Is my saltwater toxic?

[Abcde123]

Hello everyone,

I am new to the saltwater hobby, I’ve had a 20Gallon Long saltwater aquarium for around 11 weeks now. In the aquarium, I have 3 clownfish, a blue hippo tang, a damsel, two shrimp, a few corrals and several snails. I had a starfish and two gobys (did not have the gobys at the same time) in the past but they all died. I noticed that the star fish began resting at the top of the tank for around 1-2 weeks and began losing his arms little by little. My first goby died relatively quickly and my second goby died after maybe a month. I am starting to wonder if the bottom portion of the water in my tank is toxic, is that possible? All my fish seem to be healthy. I use a canister filter, have a wavemaker, and try and do regular weekly water changes (sometimes i don’t do it for two weeks). I just tested my water and everything was fine except my nitrite was a bit high (0.8) and my PH was a bit low (7.8). I just began dosing my tank with the recommended PH booster as well as another bacteria bottle to lower my nitrite but is that what could have caused it? I find it strange that most of the species that live on the ground level are dying or struggling (I even found my cleaner shrimp moving more towards the top for this past week). Has this happened to anyone before? Or does anyone have any advice? Thank you!!

 

[davidcalgary29]

Your tank size is a typo, right? I can't imagine a hippo tang in a 5g tank.

 

[Lavey29]

You can't be serious? You have all those fish in a 5g tank? A blue Hippo tang too? Yes your entire environment is toxic. Your tanknis designed for 1 maybe 2 small fish that's it.

 

[Abcde123]

My tank is 20 gallons Long!

 

[Abcde123]

You can't be serious? You have all those fish in a 5g tank? A blue Hippo tang too? Yes your entire environment is toxic. Your tanknis designed for 1 maybe 2 small fish that's it.

My tank is 20 gallons! What’s giving the impression that it’s 5g?

 

[AydenLincoln]

Your tank size is a typo, right? I can't imagine a hippo tang in a 5g tank.

And if it is it’s way overstocked and can’t support that bio load. That’s still way to small and 20L which means 20 liters.

 

[Abcde123]

And if it is it’s way overstocked and can’t support that bio load.

It’s 20, what in my post is making it seem like it’s 5g? I’m new to this

 

[ben5impson]

Your tank size is a typo, right? I can't imagine a hippo tang in a 5g tank.

even a 20g would be way too small especially for 3 clownfish and the tang is just idk what to think maybe it's a quarantine tank I hope it is

 

[AydenLincoln]

It’s 20, what in my post is making it seem like it’s 5g? I’m new to this

Because you wrote 20 liters which is 5 gallons. I now realize you meant 20 long but L is liters in measurement.

 

[Abcde123]

Hello everyone,

I am new to the saltwater hobby, I’ve had a 20L saltwater aquarium for around 11 weeks now. In the aquarium, I have 3 clownfish, a blue hippo tang, a damsel, two shrimp, a few corrals and several snails. I had a starfish and two gobys (did not have the gobys at the same time) in the past but they all died. I noticed that the star fish began resting at the top of the tank for around 1-2 weeks and began losing his arms little by little. My first goby died relatively quickly and my second goby died after maybe a month. I am starting to wonder if the bottom portion of the water in my tank is toxic, is that possible? All my fish seem to be healthy. I use a canister filter, have a wavemaker, and try and do regular weekly water changes (sometimes i don’t do it for two weeks). I just tested my water and everything was fine except my nitrite was a bit high (0.8) and my PH was a bit low (7.8). I just began dosing my tank with the recommended PH booster as well as another bacteria bottle to lower my nitrite but is that what could have caused it? I find it strange that most of the species that live on the ground level are dying or struggling (I even found my cleaner shrimp moving more towards the top for this past week). Has this happened to anyone before? Or does anyone have any advice? Thank you!!

Hello everyone,

I am new to the saltwater hobby, I’ve had a 20L saltwater aquarium for around 11 weeks now. In the aquarium, I have 3 clownfish, a blue hippo tang, a damsel, two shrimp, a few corrals and several snails. I had a starfish and two gobys (did not have the gobys at the same time) in the past but they all died. I noticed that the star fish began resting at the top of the tank for around 1-2 weeks and began losing his arms little by little. My first goby died relatively quickly and my second goby died after maybe a month. I am starting to wonder if the bottom portion of the water in my tank is toxic, is that possible? All my fish seem to be healthy. I use a canister filter, have a wavemaker, and try and do regular weekly water changes (sometimes i don’t do it for two weeks). I just tested my water and everything was fine except my nitrite was a bit high (0.8) and my PH was a bit low (7.8). I just began dosing my tank with the recommended PH booster as well as another bacteria bottle to lower my nitrite but is that what could have caused it? I find it strange that most of the species that live on the ground level are dying or struggling (I even found my cleaner shrimp moving more towards the top for this past week). Has this happened to anyone before? Or does anyone have any advice? Thank you!!

Because you wrote 20 liters which is 5 gallons. I now realize you meant 20 long but L is liters in measurement

Because you wrote 20 liters which is 5 gallons. I now realize you meant 20 long but L is liters in measurement.

oh! Fixed it!

 

[Abcde123]

even a 20g would be way too small especially for 3 clownfish and the tang is just idk what to think maybe it's a quarantine tank I hope it is

All the fish seem to be thriving and they have a lot of room (picture is above). I’m just worried about a select few

 

[ben5impson]

It’s 20, what in my post is making it seem like it’s 5g? I’m new to this

20L sounds like 20Litres = 5gallons but that's still way way too small for any tang. it's suitable for maybe a pair of clowfish but definitely shouldn't have 3 in there as they'll pair off and kill the other. star fish are not for beginners and shouldn't be added to any new tank. you definitely need to rehome the tang a clownfish and probably the damsel to and don't bother with star fish in such a small tank especially one that's only a new setup. sorry to be blunt but you're not doing yourself or the livestock any favours and this will just turn you against the hobby. you should really do your research about what livestock are suitable. that tanks like 100gallons too small also your nitrite should be 0 and stating at 0 before it ready for any stock. that's tells me it's not cycled or you have crashed your cycle. as for ph even though it's too low it's better to keep it stable there and address the cause which is likely co2. but I don't like boosters as they aren't stable

 

[Abcde123]

20L sounds like 20Litres = 5gallons but that's still way way too small for any tang. it's suitable for maybe a pair of clowfish but definitely shouldn't have 3 in there as they'll pair off and kill the other. star fish are not for beginners and shouldn't be added to any new tank. you definitely need to rehome the tang a clownfish and probably the damsel to and don't bother with star fish in such a small tank especially one that's only a new setup. sorry to be blunt but you're not doing yourself or the livestock any favours and this will just turn you against the hobby. you should really do your research about what livestock are suitable. that tanks like 100gallons too small

It’s 20 gallons (see picture above) sorry for the confusion. All the fish are thriving and seem to really be enjoying it. I am just worried about a few that swim in the bottom portion

 

[ZombieEngineer]

You overstocked your tank and things started dying because of that. You also didn't quarantine so parasites could have contributed.

You should have no more than 3 fish the size of a clownfish, 1 shrimp, and a handful of snails in a 20gal tank.

Starfish cannot survive in a 200g tank that is 11 weeks old let alone a 20g. They need mature tanks 100g plus and 6+ months old.

Hippo tangs need at least a 6ft long tank, preferably above 180 gallons.

 

[ben5impson]

All the fish seem to be thriving and they have a lot of room (picture is above). I’m just worried about a select few

but they don't have enough room and they will appear to be thriving until it's too late. nitrite is toxic to fish. but fish especially marine often don't show obvious signs of poor health until they can no longer fight as if they did they'd be eaten by predators on the reef

 

[Abcde123]

You overstocked your tank and things started dying because of that. You also didn't quarantine so parasites could have contributed.

You should have no more than 3 fish the size of a clownfish, 1 shrimp, and a handful of snails in a 20gal tank.

Starfish cannot survive in a 200g tank that is 11 weeks old let alone a 20g. They need mature tanks 100g plus and 6+ months old.

Hippo tangs need at least a 6ft long tank, preferably above 180 gallons.

Oh got it! I was told the fish would be fine due to them being small and the tank beinf relatively wide. Is there a reason why the goby died?

 

[Abcde123]

but they don't have enough room and they will appear to be thriving until it's too late. nitrite is toxic to fish. but fish especially marine often don't show obvious signs of poor health until they can no longer fight as if they did they'd be eaten by predators on the reef

but they don't have enough room and they will appear to be thriving until it's too late. nitrite is toxic to fish. but fish especially marine often don't show obvious signs of poor health until they can no longer fight as if they did they'd be eaten by predators on the reef

Oh okay, how many fish, corral, and invertebrates do you recommend for a 20G?

 

[Tamberav]

Hello everyone,

I am new to the saltwater hobby, I’ve had a 20Gallon Long saltwater aquarium for around 11 weeks now. In the aquarium, I have 3 clownfish, a blue hippo tang, a damsel, two shrimp, a few corrals and several snails. I had a starfish and two gobys (did not have the gobys at the same time) in the past but they all died. I noticed that the star fish began resting at the top of the tank for around 1-2 weeks and began losing his arms little by little. My first goby died relatively quickly and my second goby died after maybe a month. I am starting to wonder if the bottom portion of the water in my tank is toxic, is that possible? All my fish seem to be healthy. I use a canister filter, have a wavemaker, and try and do regular weekly water changes (sometimes i don’t do it for two weeks). I just tested my water and everything was fine except my nitrite was a bit high (0.8) and my PH was a bit low (7.8). I just began dosing my tank with the recommended PH booster as well as another bacteria bottle to lower my nitrite but is that what could have caused it? I find it strange that most of the species that live on the ground level are dying or struggling (I even found my cleaner shrimp moving more towards the top for this past week). Has this happened to anyone before? Or does anyone have any advice? Thank you!!

What type of gobies?

Most starfish are not suited for 20g tanks that are new or even old. They should be in very large established tanks. Your tank doesn't have what it needs to eat.

 

[mrpontiac80]

20L sounds like 20Litres = 5gallons but that's still way way too small for any tang. it's suitable for maybe a pair of clowfish but definitely shouldn't have 3 in there as they'll pair off and kill the other. star fish are not for beginners and shouldn't be added to any new tank. you definitely need to rehome the tang a clownfish and probably the damsel to and don't bother with star fish in such a small tank especially one that's only a new setup. sorry to be blunt but you're not doing yourself or the livestock any favours and this will just turn you against the hobby. you should really do your research about what livestock are suitable. that tanks like 100gallons too small also your nitrite should be 0 and stating at 0 before it ready for any stock. that's tells me it's not cycled or you have crashed your cycle. as for ph even though it's too low it's better to keep it stable there and address the cause which is likely co2. but I don't like boosters as they aren't stable

@Ach
Welcome.
I agree with the above. Honestly the tang will be ok for a short amount of time but it will outgrow the tank very quickly. As it does it will likely be more aggressive to everything else. Also as a newbie, I’m guessing you’ve yet to run into fish disease but smooth skin tangs like the hippo are ich magnets.
You either need two clowns or many clowns in any tank. One will likely be an outcast and killed.
As for the star fish… no one honestly knows what they eat. But unless you have an established aquarium it will likely starve. Even a sand sifter. Serpent stars however may work, as they eat detritus and even fish food like mysis or brine.

the tank should not be toxic at the bottom with flow and filtration. My guess is more towards parameters of the water chemistry, food, temp, or aggression from tank mates

 

[AydenLincoln]

What type of gobies?

Most starfish are not suited for 20g tanks that are new or even old. They should be in very large established tanks. Your tank doesn't have what it needs to eat.

Or it died from high nutrients/fluctuations something starfish can’t handle and you should feed them regardless. What kind was it?