I am brand new to the aquarium hobby and using forums for assistance, so I apologize if I have any clear etiquette errors. I have done weeks of research and acquired all of my equipment relatively slowly. I recently set up two separate tanks. A 60 gallon with penguin 350 HOB biowheel filter, 50lbs live rock, 60lbs of caribsea special grade live sand, a heater, two powerheads, and instant ocean reef crystal salt mixed with tap water and prime conditioner. I plan to eventually start a reef tank once it is fully established and I have demonstrated some degree of success.
In addition, I set up a 20 gallon bare bottom quarantine tank with a sponge, HOB filter, heater, several pieces of PVC pipe. Also used instant ocean reef salt mixed with tap water and treated with prime conditioner.
Three weeks ago, I added a bottle of bio-spira nitrifying bacteria to each tank. I have measured water parameters sever times/week all showing S.G. 1.025, pH 8.0, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates, and 0 ammonia using API master kit. Temperature was consistently 78 degrees in both tanks.
Yesterday, i went to my LFS and purchased two very small (less than 1in) clownfish. I acclimated them slowly over the course of about 3 hours. I used the float method adding one cup to the bag every 20 mins. I did this continually. Coloring and activity looked good on both fish. Acclimation appeared to go well and when I went to bed, the fish appeared happy and swimming around.
When i woke up this morning, one of the fish was dead. The other is still swimming around with good coloration and appears to have good strength.
I have multiple suspicious as to what may have happened:
1) I obviously didn't do a fishless cycle, so i suppose tha could be the issue, but having a fish die within 12 hours would be surprising if this were the cause as when I checked water parameters this AM and they were S.G. 1.025, pH 8.0, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates, and 0 ammonia, and temp 78 degrees.
2) Using tap water was my major error and somehow I poisoned the fish
3) I got unlucky and one of the fish was ill already
4) I somehow messed up the acclimation
Do you guys have any specific thoughts on what likely happened? What should I do next? I'm considering taking the surviving fish back to the store and tearing down the QT Tank to start over with a fishless cycle. Since my large tank is currently cycling, should I tear that down as well? It will be super expensive to do this, as I imagine I will have to buy live rock again. I have not put anything other than live rock and live sand and saltwater in the large tank. Any help would be greatly appreciated
In addition, I set up a 20 gallon bare bottom quarantine tank with a sponge, HOB filter, heater, several pieces of PVC pipe. Also used instant ocean reef salt mixed with tap water and treated with prime conditioner.
Three weeks ago, I added a bottle of bio-spira nitrifying bacteria to each tank. I have measured water parameters sever times/week all showing S.G. 1.025, pH 8.0, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates, and 0 ammonia using API master kit. Temperature was consistently 78 degrees in both tanks.
Yesterday, i went to my LFS and purchased two very small (less than 1in) clownfish. I acclimated them slowly over the course of about 3 hours. I used the float method adding one cup to the bag every 20 mins. I did this continually. Coloring and activity looked good on both fish. Acclimation appeared to go well and when I went to bed, the fish appeared happy and swimming around.
When i woke up this morning, one of the fish was dead. The other is still swimming around with good coloration and appears to have good strength.
I have multiple suspicious as to what may have happened:
1) I obviously didn't do a fishless cycle, so i suppose tha could be the issue, but having a fish die within 12 hours would be surprising if this were the cause as when I checked water parameters this AM and they were S.G. 1.025, pH 8.0, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates, and 0 ammonia, and temp 78 degrees.
2) Using tap water was my major error and somehow I poisoned the fish
3) I got unlucky and one of the fish was ill already
4) I somehow messed up the acclimation
Do you guys have any specific thoughts on what likely happened? What should I do next? I'm considering taking the surviving fish back to the store and tearing down the QT Tank to start over with a fishless cycle. Since my large tank is currently cycling, should I tear that down as well? It will be super expensive to do this, as I imagine I will have to buy live rock again. I have not put anything other than live rock and live sand and saltwater in the large tank. Any help would be greatly appreciated
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