Need help my clown died and don't know why

[LostClown]

Fist time posting, but I am new to R2R and need some insight. I started a new tank about a month ago and only have two small clowns in it. I test my water every day ammonia is at 0, nitrite was up a tiny bit for a few days but has been at 0 for about 4 days now, and nitrites are at about 10ppm. PH is 8 salinity is about 34ppm adn temp is 78. My clowns have been very hardey and active for about 10 days now they swim around the tank together eat every day colors are bright and this morning I woke up for work and one was dead. The other seems fine any help would be great

 

[EmdeReef]

Welcome to R2R!

Sorry about the clown! Have you noticed any wounds, spots or skin peeling on the dead clown? Anything unusual on the live clown? Could you post a pic?

 

[LostClown]

Welcome to R2R!

Sorry about the clown! Have you noticed any wounds, spots or skin peeling on the dead clown? Anything unusual on the live clown? Could you post a pic?[/Q

 

[EmdeReef]

I can’t see anything in the pic but that tank looks like it may have not been fully cycled. I would add some prime to make sure it’s not ammonia poisoning.

#reefsquad for more ideas?

 

[LostClown]

I can’t see anything in the pic but that tank looks like it may have not been fully cycled. I would add some prime to make sure it’s not ammonia poisoning.

#reefsquad for more ideas?

Thanks for the response, I actually added some prime over the weekend due to the small rise in nitrite and it brought it back down. I test the water every day and my ammonia and nitrite have been at 0. I don't have a pic of the dead clown but he was totally in tact no cuts critters or sores. Just lost some color obviously from being dead over night.

 

[PDR]

Welcome to R2R! Sorry to hear about your clown.

I agree it sounds like maybe the tank was not fully cycled.

Did you notice any strange behavior in either clown?

 

[reef lover]

Welcome to r2r ! Sorry for your clown..

 

[MSB123]

#reefsquad
Possibly velvet? But it would of had to be in the tank for ~10 days without acting

 

[LostClown]

Both clowns stuck together all the time. explored the tank always stayed in the front. They would both respond to me walking up to the tank swim to the top and take the food right away. No behavior I would consider strange, I did put a bottle of instant ocean bacteria in before I introduced the clowns. I guess maybe I didn't wait long enough before putting them in, what should my next move be? I feel horrible for my little clown. I am going to put a refugium in this weekend with some chaeto macro any thoughts on that?

 

[Captain Quint]

@LostClown welcome to R2R and sorry to read of your loss.

 

[JoshH]

Can you walk us through how you cycled the tank?

 

[LostClown]

I started the tank with 30lbs of reef saver rock and a bag of carib sea live sand. I filled the tank with nutrisea pre made sea water with the bacteria already in the water they had it at my LFS. I let the tank run for about 10 days and did a little ghost feeding with food. they levels would go up some but go right back down. I friend of mine has had salt tanks for years and told me it should be ok to put two small fish in at that point so I tested the water and the bad stuff was back at 0 so I put a bottle of instant ocean bacteria in a day before the clowns. I tested the water every day since and my levels never went high. I was told since I had so much bacteria in the tank from the sand, pre made water and bottle of bacteria that the fish should be fine. I have added nothing else

 

[saltyhog]

So sorry about your clown, they are beautiful.

So the only bacteria was from the water and the sand until you recently added some? I bet it was ammonia.

Before adding anything living, I like to add ammonia to 2ppm and see if the tank can process it to zero in 24 hours. If it's can't I don't add anything until it will.

I would feed lightly and monitor ammonia twice a day for a while before adding any living critters! Hang in there, there is always a learning curve!

 

[LostClown]

Thanks for all the help, I have always been checking ammonia and it never spiked but I guess I will wait and hope my other little guy hangs in there. I agree on the learning curve I just don't want to "learn" at the expense of my clowns health or life

 

[LostClown]

lastly putting a refugium with the tank at this state should be ok I assume? It will only help clean and oxidize the water right?

 

[EmdeReef]

what kind of ammonia test kit you have? Most will read high false positives after adding prime, maybe the test kit is off.

 

[LostClown]

what kind of ammonia test kit you have? Most will read high false positives after adding prime, maybe the test kit is off.

API saltwater master test kit

 

[EmdeReef]

API saltwater master test kit

API measures total ammonia and after prime you should be getting a positive reading. Usually pretty high and generally what we refer to as the “false positive.”

 

[LostClown]

API measures total ammonia and after prime you should be getting a positive reading. Usually pretty high and generally what we refer to as the “false positive.”

So are you saying that the kit will say the ammonia is ok but it actually spikes? should i get a different kit?

 

[EmdeReef]

So are you saying that the kit will say the ammonia is ok but it actually spikes? should i get a different kit?

It’s unusual for the test to give a 0 reading after adding Prime so maybe you got a bad batch. The fact you had nitrites shows that the cycle isn’t complete.

Most test kits will give you a false positive now that you added prime so I wouldn’t bother getting a different test kit. Do water changes and Re-dose prime. Perhaps get some biospira or bacteria in a bottle to speed up the cycle.