Fish-In Cycle - Clownfish not eating - Daily Water Changes?

[Jon_901]

Hello,

First off, I am very sorry I did a fish-in cycle. I see and understand now how cruel it is and I regret it deeply. I will never do it again.
I can go into this more, but once again I am very sorry for my mistake.

Sadly, I am now in a unfortunate situation and I am hoping for some advice if possible.

I have 2 clownfish and 1 cleaner shrimp (we have the extra shrimp and clownfish because a eager relative showed up at our door with it as a gift. We weren't prepared for it and didn't want it (this was about a week ago). …I know its not a good situation).

The tank is a FO 75 gallon tank with a Fluval 407 canister and one small powerhead aimed at surface. Also, this is our first time with a salt water tank.

Water stats today - while the fish was not eating:
salinity (sg) : 1.023
temp: 77 F
pH : 8.2
Ammonia : 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 5 ppm +/- *
Nitrate: 8 ppm +/- *
(* I am new to this and sometimes I struggle with the color charts; but they are attached below).

Situation:
Recently our first clownfish stopped eating. First he went two days without eating (I offered him frozen brine shrimp, soft clownfish pellets, fish flakes, bug bites, Mysis shrimp and all those foods soaked in garlic). We then did like a 47% water change because we were worried and it seemed to help. He started eating good again. Two days later we did another 1/3rd water change as we are very worried about the high nitrite levels - he was still eating good. 1 day later though (which is actually today); he stopped eating again - he didn't eat all day (he would approach the food then turn away at the last moment as before). I just did another 1/3rd water change (and since I did one yesterday; that's daily for 2 days). After the water change today, he ate a little. He ate about 2-3 bits of Mysis shrimp (but he used to eat tons - like 15-20 bits of it). After the water change today I also added a bunch of stuff to try to help (and hopefully not make it worse), I added Seachem Prime (the emergency dose amount of about 5x the reg dose), Seachem Stability, and some API Calcium as our calcium is low and our Hardness is high. My hope is that the prime detoxifies the nitrite and the stability speeds the cycling process which is clearly not complete (seems to be in the nitrite spike phase) .

Some questions:

Is it safe to do daily water changes?

Should I continue to do daily 1/3 water changes (because of the high nitrite)?

Should I buy a cheap 20 gallon starter kit and place the poor fish in there with uncycled water or some Nature's Ocean Live Nutri-Seawater from the Local fish store?

Any suggestions?

I have included pictures of water tests before and after the 1/3rd water change today.

I have also included a video of the fish.

Thank you for your time and help,

Jon S.

Tests before the water change today:



Tests after the water change:



Video of poor Grumbles:

Thanks again for your time,

Jon S.

 

[fishyjoes]

My one piece of advice is rather than add whatever all that stuff you listed, get a bottle of fritz turbo start and you're basically done with the cycling.

If that's a newly acquired fish it could be suffering from some disease/parasites but I will let others comment on that. I don't think the nitrite level matters very much, per discussion here https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/nitrite-toxicity.402708/

You can do any amount of water change you want and it will be safe as long as the parameters are similar to what's already in the tank (temperature, salinity, ph)

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello,

First off, I am very sorry I did a fish-in cycle. I see and understand now how cruel it is and I regret it deeply. I will never do it again.
I can go into this more, but once again I am very sorry for my mistake.

Sadly, I am now in a unfortunate situation and I am hoping for some advice if possible.

I have 2 clownfish and 1 cleaner shrimp (we have the extra shrimp and clownfish because a eager relative showed up at our door with it as a gift. We weren't prepared for it and didn't want it (this was about a week ago). …I know its not a good situation).

The tank is a FO 75 gallon tank with a Fluval 407 canister and one small powerhead aimed at surface. Also, this is our first time with a salt water tank.

Water stats today - while the fish was not eating:
salinity (sg) : 1.023
temp: 77 F
pH : 8.2
Ammonia : 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 5 ppm +/- *
Nitrate: 8 ppm +/- *
(* I am new to this and sometimes I struggle with the color charts; but they are attached below).

Situation:
Recently our first clownfish stopped eating. First he went two days without eating (I offered him frozen brine shrimp, soft clownfish pellets, fish flakes, bug bites, Mysis shrimp and all those foods soaked in garlic). We then did like a 47% water change because we were worried and it seemed to help. He started eating good again. Two days later we did another 1/3rd water change as we are very worried about the high nitrite levels - he was still eating good. 1 day later though (which is actually today); he stopped eating again - he didn't eat all day (he would approach the food then turn away at the last moment as before). I just did another 1/3rd water change (and since I did one yesterday; that's daily for 2 days). After the water change today, he ate a little. He ate about 2-3 bits of Mysis shrimp (but he used to eat tons - like 15-20 bits of it). After the water change today I also added a bunch of stuff to try to help (and hopefully not make it worse), I added Seachem Prime (the emergency dose amount of about 5x the reg dose), Seachem Stability, and some API Calcium as our calcium is low and our Hardness is high. My hope is that the prime detoxifies the nitrite and the stability speeds the cycling process which is clearly not complete (seems to be in the nitrite spike phase) .

Some questions:

Is it safe to do daily water changes?

Should I continue to do daily 1/3 water changes (because of the high nitrite)?

Should I buy a cheap 20 gallon starter kit and place the poor fish in there with uncycled water or some Nature's Ocean Live Nutri-Seawater from the Local fish store?

Any suggestions?

I have included pictures of water tests before and after the 1/3rd water change today.

I have also included a video of the fish.

Thank you for your time and help,

Jon S.

Tests before the water change today:



Tests after the water change:



Video of poor Grumbles:

Thanks again for your time,

Jon S.

The levels look elevated or questionale. I suggest taking a water sample to a store that does NOT use Api kits and have them test your ammonia and nitrates and compare readings- then you'll know where your levels truly are at
You can do daily water changes at 2 gals to bring down numbers and add MicroBacter xlm at 1.5ml per 10 gallons to get dentitrifiers to increase

 

[Jon_901]

You can do daily water changes at 2 gals to bring down numbers and add MicroBacter xlm at 1.5ml per 10 gallons to get dentitrifiers to increase

Thanks for the advice, I will get some of that stuff. Also, only 2 gals not 20 gals?

Also, thanks as well fishyjoes.

 

[Lavey29]

Nitrite is irrelevant in salt tanks. You want 0 ammonia and measurable nitrates to show tank is cycling properly. If you see ammonia levels then do water changes. You show nitrates production on your test so your tank is cycling but it would not hurt to add some nitrifying bacteria also.

 

[KrisReef]

Stop feeding the fish until the ammonia levels are zero. The fish can live without food but it will suffer if ammonia is elevated.

Any cycle bacteria available is what you should get and add to improve the water quality asap. Not sure what is available at your LFS? Otherwise a tiny chunk of live rock would also bring some bacteria to your biome. It might also bring disease so make sure it comes from a clean reef tank if you get live rock.

 

[Dan_P]

Hello,

First off, I am very sorry I did a fish-in cycle. I see and understand now how cruel it is and I regret it deeply. I will never do it again.
I can go into this more, but once again I am very sorry for my mistake.

Sadly, I am now in a unfortunate situation and I am hoping for some advice if possible.

I have 2 clownfish and 1 cleaner shrimp (we have the extra shrimp and clownfish because a eager relative showed up at our door with it as a gift. We weren't prepared for it and didn't want it (this was about a week ago). …I know its not a good situation).

The tank is a FO 75 gallon tank with a Fluval 407 canister and one small powerhead aimed at surface. Also, this is our first time with a salt water tank.

Water stats today - while the fish was not eating:
salinity (sg) : 1.023
temp: 77 F
pH : 8.2
Ammonia : 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 5 ppm +/- *
Nitrate: 8 ppm +/- *
(* I am new to this and sometimes I struggle with the color charts; but they are attached below).

Situation:
Recently our first clownfish stopped eating. First he went two days without eating (I offered him frozen brine shrimp, soft clownfish pellets, fish flakes, bug bites, Mysis shrimp and all those foods soaked in garlic). We then did like a 47% water change because we were worried and it seemed to help. He started eating good again. Two days later we did another 1/3rd water change as we are very worried about the high nitrite levels - he was still eating good. 1 day later though (which is actually today); he stopped eating again - he didn't eat all day (he would approach the food then turn away at the last moment as before). I just did another 1/3rd water change (and since I did one yesterday; that's daily for 2 days). After the water change today, he ate a little. He ate about 2-3 bits of Mysis shrimp (but he used to eat tons - like 15-20 bits of it). After the water change today I also added a bunch of stuff to try to help (and hopefully not make it worse), I added Seachem Prime (the emergency dose amount of about 5x the reg dose), Seachem Stability, and some API Calcium as our calcium is low and our Hardness is high. My hope is that the prime detoxifies the nitrite and the stability speeds the cycling process which is clearly not complete (seems to be in the nitrite spike phase) .

Some questions:

Is it safe to do daily water changes?

Should I continue to do daily 1/3 water changes (because of the high nitrite)?

Should I buy a cheap 20 gallon starter kit and place the poor fish in there with uncycled water or some Nature's Ocean Live Nutri-Seawater from the Local fish store?

Any suggestions?

I have included pictures of water tests before and after the 1/3rd water change today.

I have also included a video of the fish.

Thank you for your time and help,

Jon S.

Tests before the water change today:



Tests after the water change:



Video of poor Grumbles:

Thanks again for your time,

Jon S.

The ammonia level looks fine. Nitrite level is irrelevant in saltwater at this level. The system is processing ammonia because there is nitrite present. Nitrate measurements are meaningless in the presence of nitrite.

I am going to suggest that all is OK, but the clownfish might be sick. Since the shrimp is alive and eating (I assume), you can stop adding everything and doing water changes. You might lose the fish though.

 

[Jon_901]

Update: so I did another water change to flush out the chemicals I added last night. He still has not eating and I now notice he has white stringy poop. So it appears @Dan_P and @fishyjoes might be right and the fish is sick. I read I should treat him with API General Cure. I just ordered some but since I am in Canada it will take a few days to arrive. Thanks for the help everyone! I will update the thread with the outcome.

Take care,

JS.

 

[enlighten]

Frozen and live food will help, if you can hatch some brine, the fish love it. Good luck, with the other issues coming up.

 

[Jon_901]

Update: He didn't make it, he was 2 days away from the medicine showing up, very very sad/heartbreaking.

Tips for others:
- buy fish medicine and a medicine/quarantine tank before getting any fish.
- if Canadian; you can find some medicine from fragbox.ca (general cure (metronidazole + etc)), Ebay (everything), and Amazon (Paracleanse (metronidazole). Note: they are marked up and normally from 3rd party sellers but there's not much options up here.
- don't do a fish in cycle


Thanks again everyone.