Ammonia isn’t coming down

[Iconicjellyfish]

no I didn’t qt him he was from a local store and I trust this place he seemed fine in the store, I have a bit of surface agitation and my clown is doing perfectly fine.

 

[Iconicjellyfish]

Where did you get the fish? If at your LFS did you watch it for a while?

Guess you didn't QT?

No, that's not normal. Hiding, yes. Upside down, no. However, I'd just wait a while and see if he gets better. Do you have good surface agitation? Make sure he's getting enough O2.

no I didn’t qt him he was from a local store and I trust this place he seemed fine in the store, I have a bit of surface agitation and my clown is doing perfectly fine.

 

[Iconicjellyfish]

no I didn’t qt him he was from a local store and I trust this place he seemed fine in the store, I have a bit of surface agitation and my clown is doing perfectly fine.

Ok I tested my water and the waters perfect! 0 ammonia 0nitrite and 5nitrate, salinity is 1.024 and temp is 78...... idk what to do, are tangs sensitive fish to acclimation? Should I check anything else?

 

[Iconicjellyfish]

I put him in a 2.5 gallon I had laying around with a air pump and heater, fresh rodi saltwater just in case the high flow of the tank was maybe stressing him out or if there’s something I’m not seeing, idk if this was the right thing to do. He’s barely moving and when he does he just jumps across the tank.

 

[Dbichler]

So first thing. Dont trust anyone in this hobby who can make money off of you. Lesson Learned already. Second thing Research and research again. Third thing try not to ask a question then directly ignore the advice everyone had given you. Not trying to be mean but if you dont get a harsh wake up you wont be in the hobby 6 months from now, and you will be out hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Hold off on buying anything alive until you have read all the stickies and watched the 52 weeks. Advice has already been given which is sound advice. I truly only want everyone to succeed and enjoy this great hobby.

 

[Iconicjellyfish]

So first thing. Dont trust anyone in this hobby who can make money off of you. Lesson Learned already. Second thing Research and research again. Third thing try not to ask a question then directly ignore the advice everyone had given you. Not trying to be mean but if you dont get a harsh wake up you wont be in the hobby 6 months from now, and you will be out hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Hold off on buying anything alive until you have read all the stickies and watched the 52 weeks. Advice has already been given which is sound advice. I truly only want everyone to succeed and enjoy this great hobby.

What exactly did I ignore? Serious question, the tank was fully cycled

 

[Quietman]

My royal gramma was like that ,swam upside down out of the bag and very lethargic for a few days. In the end, he recovered and was fully normal in a week. However, if the LFS has a return policy for credit or cash...I may consider using that now. Bringing a sick fish back to health is not easy or for beginners unless you have no choice.

Might want to make sure your next fish are 'easy', like the clown fish. Get a cardinal, a gramma, maybe a fire fish or goby. They are much more tolerant of aquarium life, take less food, produce less waste. Look up any online vendor for 'beginner' fish. No shame in beginner...they may not be the sexiest, but they are beginner because they are hardy and forgiving of our mistakes. And to be honest, I still love my beginner fish.

I wouldn't worry about starting any refugium if you haven't yet. It's just one more thing to do, one more expense (light) and water changes will be fine for now for nutrient control. Learn to use the skimmer and how to maximize removal first. Learn how your tank responds, nothing better than testing, water changes, tweaking a skimmer and adjusting food quantity and type to see what's what at first.

 

[Dbichler]

Florida sunshine and 14 foot reef both told you take it slow and read up. Not saying you didnt read up but adding a tang already suggest otherwise and double acclimating would definitely stress a tang out. I want you to succeed my first tank I did the same things almost everyone in this hobby has.

 

[AZMSGT]

@Iconicjellyfish .... Slow down.
1. A blue tang is to much fish for your small tank, even if the tang is small. It will grow and grow quickly. Tangs need swimming space the bigger they get the more space they need.
2. learn the limits of your size tank.
3. The fish store that sold you that tang, didn’t do you any favors. They just wanted to make money.

 

[Iconicjellyfish]

My royal gramma was like that ,swam upside down out of the bag and very lethargic for a few days. In the end, he recovered and was fully normal in a week. However, if the LFS has a return policy for credit or cash...I may consider using that now. Bringing a sick fish back to health is not easy or for beginners unless you have no choice.

Might want to make sure your next fish are 'easy', like the clown fish. Get a cardinal, a gramma, maybe a fire fish or goby. They are much more tolerant of aquarium life, take less food, produce less waste. Look up any online vendor for 'beginner' fish. No shame in beginner...they may not be the sexiest, but they are beginner because they are hardy and forgiving of our mistakes. And to be honest, I still love my beginner fish.

I wouldn't worry about starting any refugium if you haven't yet. It's just one more thing to do, one more expense (light) and water changes will be fine for now for nutrient control. Learn to use the skimmer and how to maximize removal first. Learn how your tank responds, nothing better than testing, water changes, tweaking a skimmer and adjusting food quantity and type to see what's what at first.

Yeah unfortunately he’s fully passed, so what’s the general consensus on acclimation? 15 minutes of dripping? Float the bag, cut it and let them swim out? I read on here to drip it for 30-45 mins

 

[flsalty]

Yeah unfortunately he’s fully passed, so what’s the general consensus on acclimation? 15 minutes of dripping? Float the bag, cut it and let them swim out? I read on here to drip it for 30-45 mins

Do not put bag water into your tank. You want to match the salinity and temp. Then net the fish out of the bag.

 

[Dbichler]

Many different ways. The way I would do it is check their salinity with my own hydrometer doesnt need to be refractometer. If you are lower than their salinity by less than .02 you are good to drop until temp is similar and in they go. If your salinity is above theirs drip very slowly for now more than .02 per hour. Easiest with qt mix water to their level match temp and done.

 

[Mike0001]

I went through the same thing because of my API test kit. I finally just accepted and learned to trust that a zero ammonia to me looks a little yellow green. I brought a sample to the lfs a few times and confirmed with them as well.

 

[Quietman]

Yeah unfortunately he’s fully passed, so what’s the general consensus on acclimation? 15 minutes of dripping? Float the bag, cut it and let them swim out? I read on here to drip it for 30-45 mins

For fish, I set the bag in the DT for 15-30 minutes. If it's been less than 24 hours and there's a good quantity of water (like LA ships), then I'll open bag and fold the top down so it floats with the air trapped. I then add tank water to bag 1/2 cup at a time, when full I dump half bag out into separate bucket and repeat the 1/2 cup. Takes about 1/2 hour more. Then I dump bag into net (never, ever put bag water into your tank).

If fish shipped more than 24 hours or water volume really small, I'll still float unopened bag, but I'll immediately dump half or more water out and start replacing more aggressively a cup at a time. Yes, it's a shock to fish but best way to ensure less stress if fish spent long time in bag.

What you're concerned with here on time in the bag is that ammonia becomes really toxic at higher pH. When fish ship in bags, the CO2 builds up forming carbonic acid, which lowers pH. Ammonia is less toxic at lower pH (which is why we can ship fish). But when you open bag, the CO2 build up will immediately exchange with air and raise pH and the ammonia will now spike becoming toxic quickly. Now likely this won't kill the fish, but you can easily and permanently damage the gills which will now cause the fish stress and overall reduce health. This leads to less resistance to disease, infection and parasites.

 

[Iconicjellyfish]

My royal gramma was like that ,swam upside down out of the bag and very lethargic for a few days. In the end, he recovered and was fully normal in a week. However, if the LFS has a return policy for credit or cash...I may consider using that now. Bringing a sick fish back to health is not easy or for beginners unless you have no choice.

Might want to make sure your next fish are 'easy', like the clown fish. Get a cardinal, a gramma, maybe a fire fish or goby. They are much more tolerant of aquarium life, take less food, produce less waste. Look up any online vendor for 'beginner' fish. No shame in beginner...they may not be the sexiest, but they are beginner because they are hardy and forgiving of our mistakes. And to be honest, I still love my beginner fish.

I wouldn't worry about starting any refugium if you haven't yet. It's just one more thing to do, one more expense (light) and water changes will be fine for now for nutrient control. Learn to use the skimmer and how to maximize removal first. Learn how your tank responds, nothing better than testing, water changes, tweaking a skimmer and adjusting food quantity and type to see what's what at first.

Merry Christmas! Sorry to bother everyone today, so I ended up getting 3 firefish yesterday, they were doing a 30% off sale and I had a coupon and ended up only spending 7 dollars for the 3, did what you guys said to acclimate them, they looked really good all day and for the night, ended up waking up to all of them dead.... I seriously don’t know what I’m missing or doing wrong, firefish are supposed to be pretty hardy and a beginner fish right?

 

[Quietman]

Yeah generally they are hardy and all 3 dead? Wow, sorry to hear that! So, lets reconfirm a few things. I know you have stated this already, but if you could sample now it might help.

48 gallon with 14 gallon sump.

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Salinity:
Temperature:

How much flow do you have in tank?

 

[Iconicjellyfish]

Yeah generally they are hardy and all 3 dead? Wow, sorry to hear that! So, lets reconfirm a few things. I know you have stated this already, but if you could sample now it might help.

48 gallon with 14 gallon sump.

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Salinity:
Temperature:

How much flow do you have in tank?

Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:5
pH:8
Salinity:1.025
Temperature:77
my pump is 3500lph (925 gph)
These are reading I just took
Is there anything else that can kill fish?

 

[Quietman]

Yes, just wanted to get that out of the way, suspected based on earlier this would be answer. Next i think we need to eliminate some contaminant either from equipment, food or perhaps maintenance practices.

So this is new tank and system from the LFS. Is there anything in the tank that's used or older?

What food are you using? Any additives?

Are you putting hands or tools in tank after washing them with some soap and not rinsing in DI?

What's your water source for make up water?

 

[T-J]

Are all the fish that you’ve lost from the same LFS?

 

[Iconicjellyfish]

Yes, just wanted to get that out of the way, suspected based on earlier this would be answer. Next i think we need to eliminate some contaminant either from equipment, food or perhaps maintenance practices.

So this is new tank and system from the LFS. Is there anything in the tank that's used or older?

What food are you using? Any additives?

Are you putting hands or tools in tank after washing them with some soap and not rinsing in DI?

What's your water source for make up water?

No used equipment, the only thing foreign thing would be a check valve for the pump because if the power goes out all of the water would suck back down in the sump and overflow. It’s oversized so it doesn’t restrict the pump.

no additives I use kind of a variety of food (live brine, frozen food and some flakes)

no tools that I really put in there anything that I take in and out I don’t wash with soap I use tap water to rinse it off

make up water is rodi