uhhhhhh... Fish Help Here Please?

Question

ok my Finding Nemo Tank is reaaaaaaaalllly weird there's a Blue Tang Fish
Foxface
Gobie ( idk how 2 spell )
3 clownfish
anenome
2 crabs and a horseshoe crab
Lobster ( a baby )
2 shrimp
2 starfish and 1 serpent starfish

the blue tang fish: first i bought one and after a while she went missing. we figured she died. we bought another now that one went missing. 2 Crabs: ok first i just looked at the tank... the second crab is dead. so nvm. the 1st stays in a rock and barely comes out. Anenome: we used to have 2 but the second turned brown. Gobies: again we used to have 2 but we took it out beacause the first took a chunk out of his tail.
the other fish r fine except these little spider-like things cling on to them what are they? and the foxface turned a little dark two. i bought a water test kit, the waters fine but why is everything dying!?!?

its 35 gallons

Answer 1

While Disney is great at making films, I doubt anyone who worked on that movies kept a saltwater tank, because what they showed was unrealistic.

First, your tank is WAY too small for the fish you have. The hippo (blue) tanks will get to be around 12" as an adult, and need lots of swimming space. I wouldn't suggest trying to keep one in anything smaller than a 90 gallon tank, and with the other fish, it would be better if it was at least a 125 gallon. The foxface will get about 7" and should have a 70 gallon tank.

Clownfish will only get along as a pair in the size of your tank. Two will pair up, and they will harass the third to the point where it will stop eating. You've already seen how agressive saltwater fish can be from the behavior of the one goby.

Do you have compact fluorescent lighting for your tank? If you're just using lightig from a standard aquarium hood, that won't be bright enough to keep an anemone alive. If your lighting isn't on the order of 65-130 watts, you don't have sufficient lighting to keep them. Also, anemones and clownfish are specific in which fish will use which anemones. And anemones produce chemicals to keep others (especially different species) from growing to close - they will also sting each other.

Your tank probably isn't large enough for one starfish, let alone three unless you target feed. Also, some types of stars will eat fish (the serpent is okay with them, but you don't mention what the others are).

Horseshoe crabs get to be around 18 inches long, if they live to maturity. Most die when the get trapped in between rocks, or die for no apparent reason while burrowed in the substrate. You don't say what the other crabs are, but unless they're smaller reef-safe hermits, these may also eat fish.

What are the results of your water tests? Your pH should be 8.2-8.4, the ammonia and nitrite should be 0, the nitrate should be less than 20, but lower would be even better, the salinity should be 1.024-1.026, and the temperature should be 76-82o. Anything else isn't fine. You also don't say how long you've had this tank set up, which could also be a factor.

It's hard to know what the spider-like things might be. This could be anything from small shrimp to a parasite. A photo would have been helpful to identify what you're seeing, but I know it can be difficult to photograph fish, and especially small things ON a fish. You might get a better idea what it could be by looking through this link of marine fish diseases and parasites: http://home2.pacific.net.ph/~sweetyummy42/disease.html (the names of each disease/condition in red is a link to a page with more info, including treatment) or these of inverts that come in on live rock:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-08/reefslides/index.php
http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/
http://home2.pacific.net.ph/~sweetyummy42/hitchhikers.html

Answer 2

Quarantining is unnecessary if he is the only fish in the aquarium. Try doing daily 30% partial water changes, complete with gravel vacuuming. Getting the water quality as clean as possible is important to treat fin rot. If the water quality is not good, he won't get better no matter what you do. 1 teaspoon per gallon of aquarium salt is the dosage you'll want to use. You'll have to keep in mind that when you do water changes you will have to add salt into the fresh water to keep that dosage steady. The salt treatment should continue for 10 days. After that, stop adding in the salt when you do your water changes so you gradually lower the salt dosage in the aquarium. If this salt treatment and the water changes still don't treat your fish, I recommend trying Tetracycline. Tetracycline is good for advanced or stubborn cases of fin rot. And do make sure you don't have carbon in the filter when you are medicating the water, otherwise the carbon will remove the medication. Also, good job on giving your Betta such a nice home. Hopefully he will be healthy enough to enjoy it fully soon.

Answer 3

the unfortunate part of a saltwater tank is that almost everything you keep comes from the wild. this means they each bring their own problems with them that can affect all the other tank mates. most of these animals come from very different parts of the ocean so don't have any experience with one another,this often leads to bad mixes of fish and creatures.
this is almost always an expensive learning experience on what and when to put things together.
how long has the tank been setup? this is actually a very large number of fish/creatures for a 35 gallon tank.
although your tests (which tests are you doing?) are reading okay i believe the fish are partially in trouble due to stress from all the other critters.

Answer 4

do you have a large enough tank? salt water fish need about 5-10 gallons of water per fish and have you checked for fungi on the fish? Alot of salt water fish need to have the lights cut off for several hours a day so they do not get to much ultra violet light and so the fungi does not grow as rapidly

Answer 5

Buy no more blue tangs- they might be a waste of money, after all, you just buy them, then they disappear. Get some saltwater general aid medicine. Get a bigger tank, too-it sounds like this 1 is too small.

Answer 6

Sounds like on of the other fish is eating the others ones that are missing.The only way to tell is to watch and see which on it is that is eating them.

Answer 7

um I feel so soryy for you I thnnk the missing fish could of jumped out