change tank purpose

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tammielynz9881

Large Fish
#1
Jul 22, 2004
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#1
im sorry,, been a long time since i been here.
well i set up a 30 gal salt few months ago and all levels are fine and i woke up this morning to a dead niger trigger and a dead blue tang,,, i believe my long spinned sea urchin killed them! so, the tank is now going to be a live rock, coral and anenome station (at least that is what i think i wanna do) so here is the question: Should i get rid of the sea urchin and chocolate chip star before i do this? I don't wanna put them in my 55 in fear of my yellow tang and blenny and other fish. So should i sell them to the lps before? thanks
 

S.Reef

S.Reef

Superstar Fish
#5
Dec 1, 2003
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#5
I really doubt that the urchin killed the fish...he probably just started to eat the dead bodies. In fact triggerfish eat urchins in the wild. Depending on how long you had the trigger and tang, they could of died from poor water quality (which i doubt) or premature death resulting from stunted growth (my guess).
 

1979camaro

1979camaro

Ultimate Fish
#6
Oct 22, 2002
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#6
well, if all you plan to have are anemones and corals i dont think it is a problem to keep the urchin, the chocolate chip star however, is going to wreak havoc on other inverts...it seems unlikely to me as well that the urchin got the fish unless they attacked him simply because they tend to be scavengers and the fish would have really had to go after him to get enough of a jolt to kill them...the black spineys really aren't that venomous as urchins go...the wounds tend to be worse (little buggers are sharp). did the dead fish have any punctures?

and yes, a skimmer would be a valuable investment
 

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tammielynz9881

Large Fish
#7
Jul 22, 2004
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#7
i only had the fish for one week. I got them a week ago this past sunday and i was so angry,,, the reason i think the urchin got the tang is because she kept insisting on trying to hide in the urchin, the trigger, well he was underneath the starfish,,, probly found him floating and attatched to him,, like i said the water tested out fine in all areas. so im lost on why they died!,,, i will get rid of the star fish then and see what i can do to get the live rock first... thanks for the input,, i appreciate it.
 

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tammielynz9881

Large Fish
#8
Jul 22, 2004
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#8
oh,, i am not sure if it had punctures.. the urchin was on top of it and it was not looking good by the time i got to it, so i just flushed them in their new home.

Another thing is ,,, i was looking at a fish at the store but he seemed to have what looked like ich would look like on a freshwater fish. What is that on a saltwater fish?... i asked the man at the store and he told me he was just stressed and he was giving it a freshwater dip
 

1979camaro

1979camaro

Ultimate Fish
#9
Oct 22, 2002
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#9
it is ich, and he is misleading you if he says it is "just stress"...probably stress induced though...i wouldnt buy anything there for a while if there tanks are on one giant system (As many tend to be)

as far as the dead fish, if they were only a week old i think they more likely may have died from shipping stress, the blue tangs (im assuming Paracanthurus hepatus here) are really fragile at first

furthermore that trigger would have outgrown a thirty gallon as would the blue tang
 

W

wayne

Elite Fish
#10
Oct 22, 2002
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#10
With a tang and a trigger in a 30 I would guess water quality killed the tang and that killed the trigger. That was just far too much active fish for that tank, especially with no skimmer. You can easily have ammonia spikes and have them disappear by the time you test. I doubt the urchin did it.
I would lose the urchin and both the stars. The chocolate chip will be too destructive and the blue linkia will likely starve to death in the 55. I have a Linckia multiflora that would be more suitable as it stays much, much smaller
 

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tammielynz9881

Large Fish
#11
Jul 22, 2004
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northern illinois
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#11
duh!,,, i was sitting here thinkin, "i don't have a blue starr anymore" then i realized i didn't update my info. so sorry to confuse you if i did, but tis now updated. We WERE talking about making another salt tank outta one of my 55 freshwaters but am really discouraged right now. That is why i bought the tang and trigger very small so that it would give me time to set up the other, guess i was wrong. I feel guilty for sending then to fishy heaven but i did ask the store if that process would be ok and they said yes. I did not think anything of it cause they had them in 20 gal. tanks. I guess i did not have my head on AGAIN. Anyway i think that $80 mistake just reattached my head for me. I am definately taking the chocolate chip star to someplace (kinda sad cause its one of the very first salt water critters i had for over a year now). I hope to keep the long spine urchin (black) i think he is very cool! Thanks for all the help.
 

W

wayne

Elite Fish
#12
Oct 22, 2002
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#12
The only problem with urchins is they can be very effective algae cleaners, and can start removing coralline and other things you might well want. Choc. chips are very indisciminate.

I'm afraid your lfs did you a disservice if they thought a tang would do well in the 30 withthat filtration. Small triggers arent exactly bulletproof either.
 

S.Reef

S.Reef

Superstar Fish
#13
Dec 1, 2003
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#13
If they were small and you had them for a week it probably wasnt space issue and stunted growth. It could very likely be an ammonia spike or just stress form shipping.
 

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