marine aquarium help?

Question

ok so for some reason everythings dying in my tank. i check the water regulary so that's fine i don't know what it is. i got a starfish and about a week later it died. it's leg had come off in 2 bits, a couple of his other legs at the tips had come off and had white stuff which looked like cotton coming out of them. then last night my cleaner shrimp died. it's whisker - antenna things looked curly like they had been burnt. what the hell is going wrong with my tank!!! please help

Answer 1

You say your water tests are "fine" but it would be more helpful to list what you test and your results - there may be something you aren't testing which could be the problem.

Check these parameters against results for your tank:

ammonia and nitrite = 0 (ideal) or less than 0.5 (if your tank is still cycling)

nitrate less than 20 (although lower is better)

pH 8.2 to 8.4

salinity 1.024-1.026

temperature 76-82o F

Do you keep any fish in the tank? Not all fish are safe with invertebrates, so one may have attacked them.

You don't specify what type of starfish you had, but some of these are difficult to keep and feed, so if this was one of the more difficult species, it may not necessarily have been conditions in your tank. The problem may have been ongoing from the time of collection, or how it was kept in your dealer's tank. See the difficulty level for yours: http://www.tropicalfishoutlet.com/InvertSubCategory.asp?InvertCategoryID=12

Apart from these, the thought of a mantis shrimp or crab is a possibility if you have live rock.

Answer 2

Look very carefully usualy at night for a hitch hiker, Probably a crab or mantis shrimp, You do get them from time to time in Live rock and some WILL eat your livestock.
I have had a crab do the same thing to my seastar and only caught him about 3 days later when I saw it finishing off the seastar.
I also had a seahorse vanish overnight in a different tank and found the culprit when it was trying to drag 2 snails (at the same time) into it's hole in the rock.
Thats my guess and I'm sticking to it.

Answer 3

Is it just a once or twice click? If so then it could be a Pistol Shrimp. I had aquaculture live rock from the gulf of Mexico and it came with a couple. I have never seen them, But I have found there skeleton when molting. If its a continuous pop/click sound a few times in a row, it could be a Mantis Shrimp. It could also be part of your equipment and or just noises in your head. :-) Make sure you turn everything off, if you still hear it, try to see if any of the shrimp gobies made a friend. Best regards!

Answer 4

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Answer 5

it might be some type of bacteria...you should either talk to a vet (they really do help) or look at pictures on the internet and try to find on that looks like the stuff on you starfish/shrimp and treat it.