Something growing on the sand??

[Mzungu]

Just to confirm, that's definitely cyanobacteria.

[seminoleranch]

I'm almost 100% sure its cyano. Use a 1/8" airline use to try to suck up as much as you can along with any detritus on the sand floor. Then I would recommend doing a water change.

You're either feeding too much or theres just too much poop on the sand floor. I did 4 things that helped me slow down the growth of cyano. Daily sandbed vacuuming with a small airline hose, 2x a week water changes, and a bought a skimmer, lastly I increased the flow in my tank.
With only 2 fish and 2 anemones, what are you feeding them and how often?

I have been feeding a bit of everything, flakes, brine shrimp, Algae sheets. I know I was over feeding because while the Clown had Ick he would not hardly eat anything, I was trying everything I could to get him to eat. Grrr now I have cause a new issue trying to correct another. Okay thank you all so much I will do what you have said and see if I can fix this problem now. To be honest I am not too far from throwing up my hands and giving up on this. If I was not attached to the Lawn Mower and the Rock Anemone I would go fresh water in the tank

[soymilk]

Be sure to vacuum any left overs and maybe get some hermit crabs that'll help finish all the leftovers. I used to dose phytochrom a lot but nowadays i'll dose only once or twice a week. That should help with the algae.

If your clown is still not eatting then try cyclop eeze. It works great.

Where'd you get that other anemone? Kinda looks like a rock anemone from outta galveston. I'd be careful about keeping something that you don't know what it is. Could croak and wipe out your system.

[seminoleranch]

Be sure to vacuum any left overs and maybe get some hermit crabs that'll help finish all the leftovers. I used to dose phytochrom a lot but nowadays i'll dose only once or twice a week. That should help with the algae.

If your clown is still not eatting then try cyclop eeze. It works great.

Where'd you get that other anemone? Kinda looks like a rock anemone from outta galveston. I'd be careful about keeping something that you don't know what it is. Could croak and wipe out your system.

I had been told that the crab would kill my fish if I was not careful?? The anemone came from the pet store where I use to work at. He has been there for over 6 months now so I went a head and brought him home with me. He was sent to us as a bubble tip but he sure dont look like one to me. Did get all the curd clean out and readjusted the flow from my power head to cross more over this area.

[soymilk]

hermit crabs are pretty harmless. They just scuttle around all day and pick up junk on the ground to eat. Hermit crabs won't kill your fish, its way too small to do any damage to anything. keep us posted on your tank

[Darbex]

Get some cleaner shrimp. Mine go after food like no body. I had the same issues of that growing. I am slowly getting it under control. Like they said regularly vacuuming the sand bed, up the water changes and up the flow. I used to have my MP10 on 50% power I now run it at 60-70%.

[tang-chaser]

Cyno will appear in the sand bed because of excess nutrients fall and get stuck in the sand. You need a sand sifter. I stress people to get spider conches just because i have never seen anything clean a sand bed as fast. I read an article once that stated that conches were always spotted in abundance at red algae blooms in the wild. Just buy one. One cleaned my 75gal in 2 weeks when i got a case of cyno. Treatments never worked, and the conch did. I haven't had cyno again and my spider is almost a year old and my sand bed is so clean i have to feed him.

[tang-chaser]

I would also strongly suggest cleaner shrimp also for other reasons. But the whole increase flow and change light bulb crap that people post on other web sites is a bunch of crap. When you look up cyno online you will read all about color shifting on old lights and a whole bunch of other stuff that people think causes cyno. If you read anything about light being the cause of cyno its garbage. Old lights dont cause algae growth other than coraline algae. Nitrates and phosphates cause algae growth. The whole increase flow ideas are half crap. Increase flow will not blow off cyno getting rid of it. Sure cyno comes off easier than coraline or hair algae but it also grows a lot faster. The increase flow however does help with keeping excess nurtrients from settling in the sand bed. For those reading this and want to prevent a cyno outbreak, buy something to stir the sand bed/eat out of the sand bed, and buy a good filtration system.

[seminoleranch]

Ok Tang where can I get a spider conches? I will be going threw Houston pretty soon so can pretty much stop any where along I 45 North or South at that time. I do have a Sand Sifter Star fish, I thought at first he was causing the unknown stuff as that he is always in that area however like the Conches he could be staying there do to the food factor. I noticed when I clean the area last night he moved to a new spot. I had plan to get a skunk shrimp as well as you had talked about for cleaning the live rock. Hopefully there will be someplace I can pick up both on my way home from next month.

[tang-chaser]

The cleaner shrimps will eat poo and left over foods on rocks as well as eat parasites off the fish. Petco just had skunk cleaners on sale at petco for 14.99, but you could pick one up just about anywhere for 26$

Spider conch/ fighting conch can run 15-30$ Spider conch being more expensive than the fighting conch, but also the better one. There is only one guy that i know that has these guys in Houston. Global aquatics on 1960 in Atascocita. You can also find them online. The spider conch will be out during the day eating and will not hide like a starfish, but will occasionally burrow in the sand.

I always advise people to research animals b4 purchasing. I also advise on using fish and invertebrates to clean tanks vs any kind of " chemical treatment".

Also for you i would advise looking up how hardy/weak some fish are to ich, when purchasing any new tank-mates. Inverts can not contract ich. Clownfish have a somewhat thick slime coat and for them to get ich takes alot. Keep water quality high, keep feeding, dont let temp fluctuate. These could cause extra stress on the fish causing its immune system to decrease. The skunk cleaner will help a little with the ich, also would advise adding some stress coat to the tank. They make a stress coat marine, that will not cause extra bubbles in the protein skimmer.

[Stickboy97]

check online as well. Not sure if we can post stores that are not members, but that pet place & live aquaria both have hermits & snails for much cheaper than you can buy here around town. I purchased 2 scarlet hermits a month or so ago for $5.99 a piece and 10 red legs and paid $1.99 for each of those. Online they run about half price but the shipping gets you. If you can find someone else to go in with (small group buy) or if you buy a new fish it makes it really worth while.

[seminoleranch]

Well I am happy to say it looks like its gone . I had picked some hermits and snails, there was one tiny patch that had came back (was sucking it out every day) just before I went out of town. Came home today (with more snails, shrimp and hermits that I picked up on the way back) and found the tank was completely clear. I want to thank all of you so much, I have now learn the value behind a good cleaner crew and am no longer ready to throw my hands up.