Hey everyone, I need help (obviously from the title of this thread). I'm brand new to the hobby and before starting I did MONTHS of research, watched tons of videos, talked with the employees of the local fish store, I thought I was ready. I was not and now my clownfish pair (the only thing in my tank) are dead and I'm extremely upset and honestly don't know what to do at this point. I feel so terrible that they died and I feel like an idiot because I'm obviously doing something wrong.
Here's a brief break down:
I have an Innovative Marine 30L AIO
On May 21'st I added reef saver dry rock, carib-sea alive sand, and water from my LFS. That evening I also dosed Fritz-Zyme fishless cycle (ammonia) and 24 hour later I added about 2oz of the Fritz-Zyme turbo start 900.
I tested Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate daily using Salifert test kits. First off, I will admit that its hard for me to tell what the range is on the salifert ammonia kit. I've kept a log of everything I've done to the tank and I believe it to have been around 1.5ppm. My nitrite and nitrate were very high, but I soon learned that I was reading the Salifert test kits wrong for those two parameters.
One week later I dosed ammonia again and added the rest of the turbo start 900 (about 2oz) this time making sure I was reading the nitrite and nitrate test kits properly. 1 hour after dosing I was at 1.5ppm on ammonia. 12 hours later I was at .5ppm, 24 hours after dosing I was somewhere between 0 and <.15 on the ammonia (again-its hard for me to read the salifert chart). My nitrates also dropped in half after 24 hours from dosing the ammonia.
From my understanding the cycle was pretty much complete. I made a post on this forum and researched as much as possible and the consensus is that turbo start 900 has a tank ready in 48 hours. So I thought I was good.
I then proceed to do a 20% water change 3 days in a row. I wasn't reading any ammonia, nitrite is at .1 and nitrate is 10. I was told that nitrite (within a reasonable amount) isn't bad for marine fish. So I decided to add some livestock.
on June 4th, I added two clownfish, a small male and a large female. For 7 days everything was good. Fish were active, did what I later found out to be typical clownfish behavior, and were eating. The female had a massive appetite. The male wasn't nearly as aggressive, but I would see him take a few bites every time I fed. I was feeding TDA Chroma-Boost 3-4 times a day, in small amounts. Typically the female would have it all gone before the pumps left "feed mode".
Saturday, June 12th is when I noticed something was wrong. I started by testing water parameters. It had been a week since adding fish, and I knew it was time for a weekly 10% water change. Ammonia and Nitrite both showed small amounts. I believe the ammonia was at .25 (again SO hard for me to read for some reason) and nitrite was at .2 nitrate was 25. I also went ahead and checked alkalinity and phosphate because I had just bought new test kits from Hanna and wanted to try them out. Alkalinity was at 6.2 and phosphate was .04. I wasn't too worried about those numbers because I only had the two clownfish. So I did my 10% water change and while I was in there I also moved around a few rocks in my aquascape.
Not long after maintenance, I noticed the large female was acting strange. She didn't show much interest in food, only eating a few bites. The next day I woke up and she was hiding in a small cave in my aquascape. This was strange, but after doing some research, I realized its not uncommon for clownfish to move around the tank and even hide a few days. I assumed her first water change and the aquascape change had her stressed out. The small male didn't seem bothered at all. The female came out of hiding briefly once or twice but quickly went back. And she had no appetite. I'm starting to get concerned at this point, but I just assumed it was stress and so I left her alone. Again, the male was 'normal'. I tested parameters since it was 24 hours after that first water change and nitrite was .1 and nitrate was 10. I went ahead and did another 10% water change to try and get that nitrite down.
This morning I woke up and the male was dead and the female was dying. She only made it a few more minutes before she was laying on her side, not moving. Both fish were pale and had chunks of skin missing. I noticed wat appeared to be floating skin flakes in the water last night after doing the second 10% water change in 36 hours, but thought it was perhaps some debri that had been kicked up from the water change. I now believe those to have been from the actual fish.
So that's where I'm at now guys and I need help. I don't really know how to proceed next. Was it the ammonia and nitrite in the water? It didn't seem like very much, and from my understanding, the turbo start 900 has the tank ready in just a few days. And even though I wanted to avoid exposure to ammonia, I was under the assumption that clownfish could handle it, that's why people use them to start the cycle. Is it brooklynella? the symptoms for brooklynella and ammonia poisoning seem to be very similar. It's unbelievably frustrating and sad. I hate that they died that way. I wanted to do a fishless cycle to avoid cruelty to animals! UGH!!!
What do yall recommend my next move be? The tank has no livestock in it now. 50-60% water change? 100% water change? Leave it? I have another 4oz bottle of turbo start 900, should I add more to boost the bacteria?
Any and all help would be appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read all this. I feel like a total piece of **** for killing those fish. It had only been 9 days, but I was already starting to get attached and see their personalities come out.
Here's a brief break down:
I have an Innovative Marine 30L AIO
On May 21'st I added reef saver dry rock, carib-sea alive sand, and water from my LFS. That evening I also dosed Fritz-Zyme fishless cycle (ammonia) and 24 hour later I added about 2oz of the Fritz-Zyme turbo start 900.
I tested Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate daily using Salifert test kits. First off, I will admit that its hard for me to tell what the range is on the salifert ammonia kit. I've kept a log of everything I've done to the tank and I believe it to have been around 1.5ppm. My nitrite and nitrate were very high, but I soon learned that I was reading the Salifert test kits wrong for those two parameters.
One week later I dosed ammonia again and added the rest of the turbo start 900 (about 2oz) this time making sure I was reading the nitrite and nitrate test kits properly. 1 hour after dosing I was at 1.5ppm on ammonia. 12 hours later I was at .5ppm, 24 hours after dosing I was somewhere between 0 and <.15 on the ammonia (again-its hard for me to read the salifert chart). My nitrates also dropped in half after 24 hours from dosing the ammonia.
From my understanding the cycle was pretty much complete. I made a post on this forum and researched as much as possible and the consensus is that turbo start 900 has a tank ready in 48 hours. So I thought I was good.
I then proceed to do a 20% water change 3 days in a row. I wasn't reading any ammonia, nitrite is at .1 and nitrate is 10. I was told that nitrite (within a reasonable amount) isn't bad for marine fish. So I decided to add some livestock.
on June 4th, I added two clownfish, a small male and a large female. For 7 days everything was good. Fish were active, did what I later found out to be typical clownfish behavior, and were eating. The female had a massive appetite. The male wasn't nearly as aggressive, but I would see him take a few bites every time I fed. I was feeding TDA Chroma-Boost 3-4 times a day, in small amounts. Typically the female would have it all gone before the pumps left "feed mode".
Saturday, June 12th is when I noticed something was wrong. I started by testing water parameters. It had been a week since adding fish, and I knew it was time for a weekly 10% water change. Ammonia and Nitrite both showed small amounts. I believe the ammonia was at .25 (again SO hard for me to read for some reason) and nitrite was at .2 nitrate was 25. I also went ahead and checked alkalinity and phosphate because I had just bought new test kits from Hanna and wanted to try them out. Alkalinity was at 6.2 and phosphate was .04. I wasn't too worried about those numbers because I only had the two clownfish. So I did my 10% water change and while I was in there I also moved around a few rocks in my aquascape.
Not long after maintenance, I noticed the large female was acting strange. She didn't show much interest in food, only eating a few bites. The next day I woke up and she was hiding in a small cave in my aquascape. This was strange, but after doing some research, I realized its not uncommon for clownfish to move around the tank and even hide a few days. I assumed her first water change and the aquascape change had her stressed out. The small male didn't seem bothered at all. The female came out of hiding briefly once or twice but quickly went back. And she had no appetite. I'm starting to get concerned at this point, but I just assumed it was stress and so I left her alone. Again, the male was 'normal'. I tested parameters since it was 24 hours after that first water change and nitrite was .1 and nitrate was 10. I went ahead and did another 10% water change to try and get that nitrite down.
This morning I woke up and the male was dead and the female was dying. She only made it a few more minutes before she was laying on her side, not moving. Both fish were pale and had chunks of skin missing. I noticed wat appeared to be floating skin flakes in the water last night after doing the second 10% water change in 36 hours, but thought it was perhaps some debri that had been kicked up from the water change. I now believe those to have been from the actual fish.
So that's where I'm at now guys and I need help. I don't really know how to proceed next. Was it the ammonia and nitrite in the water? It didn't seem like very much, and from my understanding, the turbo start 900 has the tank ready in just a few days. And even though I wanted to avoid exposure to ammonia, I was under the assumption that clownfish could handle it, that's why people use them to start the cycle. Is it brooklynella? the symptoms for brooklynella and ammonia poisoning seem to be very similar. It's unbelievably frustrating and sad. I hate that they died that way. I wanted to do a fishless cycle to avoid cruelty to animals! UGH!!!
What do yall recommend my next move be? The tank has no livestock in it now. 50-60% water change? 100% water change? Leave it? I have another 4oz bottle of turbo start 900, should I add more to boost the bacteria?
Any and all help would be appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read all this. I feel like a total piece of **** for killing those fish. It had only been 9 days, but I was already starting to get attached and see their personalities come out.