A bad day on the reef

[coralcurious]

My tank (46g) is two weeks old and I lost my first fish today...a tiny blue green chromis...he was the baby and my favorite...his colour seemed a little off and he hasn't eaten well since arriving...I have also discovered what may be aiptasia growing on one of the rocks (pinkish with white tips)...and I'm having a diatom (very ugly) outbreak...please tell me these are all normal growing pains on the reef...the rest of my fish seem fine ( 2 clowns and 2 chromis) and all of the normal levels are just where they should be so I'm hoping for a better day tomorrow...

 

[psiconauta]

mmmm... its normal for a inmature tank, your tank is still cycling (probably for maybe 2 more weaks or more) and you may very well loose all the other fish in some amonia, nitrite and/or nitrate spikes... you should wait for it to cycle before adding anything... in your case i would leave the fish at a LFS or a friend that has an established tank if you want them to survive (odds are against them)... thats my 2 cents...

 

[zoolatry]

I have a 46 gallon tank, too, which I started last year. Based on my experience, I would say that you're simply moving too fast. You really should only be considering adding your clean-up crew at this point and getting it established. Your tank should mature first for at least a few more weeks before you consider adding any fish, and then only one or at most two at a time. After adding those, wait at least a few weeks to a month before adding more. And use a quarantine tank!

The one thing I've learned with this hobby is that you have to have patience - going too fast usually does not end well. Take everything nice and slowly and in a few months you'll have a nice tank, and a few months later it'll be really nice... and it just keeps getting better. And the diatoms should go away soon, it's par for the course with an immature tank.

 

[coralcurious]

Thank you for your comments...I do have 10 hermits and 4 snails. The tank is housing 50lbs of cured lr and a 2" bed of ls. I also purchased an eheim prizm skimmer, an eheim pII filter, a lunar aqualight by coralife and 2 koralia 3 powerheads (which I am very uncertain of where to place if anyone has a suggestion for that). I followed the LFS's advice about when to add the fish, and made sure that all of the levels were fine, but perhaps 2 weeks was not enough of a wait. I don't intend to add anything else (except perhaps some more snails as I read they enjoy diatoms) for a couple of weeks.

 

[squiers007]

First thing you should probably learn is that your LFS is in it to sell you things, not be your friend in most cases. So whatever advice they give you be sure and double-check here before proceeding. Just out of curiosity, what levels did they say were acceptable to add the fish at, and what are your parameters now? Also, welcome to the forum, I'm sure you will learn a ton, I know I have.

 

[Slickcg33]

First thing you should probably learn is that your LFS is in it to sell you things, not be your friend in most cases. So whatever advice they give you be sure and double-check here before proceeding. Just out of curiosity, what levels did they say were acceptable to add the fish at, and what are your parameters now? Also, welcome to the forum, I'm sure you will learn a ton, I know I have.

im very curious to this answer also

 

[coralcurious]

0 ppm for nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia with a ph between 7.8 and 8.4. Are there other levels I should be checking right now?

All of these levels are at 0 and my ph is 8.2, they also sold me some Prime in case I had any spikes. I used the prime in the water I had prepared to use on Saturday as I was doing a 10% water change and I am using tap water. The snails that I do have seem to be doing a fine job on the diatoms...and I really do think the little chromis was maybe not so health when I got her.

Do you have a feeling on Prime?

 

[coralcurious]

I'm also feeding them once a day...twice when I changed the water because I felt bad for freaking them out. I've read many different opinions on this one...anywhere from 3 times a day to once a week

 

[squiers007]

So your tank has only been set up for 2 weeks and all of your reading are zero? Am I getting this correct? If so, did you use water from a tank that was already set up? Also, what type of test kit are you using to make these measurements?

If you are using tap water to make your salt water make sure that you use a good dechlorinator and mix thouroughly. If you can I would switch to using RO/DI as soon as possible, this doesnt mean you need to go buy a unit, your should be able to buy some from your LFS, thats what I'm currently doing. Hope this helps, and keep us posted.

 

[coralcurious]

You are correct (if my test kit is quality) and I did not use water from another tank.
I'm using the saltwater master test kit by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. The water conditioner I used for the weekly 10% water change is called prime by seachem...it removes chlorine, chloramine and ammonia, detoxifies nitrite and nitrate, promotes the natural slime coat, doesn't impact ph and will not overactivate the skimmer.
I haven't made it to my LFS, however the four snails that I have seem to have taken care of the diatoms on their own...no more unsightly brown

I am a little concerned about my other chromis...since the baby died my largest one seems to hide in a cave all day...but the medium sized one seems unaffected by it all and remains very active with the clowns. I hope it is just a safety in numbers issue...his colour is good and he is eating fine.