New tank. Probably over worrying but just in case

[WisconsinReefing]

My tank has been running for a couple of weeks. Just yesterday I added 7 fish. Puffer, 4 anthias, butterfly, and white tail tang.

I just tested for ammonia and I have what looks like .25-.5. I know this should be zero. Is this a major concern? Should I do an immediate water change? I’m very worried about the fish. All but the puffer ate well this morning and are active etc.

Tanks is 180 plus 40g sump

 

[homer1475]

7 fish at once in a new tank, definitely a reason to be concerned. And that ammonia reading is probably correct. Prime is your friend in this case.

 

[WisconsinReefing]

7 fish at once in a new tank, definitely a reason to be concerned. And that ammonia reading is probably correct. Prime is your friend in this case.

I’m sorry. What is prime?

 

[homer1475]

Seachem Prime, ammonia detoxifier.

 

[Neoalchemist]

 

[Neoalchemist]

Petco carries it. Works in salt or fresh water.

 

[WisconsinReefing]

Petco carries it. Works in salt or fresh water.

Thanks guys. Looking at it online. Should I go get it now and do the recommended dose for “new” right away?

 

[4tanks]

Is it possible to take a few fish back to lfs until it stabilises that’s a lot at once

 

[4tanks]

Thanks guys. Looking at it online. Should I go get it now and do the recommended dose for “new” right away?

Sooner the better and when adding fish slowly slowly catchy monkey

 

[WisconsinReefing]

Sooner the better and when adding fish slowly slowly catchy monkey

I had hoped with the tank size it wouldn’t be too many. Guess I was wrong

 

[4tanks]

Also you may have to do some water changes becuase prime only binds Amonia for a few days so keep an eye on it and perform small but frequent water changes if need be good luck

 

[Mical]

If your tank had been up longer you might have gotten by. But it's still fairly new and that many fish at one time will cause a spike. (no lecture here I promise) As mentioned Prime and a couple water changes will help.

 

[Neoalchemist]

I had hoped with the tank size it wouldn’t be too many. Guess I was wrong

Dont worry, you are not too far out of bounds. I had to kick it around in my head a bit before I answered given your water volume.
But, yes. It would be a good idea to take action sooner rather than later.
You've also got to take the fish type into conscideration.
Puffers and tangs are poop machines, and your other additions are rather high energy too.

 

[MTBake]

Good advice above. Adding prime isn't a bad idea. FWIW, I had good luck with Bio-Spira in a qt tank. Knocked ammonia down to 0 from .5 in 24hrs. That was a much smaller setup though.

 

[Crustaceon]

A good sized water change will get that ammonia down but it can be a little stressful to already stressed fish. A safer bet is to add a little bit of ammonia detoxifier + nitrifying bacteria every day to the tank. I’d expect this problem to be sorted out within a few weeks to a month.

 

[WisconsinReefing]

Dont worry, you are not too far out of bounds. I had to kick it around in my head a bit before I answered given your water volume.
But, yes. It would be a good idea to take action sooner rather than later.
You've also got to take the fish type into conscideration.
Puffers and tangs are poop machines, and your other additions are rather high energy too.

Thank you. And the rest of you too. Love that I can come here and get such quick advice.

My rodi system makes about 50 gallons a day. I just did a 50 gallon water change and am going to petco for prime. I think I’ll do another water change in the next day or 2.


And you are correct. That puffer Craps a TON

 

[Slawman]

Be careful not to feed them much right now. Prime is a good safety valve but not a mid-term solution, you need your bacterial population to grow to process the waste and that will take a week or so. Any detectable ammonia is a problem and you may have a sudden die off so please do treat this as an emergency.

Fish generally can go with no food for a week but that will depend on how they were acclimated before you purchased them and if I were you I would try to heavily limit feeding (like no food at all for a few days). Your Anthias may not make it but the rest should be fine....

 

[Inertiatic]

Definitely second the use of Prime and Biospira, both generally carried by Petco. Biospira to help the bacteria population grow large enough to handle the new bioload and Prime to detoxify ammonia.

With Prime, the dosage it gives you on the bottle will detoxify 1ppm of ammonia for 48 hours. Test for ammonia every 48 hours and dose accordingly.

 

[Charles4400]

+1 on the bio spira it works and in your case keep adding it and prime. This combo and water changes will hopefully get you through.

 

[WisconsinReefing]

Be careful not to feed them much right now. Prime is a good safety valve but not a mid-term solution, you need your bacterial population to grow to process the waste and that will take a week or so. Any detectable ammonia is a problem and you may have a sudden die off so please do treat this as an emergency.

Fish generally can go with no food for a week but that will depend on how they were acclimated before you purchased them and if I were you I would try to heavily limit feeding (like no food at all for a few days). Your Anthias may not make it but the rest should be fine....

Griping to gripe here. But I’m new to the hobby. I sure wish my LFS would have told me this was too many fish to add. I would have added 1 at a time if need be. This sucks.

I love those anthias so much, and not to mention feeling horrible if I kill 4 creatures because I messed up, they were 100 each.