
- Thread starter dgdpeter
- Start date
Welcome to the site 
It sounds like you added way too many fish to your tank, in addition to the live rock that was probably not fully cured. This is a great article about live rock: http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/sal...-rock-foundation-healthy-marine-aquarium.html
The critters on the live rock are a good thing. They keep your tank clean, and are food for fish. Amphipods, copepods and bristleworms all add biodiversity to the tank. Adding live rock that's not fully cured probably spiked your ammonia, stressed the fish, and caused the ich to take hold. All fish should be quarantined before adding, but I wouldn't recommend adding anything to your tank until it's fully stable and you've rehoused your cowfish (which need something like a 125g tank to be happy).
The green spots in your sand are likely some form of algae. Can you post a picture, maybe?
It sounds like you added way too many fish to your tank, in addition to the live rock that was probably not fully cured. This is a great article about live rock: http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/sal...-rock-foundation-healthy-marine-aquarium.html
The critters on the live rock are a good thing. They keep your tank clean, and are food for fish. Amphipods, copepods and bristleworms all add biodiversity to the tank. Adding live rock that's not fully cured probably spiked your ammonia, stressed the fish, and caused the ich to take hold. All fish should be quarantined before adding, but I wouldn't recommend adding anything to your tank until it's fully stable and you've rehoused your cowfish (which need something like a 125g tank to be happy).
The green spots in your sand are likely some form of algae. Can you post a picture, maybe?
There's step-by-step info on posting pics here: http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/rate-my-tank-freshwater/29317-picture-posting-info.html