Help Rookie Mistake: Added live rock and killed my clown and coral not looking good either

k2- · Sep 29, 2023

Also consider some easier dosing like All4Reef , Just to keep all levels stable - however if you are doing weekly water changes you can delay it and introduce it slowly.

One mistake i did was my hold my beer attitude , so you are already ahead in asking the question to the community. Learnt hard ways and after 10000's of $$$$$.

Dom · Sep 29, 2023

Zumo said:
So my tank is 3 months old and my first saltwater tank and I am learning as I go. I setup this 55 gallon with a Tidal55 HOB filter on June 28 and today is the 29th of September so it’s been about three months. In the first week , I added two Mexican turbo snails and two small hermit crabs. The two turbo snails lasted about 2 1/2 months and died. I fed them dried seaweed as much as I could but I don’t think I had enough food to sustain them. Also, as the second one was dying, I bought another Mexican turbo snail, and it seems to be doing OK since there is more algae growing now than before. I also bought a clown fish about only two or so weeks of having the tank going. Then when the tank came about the two month mark, I added a hammer coral. Probably too soon but I’m starting to realize that everybody pretty much has their own journey when keeping a saltwater tank and the coral seemed happy.

During the first month, I had the light set to come on about three hours a day, then bump it up to six the second month and now this month it comes on eight hours a day. I have no idea how to set the light but I do have more blue light than white light, still learning. I have not done any type of water change and what I’ve realized is that about every two weeks, I am losing about 5 gallons of water through evaporation, I replace this water with ROI water and the salinity seems to be fine calcium is good and alkalinity is ok off of strip test but getting better testing solution for that soon. I noticed some Spirorbid worms on the glass so I guess the tank is cycling appropriately.

All was good until yesterday, I added 22lbs-sh of live rock from my LFS and with-in 3 hours the hammer retracted and 12 hrs the clown died. I did not rinse the rock, I just set it in. I get it, I screwed up. My question is now what do I need to do to make sure my tank get safe enough again to reintroduce another clown and more coral. The plan for this tank is to be a reef tank. I only had the clown in there to help cycle.

I don't believe the rock is the cause. I think the death of the clown is coincidence.

But you need to provide more information.

It isn't enough to tell us that your chemistry parameters are ok. We need to see actual numbers. There are no "good" or "bad" numbers. Whether your numbers are good or bad is dictated by what you are keeping in the tank. So please post your actual and most recent test numbers.
Provide us with a full tank shot. There is a great deal of information to be gleaned from a full tank picture.
Please provide a picture of the clownfish if you can. I suspect that this clownfish may have been in the late stages of disease when you purchased it. But this is speculation.

Most importantly, please don't get discouraged! We all made mistakes as we walk our path in this hobby.

Dom

Dan_P · Sep 29, 2023

Zumo said:
So my tank is 3 months old and my first saltwater tank and I am learning as I go. I setup this 55 gallon with a Tidal55 HOB filter on June 28 and today is the 29th of September so it’s been about three months. In the first week , I added two Mexican turbo snails and two small hermit crabs. The two turbo snails lasted about 2 1/2 months and died. I fed them dried seaweed as much as I could but I don’t think I had enough food to sustain them. Also, as the second one was dying, I bought another Mexican turbo snail, and it seems to be doing OK since there is more algae growing now than before. I also bought a clown fish about only two or so weeks of having the tank going. Then when the tank came about the two month mark, I added a hammer coral. Probably too soon but I’m starting to realize that everybody pretty much has their own journey when keeping a saltwater tank and the coral seemed happy.

During the first month, I had the light set to come on about three hours a day, then bump it up to six the second month and now this month it comes on eight hours a day. I have no idea how to set the light but I do have more blue light than white light, still learning. I have not done any type of water change and what I’ve realized is that about every two weeks, I am losing about 5 gallons of water through evaporation, I replace this water with ROI water and the salinity seems to be fine calcium is good and alkalinity is ok off of strip test but getting better testing solution for that soon. I noticed some Spirorbid worms on the glass so I guess the tank is cycling appropriately.

All was good until yesterday, I added 22lbs-sh of live rock from my LFS and with-in 3 hours the hammer retracted and 12 hrs the clown died. I did not rinse the rock, I just set it in. I get it, I screwed up. My question is now what do I need to do to make sure my tank get safe enough again to reintroduce another clown and more coral. The plan for this tank is to be a reef tank. I only had the clown in there to help cycle.

The clown dying in twelve hours could be from suffocation or an extremely high level of ammonia. While the rock did not have an odor, there still could have been quite a bit of heterotrophic bacteria activity. With little or nor circulation in the aquarium, the oxygen could be rapidly depleted. Also, adding rock could have suffocated whatever was growing in and on the sand. As you surmised, the snails likely starved to death. The crabs are likely starving as well.

KrisReef · Sep 29, 2023

Dan_P said:
The clown dying in twelve hours could be from suffocation or an extremely high level of ammonia. While the rock did not have an odor, there still could have been quite a bit of heterotrophic bacteria activity. With little or nor circulation in the aquarium, the oxygen could be rapidly depleted. Also, adding rock could have suffocated whatever was growing in and on the sand. As you surmised, the snails likely starved to death. The crabs are likely starving as well.

Yup. The picture with liverock added looks ok except that the water is cloudy, likely a bacteria bloom that may have consumed the available O2 causing the fish to suffocate?

Addition of a skimmer or more in-tank water circulation to improve O2 exchange could help going forward.

Otherwise, I might blame the background, the fish died trying to get back home? (Sorry

). Hope you are able to move forward and enjoy more success with our hobby. These setbacks are not fun.

thecitadel · Sep 29, 2023

Jobe S. said:
I know everyone goes their own way and each tank is different but I disagree with waiting years to add corals. When I started my first tank I let it cycle for around two weeks before adding a clown to help it finish cycling. Soon after I purchased my clean-up crew and some wrasses to help with algae and pest control. At around month 4 I added my first corals. I started with soft coral and once I gained stability and the corals began to grow I started with some beginner lps and now am into easy sps like Montipora and my tank is now about 8 months old. The key to a successful reef tank is a regular maintenance schedule but more importantly stability. More than anything though you need to learn from your own mistakes because I find no matter how much is posted online I try to go my own way anyway. Good Luck!

I didn't say you need to wait a year. But it's a fact a tank within their first year will go through swings some Corals cannot handle, and if you don't know, you don't know until you know and that sucks. I wanted to avoid that. I did. You can add coral right away if you want, but you'll have to test, a lot, have plenty of water on hand for wc often and know what's coming and how to handle it when it does during early stages of development. I'm just giving suggestions that most successful reefers followed. Works well for me so far.

MnFish1 · Sep 29, 2023

brandon429 said:
post a pic of the tank. nothing from the actual live rock killed the fish
the tank had losses in pattern before the fish were lost, but agreed it's coincidental

post pics of the tank

if it was pressed against live rocks it may not be apparent/or if sandbed waste upwelled (has a track record of killing fish) was the culprit that may be tied to physically installing rock into the tank, but the rock itself doesn't leak a poison, they don't leak ammonia, to kill fish when moved to another tank. every reef tank convention (MACNA etc) is a set of live rocks moved from a prior tank into a skip cycle convention reef display.

This is a commonly repeated comment - with no factual basis IMHO. Without further information - you can't say this, for sure. I used to order Live rock - which arrived wrapped in wet paper towels collected directly from the ocean. It was WIDELY known that as things that die from the rock - there will be nutrient issues. Additionally, in this case - the person says 'Everything was fine, then I added 'live rock'. then things did poorly - IMHO there is a cause and effect. One could be anaerobic areas in the rock - which had collected some Hydrogen sulfide.

To answer your (OP) question - I would merely test the common parameters - and correct anomalies.

Part of my comments relate to what type of live rock you added, and where it came from. If it was 'wild' live rock, it could be dying stuff. If it was shipped to you - there was probably dying stuff on/in it. The timing IMHO - is not a coincidence - its causal