I feel so stupid, Help!!!

[Maxx]

Guys, I dunno, this doesnt sound like ammonia poisoning to me....to sudden of an onset, and the PH is a little low, but not drasticly enought to warrant this kind of reaction....something else is going on here.....Has anything diffenrent happened in the house lately? Spray painting, bug spraying etc....this just seems weird...
What kind of test kits are you using?
Nick

[ste]

first I'd like to welcome to RS

i would agree with woodstock

Don't use live fish to cycle your tank. Go to the local grocery store and get a dead shrimp, place it in your tank, then purchase ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, hydrometer and PH test kits from your LFS. Test the PH and salinity (hydrometer) every other day until you become comfortable with keeping up with the water evaporation (make sure you use fresh water for these).

adding three fish to a two day old tank is the cause of your problem follow the advise above and take things slow and every thing will come together you cannot rush reef keeping good luck

[Travis]

This sounds like classic new tank syndrome to me as well. Your low pH is a symptom of the water quality issue. The ammonia spike happens quickly, it goes from zero to dangerous levels in short order.

Please do some reading on setting up a new tank here

Starting, restarting or moving its all here

and feel free to ask any questions that come up along the way... that's what we're here for!

Travis

[Maxx]

Travis...but his ammonia is reading 0.....I know the change from ammonia to nitrate is pretty quick, but thats ridiculous....
Nick

[ReefLady]

Guys, I dunno, this doesnt sound like ammonia poisoning to me....to sudden of an onset, and the PH is a little low, but not drasticly enought to warrant this kind of reaction...

Nick,

I tend to agree with this, though I'm thinking a couple things here ...

The stress of acclimation, being exposed to a cycling tank, and *then* a pH drop may be enough in combination to kill the fish.

Also - the pH may have dropped considerably lower than 7.8 -- that could be when he first noticed/tested, but that doesn't mean that it's the lowest it got. And, as you mentioned, the brand/quality of the test kit might be a factor.

Is this a covered tank?

I'd agree that possible contamination should be suspect (outside contaminants, and of the food itself?) -- was this the first time this food has been fed to the fish?

[ReefLady]

Poor JKsocr4 ... we're not ganging up on you ... just trying to solve a mystery. If you can answer these questions, the answers might go a long way to solving the problem ...

- Have you seen any evidence of a cycle yet - ammonia or nitrite readings?

- What kind (brand) test kits?

- Please list all your current parameters

- Have you fed this food to the fish previously?

- What time of day did you notice (test) that the pH was at 7.8?

- Did the fish exhibit any strange symptoms (gasping for breath, white spots or film) before they died?

- Any recent cleanings near the tank? Windex, carpet cleaning, oven cleaner fumes?

- What is your setup - equipment wise? Is the tank covered, do you have a skimmer? What are you you using for water movement/circulation?

That's all I can think of right now.

[JKsocr4]

Im taking the advice to let the tank sit and cure for the next couple weeks or so and then see how all the test come out. As far as all the nitrites, nitrates and the ammonia the levels seem to be matching the "good" so im just gonna learn to wait this cycle thing out and add the dead grocery store shrimp.

I have a wisper power 40, with 2 rio power heads on either side of my tank for water circulation. My heater temp is at 78 degrees but i dont have a skimmer. I'm gonna sound like a real ammature, (which I am!!) but what is a skimmer? LOL

I do have live rock as well as live sand but im just gonna do regular water test and wait. Thats all i can do

[JKsocr4]

I couldn't ask for better advice from fellow hobby'ers. Thank you all for your time and words, I know the things i should do. But for now im going to let things take their own beginning and i will keep you all posted for future revelations and or problems.

**ALL OF YOU ARE ANGELS OF THE SEA!!!**

Sorry if I didnt give you all the info you need to help as I am also not up to the lingo you all have but I will do my home work. Thanks again
~Jen

[ste]

we all had to learn but you are at the right place to further your knowledge
a skimmer is the most important component it filters out the waste before it has time to breakdown in your water leaving your filter to deal with less mess
If i were you I'd do a search on skimmers on this site read about them and decide which you think is best for your set up

[Curtswearing]

A skimmer (or protein skimmer) removes Dissolved Organic Compounds. Here's a great link on them Here

I got this link out of our research library. You can click on the link in my signature to get there or look to the bottom of the forums page.

[mojoreef]

Welcome to the board Jen great to have ya aboard. Your getting lots of good advice above and letting it sit and cycle properly is the best thing you can do, if you have pulled the damsels, do as wit mentioned and toss a peice of shrimp in.
Their could be a number of different things that caused the deaths and ammonia poisening is also one, remember ammonia comes in other forms beyond what we test for. the most likely contributor was spongs in the LR, as they crooke they release all sorts of lovely toxinMike

[EdgeKrusher]

WELCOME JKsocr4! You've come to the right place. All the advice you've gotten so far is excellent. Just wait, you thought loosing the fish was fun, wait until you have a cyano or algae break out. talk about stress!!! But thanks to this forum and the people here my tank made it through.

Peace

EK

P.S. I do not have any cyano in my tank anymore, Yay!

[jks1]

First Welcome. One of the great things about this hobby is that you will NEVER stop learning. I am thinking that in 2 days you may not have fully gotten into the cycle yet, which would explain the lack of Ammonia. What type of water are you using? As mentioned above i would highly recommend researching and investing in a good protein skimmer. Patience is the key, just relax, watch tthe tank and read everything you can and things will work out. Dont hesitate to ask if you have more questions.

[Travis]

It's possible that the fish lived through the ammonia spike and then were killed by the nitrite spike... that has happened to me before. Would still be new tank syndrome.

Nick, 2 days wouldn't be ridiculous to start seeing a nitrite spike if the tank was seeded with LR.

Not trying to be argumentative, just trying to help solve the mystery.

[JeepersReefers]

I read thru all the posts fairly fast, but I never saw anything mentioned about the specific gravity (Salinity) of your tank.
Have you measured it? What is it?