# Everything Dying in Biocube



## rk4435 (Jan 24, 2013)

I have a 29 gallon Oceonic Biocube that seems to be a death trap. When the Scooter Blenny died I was thinking starvation, then I fought a Mantis Shrimp for the remains of a healthy Tailspot. At that point I believed the Mantis was the problem so he was removed.

Within days the Saddleback Clowns became sick with Brooklynella. We initially tried freshwater dips that seemed to help but finally had to QT them They both died one week apart. The tank was fish less for one week, but does have a couple of snails, two Peppermint Shrimp, reef hermits and a Serpent Star.

The Zynia has not been looking well but all of the other coral is doing great. We bought a damsel after the tank had been w/o fish for eight days and he was dead in 24 hours.

Throughout the whole ordeal the water parameters have been fine, no ammonia since the initial cycle. The highest I have caught the nitrates is .15ppm, but usually .5 to .10ppm. In the Biocube I am using a drip tray with filter media in the second chamber with crushed coral. We even added a uv sterilizer a few days ago. I even had the lfs check the water a couple of days ago when we bought the Damsel and my Calcium was a bit low, everything else was fine.

I have read that diseases like Brooklynella and ick can linger for a while. If this is the case, how long should the tank be without fish? If it is an extended amount of time, do we need to do anything special for the coral if we are without fish? The owner of the lfs believed that the Zynia may not be doing well because the water is too clean without fish.


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## wake49 (Jul 2, 2008)

rk4435 said:


> I have read that diseases like Brooklynella and ick can linger for a while. If this is the case, how long should the tank be without fish? If it is an extended amount of time, do we need to do anything special for the coral if we are without fish? The owner of the lfs believed that the Zynia may not be doing well because the water is too clean without fish.


Use Hyposalinity. Slowly bring the salinity down to about 1.010 sg for about four weeks before then slowly bringing it back up to 1.025 sg.

You will have to move the coral and any inverts to a frag tank or a QT for the duration of the hyposalinity treratment as they will not be able to stand the low specific gravity for that amount of time. Freshwater dip the corals before adding them back to the DT at the end of the treatment.


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## rk4435 (Jan 24, 2013)

Thanks for the suggestion. What would you recommend for the shrimp, hermits and serpent star if I go that route?

Thanks for the reply about the anemone in my other tank last night. It seems fine now after the shrivel episode. I am new to SW after a few years with Cichlids so everyday is an adventure!


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## wake49 (Jul 2, 2008)

rk4435 said:


> Thanks for the suggestion. What would you recommend for the shrimp, hermits and serpent star if I go that route?
> 
> Thanks for the reply about the anemone in my other tank last night. It seems fine now after the shrivel episode. I am new to SW after a few years with Cichlids so everyday is an adventure!


 
No problem. I would move the shrimp, hermits and star to a tank that will be at regular salinity for the meantime and then adding them back to the DT should be fine after the six weeks it takes to lower, stay and raise your hyposalinity treatment.


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