Help...I was impatient...!!!

Z

zimbra11

Well, I just started up my 100 gallon reef setup. Added the salt and water in the morning and then added the 3 fish last night. Woke up this morning and my Royal Gramma was dead...my 2 clowns are acting lethargic...they look a little sick, but are still kicking....I have no place to put them because I broke down the old system...any suggestions or explanations as to what went wrong.

This has happened to me before and I am frustrated with myself...I always seem to rush the issue and then I pay the price...the temp was good, the salintity as good...I transferred the biological stuff over....aaaagh !!!
 
I only have about 35 pounds of live rock in there...about 40 pounds of live sand mixed with non-live sand...I moved all the biological filtration over to the new tank...temp ia 78 degrees and salinity at 1.024...I am going to get the water tested at lunch.
 
No startup bacteria...just a packet of clarifier that came with the live sand...I just fugured everything would be fine with new water and the existing bio filtration from the live rock...I will see what my water parameters look like at lunch...hopefully the clowns make it :-/
 
I'm not sure where you are located but I'd get the clowns to someone's tank, even the LFS and start your cycle all over and make sure it is complete before adding fish. Clowns are tough but as they leave their waste in the tank, it's only going to get worse and they can't survive (and it's not fair to them, they are lethargic because the parameters are bad) save those rascals!
 
Get some Seachem Prime and add a couple caps to the tank. This will "tie up" the ammonia for 48 hours and get your fish feeling better. Hopefully by then the liverock from the old system's nitrifying bacteria will kick back in. Also get some ph and alkalinty buffer and dose things up to make sure the ph and alkalinity are good. Make sure to use the prime first though because fish can take more ammonia at lower ph but it gets more toxic as ph rises.

You also really need a test kit of some sort. Even if it's just those tetra 6 in one test strips it's better than nothing. They don't test for ammonia so you'll need an ammonia test too. Don't get an expensive one because once your tank is cycled you'll almost never use it.

Seachem has an amonia alert hanging thingy you can stick in your sump that is good for a quick visual spotcheck that you don't have ammonia in your system. It's a good way to know if something croaked behind a rock and you didn't notice.
 
The first post makes it sound like you mixed your water in the tank in the morning an added fish later that night.


Adam Taylor- Benbrook
 
Depending on where you are, I have a QT already set up. I just took out the last of the corals last night and it is currently siting there with only water and a bit of rubble in it. I live in Little Elm, but work in Plano. The QT tank has basic light, power head and HOB filter.

Aaron
214-557-9300
 
I would get some type of tub or plastic container that holds at least 5 gallons of water and put NEW saltwater into it and maybe some type of filtration to stir the water and remove some waste. Do that immediately and only put a plastic cup and heater in the water. Leave them in there and let them recover while your tank cycles. If you're using live rock and not dry rock hopefully the ammonia and nitrite will break down quickly. Good luck and I hope everything works out! Just remember to be patient.
 
Do you have anyone close that can hold the clowns for you?? You need to get those little guys out of there. :-(
 
Here's an article I found on quick cycling a tank. I can't comment on how effective it is because I've never tried it but it sounds plausible.

http://www.acrochordus.com/quickcycle.htm
 
Please post up all your parameters. Not just salinity and temperature.
 
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