Firefish looks like it is dying

[bobmakespancakes]

See if you buy this rationale:

1. total water clarity, a dead snail may not cloud a tank agreed, but ammonia able to hold consistently day after day will 100% cloud a tank and kill all inhabitants within 48 hours because only a huge dead mass could cause that. Clear water here is first signal. Ammonia cannot hover in any reef using live sand or live rock, it’s too much active surface area. Ammonia will either overtake bac ability and kill the tank, or it will be .00x thousandths ppm on a seneye (an accurate ammonia tester, the rest are not) which is a safe zone. My call above is that ammonia is already verified safe here, no need to measure out a common .25/ API and cause total doubt here.

2. we can tell from the light shading of diatoms on the sandbed he‘s cycled, and by his stated algae problem from another thread. benthic attachments 100% signify a closed cycle, his filter bac is not in question. That will uptake all free ammonia to .00x ppm on any accurate seneye test, what Red Sea or api would measure wouldn’t factor at all, even if he posted .5 in light of that picture above.

3. the sand looks like wet pack caribsea, that alone carries a full bioload upon entry.

4. the living snail behind the fish has been in there longer than 48 hours along with other fish we cant see...plus all their feeding. Sensitivity indicators, he‘d be dead if this tank couldn’t control ammonia. Since ammonia cannot ever stall or hover, it’s all or nothing based on surface area, ammonia is known safe here


5. ammonia burnt fish position differently, burnt gills cause them to hover, not descend due to inability to gain oxygen, they must migrate to the zone of highest oxygen and their gills will pant heavily and show redness. Fish excrete ammonia by the gills and those are double backed up organs, red and flared, when systemic ammonia is truly uncontrolled.

my water ins't clear though

 

[bobmakespancakes]

is is getting better but it is still kinda cloudy

 

[brandon429]

it’s needing simple cleaning and address of film on the glass. Clean your tank per my other thread. When I typed out the cleaning steps on that thread, it will fix your issues.

if you want to snap that reef into condition, message me after applying that other thread and we will manage your tank to stay that way, vs above. Time for simple care to turn around the tank, you have no free ammonia and a very simple situation to fix. My sand rinse thread posted for you prior shows forty tanks that looked like that before we got done

 

[laverda]

he eats some brine shrimp i can try to get a picture like that

Brine shrimp is not a very healthy diet. Kind of like feeding your kids candy and nothing else. It does look under nourished to me. Firefish are not usually fussy eaters. Try some other foods high in nutrition.

 

[bobmakespancakes]

Thank you this has been extremely helpful!