My green water...

[mutts]

The iminge resizer wouldn't work for me so this is the best i could do with paint. but you get the idea. my water is green, very very green. i was told in the chat room last night that a clam would love it, so i know where i might be able to buy a small cheap clam, but now all of my fish have ich. i ordered ich be gone online and it should be here tomorrow it says it is reef safe. all i have in there are fish, snails, and some marco.

so what i want to know is, how do you get rid of green water?

does ich be gone work?

will ich be gone kill a young clam?

[Iconz]

WOW, that is green... Neon, in fact... Lemme do some research, maybe I can turn over a rock and find a possible cause.

[Iconz]

Read this, it may help you out.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/asap/why-my-aquarium-water-soooo-green-i-cant-see-anything-38716.html

[Iconz]

The cause is apparently a phytoplankton bloom. This was caused by either not using ro/di water or using crushed coral substrate that was not maintained very well.

this appears to have been the solution: I added in a couple of comments that i italicized for you to make it more clear.

I shut off the normal lights, "I taped up the glass" (to keep all light out), "bought a uv light and the change was astonishing. In 5 days my water was crystal clear. Clarity that I never thought possible. Thank-you so much for your help. I can finally see my babies again. "

So, a uv sterlizer should do the trick.

[Iconz]

The UV sterl. will also help keep your ich from spreading... I'd QT your fish if you could... And start testing your phosphates.

[mutts]

thank you for the info iconz! i don't use rodi, i know i should but i have never had any problem in any of my other tanks from not useing it. thank you for the info!

[jojo22]

That may be what caused the 20 to go south!!

[Iconz]

You're welcome! Its no biggie.

Do you have a uv amanda? If not, I can loan you mine, if you like and would cover shipping... pending on the size of your tank, that is.... There again, by the time u pay shipping, you could just about buy one...

[mutts]

i don't have one, but i just ordered on from foster and smith, thanks for the offer though, i figure i need one again in the future if i'm not useing rodi

[Iconz]

Mine's the turbo twist 3x... it would probably handle a 50-75g tank well, anything above that, it woudln't handle efficently.

[Iconz]

k, no prob.... keep us updated....

also, have you tested your phosphates yet? any reading at all woudl be bad at this case... since, as i'm sure you already know, the phyto will be consuming it.

I'd also cut off your lights asap.

[mutts]

my lights have been off most of the time anyway... it is just so frustrating with the green water and the ich... grr!! it makes me mad... my poor fishies

[Iconz]

Yeah. Have you considered pulling them out and putting them into a QT tank with similar water parameters?

[mutts]

i tried that and they got sick again, plus with the water being so green i can't really see in there to catch everyone... i'm not even sure who is alive or not

[Iconz]

ahhhh! that sucks! hopefully we'll get ya out of this with no to minimal loss...

[mutts]

my two false perc clowns that i have had for over a year arn't looking like they are going to make it. i havn't seen one all day and the other is pale and sunken in and just really bad looking

[jojo22]

I would do a big water change!!

[hummer]

aw i feel bad for you amanda

[Iconz]

Yeah, a Huge WC can't hurt.

[hummer]

hows the tank doing has it recoverd yet?

[mutts]

i took everyones advice and did a huge water change. only i didn't put the water back in. so i have been running the uv sterilzer with only 25 gals of water in the tank. the water is now clear and i am going to use my new ro unit to fill it up

[Sweetpea]

Glad to hear things are back under control!

If you don't mind me asking, which UV sterilzer are you using?

[Iconz]

Good to hear, Amanda! Please keep us updated! Also, how are your critters?

[mutts]

i am useing the coral life one, i will try to find a link to to sometime. all my fish in the tank died. i had a pair of false clowns that i have had for over a year and they died, another mated pair of clowns, and three chromis. it was really sad.

i did however get a few fish given to me but some people that where getting out of the hobby so I have my false clowns back! that had me worried becaue none of the clownfish that have been coming in around here have lived very long and i love my clowns

[Sweetpea]

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss Amanda!!! :(

[mutts]

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=7999&N=2004+113778

Tracy here is the link to the one I got, it is the turbo twist.

[Sweetpea]

Thanks Amanda! I have the same one. I only run it occassionally, but it seems to do a fine job!

[mutts]

no problem, it fixed my problem, hopefully got rid of the ich also, but it will be awhile before anything gets put in there

[hummer]

aw im sorry to poor fishes