I think im in trouble

[CaptianPaulie]

So about two weeks ago i bought a bigger tank and setting it up i used all of my salt and my stupid butt decided to buy a lionfish instead of more salt for my new tank a week ago my water was absolutely perfect a few days after that water check i got the lionfish and i thought the reason he was acting funny was because of my undulated triggerfish that i was attempting to keep with him. The undy is very small compared to the lionfish and my lionfish holds his ground and will actually chase the undy if he tries screwing with him. Today i had to help a friend move and i stopped at home for a minute and the lion was upsidedown at the top of the tank i was extremely scared grabbed my net and he started swimming normal thankfully. I had to leave the house to finish with the move when i came back i instantly tested the water and it was .25 ammonia .50 nitrite. Ive never once had an issue with water parameter well in this hobby and its a blessing but now i upgraded got the fish ive always wanted and it wants to start fluctuating on me. The only thing i can guess is when i upgraded tanks and added some of the dried up live rock from when i first started the hobby maybe i didnt clean it good enough before adding it with the live rock i kept in the smaller tank to convert it back to live rock. This happened at a really bad time with easter being tmrw i highly doubt i will be able to get salt for two reason one LFS is prob gunna be closed and i dont have time to screw with it because i will have my daughter who is a bigger handful then anything lol. I pretty much just wanna know if there is anything else i can do other then change the water since i dont have that option or if i should just not panic wait till i get out of work monday and go to town doing a water change and whatever else you guys recommend. I was once told smaller fishtanks are tougher to maintain a perfect water parameter so when i upgraded tanks and used the rest of my salt doing so i thought forsure i would have a few weeks till i needed more salt it makes me feel really irresponsible and i apologize for the long post im just petrified of losing my fish. So to make a long story short How many days can it go with parameters such as these without my fish dying on me? and is there anything i can do right now to help out even though i have like 2 cups of salt max left in my bucket and never had the need to buy water additives because ive always had amazing parameters.. Thank you

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Carefully retest your results before making major changes. That said unless you have access to a something like Dr. Tims or a related bacteria culture you will have to find a source for making a waterchange to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels down to acceptable levels until the tank cycles. You might look for left over food or other sources of decay in your tank and remove them to lower the levels. You might have a local shop that can help you or house your fish until the tank cycles. Your choices are limited.
I wish you well.

 

[Triggreef]

Gonna need to phone a friend and find some salt. Ammonia in the presence of nitrite is very bad, pretty fast.

Did you move sand over as well? That could have been your problem or if live rock was exposed to air too long that could have caused bacteria die off which could be problematic as well. Is water becoming slightly cloudy? That means ammonia usually.

Best case, emergency large water change.
next best move fish somewhere stable for time being.
last resort, add some ammonia neutralizer. but don't over do it. All it really does is drop ph to make ammonia less toxic. Nitrite is your bigger issue.

Good luck.

 

[CaptianPaulie]

Carefully retest your results before making major changes. That said unless you have access to a something like Dr. Tims or a related bacteria culture you will have to find a source for making a waterchange to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels down to acceptable levels until the tank cycles. You might look for left over food or other sources of decay in your tank and remove them to lower the levels. You might have a local shop that can help you or house your fish until the tank cycles. Your choices are limited.
I wish you well.

Thank you!

 

[CaptianPaulie]

Gonna need to phone a friend and find some salt. Ammonia in the presence of nitrite is very bad, pretty fast.

Did you move sand over as well? That could have been your problem or if live rock was exposed to air too long that could have caused bacteria die off which could be problematic as well. Is water becoming slightly cloudy? That means ammonia usually.

Best case, emergency large water change.
next best move fish somewhere stable for time being.
last resort, add some ammonia neutralizer. but don't over do it. All it really does is drop ph to make ammonia less toxic. Nitrite is your bigger issue.

Good luck.

I moved the sand over and the live rock was exposed to air for about 10 months so im sure the bacteria died off

 

[jsker]

Run a lot of carbon

 

[CaptianPaulie]

Run a lot of carbon

I have a canister filter that has two carbon packs in it and i dont think anymore will fit lol

 

[Triggreef]

Bad idea to move sand over. Even if your doing the swap right away, which it sounds like you just set up a new tank without using anything previously seeded with living bacteria.

If you have another tank running you could try pulling something off it like a reactor or anything like that. Or maybe from a friends tank. Sorry not much else to do but your cycling and it will only get worse. And if you don't fix it fast those fish will be dead.

 

[CaptianPaulie]

Bad idea to move sand over. Even if your doing the swap right away, which it sounds like you just set up a new tank without using anything previously seeded with living bacteria.

If you have another tank running you could try pulling something off it like a reactor or anything like that. Or maybe from a friends tank. Sorry not much else to do but your cycling and it will only get worse. And if you don't fix it fast those fish will be dead.

Whats the big deal about bringing sand from a previous tank?? And i feel like that isnt what the problem is because the tank was perfect untill today. Would the nitrite spike take over a week because i used that sand again? I tested the water once the day i did the tank swap and once the day i put the lionfish in. Tested it again 4 days after that and now its getting screwy.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Whats the big deal about bringing sand from a previous tank?? And i feel like that isnt what the problem is because the tank was perfect untill today. Would the nitrite spike take over a week because i used that sand again? I tested the water once the day i did the tank swap and once the day i put the lionfish in. Tested it again 4 days after that and now its getting screwy.

Good question! I often used sand or gravel to start new aquariums due to the fact that bacteria helps kick start the process. I often set up full reef tanks for trade shows all over the country from scratch using trickle filters seeded before the event. We had success each and every time with no memorable losses. We also did the same thing with seeded live rock and sand along with the trickle filters. This was way back in the bad old days of the early 1980's. I guess we were just lucky lol.

 

[Luno]

I'm having trouble understanding, did you cycle the tank? Did you have actual live rock and also added what is now dead rock?

If it cycled properly and you added the dead rock recently, I'd say it's die off is what caused ammonia and nitrite spike. As mentioned previously call a friend do something but you need to do a fair few water changes pretty dang fast! I'd say daily of at least 30%

 

[CaptianPaulie]

I'm having trouble understanding, did you cycle the tank? Did you have actual live rock and also added what is now dead rock?

If it cycled properly and you added the dead rock recently, I'd say it's die off is what caused ammonia and nitrite spike. As mentioned previously call a friend do something but you need to do a fair few water changes pretty dang fast! I'd say daily of at least 30%

How would die off happen on liverock that was dry for almost a year?

 

[najer]

Point a power head at the surface, getting more oxygen might help, as posts above have said, double check your readings and water changes as soon as possible.

 

[Luno]

How would die off happen on liverock that was dry for almost a year?

It's dead but the dead stuff is still there. Once it's back in the water it will break down in the water

 

[CaptianPaulie]

It's dead but the dead stuff is still there. Once it's back in the water it will break down in the water

Well i have no friends that are into this hobby so would i have to set up another tank monday when i can get some salt and hope that they survive in a tank that i just setup untill it the cycle is complete god knows when??

 

[Luno]

Well i have no friends that are into this hobby so would i have to set up another tank monday when i can get some salt and hope that they survive in a tank that i just setup untill it the cycle is complete god knows when??

The question is how much of this dead rock did you add back in? I'd take some out and add say one piece every week maybe every few weeks depending on what spikes you get. Ideally you could cure it and then put it back in. But usually if you were to add dead rock you would do it slowly. Unless it has been ridiculously cleaned first even then you'd probably still get some kind of ammonia

You live and learn though chin up

 

[CaptianPaulie]

Well i have no friends that are into this hobby so would i have to set up another tank monday when i can get some salt and hope that they survive in a tank that i just setup untill it the cycle is complete god knows when??

And would it really take two weeks to happen?

 

[Luno]

Can you get water from the ocean? Are you far away? You could also post another post explain you desperately need salt water over the weekend and your location and see if anyone on the forum is near by enough for you to go grab it

 

[CaptianPaulie]

The question is how much of this dead rock did you add back in? I'd take some out and add say one piece every week maybe every few weeks depending on what spikes you get. Ideally you could cure it and then put it back in. But usually if you were to add dead rock you would do it slowly. Unless it has been ridiculously cleaned first even then you'd probably still get some kind of ammonia

You live and learn though chin up

Thats the other thing it was literally 2 pieces of dead rock i would say 10 pounds max

 

[Luno]

Thats the other thing it was literally 2 pieces of dead rock i would say 10 pounds max

I can't give you answer on how much it will matter pulling it out now but I probably would. And like I said post on here to see if someone near you can spare you some water.

you live and learn, everyone makes mistakes and learns from this hobby years ago I made whoppers never made them twice though.

Also always have atleast enough water on hand to do a water change incase something like this happens. Never be caught out.