Set up our first marine tank, 30 gallon with loose rock substrate and live rock as well as a few resin decorations. Have 2 damsel fish and 1 small yellow tang. Ammonia spiked to 4, been doing 20% water changes every week with vacuum, added pro ammonia, changed carbon filter, and still get ammonia down past 1 to 0.5. Any help would be appreciated, it's given one of the damsels swim bladder disease (I assume)
BRAND NEW... can't get ammonia down
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Swoody
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Yes you must get that under control quickly or the Tang is going to be the first to succumb to it. Dr. Tim's , Red sea Bio- Spira are both good choices to get you some nitrifying bacteria into your filter media. The Sea Chem Prime will neutralize the toxic effects of the ammonia for the time being.
Too many fish, way too soon. Add Dr Tim's or biospira and some prime to neutralize the ammonia. Daily water changes are in order until the bacteria can get established. Do you have a sump and what do you have in it?
I don't know if it is possible but if you can, see if your lfs might be willing to board the fish for a bit until you are cycled. Then slowly add 1 fish every 2 weeks or so to allow the bacteria to populate. Also unless you are upgrading very quickly the stock you have will develop problems quickly with aggression and stress.
We did actually set up the tank with just the water and the live rock and let that sit for 3 weeks, then we added the two damsels, and about two weeks later we added the yellow tang, but then suddenly the ammonia just went absolutely nuts. If we do the daily water changes, what percent should we be changing? It's a 30 gallon tank with about 3 inches of substrate, 3 "houses", and about 3 fake plants. Also, are there any live marine plants we should have in there? I only have a Petco near me and they do not carry any. And would a bubbler or something like that be helpful? Sorry for all the questions, thought we had researched enough to get started but I'm finding out that I'm an extreme neophyte evidently >; )
All of my other chem levels are perfect and where they are supposed to be, it's just the ammonia that we can't get below 0.5-1. I have Dr. Tims and the Sea Chem Prime bacteria on order, they'll be here tomorrow
No worries on questions, its how everyone learns. I think I may see the problem, was the live rock you bought actually live or dry rock with color or rock cured in a holding tank. During that 3 weeks the rock was in the tank, did you ghost feed? The reason I ask is that I suspect that the rock either wasn't colonized with bacteria or if it was live and shipped, you had some delayed die off. Have you done any nitrate or phosphate tests?
As far as the spike, it seems as though the tank was not truly cycled and tangs are dirty, dirty fish. Their food, nouri, is also pretty dense nutrient wise.
See if you can pick up a seachem ammonia badge at your local lfs. Your water change can probably be in the 10-20% range, but the badge will help you know when you have the ammonia removed.
Macro algae is all about preference but in the near term may make it worse as the tang devours it and leaves the by products behind.
Swoody
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Do a 20% water change early and dose the Prime as soon as you get it according to directions. Then add the bottle bacteria as directed. The water change and the Prime will give some relief.
I thought it was live rock, that's what Petco said it was. And no, we didn't ghost feed because I was unaware i was supposed to do that. I have the API Saltwater Aquarium Master Test Kit, and the nitrate and nitrite levels were exactly where it says they should be, but there is no phosphate test so I'll have to get one of those. I appreciate all the help!
When you say exactly where they are supposed to be, when you do the nitrate test are you getting bright yellow or an orange/orange tinge color? I ask because with the fish load you have, you should show measurable nitrate.
NeuroticAquatics
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My Petco sells live rock that they actually have in their saltwater tanks. Usually fairly small and usually not much coraline growth. It's way more expensive than from a LFS though.
"Exactly where they are supposed to be" doesn't help. Concrete numbers on Ammonia (which you stated was 4), Nitrite and Nitrate will go a long way in having people help determine where you are in the nitrogen cycle and how to proceed from here. If you have a Petco near you, get the Seachem Prime and Biospira immediately if at all possible. Waiting for you to order it and delivery time will not end well for your tank inhabitants. Ammonia is toxic to fish and will burn their gills leading to death. The quicker you can neutralize it with Prime, the better.
GHsaltie
Valuable Member
At my store we keep the rock in the tanks too, so technically it's not "dry" rock but it's most definitely not live either. Just for the fact that the rock is shipped to us in a bone dry bag/box with no heat or cool packs anything that would be useful would die off.
Hey thank you to all of you btw. I did a 25% water change, added the prime then added the Dr tims. I'm going to let the tank settle overnight and then I'll test everything and post the actual numbers or pics of colors in the morning so you can better analyze what needs to be done. Again I appreciate all the help and insight.
