HELP! MY MOM BOUGHT ME FISH!!!

[M3d1C]

Following to see how this turns out. Hopefully things will be fine and you (and your mom) can use this as a learning experience. Maybe use this to help educate your mom on the more complex particulars of reef keeping.

.... and then bring here to the dark side and have her start her own tank and become one of us here on R2R!!

LOVE IT!!!

 

[Braunreffer]

Is to early to have live stock but maybe prime and stability to fast cycle in 7 days, if they ares mall and your tank big they will make it

 

[LARedstickreefer]

Large water change would help but you probably need to do it offer to keep the ammonia down. Another reefer may be able to help, or setup a bucket with heat and water movement.

A bucket, heater, power head, and Prime would be the easiest while you wait for your tank to cycle.

 

[60CubeReefer]

Big water change, bacteria in a bottle. Keep up with the water changes until the tank is cycled. Should not take very long.

 

[fishguy242]

what size is your tank?

 

[JumboShrimp]

Why not go right into a modified Tank Transfer Method (TTM)— get two 5-gallon buckets, put them in one with 2 gallons of salt water and move them every 24 hours to the other bucket. While you’re staying ahead of Ich you can stay ahead of ammonia rise. That will be a 14 day process— and your DT can cycle an extra 14 days. (Due a thread search for TTM.). Just an idea in a pinch.

 

[Sailfin11]

Definitely keep the fish and zoa -- keeping the family on board is important I think you have a few options here.

Firstly, don't worry about quarantining in a separate tank. They are your first fish so it technically doesn't make a difference. My first recommendation would be to put everything in your tank and get a small piece of live rock from a local fish store as soon as you can. I would feed as little as possible until then.

Otherwise, just put them in the tank and do water changes every other day. Clownfish are very resilient and your zoas might actually make it aswell. 20 years ago people actually cycled their tanks with fish, so doing something like this is not entirely out of the question.

Keep us updated and post some pictures! Best of luck

 

[MTBake]

I would add the recommended amount of Prime to your display and add the fish. Float the zoa, dip them and add to display. Ammonia isn't as big of a deal for these coral, imo. While this isn't an ideal situation, I think the fish will pull through fine.


The second option I would consider if I were in your position is a 5 gallon bucket. Match the salinity, get a small heater and an air stone in there. I would skim the bacteria in the bucket but I would add Prime to keep ammonia down.

Good luck, and congrats on the new fish!

Ps,
My sister did the same thing to me on the first of the year. Bought me 3 pj cardinalfish when I wasn't quite ready for them. They're all doing fine 6 weeks later though

I'm also friends with a clownfish breeder. His systems can read off the charts on ammonia some days. All the clowns I've gotten from him have been fine. One was 12 years old before she jumped out on me

 

[NotFishyFishGuy]

Any friends or family to take them?

leave them in the bag for now and float them in the tank, which hopefully has a heater. Maybe put a air stone in there.

if the problem has already been solved, sry, didn’t have time to read through everything

 

[Daddy-o]

If you are local to me, I can hold them in my frag tank til you are ready.
Cheers! Mark

 

[SudzFD]

My mom just showed up a few hours ago with 2 snowflake clownfish and what looks like a zoa coral for my tank as a gift. The problem with this is my tank is only a week old and not cycled yet! I have the fish and coral in their bags floating in the tank so they don't get cold but I just tested my tank and my ammonia is still 1ppm. I called the store she bought them at and asked if they would take them back for credit or quarantine them for me but they won't. A friend of mine suggested a 50% water change and a bottle of nitrifying bacteria. What should I do?!

Ah I remember when I set my first tank up and it was about a month old when I was gifted a large regal angel for my birthday. I did my best to keep him but he did not make it. A lesson learned by all. Gift cards are best for this hobby !

Good luck to you. You have excellent advice so far.

 

[StatelineReefer]

No matter what, don't forget to thank your mom for being thoughtful and supportive of your hobby!

 

[kapnkush608]

Remember when we used to cycle tanks with fish lol, good luck man just stay on top of water changes and you should be good.

 

[Smarkow]

Wow
Would def not ever go back to that store.

Concur with this.
But also good luck I agree biggest water change you can do and a gentle dose of nitr. bacteria in a bottle

 

[Smarkow]

I don't have a QT and I can't take them back. I appreciate what my mom did and educated her on why not to do it again, gently I might add. To which she cried and I felt bad... I know clownfish are hardy and I have a big bottle of ATM colony a friend just dropped off. I'm mixing about 5 gallons of new water right now as I post this. I called the LFS here in my town and he said to try the water change and the colony and he would get me a piece of LR out of one of his tanks to help me. Is there anything anyone can recommend?

Truly fresh, cycled live rock out of display *should* do the trick provided adequate flow

 

[ironman187]

Some pretty good advice, Dr. Tims or Fritz Turbostart and some live rock from an established tank should speed up your cycle considerably. Adding prime etc, may reduce the ammonia, but it will also give the bacteria less Ammonia to feed on and ultimately may impact your tanks ability to handle the bioload in the short term.

 

[fishguy242]

m3d1c how is it going what size tank do you have?

 

[esther]

Lots of good advice here. Following along to see how this goes!

 

[Sirspeedy77]

Zoas are pretty hardy and your clowns should be too, do frequent smaller water changes, pull out too much water and you’ll disrupt the cycle that you need to establish your tank. I would supplement with a bio booster that adds nitrite and nitrate to eat up the ammonia.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

+1 on bottled bac, prime and cycled live rock. Not ideal but fine in a pinch!